Mad Men, Season 6, Episode 7: “Man with a Plan”
Written by Semi Chellas and Matthew Weiner
Directed by John Slattery
Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC
“He enjoys being dominant,” I wrote of Don Draper last week, and he spends the first two thirds of this episode attempting to assert that dominance. He keeps Sylvia in a hotel room existing only to satisfy his needs. He drinks Ted under the table and parades him around in front of the other copywriters in an attempt to communicate his place at the top of the food chain. In earlier seasons, Don would have emerged from these encounters triumphant, but they backfire on him. Times are changing, but Don remains the same. In the episode’s fantastic final shot we are greeted with a man alienated not only from his wife but the world itself.
If Don is constantly trying to get everyone around him to bend to his will, Bob Benson is only too happy to be submissive. Up to this point, he has mostly served as a reliable punchline, offering his assistance at the most inopportune of times. In this week’s episode, he shares some wonderful scenes with Joan. Sure, he’s trying to keep his job in the wake of Burt Peterson’s firing (and how great a Roger-being-Roger moment was that?), but there is the sense that a genuine kindness underscores his actions. Joan doesn’t see it until her mom points it out to you.
As simpering as Bob’s sycophantic tendencies can be, he’s one of the few at the office that realizes the world doesn’t revolve around him. Last week Joan voiced her desire to hear Don use “we” instead of “I.” The world is shifting in that direction, but egos are still strong around the office. Peggy wonders if the CGC/SCDP merger wasn’t just Don’s attempt at regaining control over her. Pete thinks people are conspiring against him. Burt Peterson is incredulous, he thinks he matters. It’s not about that anymore. In the final moments of the episode, Bobby Kennedy’s assassination underscores just how much it’s not about that anymore while the very fact of the assassination underscores the lengths to which people will got to resist that change.
You can see it in the world today. Time marches on while people try to bend the world to their will, to keep it from changing. For a while that is enough to maintain the status quo, but eventually the world will begin to move on without you. Your mistress won’t put up with your games anymore. A new guy will come into the office and establish a rapport with your subordinates, his charm will make your attempts at maintaining a mysterious air give the impression of aloofness. You’re going to end up sitting on a bed somewhere, neglecting your sobbing wife, wondering why things aren’t the way they were eight years ago.