For Immediate Release (S6x06)
Airdate: 5 May 2013
Written by: Matthew Weiner Directed by: Jennifer Gentzinger
Running Time: 48 minutes
By the time Mad Men reached its sixth season, Matthew Weiner's creation had long since established itself as one of the most celebrated series of the so-called Golden Age of Television. Viewers had learned to expect the unexpected from this particular programme; its producers delighted in straying from conventional narrative rules, subverting audience expectations with a confidence that few other dramas could match. Even so, Season Six found the series in something of a transitional phase. The audience had by now been thoroughly introduced to the world of Don Draper and his colleagues, and much of the initial "wow" factor—that intoxicating sense of entering an unfamiliar realm—had inevitably dissipated. The world of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce was beginning to resemble the recognisable Boomer-controlled paradigm of our own contemporary reality. Yet even within this more familiar landscape, there remained room for genuine surprises. One such surprise arrived with For Immediate Release, an episode that delivers the sort of dramatic "wham" development that most other shows would have reserved for a season finale, or at the very least a penultimate episode. Here, however, it arrives before the season has even reached its midpoint, demonstrating the creative fearlessness that had become the series' trademark.
The episode, set roughly in the second week of May 1968, finds SCDP in an unusually strong financial position. The agency's fortunes have improved to such an extent that some of the partners—Bert Cooper chief among them—believe the moment has come to capitalise on this success by taking the company public. Cooper has discreetly hired an underwriter to examine the books and has secretly enlisted Pete Campbell and Joan Harris to help plan the stock offering. Pete, naturally, is enthusiastic about the proposed numbers; such a move would make him considerably richer and, he hopes, might provide the financial stability necessary to repair his fractured marriage. His wife Trudy has reluctantly agreed to allow him back into their suburban home, though she refuses to resume their physical relationship—a humiliating arrangement that Pete endures in the desperate hope of eventual reconciliation.
What Pete and his co-conspirators fail to account for is Don Draper, who remains entirely ignorant of their scheme. When Herb Rennet, the thoroughly despicable head of sales for Jaguar, requests a restaurant dinner with their wives in attendance, Don accepts the invitation, noting with some irritation that Roger Sterling—who despises the man—has refused to participate. Don arrives accompanied by Megan and her mother Marie, and the evening quickly descends into excruciating discomfort. Conversation with Herb and his shallow wife Peaches (Sarah Aldrich), goes so badly that Don finds himself genuinely disgusted. He does not merely walk away from the dinner; in a moment of characteristic impulsiveness, he terminates all cooperation between SCDP and Jaguar, effectively shredding the carefully constructed plans for the stock offering without even realising they exist.
This professional catastrophe coincides with a personal humiliation of equally devastating proportions. Pete Campbell experiences a brief but excruciatingly awkward encounter in a New York City bordello, where he spots his father-in-law Tom Vogel leaving a room in the company of an obese Black prostitute. Both men recognise one another, yet both pretend otherwise—a mutual pretence that cannot obscure the catastrophic implications of the moment. Pete, understandably troubled by the potential consequences, seeks counsel from Ken Cosgrove regarding how one might handle such an awkward situation. It is Tom, however, who makes the first aggressive move, using his influence to terminate the Vicks account that SCDP has held for years. When Pete confronts him about this betrayal, Tom explains that he cannot forgive Pete for cheating upon and humiliating his daughter, regardless of his own transgressions being exposed. The loss of the Vick account, combined with Don's destruction of the Jaguar relationship, means that SCDP will lose significant value—potentially collapsing the entire public share scheme before it has even launched. In his desperation and rage, Pete lashes out at Trudy, spitefully revealing the bordello encounter to her. Her response is immediate and absolute: she severs all remaining links with him, confirming that their marriage is truly beyond salvation.
The simultaneous loss of Jaguar and Vick proves too much for Pete to bear with any dignity. He suffers a very public meltdown regarding the future of the company, his composure cracking in front of colleagues who have grown accustomed to his ambitious scheming but rarely witness such raw despair. Even Joan Harris, who might have been expected to support Don's rejection of Herb Rennet given her own history with the Jaguar account, is furious. She sacrificed her honour to secure that business, and Don's unilateral decision has rendered that sacrifice meaningless. With SCDP's future looking increasingly bleak, it is Roger Sterling who delivers the news that completely transforms the picture.
Roger's salvation of the agency comes through the most unlikely of channels: his romantic relationship with Daisy McCluskey (Danielle Panabaker), a flight attendant. Through Daisy, Roger has obtained intelligence about VIP executives flying from Detroit regarding something of considerable importance. He manages to arrange a meeting with one of these men, Mikey O'Brien (Matthew Kimbrough) of General Motors and learns of a new, apparently revolutionary Chevrolet motor car that the company is preparing to launch. GM is willing to consider SCDP for the advertising account, and Don immediately tasks his creative team with working on the top-secret "Project XP-887."
Yet the journey to Detroit brings an unexpected complication. Don is surprised to discover Ted Chaough already present, with his agency CGC apparently being courted by the same automotive giant. More ominously still, both men notice representatives from Dancer Fitzgerald in attendance, and quickly realise that GM is using the smaller agencies as mere negotiating tools—leverage to extract better terms from firms with substantially larger creative departments. CGC faces its own existential crisis, having lost the Alfa Romeo account and facing the impending death of Frank Gleason (Craig Anton), partner whose cancer diagnosis threatens to destroy the company entirely. Late one night, drinking together in mutual desperation, Don and Ted arrive at a conclusion that might win GM over: if they merge their creative teams, they could present a united front capable of competing with the larger agencies. This would, of course, necessitate merging their companies entirely. The scheme works, and both agencies secure the contract. The episode concludes with Peggy Olson receiving the news from Ted and encountering Don in the CGC offices, where she is instructed to write the press release announcing the forthcoming merger.
Written by Matthew Weiner and directed by Jennifer Getzinger, For Immediate Release notably places much of the historical background in the back seat, despite the plot unfolding during what was arguably the most tumultuous year in American history. The sole mention of the broader sociopolitical picture comes from Abe Drexler, who confidently informs Peggy that the worst is over—President Johnson has announced he will not seek re-election, which means the Vietnam War will soon end, and the worst-case scenario for his successor is Robert Kennedy. Weiner, naturally, employs this dialogue for the benefit of a Boomer audience possessing the foreknowledge that history unfolded quite differently. Yet the primary purpose is not merely dramatic irony; it serves to paint Abe as overidealistic and fundamentally clueless, not only about actual political trends but also regarding his relationship with Peggy. She grows increasingly dissatisfied with their apartment in a bohemian neighbourhood that is becoming increasingly rundown and dysfunctional, whilst simultaneously receiving romantic advances from her new boss, Ted Chaough.
What proves most brilliant about this particular episode is the manner in which Don's "Eureka" moment arrives. It comes directly from Joan's blistering criticism of his Jaguar decision, during which she accuses him of acting entirely on his own initiative and pointedly observes that he never uses the word "we." It is precisely this word that comes to mind during his late-night conversation with Ted, transforming a desperate situation into an opportunity through the simple recognition that collaboration might succeed where individual competition would certainly fail.
With so much exceptional material compressed into a single episode, For Immediate Release is arguably the finest instalment of Mad Men's latter seasons—at least by this point in the series' run. It demonstrates the show's continued capacity to surprise, to evolve, and to find new configurations for its characters even as the historical era it depicts approaches the familiar territory of living memory. The merger that concludes the episode promises to fundamentally alter the dynamics of the series, introducing new tensions and possibilities that would sustain the drama through its remaining episodes. In an age of television increasingly dominated by formula and predictability, Mad Men remained committed to genuine narrative risk—and For Immediate Release stands as a testament to the rewards such courage could bring.
RATING: 9/10 (++++)
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