"The Phantom" of Success

Image Credit: AMC

Peggy's back???!
Roger takes LSD, and flashes New York City.
Pete gets beat up, again.
And Don, well, returns to being Don.
"The Phantom," Mad Men's fifth season finale, did much to sift and work through the dangling plot lines of the season, even quickly answering a question many viewers thought would not be addressed, ever again, one of Peggy's future on the show. As to the episode title, its relevance is the "phantom" that Megan's mother, Marie Calvet, claims she is pursuing through her acting career. Yet, there was more than one "phantom" within the episode, as Don's deceased brother, Adam Whitman resurfaced, and Lane's absence played a prominent role within the dealings of the SCDP partners. There's so much to talk about and connect from this episode that it may be best to start with the minor development that will surely make a difference next season, regardless of how small or big the time jump is.

Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is now expanding, after their 1967 first quarter revenues spiked 34%. Now, initially Joan is uneasy about the potential of expanding their offices, and she glances to the empty chair in-between a disgruntled Pete and a toothache aggravated Don to seek agreement from Lane, but he's absent. For good. If he was there, he'd completely agree with Joan's cautious disagreement towards the change. In one of the closing scenes of the finale, the partners head upstairs to the empty thirty-eighth floor to evaluate their new, promising space. Even as they all gather on the floor above the agency, there is a sense of uneasiness and risk in expansion, yet hope for a successful future. What once was a company struggling to make ends meet and acquire clients after the loss of Lucky Strike is now thriving with Jaguar. They all want to create more success, and procure more fame and fortune in the advertising world. This space will offer them just that, but at the expense of the money left over from Lane's death benefit Joan received from SCDP's insurance company.....

"Don't leave here without thinking you've done anything for anyone but yourself," says Rebecca Pryce to Don after he delivers her a check for $50,000 to assist Rebecca and Nigel. After Joan shows Don the death benefit check for $175,000, Don takes it upon himself, without the partners' approval, to do what he feels is right in the aftermath of tragedy. What he really does is piss off and upset Rebecca even more. Lane's dead, and not even Don can change that. Even if he threw a million dollars at Rebecca, she would not be happy. The scene in the Pryce's apartment is awkward, and Lane is only mentioned indirectly, when Don stutters his condolences to Rebecca. Don doesn't know any better of how to react in this situation. He's lost loved ones of his own (Anna, Adam), but he has boxed up his emotions from these deaths, and has even avoided confronting Adam's suicide until this moment. When Rebecca flashes Don the photo of Dolores, who she believes to be some sort of mistress of Lane's, Don knows he's overdone his stay. He cannot address her any further, as she begins to interrogate him on Lane's adulterous actions. Don feels wretched and guilty in this moment, seeming that he even paid a prostitute for a night with Lane back in season four. Yet, it seems Don has a lot of revelations in this episode, beyond the fact that his actions aided two men down treacherous paths.

"It's so dark, Peter. I just get to this place, and I suddenly feel a door open, and I wanna walk through it," claims Beth Dawes of her mental instability. Sound familiar? Maybe when Don opened the elevator door and the elevator was missing? Beth cannot walk through the door; she's troubled, restless, and confused. Pete considers her as a way out of his misery, and he has since this season's beautifully crafted episode, "Lady Lazarus." Well, his second chance with Beth arrives, but even after an afternoon with her in Hotel Pennsylvania, Pete is unable to convince her to run away with him. Beth decides to take the electroshock treatment Howard has checked her into the hospital for, and forget about her affair with our favorite slime ball, Pete Campbell. Before Beth leaves the hotel room, Pete utters a final plea, stating, "Don't tell me you're not happy right now. Don't tell me you don't feel better." Pete for sure feels better with Beth. But there is more importance to this line than just this simple farewell scene with Beth. A lot of Mad Men's core development is built on its characters striving for what they want, hoping to obtain their definition of happiness. And we, the audience, every week, cheer them on, as ruthless as their motives and actions may be. "The Phantom," in particular, does a superb job in elevating our favorite ad men and women's emotions to prove that they mainly, even SCDP-free Peggy, are not happy. Even though many of our beloved characters may feel they have succeeded, it's merely a phantom to them. Unhappiness and discontent will return sooner or later. Maybe just as quick as Roger's "enlightenment" wore off. For example, Pete goes to visit Beth in the hospital after her treatment, and she has no idea who he is. For a moment, he sits next to her, explaining that he came to visit a friend. She inquires what was wrong with his friend, and he tells her his story. Pete's devastated; he's in a middle-aged crisis of becoming a stationary man in life, especially with Trudy wanting to build the enormous pool in their suburban home's backyard. He has no one, not even a friend, to talk to about it but Beth. Yet, he has to address himself in the third person. That's just how miserable Pete is. He's not happy. And he never will be. At the end of the finale, he does manage to finagle an apartment in New York City after lying to Trudy about falling asleep at the wheel, rather than getting beat up, not once, but twice, on the train ride home. He'll be excited with it for a day, then gloomy again.

"It's not your tooth that's rotten," states the apparition of Adam Whitman to a drugged Don in the midst of his tooth removal. Adam's persistent presence in the finale is a phantom reminder to Don of both Adam and Lane's suicides. In Adam's circumstance, Don paid Adam to go away and never bother him again, and then Adam hung himself. Don wanted to push aside his problems and forget about his past life and true identity, that of Dick Whitman, the poor son of a prostitute who took advice from a hobo about running away from home. In Lane's circumstance, after Lane felt ashamed for his embezzlement of funds from the agency and hung himself, Don offered money to help mend the situation. In both situations, money played a role, but never helped. It only brought pain, or continued grief. What rotten luck for Don. Back to the significance of the tooth in a second...

There's nothing like a pivotal moment in Don Draper's life without Peggy Olson, or in Peggy's life without Don. Some of the best scenes in the series have occurred from Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss' chemistry, and their scene in the finale is another to add to the list. Now, when Don runs into Peggy at an afternoon showing of a movie, he's delighted to see her. Their discussion is quick, as the film begins a few minutes after Don sits down, yet it is meaningful, not only to their relationship, but the understanding of Don's actions in the finale. Don knows Peggy is not returning to SCDP anytime soon, and is proud of her success. While they are discussing Peggy's new job, he mutters to her,"that's what happens when you help someone. They succeed and move on." And he stops for a moment. Don's helped Peggy rise from secretary to copywriter to the creative director at her new agency. Now he must help Megan, another important woman in his life, succeed. He always wanted Megan to be that housewife, sitting at home when he returns from work, but it's only making her miserable. She needs his support in her acting career in order to succeed. Peggy's moved on, but she hasn't forgotten about Don. Don just hopes Megan won't forget about him when she becomes a successful actress, and that's why he's been afraid to let her go.

"You're in bad shape, Dick." Is Don really, especially at the end of the episode? I mentioned this show has been built on the notion of the characters striving for what they believe is happiness, and we hoping that they achieve it. We know Roger's in good shape once again, as he takes his second round of LSD and watches the New York City skyline. After his time with Peggy at the movies, Don returns to SCDP to watch Megan Calvet's screen test. Notice the italics. The black and white image of Megan shoots by the screen, as her smile brings a smile to Don's face. He's in love, and doesn't want to let her go, but he needs to help her succeed. Eventually, Megan lands the role on the Butler Shoes commercial, and Don is there on the set to wish her luck. Before the shooting commences, Don walks off the set, and the set with Megan on it slowly diminishes from our view. One theory is that Don is walking back into his old life once again, as Megan may just be another woman, another phase in his life. Betty was an actress too, and she ceased being one to become a housewife. Megan refuses to settle for that. She has her dreams, and wants more, and with Don's support attains exactly what she wanted. But, Don's strut away and his assistance might just be a transition for their marriage. She was by Don's side in SCDP for the first half of the season, then quit, and promised to revive her acting career. Now that she's achieved it, she's moving on, just like Peggy moved on from SCDP to another agency. Is the "rotten" tooth a microcosm of the Don Draper we've watched this season? Just like the tooth, has Don slowly sauntered back into his "rotten" ways? Has Don actually turned rotten once again, as he enters the bar? The only person aside from Matthew Weiner that will know the answer to that question is the blonde woman who asked Don, "are you alone?" before the finale's last scene cuts to black.

Image Credit: AMC

The song played during the final scene of the finale was "You Only Live Twice," by Nancy Sinatra. The interesting fact about this song is that it premiered in the James Bond film of the same title in June 1967. Now, as we are aware, the events of "The Phantom" took place during March 1967, but Matthew Weiner has always stayed consistent with the release dates of songs, and has chosen not to play them on his show unless they have already debuted before the time period of the episode. So, the events beginning with the five partners gazing out the Madison Avenue window on the soon-to-be second floor of SCDP might have occurred in June 1967.

Here's a few facts and observations to back up this theory:

• Joan mentioned "tabling" the discussion of the expansion until June. Even though SCDP received money from the death benefit, there was no confirmation that the partners would immediately place that money on the new office space.
• Pete was beat up pretty badly on the train. Those injuries were probably sustained for a few solid weeks. There were no signs of his black eye, swollen lip, and bloody chin in either the scene on the 38th floor or the scene showing him with a set of headphones on.
• Peggy never mentioned when she was flying to Virginia to tour the factory that was producing the women's cigarettes. By the look of the outside scenery where those two dogs were mating, it looked pretty nice out for a March evening.
• At the partners meeting, Joan does mention that Butler Shoes was aiming to shoot their commercial in the next quarter, which June 1967 would fall within.

Thoughts? When Mad Men returns in nine months, will Sterling Cooper Draper (RIP Lane) have Dow Chemical? Will Megan still be around? How much screen time will Betty receive next season? Or Peggy? How many times will Roger have taken LSD? What will Bert Cooper's office look like? Will everyone stop hating Harry Crane? Will the expansion of SCD open the door to more new characters? Lastly, how big of a time jump will there be?