“I would never do this to you.” – Betty to Don
“A Night To Remember” is the eighth episode of Mad Men Season 2. What’s new and what’s happening?
- Father Gill (Colin Hanks) stops by Peggy’s family’s house for what feels like 18th time in Season 2. He convinces Peggy to help out with the advertising for the church’s CYO dance, and Pegs dubs the event “A Night To Remember.” Overall, Peggy’s homelife in Brooklyn is one of my least favorite parts of Season 2, and we get a good dose of it in this episode.
- Meanwhile, Heineken needs help and Don wants to position the brand for women “entertaining in the home.” A major piece of the episode centers around a dinner party at his house that he invites Roger, Mona, Crab Colson from Rogers & Cowan and his wife Petra, and Duck Philips to.
- Betty and Carla roll out a Trip Around the World feast for the party, and Betty does not take kindly to the fact that Don notes that he had predicted that she would serve Heineken from the meal (it being from The Netherlands and all). What’s behind her anger is her embarrassment and shame of reconciling that Jimmy Barrett was right in his assessment that Don was carrying on an affair with his wife, Bobbie.
- After the party, Betty finally confronts Don: “How could you? She’s so old.” Don stonewalls her, saying it’s all in her head. Later, Don tells her in a pleading tone, “I don’t to lose all this.” By episode’s end, Betty calls Don at the office and tells him not to come home. Just before the closing credits, we see Don sitting alone in the dimly lit office breakroom, drinking a Heineken.
Mad Men, “A Night To Remember”: do we meet anyone new?
- Dan Lindstrom, played by Jonathan Runyon, makes his sole appearance in this episode as the new member of Harry’s television operations team. Danny replaces Joan, the latter of whom is forced to hide her disappointment at having work she found exciting and engaging taken away from her.
Mad Men, “A Night To Remember”: the advertising side of the show
- Duck Phillips reams out Harry Crane for allowing a Maytag TV commercial called “The Amazing Agitator” to air during a TV show that has a storyline involving communism. The implication is that consumers will associate Maytag with communism. And thus, Harry is now ruing his recent promotion as Head of Television at Sterling Cooper.
- Joan is eventually assigned temporarily to help out Harry, and she shines as a natural problem solver and as someone who genuinely enjoys reading through television and commercial scripts.
- When Phil and Frank from Heineken visit Sterling Cooper, they’re sold on Don’s strategy to target upscale women in part because of the “anecdotal findings” from the dinner party – that is, they take it on faith that Betty organically chose Heineken beer to serve at the event.
Mad Men, “A Night To Remember”: things you notice after watching the series a bunch of times
- Harry fails in dealing with Roger in every way that Don easily succeeds. For example, Harry completely fails to pick up on Roger’s habit to smoke when in other people’s offices when he asks, “You smoke, Crane?” while Harry obliviously trudges forward with his explanation of why he needs more resources.
- While Don is at work after the dinner party, Betty spends the day in a half-daze and eventually searches through all of Don’s things. One fun call back: she finds a cocktail napkin with WHAT DO WOMEN WANT jotted on it, which hearkens back to “Ladies Room,” the second episode from Season 1.
Mad Men, “A Night To Remember”: fun quotes
- “Duck, Crab. Crab, Duck.” – Roger, introducing Duck to Crab (and Crab to Duck)
- “How did that get there?” – Petra Coleson (after having walked into a wall post-pounding some cocktails)
- “I would never do this to you.” – Betty to Don
Mad Men, “A Night To Remember”: odds and ends
- Betty’s back horse riding again in this one, something to help chase away the blues – and the gnawing knowledge that Don’s been having an affair with Bobbie Barrett. Another sign of increasing despair: she ends up smashing a chair to bits while arranging the table for the upcoming dinner party.
- I like that Peggy’s sister refers to the relative with a bad back being referred to as a “malingerer” by his co-workers.
- It’s fun to see Pete Campbell get overtly snubbed from being invited to the Draper’s dinner party.’
- Warren, Harry’s heavyset, slow talking officemate is occasionally hilarious. The best part is that he laments that he wishes he could talk to Joan as easily as Harry can and then adds, “She’s so much woman.”
- We see Joan on the home front for the first time, now living with Greg. It’s seemingly a scene of domestic happiness… for now. And in fact, Greg encourages his new wife to start searching for a house for them to buy, which would also involve her quitting her job at Sterling Cooper.
- Father Gill’s visit to Sterling Cooper – ostensibly to pick up photocopies of the flyer for the CYO dance, but it’s also a chance for the priest to work on Peggy to discuss her past and become closer to the church – is cause for some laughs. For example, it’s fun to see some secretaries scurry off in the other direction when they see a Father Gill walking down the hall.
- Speaking of Father Gill, turns out he can rock out – with some religious material of course – on the acoustic guitar, so it’s good to know that he has a hobby.
Some stats and info about Mad Men, “A Night To Remember”
TV SHOW – Mad Men
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 8
AIRED ON – September 14th, 2008
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX
GENRE – Drama, Relationship Shows, Office Culture, Period Shows
CREATED BY – Mathew Weiner
CAST – Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer, John Slattery, Kiernan Shipka, Robert Morse, Christopher Stanley, Jessica Pare, Jay R. Ferguson, Michael Gladis, Bryan Batt, Alison Brie, Jared Harris, Kevin Rahm, Mason Cotton, Ben Feldman, Mark Moses, Anne Dudek, Maggie Siff, Joel Murray, Harry Hamlin, Talia Balsam, James Wolk This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.