Relationships Can be Rough on Mad Men

The Rolling Stones once sang, “You can’t always get what you want.” On “Mad Men” this week, that was true for just about everyone except for Don Draper. And you never know what he really wants, either.
Draper is going through hell at work, where demanding clients cost him friends at work, where he fights with Roger Sterling and is forced to let Sal Romano go. And where the increasingly intrusive Conrad Hilton is calling at all hours of the night and literally asking for the moon.
Obviously, some relationships will never work. And once the blow up, its about who has power and who doesn’t.
Sal got to be a director, working on a Lucky Strike commercial featuring at sailor. But client Lee Gardner Jr. wanted Sal, cornering him in the editing room. “There’s been a misunderstanding,” Sal pleads. “I know what I know,” the spurned Gardner replies.
Then next day Gardner calls Harry Crane and tells him to get rid of Sal quietly. Harry, usually powerless, tells no one and when Gardner walks into a screening and sees Sal still there, Gardner storms out.
Roger Sterling seconds the idea of firing Sal, and has Harry in his sights as well, but the mess winds up on the desk of Don, who is keeper of many secrets, including Sal’s.
“Who do you think you’re talking to,” Don thunders when Sal tries to play the I’m-a-married-man card.
Sal’s out, but Don offers a handshake and an assurance that “you’ll do fine.” Sal is later seen putting together his portfolio and calling his wife from a phone booth saying he’ll be working late when he’s really about to drown himself in random male companionship.
Another doomed relationship appears to be Betty and Henry Francis. Betty secretly writes notes to Mr. Francis, who shows up at the Draper home. When he’s spotted by Clara the housekeeper, he makes up an excuse about holding a fundraiser at Betty’s.
She really holds the fundraiser, but he stands her up.
The fundraiser doesn’t seem to have fooled Clara and Francis’ absence leaves Betty bitterly disappointed.
Betty shows up at Francis’s office with the box in which she’s locked their correspondence. She throws the box at him for embarrassing her.
He says she had to come to him because he’s married, now she has, and he kisses her. He locks the door, but she stops him from going much further.
“We’re locked in this office. What? On the desk? On the couch,” she complains. He suggests getting a room, but she objects. “No, it’s tawdry,” she said. “I’m very sorry I started this.” Then she says goodbye.
I’m not sure how much Don knows about Francis—he might have seen one of her letters to him, driving Don to spend more time away from home.
Don also finds himself frustrated by his relationship with Hilton, who calls at all hours seeking a combination of business advisor, moonshine drinking buddy and surrogate son.
Don presents to a campaign showing how the hotelier offers up American comfort around the world. One headline: “How do you say hamburger in Japanese? Hilton.”
“It’s good. Very good. It’s clever yet friendly it draws you in,” Mr. Hilton says.
“But what about the moon?” he adds. “I said I wanted Hilton on the moon. “I couldn’t have been more clear.”
Don is taken aback. “I misunderstood. I’m sure there’s some way to fit it in.”
In a private meeting Don fires back saying the campaign will change Hilton’s business, noting that clients frequently get in the way of good work.
“What do you want from me, love?” is Hilton’s response. “Fine. Your work is good. When I say I want the moon, I expect the moon.”
Roger hears about the Hilton meeting and sees Don.
“Two clients left here angry,” he says, asking if he wants the agency to be known for displeased clients and people losing their feet to lawnmowers.
“I want to put you on notice you’re in over your head,” Roger scolds.
Seeking a conquest, Don shows up at the apartment of Suzanne Farrell, his daughter’s former teacher. They’ve been flirting for a while, but she seems to know better than to get involved with him.
He knocks. She hesitates. “Someone’s going to see you,” she worries. “Then let me in,” he replies.
She’s aware of what’s happening. When Don says he wants to talk, she cracks, “says the man as he unbuckles his pants.”
She warns that she lives only a few miles from him and his family and that it can’t end well.
“I don’t care. Doesn’t that mean something to someone like you?” he declares and they wind up in bed.
That deal is finally closed. But so many relationships, wanted and unwanted, remain up in the air as this season moves on.

Which relationship will last the longest: Don with Suzanne, Don with Roger, Don with Connie or Don with Betty? Let me know.