No Peggy Olson: Elisabeth Moss and Rape Culture in Top of the Lake



Posted over at Lauren C. Byrd

In the Audience

The Mrs.' graduation went just fine, though of course it had to be 80 degrees yesterday. The ceremony was indoors, in a building that is used as a hockey arena, which would lead one to think that it should be easy to keep it cool inside, but that wasn't the case.

It was just barely comfortable enough, but sitting on a flimsy plastic chair for two hours is less than ideal. To our right we had a guy who sneezed raucously through the entire ceremony, and immediately behind us we had a fussing baby that I suspect was the child of someone receiving a degree, as the people caring for it were substantially older and were probably its grandparents.

The actual issuing of diplomas took only about 35 minutes, and the enthusiasm of the graduates kept things buoyant after I almost nodded off a few times during the speeches.
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Under the Weather

Yesterday I had a medical thing. Nothing serious, but it needed to be done. Meanwhile I was enduring another cold (very unusual for me to be sick twice in such a short span of time), but now it seems it may in fact be a sinus infection. Yay.

It was kind of careless of me to schedule my procedure for this week, and it's an inconvenient time to be sick, because we're pretty busy otherwise: the Mrs. has completed her graduate school program and is getting her diploma on Thursday. We have family coming in to attend who are staying with us, which means we need to clean our apartment. I don't have a ton of energy right now, and I'm not exactly thrilled about cleaning even when I'm feeling 100%, plus I'm supposed to be taking it easy for a few days, so today will be challenging.

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting this week, but there will probably be something.
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Mad (Wo)Men 6x07: "I'm really glad you're here."


Even though this episode was mostly about Don controlling Sylvia, we’ll concentrate on the main female characters in the show first.
Honestly, the best thing about this episode was the Peggy and Joan reunion. As Joan shows Peggy to her new office (Harry’s old office), the two women catch up. “I’m glad you’re here,” Joan says.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” Peggy replies sincerely.
Olson and Holloway Agency has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Joan, in typical Joan fashion, is organizing the newcomers in the office due to the SDCP and CGC merger. It’s a big undertaking, but Joan doesn’t seem harried at all. She’s been through a lot of changes at Sterling Cooper and now SDCP.
Ever committed to her work, when she starts having stomach pains, she’s hesitant to leave the office during such an important transition for the company. But Bob (James Wolk) finds her ill and convinces her she needs to leave to see a doctor. He accompanies her and even tricks the nurse into allowing Joan to see the doctor sooner.
When Bob drops by Joan’s apartment the next day, her mom drops hints about Bob’s attractiveness. Joan isn’t convinced he’s interested so much as he’s worried about his job. With all the new people from CGC, a new hire would be the first to go. In fact, in a later scene, the SDCP and CGC partners are in a meeting to discuss staffing cuts. Joan saves Bob’s job by saying he works on a lot of accounts with Ken Cosgrove, so he’s already familiar with big money clients.
Peggy, meanwhile, is getting used to being back in the offices of SDCP. When she comes in, she says hi to Stan and Ginsburg, her old creative team.

The first new account they tackle is Fleischman’s margarine. Since Don is missing, Ted starts the meeting without him. Don, when he returns, isn’t too pleased about it. Don makes a peace offering of booze, which then proceeds to get Ted drunk, because no one can drink like Don Draper. When Ted wanders out to the creative bullpen, clearly intoxicated, Peggy has to mediate the incident. Don proceeds to have a creative meeting of his own, which Ted is too drunk to attend.
Already, Peggy is feeling sidelined by Don’s behavior, which placed her in an awkward position during the creative meeting where her former boss (Don) got her current boss, Ted, drunk.
The next morning when Don comes in, Peggy is waiting for him on the couch in his office. She brings up the Ted situation. “I hoped he would rub off on you,” Peggy tells Don. “Not the other way around.”
“He’s getting everything he wants. And you’re obviously on his side,” Don replies.
“Why did you do it at all if there are sides? You could have just tried to hire me back. You never even asked me to lunch.”
What Don did to Ted was uncalled for, but Peggy seems to be leaping to conclusions about her importance to Don. She can’t admit she’s upset about the merger, just as Don was upset when she left. Don and Peggy have always been honest with each other, sometimes brutally so, and this is no exception. Don chides Peggy for thinking the merger was all about her, with a rather insulting comment: “…just so I could have you in this office complaining again.”
Although Don’s comment was unnecessary and Peggy’s advice for him to grow up and move forward is smart, Peggy might be a little in the wrong here. She needs to not referee Ted and Don from the sidelines. Let them get in their own pissing contests if they want to, because it will probably end in mutual self-destruction.

Mad (Wo)Men 6x06: "I don't like change."



Crossposted at Lauren C. Byrd.


Oh, Peggy, Peggy, Peggy.

Since day one, Peggy is a female character to root for (her hard work and moving up the ladder at work), but her romantic choices are questionable at best. First there was Pete, who seduced her first at her apartment and then in his office. Then there was Duck, who wanted to woo away her copywriting skills to a new company, but whose alcoholism still plagued him. Now there's Ted Chaough, Peggy's superior who hired her.

After spending the last couple weeks winking at Chaough's possible attraction to Peggy, it was unclear whether Peggy returned the sentiment. This week, there's a late night kiss in his office, and it's still unclear. But then Peggy imagines Chaough in place of her boyfriend Abe and it's clear the feelings are mutual.

Peggy and her boyfriend Abe's move to the still developing Upper West Side proved challenging for Peggy. She's used to more creature comforts and isn't as comfortable in the environment as Abe. "I don't like change. I want everything to stay the way it was," Peggy tells him. An interesting statement considering they are living in a time of change (1968) and Peggy chose to make a change in her career by moving to CGC.


It also explains her attitude towards the shift at work later. While in Detroit to pitch for Chevy, Don and Ted decide to join forces and combine their fledgling agencies, but only if the pitch for Chevy is successful. When Ted returns from Detroit, he invites Peggy to his office to hear the news, where she is surprised to find Don sitting on a couch in the corner of Ted's office. Peggy tries to wrap her head around the idea of working for Don again, but she agrees to come aboard the new endeavor.

It makes sense the show wants to bring Don and Peggy back to the same room, since their dynamic was one of the best things about the show before. But like everything else, it's changed. Don probably still holds a tiny bit of resentment about Peggy leaving SDCP, Peggy got in to pitch for Heinz without Don knowing, and now Don's basically stolen Chevy from CGC. The rivalry is heating up!

Joan Harris (Holloway) 

This episode contained storylines for the women which placed them directly in Don's orbit. Don has a dinner with Herb, the sleazy Jaguar salesman whom Joan slept with at the end of last season in order to secure Jaguar's business with SDCP (and to elevate her to partner), and rather than putting up with Herb's bullshit because he's a client, Don does what Don wants to do and fires him right then and there.

Of course, Don being a creative mind, doesn't worry about how this will effect the firm monetarily. As Pete points out, he's already rich, so Don doesn't think about money. Don's always had a very moral outlook in the advertising industry--about the only place where Don has morals--especially compared to his colleagues. In this case, it's unclear if the dinner incident with Herb is what sets Don off.

To give Don the benefit of the doubt, he knows Joan's attitude towards Herb, and then Herb comments on Megan's appearance in front of Don. Maybe Don simply wasn't turned off by Herb's need to step on creative's toes, but by Herb's attitude towards women. From a feminist perspective, this seems an odd argument to carry, since Don is in his own way disrespectful of women, including Megan.

When Joan finds out Don dropped Jaguar without considering the detriment to the company, she's personally offended. "Honestly, Don, if I could deal with him, you could deal with him. And what now? I went through all of that for nothing?"

Don tells her not to worry, he will win this. She turns back to him. "Just once I would like to hear you use the word 'we.' Because we are all rooting for you from the sidelines, hoping you'll decide whatever you think is right for our lives."

Joan felt Don was her only ally with Jaguar, because he was the only one of the SDCP partners who told her not to sleep with Herb, but it was already too late. Joan's decision to sleep with Herb has irrevocably tangled her personal and professional lives together. While Joan is mad at Don, who she thought best understood her situation, she's also mad at herself for her choice.

Megan Draper




Since it's Mother's Day, Megan's mother Marie is visiting and Megan confesses to her she doesn't know what to do about Don. "He's so far away that sometimes when we're alone, I feel like I'm making conversation." Her mother advises her that dressing sexily will fix the situation. And temporarily, it does.

But Marie also brings up the fact that Megan's life has changed. She's becoming recognized--two girls in the elevator ask for her autograph--and Don may claim he's comfortable with it, but he may feel Megan belongs more to other people than to him.

Of course, it could be argued Marie's view of Megan "belonging" to Don is rather old-fashioned. Especially considering Marie doesn't seem to "belong" to anyone.

Although Megan's acting career is burgeoning, it's odd seeing her sit by Don's side at a business dinner, polite and agreeable. In that situation, it's hard not to compare her to Betty Draper, the dutiful wife by her husband's side.
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