MadMen Episode 2 Review

This episode, like the first, follows Don Drapper and Peggy. This episode is different from the first, however, in that Don's wife is the major issue of his day. There is a meeting dinner between Don and his wife with his boss and his wife. From there we begin to see how little Don and Betty connect and just how little Betty knows about her husbands past. It's almost like he married a total stranger over the internet and one date. Betty gets in an accident and Don comes home worried about what is going on with her and her anxiety issue that is becoming apparent. She goes to see a psychiatrist and in the end, after telling her husband the meet went good Don calls the doctor and receives another report. Peggy is in much the same situation as last time, being hounded on all day by the men at the office because she's new and she's a woman that there's an opportunity to sleep with. Betty is picked up on by one in particular, who she kind of leads on in my opinion, and then snaps a bit at one of the other secretaries in the office about men hounding her. I think the ironic thing is she slept with one of the worst ones in the office last episode.

The first and largest theme that stuck out to me is the disconnect between men and woman in this show. It's really quite ridiculous how little either side understands one another. All of the guys in this show are either trying to figure out what woman want, like Don, or they are doing their best to ignore that they have no clue. Don clearly has no idea what to do with his wife and her anxiety issue, trying to find out why a girl who has 'everything' would need to see someone if she's happy. Betty obviously has a major issue, being nervous about every little thing and getting into a car accident too. Peggy is also dealing with this disconnect, especially since men are just trying to get into her pants the whole time and she's leading them on incidentally. She snaps on her friend about how she doesn't understand why she can't just get food with one of the office guys.
The second issue that was quite disturbing was the roles assigned to men and women. Once again this show has displayed just how divide the roles are for men and women in this world. Either you work as a secretary or have a supporting job to the big men in charge or you're bare foot and pregnant/a trophy wife. Betty and Peggy deal with this the most in this episode, between being the stay at home mom that needs to be perfect and the office girl who needs to make her way in the ranks of men and women.