Mad Men - 2 Related Drabbles
Aug. 6th, 2009 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cmk418I've been watching Season Two of "Mad Men" and was really struck by a scene in Episode 2.05 "The New Girl". It's a flashback to a moment between Seasons One and Two and really shows the parallels between Don & Peggy's characters. There are spoilers for Season One throughout, so please, be warned. As a disclaimer, the characters were created by Matthew Weiner and the last three sentences in the first drabble are taken directly from the episode, written by Robin Veith. Feedback is appreciated. Enjoy!
I See Myself in You
Peggy’s the one lying in the bed, but Don sees himself, years ago, one of several soldiers in a military hospital.
He lays on the cot. Through the noise and the stench of antiseptic, he wills himself to forget. And here, amid the chaos, amid people who only know him as a serial number, it’s surprisingly easy to shed the guise of Dick Whitman and all the shit that goes with him and assume the identity of Donald Draper, war hero. He whispers one phrase over and over like a mantra.
“This never happened, this never happened.”
Peggy needs the same push, needs to do what she has to in order to get away from this thing that haunts her, that’s tearing her up inside. He looks deep into her eyes and says the words that will get her through her own transition.
“Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Birth of Peggy Olson
Don was her mentor. From the day she took the spot outside his door at Sterling Cooper, she learned so much from him. She learned about the business by monitoring the phone calls that came through, taking dictation, typing thank you notes to various clients, keeping track of what worked and what didn’t, knowing when to offer an opinion and when to keep silent.
Yes, it had paid to be Don Draper’s secretary.
She had learned other things as well. How to lie, how to handle an affair discreetly, how to gently let someone down, how to push back hard when the occasion called for it, and how to remind someone of his (or her) place in the system.
She’d imagined Don here at St. Mary’s, giving her advice, clear and confident as always. She imagined him so often that when he finally appeared at her bedside, she could scarcely believe it.
Until the moment that the words seem to change and he began teaching her a new lesson, one about reinvention. The words, more than any other during her time here, meant something.
The moment the door closed behind Don, a new Peggy Olson began her life, stronger with each passing moment and closer to her former boss than ever before.
I See Myself in You
Peggy’s the one lying in the bed, but Don sees himself, years ago, one of several soldiers in a military hospital.
He lays on the cot. Through the noise and the stench of antiseptic, he wills himself to forget. And here, amid the chaos, amid people who only know him as a serial number, it’s surprisingly easy to shed the guise of Dick Whitman and all the shit that goes with him and assume the identity of Donald Draper, war hero. He whispers one phrase over and over like a mantra.
“This never happened, this never happened.”
Peggy needs the same push, needs to do what she has to in order to get away from this thing that haunts her, that’s tearing her up inside. He looks deep into her eyes and says the words that will get her through her own transition.
“Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Birth of Peggy Olson
Don was her mentor. From the day she took the spot outside his door at Sterling Cooper, she learned so much from him. She learned about the business by monitoring the phone calls that came through, taking dictation, typing thank you notes to various clients, keeping track of what worked and what didn’t, knowing when to offer an opinion and when to keep silent.
Yes, it had paid to be Don Draper’s secretary.
She had learned other things as well. How to lie, how to handle an affair discreetly, how to gently let someone down, how to push back hard when the occasion called for it, and how to remind someone of his (or her) place in the system.
She’d imagined Don here at St. Mary’s, giving her advice, clear and confident as always. She imagined him so often that when he finally appeared at her bedside, she could scarcely believe it.
Until the moment that the words seem to change and he began teaching her a new lesson, one about reinvention. The words, more than any other during her time here, meant something.
The moment the door closed behind Don, a new Peggy Olson began her life, stronger with each passing moment and closer to her former boss than ever before.
