Mad Men

Sal, an editor, and Lee Garner Jr. look at the film for the new ad.  The editor is sent out to re-record the sound, and Lee confesses he had a long, wet lunch to Sal, and he's saying things he doesn't want getting around.  Lee asks how the shot of the guy looking into the camera is, and Sal says he still thinks it's strange, but they check it out on the monitor.  Lee comes up behind Sal and starts groping him, and Sal immediately gets up.  "C'mon," Lee says.  "He's not coming back for a while.  I'll lock the door."  Sal looks terrified, and protests he's married.  "So am I," Lee replies.    Sal is horrified, and protests there's a misunderstanding, but Lee retorts, "I know what I know."  Sal says the cut should be ready to look at tomorrow.  "I got it.  You're at work.  It's too bad," Lee says, heading out.  Poor Sal looks like he wants to throw up, then grabs a stack of film canisters and hurls them at the wall.

Betty and the kids watch TV while she VO's a new letter to Henry.  The line that gets me is that she doesn't write many letters anymore, so "I apologize in advance if I'm unable to accurately express my thoughts, but I do have thoughts."  There's always a big push/pull with Betty as a character too.  On the one hand, she's a college grad with a degree in Anthropology who speaks fluent Italian and had a successful modeling career.  On the other hand, she's too comfortable in her position as a "housecat" (™ Daddy Gene in "The Fog") to speak up and make a change for herself.  Betty drives a lot of people crazy, but I'm not one of them.  I think the characters on Mad Men are all too finely drawn to hate any of them wholesale, though the writers certainly aren't afraid to have them do things that make you want to punch them in the face.  And that's some foreshadowing on my part.   Don arrives home to find her asleep in the chair, holding a glass of wine.  He looks thoughtful.

Harry and Paul watch TV in Harry's office.  Harry has to make sure they run every commercial, so he's still there.  The phone rings and it's Lee Garner Jr, drunk as the proverbial skunk.  Long and short of it - he wants Sal fired, and he wants Harry to do it.  Harry protests that he doesn't have that power, but Lee says he wants him to take care of it, and keep it just between them.  He gets off the phone, and of course, Paul wants to know what's up.  After a little prodding, Harry confesses.  Paul asks what he's going to do, and Harry says, "I'm not gonna panic and do something stupid like I usually do."  "That's a good start," Paul agrees.  "I can't really do anything, can I?  He was really drunk," Harry goes on, hoping things will magically work themselves out.