Mad Men - S02E07: The Gold Violin

Ken's story, The Gold Violin, represents this episode perfectly on a thematic level: Beautiful to look at, but there is no music.

There is Salvatore's marriage; functional, and there is mutual understanding, they look after one another - Sal operates on a level that most men of his time did not yet, and didn't for a long time; when Kitty is upset, Sal is completely understanding and knows exactly what to do, he even loves here, though not in the same way she loves him. This is all great but there is no music, or magic, due to his hidden sexual identity.

Don gets hired as the the public face of Sterling & Cooper, a new tux and Cadillac follow; these things are great, but what can they really do. As well as the Draper family, their picnic looks so perfect, but everything is founded on a lie, and operating under repression. When Don is confronted by Jimmy, the tux and Cadillac didn't help him one bit did they? I absolutely loved that scene - Don was nearly in tears, and I finally understand the point of Jimmy Barrett on Mad Men. I wonder if Betty knew that Don had been confronted by Jimmy about his affair - that would have made it feel much more awkward and real. As Don and Betty are driving home in the Cadillac in silence, Betty vomits - a cocktail of truth and champagne. Don has all of these nice things, but it is the vomit he is deserving of, and he knows it. Another interesting aspect - confirmed by Jimmy's observation, "Look at us. Over here on the kids table" - are the similarities between Jimmy and Betty. Both are somewhat 'childish' and immature, they both use their talents to get people to like or respect them; Jimmy's humour and Betty's beauty - even though Jimmy knows they don't really respect him -, and both have controlling and dominant spouses who regularly cheat on them.

While Don was at the car dealership he had a flashback to when he was a car salesman (humble new identity beginnings), as Don Draper at that point too. A woman came to visit him and told him that he wasn't Don Draper. Perhaps she was the recipient of 'Meditations of an Emergency' from the season opener.

Ken is invited by Salvatore for dinner with him and his wife. Salvatore was eyeing him all night, and probably invited him over so he could be close to another man. Also, I think his attraction has grown after reading his work and the comment Ken made about Cooper's new Rothko painting - this leads me to my next topic.

The new girl, Jane, charms the hesitant guys to go with her to check out Bert Cooper's new Rothko painting - Sal is surprised and impressed with her confidence. Jane also easily fends off Ken's advances on her. We are seeing that Joan may have a contender - I assume Joan started out in a similar way, and she did hire the girl... I think Joan simply feels threatened by her - so she fires Jane after finding out about them going into Cooper's office. Jane conveniently stops by Roger's office on her way out to say 'goodbye'. I believe she stopped in there knowing she could get her job back from Roger. Roger is either trying to get back at Joan, or wants to get into Jane's pants - hey, probably both.

Mad Men won four Creative Arts Emmys, Outstanding Main Title Design, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" won for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, and Outstanding Cinematography for a One-Hour Series. "Shoot" won for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series. They are up for five at the Primetime Emmy Awards, so let's hope they come back with a few.