Mad Men Season 4, Episode 5: "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword"

All right, let's see if I can decipher the notes I made in the dark while watching last night...

[As usual, the standard disclaimer applies: I have avoided reading any other recaps, writeups, or other commentary on this episode before writing this, so if I express something similar to thoughts you've read elsewhere, it's entirely a coincidence. If you have not watched the episode, assume there are spoilers ahead and act accordingly.]

I liked the balance in this episode between the office stuff and the family stuff, plus that meant not a lot of room for Mopey Don. He seems a little better, but not much. He's still seeing Bethany, but just barely--three dates in five months, according to her. By my count it's been four months since the events in the season's first episode, but whatever.

It seemed like the meeting with the executives from Honda had everyone off balance, at least at first. Even putting aside Roger's feelings about doing business with the Japanese (certainly valid, but also short-sighted), it must have been strange in this era to have to navigate business dealings with foreigners.

But once things got rolling, we got some classic Don Draper gamesmanship, tricking rival agency CDC into making a spec commercial by making them think SCDP was making one. I was wondering, though: when Don returned Honda's front money, why was it from his own bank account and not the agency's?

Poor neglected, misunderstood Sally. There are so many places her story can go, but I have to admit I didn't see this one coming. Henry seems to have much more of a clue than Betty regarding parenting; I don't think we know anything about his first wife, but I'm hoping some of the details get filled in. Meanwhile, if Sally does have to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Edna seems like she's a pretty astute and kind one, so we'll see how that goes.

Speaking of Dr. Edna, the scene with her and Betty nicely dovetailed with the one just before it with Don and Dr. Faye in the SCDP kitchen. Each former spouse is speaking with a mental health professional (though in different contexts), and each reveals something fairly personal and intimate.

Don says, ”Why does everyone need to talk about everything?” but then he does just that: he talks to Dr. Faye about how difficult it's been to deal with being a father to his children in the aftermath of the divorce. Don rarely opens up to anyone the way he did in this scene. Dr. Faye tells Don that people feel better after they express their feelings, but we don't get any sense about that from Don either way, at least not yet. However, I assume that this growing intimacy between them is eventually going to lead to some sort of romantic encounter, or at least a tryst on the SCDP conference table.

Betty brushed off Dr. Edna's suggestion that Betty should come in for sessions as well, but when the doctor rephrased it as a monthly progress report on Sally, Betty seemed okay with it. Then at the end of the scene, Betty looks wistfully over at the dollhouse in Dr. Edna's office. For the childlike Betty, it represents both her memories of childhood, as well as her wishes and dreams for what she thought adulthood, marriage, and motherhood would be.

Will either Don or Betty ever come to a deeper understanding of their inner struggles? I don't know.

Apparently, Roger's reference to "Dr. Lyle Evans" was nothing more than a joke on the part of the writers--there was no such person. (I looked this up on Google last night, but didn't read anything else spoilery.) Weird.

Don's secretary was trying to place a "call to California" for him--was he trying to reach Anna?

Oh, hi there Smitty. How do you like working for that dick Ted?