When Pete left the room, Cooper says to Don, "Keep an eye on that one. You never know where loyalty is born ." Strange turn of phrase to describer someone who just tried to do the opposite. Is this foreshadowing that Pete is going to become slavishly loyal when Don doesn't fire him? At least for a time?

I love the little character scenes in this episode, like the one with Joan and "Orson Welles" (memfault), and the one with the married glasses-guy and (memfault). (Sorry, I'm terrible with names.)

like the one with Joan and "Orson Welles" (memfault)

Yeah, that was a fabulous scene.

Really great acting this episode. Lots of stuff conveyed by very little. Small facial expressions, small changes in posture.

This show(and Don himself) have grown on me a lot.

When Pete left the room, Cooper says to Don, "Keep an eye on that one. You never know where loyalty is born ."

Or, "...where loyalty is borne."

I can't believe Cooper is Robert Morse!

How Do Succeed In Business, The Loved One, Robert Morse.

I can't believe Cooper is Robert Morse!

Of course he is! Because he is. that. awesome.

question: do you think Pete will ever have a good relationship with Don? This is the second time where he acted like an asshole to Don. I'd be ready to fire his ass.

I can't see it. Pete just resents Don - he thinks that he is the one doing all the work. What could change that?

BTW, it's been killing me trying to recall where I saw the guy who played the AC salesman before and then he was on this week's CSINY. One of the credits was for an Adam Kaufman. . . who played PARKER on Buffy. Yes, I'm pretty sure that's who that was. (This week's CSINY also featured KD Aubert who played the NYC slayer in season 6.)

Holy crap! I just rewatched that scene and it's totally Parker. Nice catch!

I hear that he's going to be on WAT too.

Salon Magazine on Madmen and The LA Times on the costumes of Mad Men.

I've been thinking about Mad Men re: The Sopranos.

If The Sopranos is in the great American tradition of gangster movies as a metaphor for capitalism, I think Mad Men gets at an even more disquieting metaphor for our culture. It's all lies.

Certainly Mad Men has precedent in movies like The Apartment and The Thrill Of It All and Frank Tashlin's wackaloon media comedies and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.

But I think they are going for the big picture, as in The Sopranos. Which is that the core, definitive element of American culture is pure bullshit. The Sopranos ends on "Don't Stop Believing" as an ode to denial, rationalization and self-justification. Bad Faith, as Sartre would have it.

And that's even more explicit in Mad Men. Cooper's response to Pete's revelation is just the most cynical thing. And it's hard to dismiss.