I'm way behind in watching this series. But so far this is my favorite episode of season six. I liked the way they juxtaposed songs from the late sixties and from the late thirties (for the flashbacks). Some episodes have used too many movie songs ("You Only Live Twice" in a prior episode, for example). This episode used some sixties' pop songs I had forgotten about, but, having lived through the period, I remember them.
The memory Don had explained a lot about him. He remembered adult women being mean to him, then the one time a woman was kind to him, she turned around and betrayed him (arguably twice). He was brought up in a brothel by people who thought he should not be affected by that. Huh?
Don later remarks, "Every time we work for a car company, this place turns into a brothel." Made complete sense on several levels, including a reference to how Joan became a partner by sleeping with the piggish Jaguar dealer. (The positive side of Don's ambivalence toward women: He was the only man who behaved decently toward Joan when that happened.)
This also made clearer why Don can't get over his wife being an actress who has to pretend to be intimate with other men. Still, it's hard to square Don's "open-mindedness" about many things with his inability to come to grips with his double standard. (It's OK--even necessary--for him to REALLY cheat on his wife, but its not OK for her to PRETEND to be with other men on a soap opera.)
The whole, Dr. Feelgood and his magic syringe bit was bizarre. Hard to believe, but I know it happened. All I could think about when he said, "Oh, it contains some vitamins and other things" was Hitler's private physician who shot the already mad dictator with crazy juice and also claimed that it contained "vitamins".
I gathered that, under the influence, Don spent the whole weekend working on the wrong campaign; proof, if anyone needed it, that drugs don't always help.
The memory Don had explained a lot about him. He remembered adult women being mean to him, then the one time a woman was kind to him, she turned around and betrayed him (arguably twice). He was brought up in a brothel by people who thought he should not be affected by that. Huh?
Don later remarks, "Every time we work for a car company, this place turns into a brothel." Made complete sense on several levels, including a reference to how Joan became a partner by sleeping with the piggish Jaguar dealer. (The positive side of Don's ambivalence toward women: He was the only man who behaved decently toward Joan when that happened.)
This also made clearer why Don can't get over his wife being an actress who has to pretend to be intimate with other men. Still, it's hard to square Don's "open-mindedness" about many things with his inability to come to grips with his double standard. (It's OK--even necessary--for him to REALLY cheat on his wife, but its not OK for her to PRETEND to be with other men on a soap opera.)
The whole, Dr. Feelgood and his magic syringe bit was bizarre. Hard to believe, but I know it happened. All I could think about when he said, "Oh, it contains some vitamins and other things" was Hitler's private physician who shot the already mad dictator with crazy juice and also claimed that it contained "vitamins".
I gathered that, under the influence, Don spent the whole weekend working on the wrong campaign; proof, if anyone needed it, that drugs don't always help.