Mad Men - S5E7 - At the Codfish Ball

The episode “At the Codfish Ball” boils down to one shot at the end of the episode, a moment where everyone has a realization of where they are in life. But before we get to that shot let’s take a look at how we got there. This week I’ll start with Peggy. After a quick scene where we get a call back to a previous argument between Peggy and her boyfriend Abe, while at SCDP having beer and chatting with her fellow co-workers, Abe is instantly turned into someone that they can bounce ideas off of to see if they work instead of just treating him as an equal in the conversation. He leaves and is next seen calling Peggy and ordering her to be at dinner. Based on previous arguments Peggy believes that he is going to break up with her. But both Joan and the audience most likely think otherwise. Peggy is on a one-way trip to proposal town. It was nice to see that the relationship between Peggy and Joan that developed last season has continued. After going after each other the first couple of years the relationship feels earned. Peggy takes her advice and gets all dolled up. But “Mad Men” of course throws a curve ball and Abe just asks to move in with her. At first I think oh no big deal, but I’ve forgotten it’s the 60’s and that just didn’t happen. When asked Peggy freezes, and as you watch her face you can see the hope that she briefly had for the life every girl dreams of is shattered, and after saying yes the smile disappears and Peggy doesn’t get to complete her change and remains as she is. Of course this doesn’t mean that it won’t bring any drama. The two tell Peggy’s Mom about their plans and she doesn’t take it well. As she storms out she plants the seeds of doubt about Abe into Peggy’s mind and then compares her to a cat. It will be interesting to see how this relationship plays out. I don’t see good things in the future, I can see Peggy perhaps proposing herself one day and that probably won’t make Abe happy. Now let’s check in on the Drapers. Megan’s parents are visiting from Canada to watch Don get an award. Don also has to take care of the kids, but more on them later. It is clear that Megan’s parents are not a happy couple. Emile takes every chance he gets to insult Don and her mother Marie is hitting on everyone in sight. During this Megan has an idea to pitch to Heinz, Don loves it, even more impressive is that when Megan learns they will be dropped by Heinz, she is able to help Don turn them around and sells them on her idea. It was a great scene with a great Don Draper pitch. It’s been a while and it was nice to see that man at work. The combination of work and his wife made him happier than we have seen in a while, making him believe that working with his wife can work. But there are still 6 more episodes this season, I’m sure things are heading for a change. The next day while the men celebrate, Megan doesn’t seem to want to join in. When Peggy tells Megan that this is as good as this job gets, she seems to get even sadder, because she still hasn’t earned acceptance from her father. Later at the award ceremony, Megan asks her father why he isn’t proud of her. He tells her, in English, that she hasn’t earned anything, all this opulence and recognition she married into, she shouldn’t be taking credit for it because she hasn’t done anything. Meanwhile Don is busy meeting all sorts of people, until someone explains to him that it’s futile. They will bury his desk in awards but he won’t find any further success because of his letter against Lucky Strike. He is just as important as the award he got, he received without given a speech, not on a big stage and the other two that received the award were so old they may have collapsed of old age on the way home. This is now the limit of what Don can achieve no matter how brilliant he is. Then we had the journey of Sally Draper. After lying about how her grandmother hurt herself but taking all the credit for taking care of her, Sally is able to convince her Dad to let her go to the award ceremony. We also learn that she has been keeping in touch with Glen. Though it definitely seems to be a “just friends” thing still. She uses Glen as a way to express how she really feels. Sally is looking at her chance to go to the award ceremony like going to a ball, her coming out in other words. She makes the glamorous entrance in the apartment to the people waiting, but is then disappointed when there is no grand staircase to enter, the dinner is something she doesn’t like, her Father’s award is a non event and her date, Roger Sterling who is still on his epiphany from trying LSD, is receiving fellatio from Marie. The title of this episode is “At the Codfish Ball” a song and dance number performed by Shirley Temple, for whom the drink Roger brings her is named after. Sally sending it back just demonstrates how disappointed she is with this adult lifestyle. The final shot of the ball features everyone (except Roger) returning to the table and on each face you can see how disappointed they are with the way the night has progressed. It is a great shot that sums up the episode without anyone having to say a world. The episode continues though with another call to Glen from Sally, when he asks her how the city is, I may be mistaken but I swear I saw a look of excitement on her face when she gave her one word answer, “Dirty.”