MAD MEN SEASON 6 EPISODE 6 “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” TV RECAP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 6 of Mad Men finally brings back the greatness that’s been missed as things finally pick up with Roger saving the day and a turn of events that will knock everyone’s socks off.

Mad Men, Season 6, Episode 6, “For Immediate Release”—Finally, an episode that brought excitement back to the agency world and away from the “woe is me” attitudes we’ve been subjected to for most of this season. A lot of change went down in this episode. From a whorehouse to the super friendly skies to secret meetings behind closed doors and bars—it was business as usual for the gang at SCDP, but with an added twist.

Thank goodness for Roger. He was a true hero in this episode. For someone who has slacked in terms of business, he really slammed it home in this episode in classic Roger form using wit, charm and a lot of sex.

In bed with a cute flight attendant named Daisy, Roger reminds us what a cunning business man he is. Using Daisy to get leads on clients at the airport lounge (how clever!), his plan pays off when she calls Roger about a lead on a businessman at the airport. Roger grabs a flight bag and runs out of the office. When he arrives at the lounge, he meets with Mikey and gets Daisy to book him on his flight. We later learn that Mikey is from Chevrolet.

While Roger flies the high skies, Don is left to dine with that Jaguar sleaze ball Herb Rennet and his annoying wife, Peaches, along with Megan and her mother. While the girls are powdering their noses, Herb tells Don he has a guy who works for him who writes flyers and that Don should let him in on his work. This insult gets Don riled up, leading Don to fire Herb and fires him as a client. Good riddance to Herb.

Back at SCDP, Pete goes to Kenny’s office to tell him that he saw his father-in-law at a whorehouse the night before. Worried this will affect the Vicks account, Kenny tells Pete not to worry, and that he won’t pull it because he doesn’t want to get found out. At that moment, the phone rings and Kenny and Pete find out that Jaguar has been dropped causing Pete to erupt in frenzy.

We haven’t seen Pete get punched out in a while so it was great to see him fall down the office stairs while yelling at Don for firing Jaguar. Joan, the only one who seems to bring office decorum back in line, shuffles the men into the boardroom where Pete tells Don that he’s ruined SCDP’s chances for going public (something he, Bert and Joan have been cooking up in secret). In perfect timing, Roger walks in and tells them they all have a meeting about a secret car Chevy is launching that he’s secured a pitch meeting. This raises morale but not for Pete or Joan who reminds Don that losing Jaguar meant what she did was for nothing. In all fairness, though, Don was the only one who told Joan not to sleep with the sleaze bucket. Plus, she did get a partnership out of it. No sympathy for Joan here.

But when one door closes, another opens. When Don sees Tom from CGC enter the Detroit bar where he’s having a late nightcap, the two trade stories on how the industry is rigged and when Don suggests they merge for the account, things take a interesting turn.

Back in New York, Peggy, who’s still reeling from Tom kissing her earlier in the episode, is called into Tom’s office. She gives herself the once over before she goes in, obviously hoping for another kiss. But what she gets instead is a big fat kisser to the face, so to speak, when after she asks Tom how the Chevy meeting went she sees Don there. Don replies to her question saying that SCDP and CGC have won Chevy together. “They wanted our ideas and a big agency, so we gave them both,” Ted says. Shocked to learn about the merger, Peggy is asked to write a press release announcing the merger of the two firms.

Noting that Peggy didn’t seem too pleased with the news, it will be interesting to see how this new dynamic will play out for the rest of the team.

Finally, some mad ad agency drama!

 

 

—Toni-Marie Ippolito