Mad Men: The Fog – Season 3 Episode 5 Review

Things get interesting from the get-go as Don and Betty are called into Sally’s school for a meeting with her teacher. Apparently, Sally has been acting out since the death of her grandfather, Gene. There was somewhat of a brutal attack on one of Sally’s classmates where, fortunately, “…the other girl didn’t need stitches.” This is most likely foreshadowing further behavior problems, but what was even more interesting was the weird dynamic between Don and Sally’s teacher. They have some semi-revelations about their common childhood experiences, and after an awkward call to Don at the Drapers’ house, the door is left open for extra-curricular activity.

The theme that took up most of the episode was the birth of Eugene Draper, named in honor of his late grandfather. Although, once again, the show is true to the historical accuracy of what childbirth was like at the time, the whole sequence seems to drag on. Throw in some Demerol-induced dream sequences and things almost totally derail. I’m not going to use the word “filler,” which got me into some trouble in previous reviews, but I’ll just say we weren’t a fan of the drawn-out birthing sequences. One intriguing bit related to the birth was at the end of the episode when Don was delivering flowers to Betty in the hospital, a prison guard that Don bonded with in the solarium (waiting room) passed him in the hallway and shot him an odd look, barely making eye contact. Not sure what that was about, but I’ll keep that nugget stashed in my memory as I’m thinking it will have some significance later.

The juiciest part is the return of Duck Phillips, who is apparently trying to poach Pete Campbell and Peggy from PPL to his new ad firm, Grey. Pete attends a lunch meeting with Duck against his better judgment and walks out when he discovers Peggy has also been invited. Peggy is not as fast to reject Duck and decides to see what PPL has to offer her if she pushes Don a little.

Back at the office, things continue to be contentious as the British management start penny-pinching. Questioning of expense accounts and even the number of pencils the creative department uses causes Don to politely remind Lane how and why they’re so successful. This frugality turns up again when Peggy, fresh from her meeting with Duck, asks Don for a raise. Don pretty much lays it out that since he’s “fighting for paperclips,” there’s not much he can do about getting her more money. After leaving Don’s office, Peggy is confronted by Pete. She divulges no information, but leads Pete to believe that she may be leaving the agency. This only adds more friction to their already tumultuous relationship.

One other good subplot is how Pete Campbell is trying to handle the flat sales of Admiral appliances. After discovering that Admiral does well in cities with a large “negro” population, he presents the idea of targeting these cities at a meeting with Admiral executives. The idea is shot down, and he later gets chewed out by the chiefs. After the chewing-out, Lane brings up the fact that perhaps the agency should be targeting blacks for certain things. This is interesting because although Pete was blasted for suggesting this to Admiral, it reinforced the fact that from an ad sales perspective, he was actually correct. I hate it when Pete Campbell is right.

Although, in my opinion, too much time was spent on Betty in the hospital, the Mad Men train kept rolling along nicely. The return of Duck Phillips will add to the storyline, as well as the addition of the new baby and Sally’s issues. Things will continue to be shaken up at the office and the Draper household for the foreseeable future.