8.0

Mad Men: “Time Zones”

Episode 7.01

Mad Men: “Time Zones”

“Everyone says they can tell where the fire starts.”

A drunk Megan may have offhandedly dropped this line while asking Don not to drop cigarettes off her balcony, but the final season premiere of Mad Men seemed to go out of its way to assure us that, if we just hang tight for a while, we’ll eventually get that inferno we’ve been promised. We can all spout off theories about where or when, but we know for a fact that something big is coming as one of TV’s greatest dramas gears up for its final act.

And if we don’t know it, Freddy Rumsen’s there in the episode’s opening seconds to reassure us, sternly looking directly into the camera and asking, “Are you ready? Because I want you to pay attention. This is the beginning of something.” He’s pitching Peggy an idea for Accutron watches, but he’s also pitching us, selling us on an episode that’s largely uneventful by promising that the action that unfolds in this hour is a prelude to bigger and better things—the glowing embers that’ll eventually erupt into a wildfire.

And while “Time Zones” did feel jetlagged at times, there were hints of what’s to come if you heeded the advice of Freddy (the relic of Sterling Cooper’s past brought back to usher us into its future—because, hey, it’s like Don figured out last season: history is everything) and paid attention. Most obvious of these was the strain in Megan and Don’s relationship. They’re bicoastal now, with Megan in California and Don in New York, and for the first half of the episode, before we know exactly what Don’s work situation is, there’s a definite shift in their power dynamic. Megan rolls up in a gorgeous car looking not too bad herself as the not-so-subtle “I’m A Man” plays, strolls to the curb in slow motion to pick up Don from the airport, brushes him off as he opens the passenger door for her and gets behind the wheel to drive her man home. Later, her agent refers to Don as “the husband.” In another scene, she literally brings home and fries the bacon. We get it, Weiner.

Don seems outwardly okay with all of this, but of course, we know he can’t possibly be, and eventually the cracks in his and Megan’s foundation start to reveal themselves. Don wanted Megan to get an apartment near the ocean (of course he did—where’s he gonna do all his symbolic swimming this season?), but she went with a place in the hills. They fight when Don buys her an expensive TV, and Megan admits that being intimate with Don, along with everything else in her life, makes her weirdly nervous. Don finds Lost Horizon on TV and watches intently as the title cards seem to be asking him directly if this was his vision of California: In these days of wars and rumors of wars—haven’t you ever dreamed of a place where there was peace and security, where living was not a struggle but a lasting delight? Of course you have. So has every man since Time began. Always the same dream. Sometimes he calls it Utopia—Sometimes the Fountain of Youth—Sometimes merely “that little chicken farm.” Then Megan stirs, and he’s forced to turn off the TV, shutting out any thoughts of paradise.

But then again, no one’s found their Utopia (except for maybe Pete, who’s thriving in California. But even he misses bagels). It’s unclear whether Peggy ever actually took over for Don or if Lou Avery was hired immediately after his interview at the end of last season, but Lou’s everything Don’s not. He wears sweaters instead of suits and doesn’t work weekends and tells Peggy stuff like “I don’t care what you think” and “I’m immune to your charms” to her face, and she’s understandably miserable working under him. While she’s toiling away over the weekend—trying to push good work forward because, as she tells Stan, “You’re all a bunch of hacks who are perfectly happy with shit”—Lou’s cutting up firewood. Is he going to be the one to fuel the inevitable blaze of season seven, or is this another red herring for us to latch onto? It’s like Megan says, “everyone says they can tell where the fire starts”…but can they actually tell?

On top of her work struggles, Peggy has to deal with Ted’s brief return to the office. They’re obviously not on good terms, and we soon learn California’s no picnic for Ted either. He’s not tan like everyone expected him to be, and as Pete reports to Don, he’s “sour,” staying inside most of the time scribbling in a notepad instead of enjoying the sunshine. Then there’s poor Ken, who abandoned the Chevy account to escape the stress of entertaining executives in Detroit only to discover that being head of accounts in New York is no walk in the park either. He’s still half-blind, sporting that ridiculous eyepatch, and he’s becoming increasingly Pete-like: frantic and pissy, but aware that he’s got an asset in Joan.

In other words, no one’s really found their paradise yet, but Don at least seems to finally know where he stands. On the flight back to New York, he flirts with a widow (played by Neve Campbell!) who tossed her alcoholic husband’s ashes at Disneyland—the same place Don proposed to Megan—and when she mentions Megan, Don admits that “She knows I’m a terrible husband” before adding “I really thought I could do it this time.” Ultimately, he turns down her advances, insisting that he has to “get back to work,” and when he lands, we find out that’s actually the case. He’s been using Freddy Rumsen to freelance for Sterling Cooper, and the Accutron pitch that Peggy loved so much at the beginning of the episode was actually his. So our ruthless ad man is working hard to get back to where he was—but at what cost? That pesky back door he left open last year when he opened up to Sylvia, opened up to his kids, opened up to love, is jammed, and by episode’s end he’s alone and shivering outside.

But maybe all he needs to do to warm up is light a fire, to follow the widow’s lead and burn it all up—his past transgressions, his current cold marriage, all of it. Maybe that’s how Don Draper will finally rise from the ashes and start fresh. It’s too early to tell, too early even to smell the smoke, but in the meantime, we’ll wait for things to heat up. Because this is the beginning of something.

Stray Observations:
—It’s worth noting that after we ended last season with Don opening up to his children, this episode they’re nowhere to be seen.
—“Is this Avon-related, or did you just need someone to hand you a tissue?”
—Roger’s having orgies and dating hippies now, but he still can call bullshit on Margaret’s new-agey “I forgive you” brunch.
—Was it just me, or did Don’s moving walkway scene in the airport seem like an homage to the opening scene of Jackie Brown?
—Will Joan successfully convince Butler Footwear not to move their advertising in-house? We’ll see how this storyline picks up, but for now it feels like one of the weaker threads of the show.
—Never thought I’d see the day when Pete would hug Don Draper.
—“The city’s flat and ugly and the air is brown, but I love the vibrations.”
—More door imagery, for those keeping track at home: When Peggy complains to Lou about accepting her idea, he tells her to “open the door and walk in.”
—We’ve already got our first glimpse of Nixon this year.
—“I don’t even care that you smell like incense. Anger can be vanquished by love.”

 
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