The "Commissions and Fees" to Happiness

Image Credit: AMC

We all knew something was going to happen, we just were unsure when, and to whom. Mad Men's persistent death omens finally took center stage last night. That noose Don Draper was drawing at the commencement of the season reappeared, as Lane Pryce took his own life after Don discovered that Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's financial officer had embezzled $7,800 to pay taxes in England. His suicide immediately left the partners of the agency in a state of sorrow and dismay and marked the departure of a third character from the ad agency this season. All these departures were built upon power, or lack thereof, and not only did anxiety, discontent, and shame prevail last night, but so did power. Lane lost his frugal occupation the second he forged Don's signature onto the check; it was inevitable. But, how do Peggy, Megan and Lane's resignations fit together? What is the key element, besides power? It's simple. It's Mad Men's protagonist, the middle-aged creative genius of an ad man who has experienced many rebirths in his own life, Don Draper.

Don's had a moral journey this season; an emotion filled ride that really began long before this show ever started. He has scowled at Pete's adulterous night with a prostitute in "Lady Lazarus," raced to stop Joan from lending herself to one of Jaguar's executives for the night in "The Other Woman," yet in the show's first four seasons he's spent several extravagant nights with some of New York's prostitutes. He ceased caring for his creative work for half the season, until receiving a wake up call from Burt Cooper urging him to end his "love leave," even though he has always been focused on the quality of his ad pitches. Work was important, yet Don has pushed aside his creative genius for much of this season until "Dark Shadows," when he left Ginsberg's campaign for Snowball in the taxi cab in exchange for his own slogan and idea. He's risen to the top, just like Lane. We, as viewers, all desperately hoped Don's downward spiral after his divorce and his beloved Anna's death would end, and it has, putting Don back in control of both his own life and SCDP's. Indeed, Lane's demise may actually be the calm before the storm. The moral, renewed Don Draper may be in for a gut check next week.

"What's happiness? It's a moment before you need more happiness," says Don at his meeting with Dow Chemical's Ed Baxter on Monday morning. Unfortunately, Lane didn't get this speech or memo from Don before succumbing to his shame of stealing that money from SCDP. But, will his wife and son Nigel now be deported back to England? Speak of happiness, it's always been debated within this series. What does happiness mean to Lane? Obviously not head of the fiscal control committee for the American Association of Advertising Agencies, which Lane was granted at his breakfast date with a friend within the organization. According to Aristotle, happiness, or eudaimonia, is the reason for which human beings were made, and the backbone behind everything we do. This eudaimonia is human beings' telos, or ultimate goal in life. Even though Don's landed the Jaguar account, which seemed to be so coveted within the past two episodes, but even Roger calls it "shitty" and Don's not content with it. He wants something bigger; he mentions Firestone, Chevy, and Dow Chemical as these means to fulfilling his happiness. The grouchy look on Don's face after landing the Jaguar account was not just because of the partners' deal with Joan to acquire the account; it was because Jaguar was a small step for Don.

"You know, you can't keep being the good little boy while the adults run this business," says our testicle free Bert Cooper to Don as he reveals Lane's cancelled check. Bert's quietly been after Don to do more for the agency, even after his "love leave," but did this statement mean more than meets the eye? Assuming Bert can put two and two together, he might have realized this check was forged, and wanted Don to deal with it, since Don refused to support the Joan/Jaguar deal several weeks before.

Speaking of "adults" running the business, Ken Cosgrove really expressed his distaste for the partners, but it's unclear if he specifically meant the Joan/Jaguar situation when answering Roger's inquiry, "No, I won't want to be a partner; I've seen what's involved." It's always been Pete having more say in accounts than Ken, but Ken really did make a power move last night at his Hemisphere Club meeting with Mr. Sterling, demanding that Roger only place Ken in charge of Dow Chemical if Don miraculously landed the account. Once again, it's power and Don Draper that have the ultimate say in this development within the series and the agency.

"I've started over a lot, Lane. This is the worst part," is Don's reassurance to Lane after his firing. Boy, was Don right. Roger and Don return from their Monday morning meeting with Baxter and those pretentious Dow Chemical folk to discover that the office is empty, except for Bert, Joan, and Pete, sitting at a table with a bottle of alcohol. Pete looks frightened, Joan is in tears, so Bert just blatantly states, "Lane hanged himself." Don takes a moment to sit down, in shock, wondering how much of this was his fault. Really though, Don was the icing on the cake, since Lane's been on a downward spiral since his season four Playboy Bunny fiasco. After learning that Lane's still hanging from his noose, Don sprints towards Lane's office, offering to do something nice for Lane. Cutting Lane down from the noose is the least Don can do, since he cannot rehire Lane now. The moment when Roger, Pete, and Don stand frozen gazing at Lane's stiff, grossly purple, and sad countenance is when the fear and sadness truly sink in for these three. They looked death right in the face, and saw one of their friends and colleagues stricken by it. Don immediately grabs Lane, and Pete stands on the table to cut the noose, and Roger stands still for a second longer. Was he wondering, "could that be me?" It really could have been, if Roger didn't have that LSD-trip-of-an-enlightenment in "Far Away Places," but we'll really never know what Roger thought in that split second in Lane's office. After cutting Lane down, they lay him to rest for the coroner on his couch, offering some peace for the beloved Brit. Roger finds a letter addressed to all the partners, but when they rejoin Bert and Joan in the hall, they open it to only find a letter of resignation. Lane let the before mentioned worst part of starting over get the best of him, only to leave the agency in a similar sorrow and dismay that he has left his wife and son.

RIP Lane, we'll miss you at SCDP.

"You'll tell them that the next day will be better, cause it always is." Now let's see if Don is right. And how will Lane's suicide continue to affect Don? We know Don's lengthy car ride with Glen helped him clear his head a bit, but still. Why do the majority of Don car scenes in this series turn out to be some of the best? And there's been several of them this season. Is Don's moral journey actually bothering him? What's the cost of doing the right thing? A fellow colleague killing himself? And has Roger's enlightenment really worn off? Will Dow Chemical be calling Roger and Don back, and will Ken be able to oust Pete Campbell, finally?

Lastly, we know tomorrow will be better for Sally. She was comforted by Betty after rushing home from the museum, terrified that she had had her first period. And yet, even as Betty offered consolation to her daughter, she still took the moment to attack Megan, bluntly asserting over the telephone, "she needed her mother." Ouch. Poor Megan. Or as Betty calls her, the child-bride.

Next week, "The Phantom." Don comes crashing down from his moral journey? He's only remarried, resettled, and acquired a major account in the midst of his identity crisis, his divorce, his shame of his past life, and his loss of his dear Anna Draper. Quick theory: Joan's going to be there to help him out. Maybe the next day is, indeed, better.