Episode Report Card Jacob: A | 4 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Laika Was An Astronaut
By Jacob | Season 1 | Episode 10 | Aired on 2007.09.27
Pete wonders about the mud people are "harvesting" on Kennedy, and when Roger notes that he's known as a bit of a womanizer, Don realizes that they've handed them the election already, because soccer moms love a womanizer. And I would go off on how this is not only politically naïve but just as gross as the rest of the sinister creepy sexism on this show, but for once I'm just going to zip my big stupid mouth, because...what can you say? Everybody in the room says it shouldn't be "this close" a hundred million times. Meanwhile, though, Don sees it as essentially a battle of narrative, not an attack-ad situation at all, and launches into his usual thinly veiled Let's Talk About Don Draper Hour, Brought To You By Clabber Girl: how JFK is a nouveau riche, recent immigrant who bought his way into Harvard. (Wasn't his grandfather the Mayor of Boston or something? I don't know enough to quibble here.) Nixon came from nothing, a humble self-made Quaker with a face like a Bassett hound, "the Abe Lincoln of California," who ended up the Vice President of the U.S. six years after leaving the Navy. When Don sees Kennedy he sees a silver spoon, but when he looks at Nixon, he sees himself. I never thought about it this way, but they're both kind of Don-like, aren't they? Kennedy's just the Gatsby version of Don either way. Well, but: Catholic.
Roger takes Pete's side: with a positive ad, you're preaching to the choir, but with negative ads you're hitting people who are on the fence. And, as Pete notes, there are a lot of people on the fence right now. Roger calls the meeting to a close, asking for ideas after the long weekend. Pete smirks, "Yeah, let's go down swinging." Every time you wish somebody would pop poor Pete in the face just for existing, I will eat one of these Skittles I have bought for this purpose, starting with the yucky green ones, and we'll see how many are left. Roger also mentions the Menkens, who are coming to sign off on the strategic plan, which means two things: number one, Rachel! And number two, because this is the big father/daughter episode to bookend the father/son nightmare that was "Red In The Face," we'll finally get to see her dad. Bet he's awesome! Roger tells Don to "ride bareback over Pete here" during the meeting -- I guess the bra and panties are optional before five -- and to be on his best behavior, because, he asides quietly, he knows Rachel bothers Don. Um yeah, in the "hot and..." sense. Sorry, this show makes me go all Catskills.