MAD MEN 3.9 - "Wee Small Hours"

WRITERS: Dahvi Waller & Matthew Weiner
DIRECTOR: Scott Hornbacher
GUEST CAST: Alexa Alemanni, Kiernan Shipka, Anthony Burch, Patrick Cavanaugh, Anne Dudek, Edin Gali, Jared Gilmore, Jim Hoffmaster, Deborah Lacey, Darren Pettie, Chelcie Ross, Ann Ryerson, Jeanne Simpson, Abigail Spencer, Christopher Stanley & Adria Tennor

[SPOILERS] Maybe Don (Jon Hamm) was right to be wary of signing a three-year contract, as Conrad Hilton's (Chelcie Ross) taken to calling him late at night, to talk business. Connie's business plans are also incredibly ambitious in scale, as he envisions Hilton Hotels all around the world, even on the moon. In one scene he speaks to Don almost like a missionary determined to spread gospel: "it's my purpose in life to bring America to the world... we are a force of good, Don, because we have God."

"Wee Small Hours" was essentially about trying to please difficult, unreasonable people -- and not just with Don bending over backwards to accommodate jingoist Connie's grandiose expansion plans. In one of the better subplots, Sal (Bryan Batt) was directing a commercial for Lucky Strike cigarettes while having to deal with the client's son, Lee Garner Jr (Darren Pettie), who's meddling with the shoot creatively. While in the cutting room afterrwards, Garner even made a move on "Sally" that wasn't reciprocated, which led to the jilted businessman contacting Harry (Rich Sommer) to ask him to fire Sal behind Roger (John Slattery) and Pete's (Vincent Karthesier) backs. Harry, suspecting Garner was just drunk and mouthing off, did no such thing, resulting in Garner storming out of Sterling Cooper when he noticed Sal's presence at a meeting.

Don was asked to sort out the mess by Roger, which was handy because Sal could at least tell the truth because Don knows about his sexuality. Unfortunately, a combination of fatigue and pent-up frustration with Hilton's demands, resulted in Don being a far less sympathetic ear than Sal, and we, expected. Shockingly, Don made it clear that Sal should have predicted the ramifications of Lucky Strike pulling vital business and acquiesced to Garner's advance, and tells Sal he has no choice but to fire him to salvage relations with the cigarette firm. Don's tone suggested he suspects it was partly, if not entirely, Sal's fault anyway ("you people...") It's a tragic end to Sal's career on Madison Avenue, and difficult to see a way back for him. First Joan, now Sal -- is Mad Men shaking up its cast ahead of season 4, or will both get their jobs back before the finale? I find it hard to believe they'd cut both characters loose, as both still have such a lot more to give.

It was amusing to see how fickle Connie is, too. After Don's pitch meeting to promote Hilton's foreign hotels ("How do you say hamburger in Japanese? Hilton"), the magnate reacted with disdain that Don's campaign idea doesn't factor in his desire for a hotel on the moon! "When I say I want the moon, I expect the moon." It was a comment Don didn't take literally, to his confusion and embarassment. Connie seems to be the first client Don's unable to bring round to his way of thinking, partly because he's afraid to lock horns with such a famous and important businessman he admires, but perhaps also because he's in Connie's pocket contractually and doesn't have the freedom to maneuver or play hardball.

This episode also subtly weaved in the issue of civil rights, following Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. That iconic event became a neat way of differentiating between naïve Betty and avant-garde schoolteacher Suzanne Farrell (Abigail Spencer), whom Don still has his roguish eye on. Betty could perhaps confide in her black housekeeper Carla (Deborah Lacey) about her fractous marriage if society was different (Carla would be a better confidant then any of Betty's gossiping neighbours), but instead her rendezvous with Henry (Christopher Stanley) was interrupted by Carla and she hastily had to explain it away as a chat about a political fundraiser. Later, when Betty heard Carla listening to a radio broadcast of Martin Luther King at the funeral of four black girls murdered in Birmingham, Alabama, she stated how she viewed the incident as a sign the world's not ready for civil rights... not the best reason yet for making radical changes to social equality.

On the flipside, while giving Suzanne a lift home in his car, as he spotted her jogging before daybreak, Don's puzzled when she revealed her intention to inform schoolkids of Martin Luther King's rhetoric. It's such an enlightened decision that Don couldn't help but openly enquire about her being "dumb... or pure." Knowing he has a predilection for forward-thinking women it's no surprise when all the pressures of work resulted in him sneaking out to Suzanne's house late one night, under the pretense of work, for a romantic tryst.

For once though, Betty is likewise playing away from home. After Henry failed to attend the hastily-arranged fundraiser for Governor Rockefeller's presidential bid at her house, Betty marched round to his office with the cash proceeds, intending to raise hell over being "stood up" by him. However, she realized it was part of his plan to give her a reason to come see him, where there's less chance of being interrupted by her husband or housekeeper. They passionately kissed, but the "tawdry" thought of having sex in his office stopped things going any further.

Overall, "Wee Small Hours" was another beautifully structured and acted hour, which perhaps didn't quite go that extra step to knock me backwards. Beyond the surprise with Sal's sacking, everything else went in the direction we've been expecting since mid-season -- with Don and Betty making headway with their respective affairs and Connie proving to be a mercurial pain. However, I really love how the show knits reality and fiction together, and it goes without saying that there's always plenty of things to chew on in snatches of dialogue, micro-expressions and body language.

Asides

-- It's been awhile since we heard anything about Roger's daughter getting married, hasn't it.

-- Connie's become a brilliantly bizarre character. He definitely sees something in Don he likes, but appears very obstinate and unreasonable. Those qualities have got him where he is today, most likely. There's a scene in this episode where Connie even admits Don feels like a son to him, mainly because he wasn't born into a privileged lifestyle, as his own sons have been. But for all Connie's affection, which Don received with genuine gratitude (having no positive father figure in his life), he's still an exasperating bastard when it comes to business.

-- Ahh, the condition of Don's contract with Hilton to keep Roger away was actually specific to the Hilton account, as Roger's had absolutely nothing to do with it. I'm glad that's cleared up, as I erroneously thought Roger was to be kept away from Don in all other matters. In hindsight, that would have been ridiculous! But I'm still not quite sure why Don is so against Roger being involved with Hilton in particular.

17 MARCH 2010: BBC4 / BBC HD, 9PM