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Mad Men Season 4 Episode 9

The Beautiful Girls

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AIRED: Sep 19, 2010

8.8

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Episode Summary

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Joan and Roger reconnect after a brush with violence. Peggy receives attention from a very opinionated suitor. Also, Don has more trouble with Sally.

Fan Episode Reviews (3)

Ms. Blankenship dies, and Peggy, Joan and Faye are falling and failing in this episode

7.0

By guyroy1971, Oct 10, 2011

The title is beautiful girls for this episode, not beautiful women, and the episode shows all the women acting like children in this episode. It was almost a ctritique of women and how they cope and deal with things.

First is Peggy, who was set up with the guy from the party from the first episode. He is a far left guy who would probably be go those G8 protest if he was around in 2010. I always thought Peggy was to be our key to the 60's and she would be the one who would grow into a proto flower child. This episode surprised though because it gave her a layer of depth in that she is not an archtype. She gets angry with the guy for critizising her business and he does not relate to the "women's movement" despite being a far left type. He tells her no one is being shot over the women's movement, which ran counter to her seeing herself as a pioneer in her business. She states blacks can force their way in like she did. Also, she is happily corporate, this is what she chose to do, and this is always going to be a gulf between her and the counter culture. To them, advertising is the enemy and that is what she picked to do in life. As Don said, their job is to get people to like a racist company, not to get them to like black people.

Sally also runs to daddy in this episode. She runs away from Betty and decides to live with daddy, but that isn't happening. She tries to almost be a wife replacement to Don, making him breakfast and talking adult, but we see she is very happy with him. She is daddy's girl. She smiles contently on the couch and turns her time with Don into a fun time while it lasts. She metaphorically and literally falls on the floor while running away from Don when she doesn't want to go home. The secretary tells her she falls all the time, and the women in this episode are doing the same.

Joan starts up with Roger again, as he buys her a message and takes care of her like a father too. Greg (to no one's surprise) has been sent to Vietnam, and Joan has been battered all season. The guys at the office are not swooning for her anymore, and a secretary called them both "old" in the marketing session earlier in the year. She needs validation and Roger is always there to provide it. We also see the city slipping into the urban decay that will be present until Guliani, as her and Roger are mugged. Her life is falling apart, like Betty with the JFK assisination last season, external events reinforce her own life cracking. To Joan, she even can't walk down the street anymore, everything is changing for the worse.

Finally, we see Faye is not the housewife type, to say the least. Last episode, she breaks up with a guy on the phone telling him she is not the cooking type. She is also not the motherly type either. She sees her interaction with Sally as a test that she failed. She has started a relationship with Don and he has kids, and she can't handle it. Don can't handle it either, but as Betty said last episode, he doesn't have to deal with it, he only gets them every other weekend.

The episode ends with all the women looking for the elevator going down. Peggy's friend, who just got rejected from Peggy's life, and Peggy, Faye and Joan sharing an elevator together. All three are falling in this episode. All failed some test in this episode, Peggy with the counter culture, Faye as a mom, and Joan as a faithful wife.moreless
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9/19

7.0

By thefanof, May 28, 2011

The latest episode of Mad Men was not that bad, but they just had too many weird things. The robbery, the corresponding rendez vous, Don chasing his daughter down the hallway, Miss Blankenship dying in her chair (don't get me wrong, I'm glad, but what?)

Just an all-over the place episode of Mad Men. There were some laughs, there were some moments that were high in the drama, but it was not one of the better episodes so far this season.

I do not really know what they were trying to accomplish here. If it was to make me laugh unintentionally, mission successful.moreless
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Cause of death: Don Draper..lol

6.8

By sequoa84, May 28, 2011

Not exactly a spectacular episode of Mad Men, which, however had it's moments. Though this episode had a bucket load of Don Draper, Matt Weiner however remained true to the title. The beautiful girls - Joan, Peggy, Fey, Megan, and Sally go on to live another day, while the not so beautiful secretary of Don dies in the most meanest way possible.

There were a few scenes that were forced - like the scene where Joan and Roger get mugged. Look at whatever way you want, but it was just a stupid ploy to get them to start making out in public. And I don't understand what's going on with Peggy and that lesbian character. I think the writers are eventually setting up Peggy for something along those lines, where she gets fed up with meeting men who turn out to be complete losers. I liked the Sally storyline. We had some pretty weird plots surrounding her all way through this season. This was a good acting performance by a very talented child actor. Other than that, there is only one word to describe this episode - Random. Considering what we've seen in the last 3 years, that's not something unusual.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Jon Hamm	Don Draper
Robert Morse	Bertram Cooper
Rich Sommer	Harry Crane
Kiernan Shipka	Sally Draper
Elisabeth Moss	Peggy Olson
John Slattery	Roger Sterling

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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David Warshofsky	Leonard Fillmore	Guest Star
Christopher Gehrman	Sean Fillmore	Guest Star
Grinnell Morris	Thomas Fillmore	Guest Star
Cara Buono	Faye Miller	Recurring Role
Jessica Pare	Megan	Recurring Role
Zosia Mamet	Joyce Ramsay	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

As seen on Mad Men from the episode "The...

© 2010 AMC
Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka) on Mad Men...

© 2010 AMC
Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks), Peggy...

© 2010 AMC
Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) and Fa...

© 2010 AMC

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Although credited, Jared Harris (Lane Pryce), does not appear in this episode.
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- Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell) and Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) appear in this episode briefly as they help move Miss Blankenship.
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QUOTES (2)
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- Roger: (about Miss Blankenship) She died like she lived, surrounded by the people she answered phones for.
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- Don:Let yourself out, lock the door behind you...as a courtesy.
  Faye: You want to leave me here? You sure?
  Don: I'm taking everything interesting with me.
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NOTES (0)
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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