MadMen Episode 5 Review

This episode of MadMen was focused on two characters primarily, Don and Pete. Don begins his story with the acceptance of an award for his work at the company. This runs into the following day where he is called out to see his mistress for some "quality time." On what seems to be the following day he receives a call from someone who claims to be his brother, which he later confirms when he leaves the office and talks with him in a cafe. This makes him late for a photo shoot with the family and has him really distracted the whole day. That night he goes to visit with his brother and pays him off, telling him go start another life because he cant be a part of his.

Pete is having his own issues, dealing with what seems to be his own failure to be further along in his life and have made a name for himself. This is seen especially in his jealousy over a coworkers success in writing and publishing a story in a major paper. He tries to have his wife get an old boyfriend to publish it in a major paper as well and that ends with him upset over being in an unimportant paper and his wife feeling wronged by Pete because he would have had her damage her "purity" to him in order to have his story published in a better paper.

Two themes stick out in this episode. For Don's part of the story it's a question of what is important to him. Don has to choose between the success he has in his own life, the one he has created and manufactured around himself, fake though it may be, and the brother that he left behind so long ago. Don doesn't even once seem like he is going to pick his brother, but is rather fearful of what his brother surfacing would do to his life. He pays him off with a lot of money and I don't know what to think about his actions really.

Pete is dealing with the cost of success. Just how far are you willing to go in order to be "successful?" He is willing to put his own wife in a position that she never wanted to tangle with. The fact that he is so willing to use her in a brutal way like that is beyond my understanding of living. It brings into question why he actually married her. Is marriage jsut a way of getting what you want or do you marry to be with someone you care about. Don has brought this up in the past saying "love is a fantasy."