While "Mad Men" was winning the Emmy for best drama series on NBC, in Season 4, Episode 6 of the series over on AMC, Don Draper was winning a Clio. And show creator and writer Matthew Weiner was commenting on awards and credit.
Don wins a Clio for his Glo Coat ad, one that Peggy says she had a lot to do with. Does he give her any credit or even let her go along to the awards ceremony? No. Instead, he orders her to work with the insufferable art director, Stan, on a cough drop campaign.
Don goes off to the awards ceremony and drinks his way through it. By the time his award is announced, he's looped and way too excited about winning that award.
But before Don and Roger can go off to celebrate, Don and Pete must go back and present a campaign to the Life cereal people. Don, who has let the award and the booze go to his head, wings it in the presentation. When the original idea doesn't fly, he improvises, coming up with a slogan that he has inadvertently filched from a hapless young job applicant from the episode's early scene. "Life -- a cure for the common cereal." Peggy knows that it's a pilfered idea, but the clients love it.
Don goes back to celebrating, and after an unsuccessful attempt to pick up Faye Miller, he goes off with a woman, some sort of ad man groupie, it appears. That was Friday night. He wakes up on Sunday to an angry phone call from She Who Must Not Be Named (OK, Betty) and with a waitress named Doris in his bed. Betty is furious because Don was supposed to pick up the kids. He tells Betty that he is "under the weather." He quickly gets rid of the nice waitress and seems to regret his bender. But then he has another drink.
Meanwhile, Peggy shows the repugnant art director who's boss. When he continually extols nudity and sex and belittles her about how uptight she is, she calls his bluff -- stripping to remove his excuse for not working. It was wonderful to watch her power over him. She enjoyed it, too.
When Peggy finally gets to Don and tells him that he stole the "cure for the common cereal" idea, she tells him to "fix it" -- a line he has used on her. He tries to buy the idea from the young job applicant (who is Roger's trophy wife's cousin). Instead, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce ends up with a new employee.
Roger, meanwhile, spends some of the episode working on his memoirs, and we see in flashback how fur salesman Don weaseled his way into Sterling Cooper. Don had sold a fur to Roger, which Roger later presented to Joan. Don knew too much about Roger, but that's not the key to how he got the job. Don appears to have conned Roger, relying on Roger's drunkenness to cloud his memory. We also see how Roger feels ever more slighted by Don. He finally does get his thanks.
Peggy never gets her credit, but she may yet.
Other stuff from the episode:
- As they await the award announcement, Roger and Don each clutch one of Joan's hands under the table.
- The ceremony is interrupted by a cameo heckling from a drunk Duck Phillips.
- The very distinguished looking John Aniston plays the master of ceremonies.
- The waitress calls Don Dick.
- Harry spills the beans on "Peyton Place" plot points because he gets the scripts.
- Lane hires Ken Cosgrove, then lets Pete slap Ken around a little -- perhaps because, as Lane said, he is fond of Pete.
- When Don is talking to Faye after the award, he says, "The work is still the same."
- Jon Hamm's comedic flair and dramatic talent were on glorious display in this episode. I cringed as I watched Don's drunken antics and his feeble attempt at nice date talk with the waitress.
