10) Meditations In An Emergency (Season Two, Episode Thirteen)
Written By: Matthew Weiner and Kater Gordon
Directed By: Matthew Weiner
It just so happens that Mad Men is like a reverse Star Trek: the odd-numbered seasons are amazing, the even-numbered ones slightly less so. Regardless, its season finales have all been dazzling – and “Meditations in an Emergency” brought together many of the strands and subplots from the second season in a terrific, terrifying hour.
It’s raining hard in Manhattan, as each character on Mad Men seems to be waiting for the end of the world to arrive. Nobody feels fine, except Don Draper: he could leave this world a cool $500,000 richer due to the merger with Putnam, Powell and Lowe. The characters are either quaking due to the crisis happening in Cuba or taking advantage of what could be their final hours on earth. Betty finds out she is pregnant – but then slips into a bar to sleep with a stranger. Pete is honest about the Clearasil account, and makes an ally with Duck, which he hopes can make him a head of accounts. Ken, Sal, Harry and Kinsey are all cautioned about Draper’s prolonged absence and what it means for the company.
However, in the climactic scene of the season – despite its seldom mention throughout the previous 12 episodes – Peggy comes clean to Pete about how she gave away his child. (He didn’t know she was even pregnant, but neither did Peggy at the time.) Peggy had been struggling to balance the angels and devils on her shoulder this season, especially given her devout upbringing and friendship with a local priest. Through that confession, she comes clean.
Mad Men is rarely a plot-heavy series, yet with imminent dangers outside that the characters cannot control, Weiner and Gordon burst ahead with big developments. Betty is pregnant! There’s going to be a merger! Despite the title, this episode is less about meditations than the emergency unfolding to the south, in Cuba. It’s only when the dust settles that the characters have to realize the lack of control they still have in their future.
With the news and thoughts of imminent annihilation filling the thoughts of all the characters, you get heightened drama. This rewarding, moving, richly entertaining finale easily ranks as the finest hour of Mad Men’s sophomore season.
Best Scene: Peggy and Pete’s talk about the pregnancy. “You got me pregnant, I had a baby and I gave it away,” said Elisabeth Moss, as she nails the line. The contrast between Pete’s expectations and the sudden reality of his talk with Peggy also reveals some of Vincent Kartheiser’s best work on the show. (Seriously… how has he avoided an Emmy nomination for so long?!)
Line of the Hour: Although Moss’s line above is spectacularly delivered, the best one is the funniest line given in this rather dreary episode, courtesy of Duck Phillips. Referring to Don, he blows off Sterling Cooper’s creative director: “Take a second to find some kid who can write a prose poem to a potato chip.”