Mad Cap: "Flight 1"

Left to right: Michael Gladis and Christina Hendricks

Welcome to Mad Cap: a daily rundown of every episode of the acclaimed AMC series Mad Men. During this time, I will be compiling my thoughts and highlights as we travel through every moment and season of the Emmy-award winning drama that has come to define modern TV. The goal is to be a refresher on every moment for Don Draper and his band of advertisement executives leading up to the final season. Stay for all of the shocking moments and the brilliant acting performances, and make sure to chime in with your thoughts and criticisms on why the show means something to you.

Season 2, Episode 2
"Flight 1"

"Eugene, I'm in the persuasion business, and 

frankly I'm disappointed by your presentation."

- Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss)

Plot:

Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) is turned off when he meets an African American at a company party held by Paul Kinsey (Michael Gladis) that is friends with Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks). News gets out of a plane crash and Don Draper (Jon Hamm) must work with his current client to make them seem like the best alternative. With the help of Herman "Duck" Philips (Mark Moses), he spends a lot of time trying to work out a strategy to pitch to Roger Sterling (John Slattery). Meanwhile, Pete is coming to terms with his father dying in the plane crash. Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss) has sent her child to live with her mother Katherine Olsen (Myra Turley). In a last ditch effort, Pete goes out with the clients to get drinks and uses his father's death as an excuse to create a sympathetic approach to the sale. Don feels defeated and gets drinks where he flirts with a waitress who he becomes uninterested in.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Vincent Kartheiser

MVP:

Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser)

While Pete has been an interesting character, he has spent a lot of time in the shadows of Don's bigger successes. With Duck becoming Don's trusted assistant, he is becoming increasingly jealous and defeated. Along with facing the reality that his father is dead, he is coping in the only way he knows how. He drinks and forms a small hostility with people around him. People try to coax him into comfort, but it isn't enough to stop him. His father was a big reason that he still had a job there. He owned businesses and did things. What can Pete possibly do? He can sell in the slickest ways possible. He can manipulate better than Don, even if the ways are a little skeevier than the average sell. Like he did while he was alive, Pete uses his father to get by and he plays like the jealous bully who is not getting enough attention. He seals the deal and builds his own self worth from that.

Left to right: Kartheiser and Alison Brie

Best Scene

It may seem a little predictable, but once again Pete saves the day by not following the rules. Last season, he pitched an idea during off hours and here, he does the same. However, in a way that cleverly ties up a lot of themes in the episode, he uses his dead father to sympathize with clients. He needs to make a connection to make their airline viable. After mentioning that addressing air travel would make him feel uncomfortable, he commits to the sale and it results in some ingenious sales. The hard work that Don has put into working with Duck almost seems for naught. If nothing else, this seems like Pete's personal vendetta against Don and over the course of two episodes, revels in managing to cut corners and be far more successful at a sale than the most persuasive man at the company.

UP NEXT: "The Benefactor"