Signal 30: Pete Campbell Is No Don Draper
On the other hand, Don Draper is no Ken Cosgrove.
John Slattery may have had Jon Hamm rip off his shirt and come to the rescue in this episode, but the show’s most intriguing character with a double life is now played by [whoever plays Ken Cosgrove]. Plus, Peggy has a pact with him. A pact. I have no idea what that means, but I’d like to think it points to the fact that both Ken and Peggy have taken hard looks at Roger and Don and realized that SCDP may not be the hip new future they once thought it was.
At first, the dinner party in this episode bored me to tears, since the Trudy-and-Pete are the new Betty-and-Don theme was a little heavy-handed, but the inclusion of Ken and Cynthia made me also wonder if we weren’t supposed to see them as the new Don-and-Megan. Cynthia was wearing bright yellow, which Tom and Lorenzo have often pointed out is Megan’s power color; the similarity between Ken and Don’s rural backgrounds was pointed out; and most of all, Ken has a secret he doesn’t want anyone to know about. It’s not nearly as dark and dangerous as Don’s was (and presumably is, although I’m beginning to believe there will be no future consequences to Don for his fraud), but it exists and he’s persisting in maintaining despite explicit orders to the contrary.
On the other hand, there is no new Joan. Joan is still unique - Jane tried to be the new Joan, but she could never match Joan’s wisdom and tact. Which is not to say that Joan doesn’t have her own blinders and flaws. Her response to Lane (called it! well, I call something) was beautifully diplomatic, but on the other hand, we just saw her spend the last episode telling Greg she was tired of having to make him feel like a man, and now we see her right back in her old patterns, re-masculating the embattled Lane. I could cross my fingers and hope that this doesn’t cross into “My wife doesn’t understand me like you do, nor does she have anything like your breasts” territory but now I have a depressing feeling it might.