Chris Piascik

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Every week, Aaron Cohen (@UnlikelyWords) writes a recap of Mad Men for his blog Unlikely Words, and I illustrate something from the episode to go with it. Here’s Aaron’s recap for season 7 episode 1:

Episode Title: “Time Zones” obviously refers to Ted, Pete, and Megan in California, Bob in Detroit, and everyone else in New York. But also, different times in their life, relationships, work.

Timing of the episode: January, 1969 as evidenced by Richard Nixon’s inauguration. The Super Bowl Freddy mentioned was Super Bowl III. It featured Joe Namath and the Jets, and was played a week earlier.

Overall, everyone seemed unhappy. Roger’s unhappy, Don’s unhappy, Megan’s unhappy, Pete seems happier than we’ve ever seen him (but Ted says he’s unhappy), Peggy’s unhappy, Ken’s unhappy, Joan’s unhappy, and nobody else cares about anything.

Considering how often the opening scene of last season was referenced during the season, we should pay special attention to Freddy’s opener. “It’s not a time piece, it’s a conversation piece.” We’ve heard, “If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation” a couple times on the show, and the two quotes are stuck together in my head right now. Maybe the passage of time will be a key theme this season, maybe I’m too tired to make sense of anything? It was 8 minutes until Don’s first scene (a musical montage!), which likely didn’t mean anything thematically.

I kept trying to count the number of the passed out women in Roger’s first scene. At least 5.

Don’s replacement, Lou, is like the kindly, but surly, grandpa of SC&P. He says such shitty, mean stuff, but without any emotion behind it. “I think you’re trying to put me in a position of saying ‘I don’t care what you think’.” Peggy is bristling at the new dynamic, and, as it turns out the work being produced. I loved this, “Well, I’m tired of fighting for everything to be better. You’re all a bunch of hacks who are perfectly happy with shit. Nobody cares about anything. No one wants things to be better? I got it, I’ll just stand out here all by myself.” That’s a very, very, Don Draper thing to say. Peggy breaking down at the end was her feeling totally alone, probably about as much on a personal level as a professional level. Ted was professional and personal and he left, and Don was professional and he’s not around.

It’s been two months since the end of last season, and Don hasn’t told Megan about getting the boot from SC&P. He’s going to have to work on that relationship. The morning after Don gets to California, Megan drops a Playboy on his chest. I wondered if she was sending a hint she didn’t want to be intimate.

Ken pulls Joan into a meeting with a 14 year-old shoe executive who wants to fire SC&P. Joan goes to speak with a business school professor for ammunition on how to respond. I got the sense she’s done this before, but not with this professor. I wonder if Joan will step more into an account executive role. Remember last season when Joan was managing a client a bit?

Pete Campbell is going bananas in California. “The city’s flat and ugly, and the air is brown, but I love the vibrations.” This should be a lot of fun.

Both Roger and his daughter appear to be going on the same journey of exploration, but they’re taking different paths. The scene with Roger coming home drunk to his new lover felt very important. He’s tired, exhausted of this life. I wasn’t sure if he was tired of the bohemian lifestyle, or of life in general.

“Blame Madison Avenue for that.” This was the second or third subtle to not-so-subtle dig at advertising in the episode.

“She knows I’m a terrible husband.” “Well if she doesn’t know, you should keep it that way. That’s what people do.” “Have I broken the vessel?” “What can you do about it, it’s done.” Don flew home from California with the ghost of Don Drapers past. It looked like Don was going to go home with the mysterious airplane beauty, but he had to work.

At first you think Don’s lying to himself AND Megan, until Freddy comes over with sandwiches and it becomes clear Don’s been sending Freddy around with Don’s pitches. For me, it completely changed how I saw Don in this episode. Less pathetic, more driven, producing work again, good work. I wonder how long he’ll be in the shadows for. “I been there, you don’t want to be damaged goods.” Maybe he’s less unhappy than I thought.

Final song: You Keep Me Hangin’ On – Vanilla Fudge