Changes VIBRATE through Sterling Cooper

By Married Media Archives
Cover image for  article: Changes VIBRATE through Sterling Cooper

Shake-ups, clients on shaky ground, and new career prospects vibrate throughout the agency and effect each of its inhabitants in "Indiana Summer", the 11th episode of Mad Men.

In the opening scene, we see Adam Whitman, the brother Don paid off to go away, handing a hotel manager a package marked "Personal" addressed to "Donald Draper, Sterling and Cooper, 405 Madison Ave". After giving the manager five dollars to cover the 40 cent postage for the box, Adam returns to his room, pulls a chair to a pipe, steps onto it, and kicks the chair out from under himself.

Roger has yet to return to the office after his heart attack. Cooper(played by Robert Morse.. Is that great casting or what?!?!) tells Don that "He just got done talking Lucky Strike off a ledge." The client is worried that Roger won't be hands-on on their account any longer and is losing faith in the agency. They need to do something fast to restore their confidence. Cooper has set a big lunch meeting for tomorrow with the client. Roger must be there to reassure them.

Roger comes prematurely back to the office, looking literally gray and moving slowly. "I shall be both dog and pony.", he announces. Cooper dispatches Joan to work her magic with makeup on Roger so that he doesn't scare the clients. Joan has been missing Roger in his absence, but in her role as "other woman",must keep it on the downlow. When they're alone, Roger kisses her and tells her he's missed her too. (He sure is putting on a good show of having recommitted to his marriage, however, and it's a show that Joan has definitely viewed!)

Roger enters the meeting and tries to make happy talk with the client. Just as he picks up a sandwich and prepares to sit down and join the discussion, he is stricken with another heart attack. An ambulance is called and Roger is taken away again as his wife scolds Cooper for making him come back too soon. The client, played by the wonderful John Cullum, tells Cooper that they still need reassurance. "We like Draper", he tells Cooper, "perhaps you better show him you appreciate him too."

Cooper ends up offering Draper a partnership in the firm. Don is thrilled and leaves early to celebrate, telling Peggy to do the same.

Psycho Pete and the other boys have been speculating since Roger's first attack about Don's chances for advancement and what that would mean to each of them. Of course, Pete feels that he deserves Don's current spot if Don moves up. Pete asks his secretary to watch Cooper's door and report back to him as soon as Don and Cooper end their meeting. When they do, Pete offers his congrats to Don and immediately tells Don he'd like to "throw his hat into the ring" for head of Account Service, a position which Don, as new partner, gets to fill.

While all this jockeying for position is going on, the agency is also faced with coming up with a new name and campaign for a new product. It is a weight loss device for women which, for lack of a better term, is a vibrating electric panty. The new client claims that wearing this device will simulate exercise and stimulate weight loss. The boys are at a loss for how to describe this device and the few wives that tried it were not much help. They remember that Peggy was a great help with the lipstick account and that she's also a bit on the chunky side. They call her in to the brainstorm, and ask her to take it home, try it out, and give them her thoughts.

She does so, and yes indeed, the device is both stimulating and simulating, as Peggy finds when she slips it on under her nightie to give it a try. In her notes that she shares with Don the next day, she tries to communicate what she felt while wearing it, despite being embarrassed to discuss it with Don, her boss. He rightly guesses that it "provides the sensation of a man, without the man". Well, I suppose that would burn calories!!!

As the episode ends, Don is home celebrating his promotion with his wife (despite having spent a good deal of the beginning of the epi in bed with Rachel the client, who he is telling is "where he ought to be." ) and Psycho Pete is at the office after hours, trying Don's office on for size. He finds the package marked "Personal" that was delivered to Don at the end of the day.. AND STEALS IT.

Only two episodes left of this stunning first season, and it gets better every week.

 

(Originally published 10-18-07)

Copyright ©2024 MediaVillage, Inc. All rights reserved. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.