TV: Mad Men (S4, E5 “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword”)

First of all, I must mention the clever naming of this episode, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, because (a) it was requested that everyone in the office read the book and (b) a lot of this episode has to do with Sterling’s issue with the Japanese guests that have come over from Honda to enter into a competition with CGC and some other company with the reward being their business:

“The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture is an influential 1946 study of Japan by American anthropologist Ruth Benedict written at the invitation of the U.S. Office of War Information in order to understand and predict the behavior of the Japanese in World War II by reference to a series of contradictions in traditional culture. The book was influential in shaping American ideas about Japanese culture during the occupation of Japan, and popularized the distinction between guilt cultures and shame cultures.” (Wikipedia)

Anyway, onward with my Mad Men banter:

• Don’s new secretary is hilarious. She totally sucks.
• Roger Sterling is unbelievably racist in this episode.

Racism has been brought up here and there throughout the entire series (Peter with the African American guy in the elevator, etc.) and it is something that many people still struggle with now, but back then it was far more blatant in society. When Roger finds out about the Honda meeting being held without him, he decides the best thing to do is to completely destroy the meeting altogether. My hand was against my mouth throughout this entire scene. The best line used in this episode is when Pete flies into Sterling’s office (just before he apologizes for embarrassing the entire firm) and says “Christ on a cracker, who do you think you are?!” and tears Sterling a new one. Great scene. I like how Pete was so ignorant before and now seems to have a tolerance about him regarding that subject. Everyone’s on Peter’s side with this one, hence the apology coming from Sterling and the rest of the episode’s cleverness into duping Ted at CGC into running his firm dry financially AND losing the account to Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce. How awesome was that?

• Sally cuts her hair in the bathroom while she’s supposed to be being babysat.

The babysitter gets fired. Sally then gets caught masturbating while her friend is sleeping on the couch by her friend’s mother. Did I not call this? I called something similar to this. I knew Sally was going to get all freaky-deeky on us. She doesn’t understand what she’s doing wrong. She’s confused and probably does need a psychologist. If her parents knew how to show her the love that she deserves, she wouldn’t have to undergo any of this. When Betty slapped Sally across the face when Don dropped her off (after the hair cutting incident) I almost fell out of my seat. I really hate Betty. I was really impressed by her husband, though, with his reaction and how he calmed Betty down. Good on him for that one.

• Has anyone else noticed how much Bethany looks like Betty? Or is it just me?
• When Betty was having her first meeting with the child psychologist, did you notice how she looked at the dollhouse? Was it thought provoking for you? I found that there we were, again, watching Betty the Little Girl. She is going to end up driving herself insane.
• The best scene of this episode goes to Peggy (again) riding around in circles on the red Honda motor/scooter. I laughed out loud. I love you, Peggy.