Ho-Ho-Ho

By Angel Cohn

Pete finally lands the whale of a client he's been looking for in the form of his delusional old college pal Horace "Ho-Ho" Cook. The guy has a dream to make jai alai the national pastime, with the help of the Sterling Cooper marketing team. He wants to take one of the sport's rising stars and give him an adventure show that will air on all three networks (in color!) and do print campaigns as well. Don sees that the guys are just happy to milk this fatted calf and his multi-million dollar bankroll, and tries to put a stop to the unseemly and mildly unethical behavior. But even Bert Cooper and Horace Sr. are on board with the waste of money in order to teach Ho-Ho a lesson and give him a reality check.

The team has hit a brick wall with their other big client, Patio. Their commercial director quit, so Sal steps up to the plate. He's delighted, so much so that he does the entire opening number of Bye-Bye Birdie, with dance moves, for his increasingly confused and highly adorable wife. But even after Sal's commercial delivers a lovingly and carefully crafted shot-by-shot recreation of the famed scene, the Patio people don't like it, because they belatedly realize that not every redhead is Ann-Margret.

Peggy has had it with her apartment and her two-hour-a-day commute and decides to move to the city, and while her sister Anita is surprisingly supportive of this decision (if a smidge jealous), Peggy's mom is none too pleased. She tells Peggy in short that she'll be raped if she goes to the city, but she's quieted by the sounds of her new TV. Peggy runs into a smidge of trouble in getting a roommate, when she gets pranked by the ad guys after she places a prim and proper ad on the bulletin board. Thankfully, Joan's around to provide sage advice on how to get a fun, swinging single to move in with her. And that's about all the Joan we get, aside from her killing the insects that escaped from the ant farm after a jai alai incident.

Meanwhile, a very pregnant Betty is having trouble coping with her father and her life in general. Given the fact that Gene's been letting a delighted Sally drive a car and eat ice cream during the day, letting Bobby wear the helmet of a dead German soldier while regaling him with tales of women and "the clap," lecturing Betty about the dangers of smoking (so forward thinking!), telling stories about how Betty used to be fat and generally complaining about her choice in husband, her dismay is understandable. However, Betty's still shocked when Gene collapses and dies at the supermarket. Thankfully, he left very detailed funeral arrangements. Sally's the most obviously distraught, though Betty seems to be suffering a silent pain after losing both of her parents. Still, Sally rips into her parents and aunt and uncle and then is forced to seek comfort in TV.

Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why vloggers Val and Beth think the ladies of Mad Men have it good in TV is the Answer. And check back soon for the full recap!

Provenance
Original URL
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com:80/show/mad_men/the_arrangements.php
Captured
2009-09-11
Page Type
recap (100%)
Wayback Machine
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