Is what Joan did prostitution? Yes. Does that make her a prostitute? No. Or, at least, no moreso than selling some old books to a used bookstore makes you a bookseller or boiling a hot dog makes you a chef.

A prostitute is someone whose bread and butter is prostitution. Someone for whom engaging in sex for money is an ordinary part of life.

It’s an important point because the theme this year is the slow slide into hell. Generally speaking, people don’t make one big compromise in life. They make a series of small compromises that add up over time.

Lane is the starkest example of this. From being slightly evasive with his wife over their finances to trying to scam his way into a bonus to cover it to forging Don’s signature to sleazing Joan into taking a partnership instead of cash, Lane has been bouncing down the road to Perdition like a tumbleweed.

In Joan’s case, this one incident seems easy to rationalize. Can we really say that she got more out of her extended affair with Roger than she did out of her one night stand with Herb? And her protestation of being married we all know has little merit. She is getting a divorce and Roger was, after all, married while she was sleeping with him. And while she did seem to have genuine feelings for Roger, it’s doubtful she would have carried on that relationship if he was a poor working stiff.

All in all, her night with Herb may end up being the most beneficial sex she’s ever had. It wasn’t rapey, there is no emotional attachment, and she ended up with 5% of the company and a nice piece of jewelry.

BUT…

I don’t think this point of view will survive the first serious clash of partners. Can anyone doubt that Slimy Pete is going to throw this back in her face if they ever end up on the opposite side of a voting issue? “We all know how YOU got here…”

My feeling is that Joan should have taken the money and quit. She should have demanded $50k up front and another $50k over two years if they land the account. She has just lost the respect of everyone in that room. She has lost the major piece of cachet she’s always had: control of her sexuality. Now it’s a commodity. And you don’t sell a commodity only once.

A slight correction, I think. I thought I heard you imply that Pete is not a partner. He is, he’s just not a named partner.

Don put up Pete’s $50k buy in. It may be interesting if Pete throws the Herb thing back in Joan’s face, she can always ask what Pete had to do for Don to get his $50k.

Requiem for a Tumble Weed. I guess we all knew it would be Lane. Pete has too far to fall. We’ But the Weiner is such a master of faking one way and then dodging another that I’m actually surprised that the Lane suicide played out as expected.

What do you make of Pete’s odd eyeline take when Lane takes over the fee structure/commission conversation? Sizing him up for another round?

Is it just me or is the actress playing Sally doing a Don Draper impersonation? I’ve been noticing this for a while. Her nastiness, her cloying manipulation, getting her way by starting conversations with the phrase “I thought you wanted…” and her cold composure seem very much drawn from her dad’s playbook. The ski boot fight with Betty seemed especially Mini-Don.

The theme for the week seems to be the tragedy of secrets.

Lane’s suicide is the obvious example. But Lane’s suicide wasn’t just the result of the secret he’d been keeping, it was also the result of Don’s “decent” agreement to keep the circumstances of his firing quiet. By agreeing to keep the situation hush hush, Don put the image-conscious Lane in the impossible position of having to explain his dismissal from a firm where he’s a full partner. When Don…who obviously has a great deal of experience keeping secrets and having those secrets revealed…tells Lane that this is the worst part and that the lightheadedness he’s feeling is relief, Lane doesn’t hear him. Instead, he keeps swimming, trying to think of how to spin or plead his way out. Don tells him the way out of his predicament and then enables him to make the wrong choice. This, by the way, is the classic gambit Satan plays on people in literature: show you the virtuous path and then invite you to choose something else.

And tragically, this all could have been avoided if Lane had just told the firm that he is going to have a massive tax bill if he liquidates to keep the firm afloat and he’d “ap-pre-see-ate” it if the firm negotiated payment on his behalf with the crown.

Lane’s tragedy is compounded by the impact on his wife. By maintaining his secret and pretending that they’re wealthy, he’s put her in the position of worrying about material happiness more than money…only to tragically compound Lane’s unhappiness. Obviously, she’d be upset to know the truth, but he has denied her the opportunity to stand by her man and be the partner he would need to see their way through this rough patch. Lane’s secret keeping makes her seem like a vacuous fool.

Something tells me, by the way, that Coop is going to want some answers out of Don concerning Lane’s death. Just as soon as he has a Danish.

Another secret:
Don kept his conversation at the Cancer Society dinner a secret from Roger because he was embarrassed by the Lucky Strike letter and because he believed dinner hall gossip. This dishonesty between the two has kept them in the minor leagues longer than at least Roger thinks was necessary.

On the less tragic end, Sally Draper has her first period and abandons Glen in the museum without telling him why, making the situation much more dramatic than it would have been if she’d just asked him to take her back to the apartment.

-Jason from NatterCast
nattercast.blogspot.com