The Jet Set (Mad Men)

"The Jet Set" is the eleventh episode of the second season of the American television drama series Mad Men. It was written by series creator Matthew Weiner and directed by Phil Abraham. The episode originally aired on AMC in the United States on October 12, 2008.

Plot

The episode begins on Tuesday, September 25, 1962 and ends in the first few days of October 1962.

In the previous episode, Roger Sterling left his wife to be with Don's secretary, Jane. As this episode begins, Roger asks Jane to marry him. Later he meets with his lawyer, who advises against divorce due to how costly it will be.

Don and Pete fly out to California for an aerospace convention to drum up new business. Pete wants to play, but Don, whose luggage is lost, is all business. At the hotel, Don seems out of place, dressed in a business suit, while everyone else is dressed in much more casual attire. At the bar, he thinks he sees Betty, it's not. He is approached by a debonaire European man who says he is a Count, who invites Don to join him and his several female companions, Rocci and Joy, for drinks by the pool. Don politely declines and goes with Peter to an American Aerospace meeting where they see a slideshow about M.I.R.V.s, in which the speaker describes enthusiastically the obliteration of life these can cause. Don looks sick. Dispirited, at the hotel, he runs into the very wholesome and beautiful Joy again, and this time, with her alone, he steps into her car and goes with her to Palm Springs, California, without saying a word to Pete about it. When he arrives at their mansion in Palm Springs, Joy introduces him to a larger number of idle, wealthy Europeans she is staying with, but Don quickly passes out. He is diagnosed with heat exhaustion and the jet setters take care of him and provide him with new, casual clothes while divesting him of his suit. Later, Joy and Don make love.

At Sterling Cooper, Kurt invites Peggy with him to see Bob Dylan perform. While the gang is together in the break room, they learn of the date and start giggling, but Kurt quickly corrects them. They are not dating, because he is a homosexual. At first they think they're having a language problem as Kurt is German, but Kurt confirms his sexual preference, causing the rest of the office to be shocked into silence. Once he leaves, Harry declares that Kurt is a pervert and wonders what bathroom he uses, while Ken says he knew queers existed, he just doesn't want to work with them, and Sal looks stricken.

The next morning, Don and Joy lay in bed. The Count (Willy), walks into their room, non-plussed by their nakedness and almost catching them in flagrante delicto. Don realizes that Willy is Joy's father. Joy invites Don to join their group as they move on to Lyford Cay, Nassau, and Capri after that.

Left alone, Pete puts on a bathing suit and continues to set up meetings, but he is hampered because as a lifelong New Yorker, he does not know how to drive.

Duck Phillips, based on Roger's blunt assertion that there is no way he will get a partnership, sets up a New York meeting with his former employers in London: Putnam, Powell, and Lowe. They are not interested in hiring him, as he had previously been forced out in an alcoholic haze. While Duck is trying to be sober, he drinks at lunch, emboldening him. He proposes, then, that PPL buy Sterling Cooper, exploiting Roger's financial vulnerability due to his divorce. He proposes a plan for them, giving him 2% of all profits and making him president of the company, where all of his old nemeses will now report to him. PPL is very interested. Duck meets with Roger and Bert and presents them with PPL's interest in purchasing Sterling Cooper. They will become the American division of PPL and keep their name. Duck gives them the impression that PPL approached *him* and that he is negotiating solely for the benefit of Sterling Cooper.

Kurt picks up Peggy at her apartment. She confesses to Kurt that she always picks the wrong men, and he explains that it's her hair that is the problem. He cuts it for her in a new, sophisticated style.

Don looks increasingly uncomfortable with this group of idle, decadent people, to whom responsibilities are unfamiliar, and relationships are just toys. He gives up his and Joy's room to a new visitor who is accompanied by two very tired young children he is trying to take care of. Don makes a phone call to an unknown person, introducing himself as Dick Whitman and setting up a visit. As the episode ends, Don's luggage finally arrives, delivered to his house in Ossining, New York.

Cultural references

Mention is made of dangerous events down south that Paul Kinsey may be exposed to. This is a reference to the Freedom Riders, civil rights activists who drove down to the South to help register blacks to vote. Later, Peggy and Ken watch a news report about James Meredith becoming the first black person to enroll as a student at the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962, sparking riots in Oxford, Mississippi. Salvatore Romano mentions watching Loretta Young's TV show the night before, and describes the episode. This is a reference to the premiere episode of The New Loretta Young Show, which was shown on September 24, 1962. The show was not well-received and was dropped within six months. Sal is seen reading a Playboy in a meeting at work. It is the September 1962 issue. It is mentioned that Kurt Smith saw Bob Dylan at Carnegie Hall. Dylan played there on September 22, 1962.

References

External links