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Mad Men Season 2 Episode 7

The Gold Violin

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8.8

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 9/7/08

At Roger's behest, Don buys a brand new car which befits his image as an executive who has "arrived." Don's secretary makes a grave error, which puts her at odds with Joan. Ken piques Sal's interest when he asks him to read his story, "The Gold Violin." Cooper has a new piece of art in his office that attracts the interest of the employees at Sterling Cooper. Betty learns an ugly truth from Jimmy Barrett.moreless

FAN RECAP

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4.8

By thefanof, Sep 13, 2011

This episode looked as if it may have been different, maybe s little more adventurous and a little more action-packed. We had sneaking around and a flashback of "Don" working as a carsalesman. All the pieces were in place for an interesting episode, yet something went wrong.

Ken was given too much screentime, Pete was non-existent, and the insufferable Jimmy Barrett was brought back yet again. The show creates the mystique and aura of the 1960's, but the originality just ceases to exist. The plots are as predictable as they are overused and the character development is as slow as a glacier (they take 1000 years to freeze, for those that do not know).moreless
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Brilliant episode, One of the best

9.0

By smileyoreilly, Nov 01, 2010

One of the most enjoyable episodes to date. (warning lots of spoilers) The episode begins with the "new car" and flashbacks to Don as a car salesman, the aspect of his past and that he is not really Don Draper. The aspect of Trash is a main trend as the family leave rubbish after there picnic and later Don is told in a line "your trash" at the end of the episode. There is allot of standoffs in the episode as jane is still causing causing stirr in the office as being daring and showing the "new era" of women. she is as strong it seems as joan, but can resist the temptation of the men in the office. Don is truly now loosing his cool, in the previous episodes his lies with the new relationship are starting to show, now he can't have salt due to high blood pressure lie and he cracked up in the previous ep, betty now for sure after what Jimmy told her he could see his wife cheating with Don it will be interesting how this plays out!

The Sal being in touch with his feminine side is clear as his character is explored in this episode as he seems to awe over ken!

All in al great episode, i don't understand thefanof's review, Ken has previously had no screentime and surly it makes a change to having Pete on all the time.. and i don't mind jimmy, he isn't a deep character but he is plain speaking and tells it as it is!moreless
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Sal longs for Ken. Don's wife is starting to final have real doubts. The Boss is going after younger women again. The geeky guy is getting to know the crazy other boss.moreless

8.8

By hastings66, Aug 11, 2010

I liked this episode. The littering scene was great. Sal ignoring his girl was classic. Sal saying, "he doesn't care," when she tried to talk was perfect. The Don and Jimmy scene works perfect after last week when Don left Jimmy's wife and a few weeks back freaking out while shaving. They could have continued Peggy's and Pete's stories a little more. Overall a lot of the same, but in a good way. This is one of the few shows I watch. I love the atmosphere and style more than the story even. Don is my new favorite character. I am hoping "Sons of Anarchy" delivers because with no "Sporanos" and Lost in recess "Mad Men" and MLB is all I have to watch.moreless
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Don's affair comes to a head. Jane and Joan square off. Sal invites Ken to dinner

8.3

By guyroy1971, Aug 11, 2010

This episode was the payoff (spoiler) to the whole Jimmy storyline as he really gets his revenge on Don. I stated in the last review it looked like Don was about to be caught, and I was right. For the first time in the show, his wife now has an inkling about her husband's double life. (hence the flashback to when he sold cars and was called out by a woman who knew he wasn't who he said. It paralelled his new double life of being unfaithful)

I thought Jimmy was annoying, but his turning his smiling persona off to vent then turning it back on after telling Don's wife about his knowledge of Don's affair, then dumping on Don, was really well done.

Jane was fired but got her job back after appealing to slater. I believe she will regret that decision as Slater is not one not to take advantage of that situation. (as Joan knows very well, which is why I think she dropped it after she found out how Jane was still there)

The show's showing the different mores of the time was again highlighted by the Sal storyline (closeted and repressed gay and the casual attitude towards littering. Many of the comments on this episode were shocked by it, but people did not really care about littering until the late eighties or so. (when I was little, my dad often casually threw trash out the window of his car..lol)

I believ Betty is about to act on some of the offers she had from other guys throughout this season now she knows that Don's cheating. I also agree with another on here that Duck seems to be careening towards a bad end.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Jon Hamm	Don Draper
John Slattery	Roger Sterling
Vincent Kartheiser	Pete Campbell
January Jones	Betty Draper
Christina Hendricks	Joan Holloway
Elisabeth Moss	Peggy Olson

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Melinda Page Hamilton	Anna	Guest Star
Patrick Fischler	Jimmy Barrett	Guest Star
Adam Godley	Wayne Kirkeby	Guest Star
Peyton List	Jane Siegel	Recurring Role
Patrick Cavanaugh	Smitty	Recurring Role
Mark Moses	Herman "Duck" Phillips	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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NOTES (1)
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- Featured Music:
  I'm in Love
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- Roger: I mean Roosevelt, I hated the man, but I felt like I knew him.
  
  This is a reference to Franklin D. Roosevelt who died April 12, 1945.
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- Sal: It's a Rothko. Why the hell didn't Dale say that?
  
  Mark Rothko was a Latvian-born American painter and printmaker. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted the classification as an "abstract painter".
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