Mad Men - Recap: Friendly Fire

Each story was in service of a larger arc about identity and perception. I've previously talked about how perception has been an ongoing theme throughout season six, and "The Quality of Mercy" continues that narrative throughline by presenting a series of stories in which people who feel relatively safe in their identities are suddenly challenged by the knowledge that they're not perceived in the way they thought. This comes out in the storyline with Bob Benson (James Wolk), but also in the developing affair between Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and Ted (Kevin Rahm), as Don is quick to disabuse them of the notion that they're somehow being subtle about their affections. Even Sally's storyline reflects an issue of perception, not only among her own peers, but in relation to her mother, as Betty (January Jones) spends the episode concerned that Sally is upset with her, in some fashion. All these stories come together to make "The Quality of Mercy" thoroughly engaging throughout, not simply narratively, but thematically as well.

Credit: AMC

Don is reeling from his falling out with Sally last week, and he puts his mind off of it by burying himself in work. Sally, for her part, wants to get as far away from her father as possible, and requests that Betty send her to a boarding school. Betty is suspicious about Sally's reasoning, and grills her in the car about what happened that has prompted her to suddenly want to move. Sally lets Betty believe it's boy trouble, just to put an end to the line of questioning, though Betty doesn't seem entirely convinced. The admissions interview goes well, and Sally is given the opportunity to stay overnight at the school. She meets Mandy and Millicent, two alpha females who initially bully Sally around, perceiving her to be some drab yokel with limited social graces. However, Sally quickly bonds with the girls by proving her worth, securing cigarettes and boys for them. On the boy front, it's really just Glen (Marten Weiner) and his friend, Rolo. Things seem to go well enough, but the situation quickly gets out of hand due to Rolo perceiving Sally as an easy lay, assuming that she invited them over for a reason.

Rolo tries to force things, but it's easy to see that even if Rolo had been a completely charming, handsome guy, Sally would still have been completely turned off to the idea of sexuality of any kind, given what she saw last week. And really, Rolo is about as far from charming as they get, as the kid proves himself to be a total skeeze. Sally goes to the adjacent room and interrupts Glen's pow-wow with one of the other girls. She tells him what Rolo tried to do, and Glen loses his temper and gets into a fight with his friend, saying that Sally is like a sister to him. Though the fight gets broken up, Glen has to leave Sally to chase after Rolo, as the weirdo is his ride home. As for Sally's ride home, Betty offers Sally a cigarette once she realizes that whatever Sally had been going through had nothing to do with her. However, Betty registers a look of concern when Sally implies that her father has never given her anything in her life, a cold line delivered with severity. Betty doesn't know what Sally saw just yet, and I imagine it's part of what's plaguing Don's mind at the moment, as he fears that Betty could find out at any moment and blow up his spot. But Sally, for better or worse, has shown that she isn't quite the gossip-monger that Mandy or Millicent are. Thus, Don's secrets are probably safe for another week, at least.

Credit: AMC

As for Don, his feud with Ted Chaough comes to a head, in an unexpected fashion. While out seeing Rosemary's Baby with Megan (Jessica Pare), the couple runs into Peggy and Ted at the theater. The latter couple tries to rationalize their presence at the theater by saying that they're doing research for a St. Joseph's ad campaign for children's aspirin. However, Megan shoots Don an OMG face to show just how little she bought the explanation. Don, for his part, didn't exactly buy it either. To make matters worse, Peggy and Ted aren't the least bit subtle about their blossoming romance, as they're constantly joking and indulging in mutual admiration during meetings, prompting Ginsberg (Ben Feldman) to announce his need to go to the bathroom, just to see if Ted would approve an idea that didn't come from Peggy. The Ted/Peggy flirtations lead to some of the more amusing moments of the episode. In addition to the Ginsberg quip, Ted, Peggy and Joan (Christina Hendricks) stage their St. Joseph's pitch for Don: a hilarious send-up of Rosemary's Baby that has Joan pretending to be an old Jewish lady, and Don playing the part of the baby, for whatever reason. It's tremendous stuff that provides a lighthearted setup for what's to follow, as Don briefly glances Ted placing his hand on Peggy's hip, which further sets off his internal alarms. Though Don would never go after Peggy romantically, there does seem to be an undercurrent of jealousy here, as if Don is bitter that these people have discovered something he's incapable of having himself: a love that, in some respects, is pure. You know, if we ignore the whole "Ted having a wife" thing. Of course, the ironic part is that while Don is the champion of infidelity himself, he can't seem to abide it in others. This comes to a subtly explosive conclusion at the St. Joseph's pitch meeting.

When the St. Joseph's execs arrive in the office and complain about the budget for the ad needing to be raised (in order to accommodate the Rosemary's Baby-themed commercial Ted and Peggy came up with), Ted doesn't have a good enough reason to justify the increase. The St. Joseph's exec wants to hear a real reason, and not simply some trumped-up bit of corporate doublespeak. And so Don interjects and states that the reason Ted is hesitant to give his real reason for the budgetary increase is because that reason is exceedingly personal. Ted doesn't know what Don means, but the subtext quickly becomes clear: as Don's speech goes on, Ted and Peggy begin to worry because it seems as though Don is going to out their relationship by citing Ted's feelings for Peggy as the cause for the increase in budget, the rationale being that the only reason Ted is going through with this expensive version of the ad is because it was Peggy's idea, and Ted is too blinded by love to recognize this. Moss and Rahm do remarkable work in this scene, as you can see their recognition that the noose is slowly tightening around their necks. Jon Hamm also plays the hell out of the scene, half-bully and half-businessman, he's essentially threatening Ted with what he knows. However, Don allows Ted and Peggy to breathe a sigh of relief by revealing that the reason for the expensive approach is because it was Frank Gleason's last idea before passing.

Credit: Jessica Brooks/AMC

The St. Joseph's men happily accept the reasoning, and everything is gravy. Except for the little business of Don nearly humiliating Ted and Peggy in front of a room full of clients. Ted confronts Don, who tells him that he isn't thinking with his head, and that everyone in the office can see what's going on between him and Peggy. Ted is incredulous, but Don insists that the perception around the office is exactly what he says it is. In essence, Ted needs to get his emotions under control and start putting the firm ahead of his own romance. But Peggy doesn't take too kindly to the message, and storms into Don's office. Don says he did what he did for the agency, but Peggy doesn't believe that for one second. "You're a monster," she says with disgust, after chiding him for his self-important attitude. Try as Don might to be perceived as a shrewd, savvy businessman, his former protege sees him as the farthest thing from a human, at the moment. And I'm not entirely sure she's wrong in her assertion. As Don curls up in the couch in the fetal position, it becomes apparent that he might just be Rosemary's Baby after all.

Credit: AMC

The other big development of the episode was Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) discovering the truth about Bob Benson. Not the truth about his sexuality, but the revelation about his past: Bob Benson is pulling a Don Draper. Turns out, the wunderkind isn't who he says he is. He isn't from Wisconsin, he never went to Wharton, and he was never an investment banker. Hell, "Bob Benson" likely isn't even his real name. Pete is compelled to get to the bottom of the Bob Benson mystery after Ken (Aaron Staton) requests a transfer off of the Chevy account. Between the car accidents, the frat boy antics, and now, a hunting accident in which he takes a blast of quail shot to the face, Ken has no interest in being around the Chevy men any longer, no matter how lucrative the account happens to be. And so Pete takes up the slack, but is assigned Bob Benson as his partner, against his wishes. To get to the bottom of things, Pete calls Duck Phillips (Mark Moses) to perform a background check on the boy wonder, at which point Pete learns that Bob was once a "manservant" to a senior vice president of a major company. He's actually from rural West Virginia, and likely has faked his way into many other high-profile jobs. While Pete is incensed at the information, he ultimately doesn't use it against Bob. Instead, he takes the tactically shrewd approach and uses it to gain a valuable ally.

The Pete-Bob confrontation is the highlight of the episode, as Pete brings Bob to heel by revealing everything he's discovered about him, before revealing that he's encountered Bob's kind before. Not homosexuals, but people who fake their identities, as Pete made the very same discovery about Don back in season one. He also learned that these sorts of people are not to be tangled with, and so Pete announces that he's surrendering. He extends Bob his hand and offers a partnership. Pete will keep Bob's secret and allow him to continue working here, and in exchange, Bob will report to Pete on all matters. In addition, Bob is never to flirt with Pete again ("I'm off-limits."). A mystified Bob accepts the deal, and I'm immediately intrigued at how this storyline will pan out. If nothing else, the story provides Vincent Kartheiser with the opportunity to really show how he's grown as an actor. And James Wolk is every bit as good, from the moment Bob realizes that the jig is up, to the point where he recognizes he's got no choice but to go along with Pete's offer. It's great acting that again plays upon the subject of perception, as Bob wasn't nearly as well-integrated as he'd thought.

"The Quality of Mercy" is another uniformly strong episode for Mad Men, and next week's finale looks to deliver more of the same, though Lord knows if we'll know anything about what to expect, going in. Matthew Weiner is notoriously guarded about spoilers getting out, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's some huge event in the offing. Then again, I'm not sure it would surprise me if the finale were just business as usual. But would anyone be wrong to have high expectations after two stellar weeks of bombshell storytelling? Mad Men remains of one TVs most confidently-paced shows, so one would think the series is building to something huge. There's an aura of dread that's lingering throughout the narrative, though I'm not sure if anything as cataclysmic as Lane Pryce's suicide will come to pass this year. But the possibilities for this show really are endless, and that's not something many series can say, much less any that have run for six seasons.