SPOILERS BELOW FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAS AIRED TO DATE
There was a moment in “The Arrangements” that made my heart sink. It wasn’t the hard-nosed way Gene passed along his last wishes to Betty, and it wasn’t Gene failing to pick up Sally and Bobby from school. No, my heart sank when Gene told Sally that their ice cream was supposed to be chocolate, but instead smelled like oranges. Mad Men does a great job of underplaying small moments of significance and punctuating episodes with small moments of the mundane. But Gene’s faulty sense of smell struck me as a big warning: Get ready, Viewer. You won’t be seeing him next week.
I have mixed feelings about that because I was pretty down on this arc when it was introduced in “Love Among the Ruins”, but that’s because I was afraid it would be a macabre, typical portrayal of an older relative’s descent into dementia. That kind of story can be told with great finesse, of course — Friday Night Lights does it better than any show I’ve seen — but I didn’t feel like Mad Men got off to a good start with it, at least this season. But Gene’s character began to demonstrate more lucidity than previously thought and more value as a character. So I can’t help wondering what we’re missing by losing him so soon.
While trying to bring Betty — who wants nothing to do with this conversation — up to speed on his funeral arrangements and last will, Gene laments that he sheltered her too much. He seems to be trying to make up for it with Betty’s kids. He gives Bobby the helmet he recovered from a Prussian soldier he shot during World War I (though Don confiscates it), and he lets Sally steer his car. And even by his death, poor Sally is not shielded. She is sitting on the front stoop when the police officer arrives with the bad news, she discovers the unfortunate reality that adults sometimes laugh while they are grieving, and she is banished to the living room to watch television … where she sees all kinds of terrible things reported on the evening news, including the horrific image of a self-immolated Buddhist monk.
“The Arrangements” is primarily about legacies. Gene’s legacy is a daughter who wants him to keep his suffering to himself, and a granddaughter who came to revere him in the short time they lived under the same roof. In their last scene together, Gene tells Sally that she can grow up to “really do something”, and that she should not let Betty tell her any different. It’s a surprisingly feminist statement from a man of his generation, and it raises criticism of Betty that’s also unexpected. Sooner or later, one senses that Sally Draper is going to turn sharply on her parents.
Peggy Olson is also dealing with legacy issues, though not as earth shaking. She wants to move out of her Brooklyn apartment and into Manhattan to be closer to work. This news is a dagger in her mother’s heart (“You’ll get raped.”), though the unmistakable sound of a brand new television powering on suggests she gets over it quickly. Peggy’s bigger problem is finding a roommate to share the exorbitant Manhattan rents — some things never change. After flying high (ahem) last week with her Bacardi idea, she’s brought back to earth this week by her inability to write a successful personal ad. Peggy’s constant claim is that she understands women, being one herself. But she has to hear from Joan of all people that she doesn’t really understand women her own age. Eventually she finds a roommate named Karen Ericson (Carla Gallo of Undeclared), but they seem like oil and water. I wonder how many Norwegian-Swedish roommate situations actually work out.
Peggy does turn out to be right about one thing: the Patio Cola commercial paying homage to Bye Bye Birdie is a huge flop. Personally I think the biggest problem is that the ad is way too long, but Roger, speaking of the actress in the commercial — in his only line of the episode — sums up what was probably the real problem for the folks from Pepsico: “She’s not Ann-Margret.” It appears to be a disaster for Sal, who gets an opportunity to direct after the man they hired drops out, though Don later suggests he’ll probably be hired again.
A portfolio of television commercials might turn out to be Sal’s primary legacy because a.) no one wants drawings in their print ads anymore, so he’s losing out on work, and b.) it seems very, very unlikely that he will ever have any children with his poor, myopic wife Kitty. When she winces at Sal’s demonstration of how the actress will flit about in the commercial, it’s not clear if she’s uncomfortable with his mincing, or if she just thinks the ad is a bad way to sell diet soda. I’m actually inclined to think it’s the latter, but you do sort of have to root for this sham marriage to end.
The final legacy of the episode belongs to Horace Cook, in the person of his son, Horace Cook, Jr. (or, as Pete calls him, “Ho Ho”). Ho Ho comes to Sterling-Cooper to ask them to promote a jai alai league and its marquee player, with projects ranging from print ads, radio, and full color television spots. Ho Ho scoffs at Pryce’s quote of a million dollars, and Don starts to get cold feet — Horace Sr. is a friend of Cooper’s — but it turns out Horace Sr. knows he can’t stop his son from following foolish whims. If the money’s going to be lost to someone, it might as well be lost to a friend. But it leaves a bad taste in Don’s mouth. After the contract is signed, Don (accidentally) shatters the glass of Cooper’s ant farm with a jai alai ball. Pryce gleefully chortles while Don suggests they bill the cost to Ho Ho.
“The Arrangements” demonstrates that leaving a legacy is easy, but crafting one is very, very difficult. Betty is not the woman Gene wanted her to be, nothing at all like his late wife. Horace Sr. has no control over his spoiled, lame-brained son (though ironically, Ho Ho is doing exactly what he wants to do, following Gene’s advice to Sally). Mrs. Olson can’t stop Peggy from leaving Brooklyn to become one of those city types that can’t be believed when they talk to you. And Sal — well, Sal’s legacy could turn out to be much more tragic than any of the others if he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Peggy has a legacy that she doesn’t want, though we haven’t seen her baby yet this season. And Don, of course, is the very absence of a legacy, having renounced his upbringing completely. The best laid plans…
This was an excellent episode, certainly the best of the season so far, and featured some wonderful writing (courtesy of Andrew Colville and series creator Matthew Weiner). The furious grief of Sally’s outburst, the tender dramatic irony of Sal and Kitty’s marriage, and simple efficiency of Don folding up Gene’s army cot were all poignant moments, but the episode was chock full of great comedic scenes as well. Ken and Paul convincing Lois to prank call Peggy and pretend to be disfigured secretary in a tannery. The sight of Sally driving Gene’s car. Ho Ho’s plan to have “the Babe Ruth of jai alai” star in a television show that will air concurrently on all three networks, just like a presidential address. Joan advising Peggy to sell herself as a fun, exciting person in her roommate ad, but not on the Sterling-Cooper bulletin board: “Everyone knows you here.”
With “The Arrangements”, the season feels like it’s beginning to fire on all cylinders.
Rating: 
Gene asks Betty not to smoke because he doesn’t want to watch her commit suicide. Other than the very beginning of the series, is this the first time any objection to smoking has been raised on the show?
