Sexy Beast
More Sexy BeastMad Men's Slap-Happy Return
by Jace Lacob
Jace Lacob is the writer/editor of Televisionary, a website devoted to television news, criticism, and interviews. Jace resides in Los Angeles. He is a contributor to several entertainment Web sites and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
AMC
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner talks exclusively to Jace Lacob about Sunday’s Season 4 opener, Don and Betty Draper, the return of Joan, and that slap. Contains major spoilers!
Sunday’s season premiere of AMC’s Mad Men pushed the action ahead by a year, to Thanksgiving 1964, where we found Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce—the new advertising agency created from the ashes of the old Sterling Cooper—already aloft like a phoenix. Even if there is no second floor, or even a conference table.
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is living a hermit-like existence as a Manhattan bachelor, albeit one with a penchant for call girls who make house calls; meanwhile, Don’s ex-wife, Betty (January Jones), has been living in the house she once shared with Don, and is now married to Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley). Don has been forced to reinvent himself once more, stepping from behind the metaphoric curtain to become the face of his new agency. For a man who has strived to hide his true self, Don must put himself front and center and grapple with some difficult “public relations”—the episode’s title.
The Daily Beast spoke to Mad Men creator/executive producer Matthew Weiner about the aftereffects of the Drapers’ divorce, whether Betty is a terrible mother, Don’s S&M fetish, the triumphant return of Joan (Christina Hendricks), and much more.
The Daily Beast: There is a time jump of about a year between the seasons. Why was it essential to jump that far ahead, and why did you opt to set the beginning of Season 4 during Thanksgiving?
Matthew Weiner: How they’re going to find office space, and how they get on their feet was kind of interesting to me, but not as interesting as saying that they already got on their feet and had this creative success, are in the new offices, and maybe they have over-extended themselves. The most interesting thing about Thanksgiving is what Don’s life is going to be like… Rather than writing about the actual physical transition, I was more interested in how he would live with the transition, because this season is really about who is Don now that he was walked these coordinates? He is not married, he does not have that beautiful house; he’s a father still, but in a very different way. He is single. Those problems were the most interesting to me and the holiday seemed like the first place where you would see how the family is divided.
The Daily Beast: We see two very different sides of Don Draper in the season opener, both in his interviews with the two journalists, and in his time with the hooker. Who knew that Don Draper liked to be slapped around in bed?
Weiner: I don’t know that he’s always liked it. We have a fantasy that Don Draper is a lothario who can go out and get any woman that he wants. We see from the date [with Anna Camp’s Bethany], that the world is different, that he has to put in the time if he wants to have a relationship with her… I think a man like that would turn to a professional. The actual nature of their sex is probably Don just trying to feel something. That he feels that he needs to be punished… This is a guy who, for the first time in his life, probably has complete control, in some level in his mind, and he wants to give it over.
Mad Men: Who Is Don Draper?
The Daily Beast: Betty and Henry are now married and living in the house that she shared with Don. Why will Betty not let go of that house?
Weiner: I think it’s another control issue… and that’s her house as far as she is concerned. I think it was too much change at once. It happened so fast. I think she wants it the way she wants it.
The Daily Beast: Do you think that Betty is a bad mother, or is she just a product of the time period?
Weiner: I think she is a selfish person. But I think that she is trying to be a good mother, as all mothers are, and you usually find out if you are good or bad when the children grow up and they tell you… I do think that, in her mind, she stayed in that house because she didn’t want to drag the kids away from everything that they know. I think that was for them.
The Daily Beast: Many viewers were afraid that, given Don and Betty’s divorce, Betty would slide into the background, which is not the case in “Public Relations.” Will there be as much focus on Betty as previous seasons?
Weiner: She certainly is not as front and center as she was last season. That story last year was about the dissolution of their marriage, but I was surprised that people thought that she wouldn’t come back. Those are his children, that’s part of his life, and… she’s going to function in that life… The consequences of that divorce are pretty serious. I can’t say that minute-by-minute she is going to be in the show as much as she was last year. But she is a big part of Don’s life.
The Daily Beast: The divorce itself is a great prism through which to view these characters and see the Drapers fall apart.
Weiner: What I think is interesting about “Public Relations,” is that you start to learn a little bit about Henry. I think when you see Henry and his mother, you start to understand how this guy was so impulsive about rescuing Betty. He is obviously used to having a strong woman in his life… But he obviously has his own life. He is divorced himself. He has a grown daughter. Here’s a chance to see the fact that he is doing this for himself and he’s doing it the way he wants to do it.
The Daily Beast: Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce is still, even a year later, very much in its infancy and struggling to find its way amid an increasingly competitive environment. There is no second floor here, but it’s a great illusion that they have created.
Weiner: Right. Don is accepting responsibility for being in charge of that business. But his whole life is not his business. It may be, now that he is single, but we will see how he deals with that.
The Daily Beast: I was extremely happy to see Joan Harris back where she belongs, with an office of her own, in fact. Are we going to see a more empowered Joan this season and what impact does her career have on her marriage to Greg?
Weiner: There’s going to be plenty of Joan this year and everyone should be happy... All I can tell you is that she has a position at the office, and it’s not a binary universe, so she is working there. When we find out how everything is working with her husband, you’ll see what her choices are.
The Daily Beast: There are quite a few new faces in the season opener, including Anna Camp and Matt Long. What can you tell us about Bethany and Joey?
Weiner: Joey is a freelance copywriter who’s working with Peggy. Bethany… I can’t even say if we are going to see her again. What I want to show, and what Anna really brought to it, is how old Don is. I think it’s the first time—even Joy in California somehow, because she was a sexual adventurer, seemed more appropriate—that you really see in that date, how much younger Bethany is than Don. And that for him to have a relationship, to be dating in a civilized world, he cannot behave the way he has. It’s a totally different set of rules… If Don had been married, I think he would have had a shot that night…
We’re going to have a lot of people coming in on the show, and the world will be filled up. The most important thing for people to realize now is that they’re in an in-between place and there is not a great deal of desperation about it, because they are building something. Don’s had some success already, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe.
Xtra Insight: Part One of Season 3 ending
Xtra Insight: Part Two of Season 3 ending
Jace Lacob is the writer/editor of Televisionary, a website devoted to television news, criticism, and interviews. Jace resides in Los Angeles. He is a contributor to several entertainment Web sites and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Get a head start with the Morning Scoop email. It's your Cheat Sheet with must reads from across the Web. Get it. For more entertainment and fashion coverage follow Sexy Beast on Twitter.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
YOUR FRIENDS
Collapse at CBS News
Rebecca Dana is a senior correspondent for The Daily Beast. A former editor and reporter for The Wall Street Journal, she has also written for The New York Times, The New York Observer, Rolling Stone, and Slate, among other publications.
The Shadow Over Obama’s Address
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono.
Does Diet Soda Make You Fat?
Susan B. Roberts, PhD is Professor of Nutrition and Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University and author of The "I" Diet weight-loss program. Weight loss on this program averages 16 pounds in 8 weeks and 30 pounds in 5 months.
Mad Men's Ice Queen
Jace Lacob is the writer/editor of Televisionary, a website devoted to television news, criticism, and interviews. Jace resides in Los Angeles. He is a contributor to several entertainment Web sites and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Will Friday Night Lights Finally Win?
Jace Lacob is the writer/editor of Televisionary, a website devoted to television news, criticism, and interviews. Jace resides in Los Angeles. He is a contributor to several entertainment Web sites and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
The Best TV Shows to Rent
Jace Lacob is the writer/editor of Televisionary, a website devoted to television news, criticism, and interviews. Jace resides in Los Angeles. He is a contributor to several entertainment Web sites and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Benny Hill
Draper is a bit Woodsish, in that he needs to pay to have sex. One would think that a man as studly as Don would have women crawling into his bed. I've never cared for people who pay for sex, it's a weakness of some sort. And with Don's Alpha Male character, why the need to pay?
The slapping? Well, it would have been more realistic if it was spanking, as one rarely hears about slapping amongst people with such proclivities. A bit weak and overdone.
Still love the show!!
citivas
They already proved dozens of times that Don is capable of getting as much as he wants without paying for it. He's choosing prostitutes because now that he's single again any free sex has the potential as being construed as a "relationship." When he was married the women knew they it was about sex, and while they could hope for a relationship they couldn't count on it. There was a perverse honesty to it. Now Don is seeing the woman hold back, wanting to come across as "good girls" because they want the sex to lead somewhere. I'm sure he could get plenty of girls in bed for free but he's always had an odd morality to his womanizing and cheating.
Benny Hill
"... odd morality to his womanizing and cheating. ..."
Sounds like Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and all the other super-intelligent fornicators.
HollyK64
Benny
You say you've never cared for people who pay for sex. What do you think most husbands do? When women marry for money what do you think that transaction is all about? It's sex for money. Don't be so naive.
Benny Hill
I'm not naive, I just happen to believe in true love. If you love your spouse in the true spiritual sense, you will get no feelings about it being a transactional relationship. You will think of them as the ultimate gift to you that will make your life a paradise on earth, no matter what your material circumstances. And you will serve them and your children in the best possible way, treating them as if they were Gods.
PeoplePleaser
In the year, 2010, and some poster doesn't understand why men pay for specific sex, in marriage you pay for sex but you don't always get it. Don is a man who likes whores, in fact a lot of men do, they play the games you want to play. I love Matt Weiner's style, good show.
PeoplePleaser
It's the year 2010, and some posters don't understand why men pay for specific sex? You pay for sex in marriage whether you get it or not. I think that the Don character has always preferred whores, I mean look at season 1 with the artist and later with Bobbie Barrett, he consistently chooses women who've had a lot of sexual experience, so transitioning to a real pro is not a stretch....apologies for the first inarticulate post.....................
GPatton
Well, 1960s offices may have been filled with misogynists, whore mongers, bigots, licentious drunks, sexist pigs, etc. But Mad Men types were, at least in part, responsible for more than two decades of post-WWII prosperity. One income was sufficient to support a family in a Middle Class lifestyle then. The gap between rich and poor wasn't as pronounced as it is today. America wasn't a third world country then. Now everyone is lovey dovey in the work place. And the whole country has become an industrial Malaysian rubber plantation! George Patton
This user is no longer registered.
StellaRay
Sorry boston, but if you think women in the office were treated with more respect back then, you're very misinformed. Particularly in fast businesses like ad agencies. I spent years in ad agencies in the 80's and things were better, but not great. Blatantly sexist comments were still common. Most creative teams were still male with a sprinkling of women. In fact, even today, that is true in many agencies, as well as for instance, the writers for late night talk shows, and other comedy shows such as SNL. In fact, it would be interesting to know how many female writers there are on Mad Men.
Weiner has it right. A woman like Peggy could get ahead to a point, but sooner than later she'd bump her head on the glass ceiling as she did when
Don told her he didn't want a woman in the meeting---and he didn't think a thing of it. No sexual discrimination or harassment suit to worry about.
I love this series, not the least for showing that the good old days weren't so swell if your weren't a white male. In addition to that the writing is as sharp as a tack, the editing is superb, the characters are incredibly intriguing and you never know what they're going to do---just like real people.
Bravo Weiner, this is great TV.
This user is no longer registered.
StellaRay
Boston,
Women work today because they want to or they have to. Either way, they now have a fighting chance to avoid discrimination and harassment. I put no stock in the myth of the good old days---they were what they were, some bad, some good. But you never go forward when you're looking backward.
This user is no longer registered.
StellaRay
Gee Boston,
Sorry you elected to reply to me that I'm "full of sh*t." You can't imagine the temptation I had to reply to you in the same way when you told me "easy women" are responsible for the down fall of men.
But I didn't, I tried to avoid that. But hey, gloves off now, right? You have a serious anger issue with women, and you need to get it fixed.
This user is no longer registered.
citivas
And Hitler made the trains run on time and took Germany out of a severe depression... So what's your point? And who knows how much more prosperity might have been possible there had been more leadership opportunities in the workplace then...
DBFan2009
Ah, it was Mussolini who made the trains run on time.
citivas
Yeah, that's the expression, but in general sociapathic facist dictators were good for your commute.
DBFan2009
Nice save.
Benny Hill
To civitas: I wish someone would fix our commutes these days. They are getting unbearable.
ChanRobt
Hey, I'm a MAD MEN fan. But, am I the only one who thinks the show Jumped the Shark at least twice last night?
Draper being slapped around by the hooker was a nice, surprise, sure. But, there is little in previous episodes that make that a credible kink in this character.
And then his going all hysterical and kicking the Jantzen client out of the office, not very convincing or believable, either. There were/are prima donna creative director partners. But, that's just not how it would have gone down.
He might have given them short shrift. But, that tirade was actually kind of unmanly.
Plus, some of the language put in Roger Sterling's mouth was peculiarly vulgar in a way the character has not been previously.
Benny Hill
I agree with you; the two episodes with Don were not needed for the story. They were sleazy, egregious, and detracted from a fine script.
StellaRay
ChanRobt,
I totally see Weiner's point about Don, the hooker and the slap. What I think Mad Men brilliantly points out is that in many ways men were as much a prisoner of the times as women. The sexist expectations of both men and women were like a ball and chain to both.
As for kicking the Jantzen client out of the office, yeah it was a bit over the top, but something every ad man/woman has dreamed of. Reminds me of an old David Ogilvy story. He brought his team to a client to pitch and was greeted by a long list of rules from the client as to how he would be allowed to pitch---including that they would ring a bell when they'd heard enough on any given subject. When they were finished stating the rules, Ogilvy stood up and said "Ring the bell." Then walked out with his team,and that was that.
And Roger Serling, well from my POV he's been a vulgar, cocky jerk from the get go---I've known men in business just like him--- with an occasional spot of decency where Joan is concerned, who it seemed he truly loved.
ChanRobt
Funny, Stella, a friend of mine recounted the silver bell story over at Facebook, but attributed it to Bernbach. I've heard the story before and believe it did happen.
I don't think the JANTZEN clients were good bad guys. They were just conservative and prudish, but not supercilious pricks.
The way Ogilvy or Bernbach dissed the jerk with the bell was very cool. The way Draper just went off his rocker for a few minutes was very uncool. And not very like him.
Sure, we've all had the fantasy of telling the client to go screw himself. But, do it like Cyrano de Bergerac. Not like Rambo.
StellaRay
ChanRobt,
Your friend may be right about Bernbach vs. Ogilvy. I'm not sure of my memory here, and after a long day, don't feel like chasing it down via google.
But I do agree, Bernbach or Ogilvy, the bell story is much classier than the raw outburst of Don Draper last night. And I do agree that when possible it is always preferable to react like Cyrano de Bergerac vs. Rambo.
However, Don Draper has never been "a classy guy" in my estimate. To me he is a hugely conflicted man, as imprisoned as any female sex symbol you want to name. It is important to appreciate Don for who the writers have made him to be, not for the choices you or I would make. To me, that's the whole genius of the character as the writer's have conceived him----men see who they want to in him, and women see who they want to in him. Mean time, he's one screwed up dude. And I think the rigid sex rolls of that time and before, SCREWED UP EVERYBODY.
Chan---we have disagreed on this site, politically and not prettily before. But I can't tell you how nice it is to have a back and forth with you, without rancor. It is nice to get to know another side of you. And I have enjoyed your feed back here.
This user is no longer registered.
ChanRobt
StellaRay, sure, the writers created Draper, not I. I just felt that neither the slap scene, but more especially the un-directed rant at the clients was out of character as they have made him.
He may be more repressed and controlled than a modern viewer would wish. But, his actions are always controlled. Even when his wife was leaving him, he didn't lose it as irrationally as with this client.
And, if his purpose was to establish himself as one of the hot, smart mavericks who fired clients, then the way to do it was with style. Again, to stay closer to what I perceive as his character as drawn heretofore.
Meanwhile, I, too have enjoyed this conversation. I have plenty of friends in real life and online with whom I disagree politically, but whom I hold in great affection and have much else in common with.
So, here's to cyber-friendship.
This user is no longer registered.
DBFan2009
Mad Men season opener needed to at least give a nod as to what was happening on our shores during 1964 - the least of which wasn't floor wax commercials (SCDP's big breakthrough account ad).
We were in the midst of the "British Invasion" - The Beatles and all that came with it. I know that Carnaby Street fashions/knock offs were already hitting the retail stores, and that advertising was changing the way it thought about the emerging "youth market" - the baby boomer bubble.
Everything changed. If Weiner doesn't soon acknowledge those changes - ESPECIALLY - among advertising agencies and how they focused on the new demographic, then yes, I'd have to agree that MM will have jumped the shark.
The only real inkling we got that things were changing was the character Harry Crane's hair seemed a bit longer after a trip to California.
C'mon, Weiner - surely you can get more music releases than the Nashville Teens "Tobacco Road" - which provided a good ending to what was otherwise a so-so opener.
StellaRay
DBFan and ChanRobt,
I LOVED the Tobacco Road choice for the ending of the show. It spoke perfectly to the new story Don was spinning for the reporter, and the old story of Don's humble and mysterious beginnings.
Having said that, I think you're both right. I was in 7th grade in 1964 and yes, by that time we were crazy for the Beatles and everything English, as DBFan notes. (hey DB, Jane Asher! Yes! We were so jealous of her :) However, my parents still dressed like everyone was dressed in this episode. They hadn't caught up yet and didn't see the cultural phenomenon and changes that were zooming towards them at 100 mph. An example from today would be Facebook and to a lesser extent, twitter. It was all about the kids originally, and for quite some time. Then adults and marketers discovered it.
I think in 1964 it was all on the verge---like a roller coaster poised at the tip top of the hill, right before it plunges. So I think Weiner gets a break on this for now, I think he's eeking it out about right. And I bet that we'll see the 60's we remember begin to emerge throughout this season.
ChanRobt
DBFan, yes things were changing by late 1964, but it was still the last of the Camelot Kennedy '60s not really the beginning of what we generally associate with the 60s -- Vietnam, hippies, unrest in the streets, drugs, etc.
They were starting to emerge, certainly. But, had not by any means become the dominant tonality.
By 1966, yes, it was in full swing.
DBFan2009
All due respect, Chan, I was there - in high school from 1963 to 1966. By 1964, I'd already seen the Beatles live in concert on their first American tour. I was also wearing my hair much like Jane Asher's (Paul's girlfriend) and needless to say, my clothes, though knock-offs, reflected the Carnaby Street look that was flooding the stores in the shopping centers.
In school, we were simply bowled over by everything British, so much so that I sent off for an application to the University of London. Our hair, our make up - very very hip and very very reflective of the British Invasion. Yes - in 1964.
I'm not talking about what came much later - hippies, Vietnam, unrest (of which I was also a part of - that came in the late 60s, early 70s). What I'm saying is Mad Men failed, for whatever reason, to not show us what was happening then in 1964 with ad agencies AND the culture. Even Joan's dress was way off the mark, though I will allow she was still hanging on to "office dress" (hideous as that dress was that she wore in this episode).
Ad agencies changed markedly to latch onto the advertising aimed directly at my generation, where previously it had been aimed at my folks generation (see Don's Glo-Coat ad, for instance).
I've read somewhere that Weiner will not be doing the Beatles at all on Mad Men. I don't know the reason (money?), but it's a mistake. As I said, by late 1964, there was more to the 60s than just a song from - of all people, though I understand why - the Nashville Teens. Gimme a break!
ChanRobt
DBFan,first note I wrote that the things we consider "the 60s" "were starting to emerge".
I was in high school the same era as you -- I'm a year or two older. I saw the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl in '65. We were many of us wearing our hair (a bit) longer by spring and summer '64.
But, at that point -- 1964 -- the Beatles and the rest were more a teenage, even teeny-bopper phenom. The adult culture looked upon them with some bemusement, a bit of a curiosity. As something akin to Presley a decade before or Sinatra two decades previous.
Ad agencies are not as quick as you might think to jump on new cultural phenom. And the Beatles were not particularly relevant to most of what agencies were selling.
So, yeah, stuff was happening in the background. And in your foreground. But for those of the Korea and WW2 generation -- which is Draper's agency -- it was still peripheral in '64
jojo12
Decades ago, I applied for a marketing position with a large firm.
After passing two interviews, I was asked to participate in a three day marketing class. It was all role playing, with execs of the firm playing clients. For the first two days, I did OK but there was one group of potential clients (role playing execs) who drove me up a wall. On the third day of the class, I lost my cool (forgetting I was in this for a job) & blew my stack at the clients who drove me up a wall. Needless to say, I didn't get the job.
Draper's tirade at the Jantzen people, brought back old memories & left me laughing.
marygard
DBFan2009:
Btw, you are my first reply to a specific blogger-Your exampleof the Beatles, Swinging London, Etc., explained the whole blow-up at the Jansen People. Don Draper tried to explain Market Share to a bunch of backa--ward execs who couldn't figure out why sales for a two-piece were slipping. Way to go!
As for the slapping-I think Don is a man of his times, he wants to be punished, yet he can't ask this of someone he know or loves, hence the professional.
I love this show, it's the best thing on TV now, Thank You,Mr. Weiner!
KittyKiit
Boo-hoo! Saw episode 4 of Season 4 tonight, and once again, it stunk! I can't believe my beloved Mad Men has jumped the shark. This season has terrible writing. 8-15-10
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.