Meditations on the End of a Season: Pete and Peggy
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
FOR MAD MEN! SEASON 2! AND PROBABLY SEASON 1!
Oh my god. Am I a sloppy, sentimental fangirl? Hell yes. Because right now I am shipping Pete and Peggy like a madwoman, even though--perhaps BECAUSE I know--that it's gonna be harder than ever for them. But mostly I want to see them communing the way they did at the end of this episode, forever and ever, no matter (especially because) they break my heart.
Pete. Oh god. Poor silly, selfish, self-absorbed Pete. Rather little too late, Campbell, but that's no surprise. He opened up his heart to Peggy, as he has so many times before, and said what she would have died to hear in season one: "I love you." Oh, god, Pete. You're married to Trudy. Peggy's had your baby, all alone. She's had to wean herself away and move on, because YOU were too damn selfish to see what was in front of you. "I don't like you this way," when she's happy and vibrant and sexily twisting on the dance floor indeed.
A little part of her went away. A little part of her died. And that's life. You accept, you move on.
Pete's running half a step behind, never quick enough to catch up.
"I could have had you. I could have SHAMED you. I had your baby."
And the Campbell seed floats out into the ether, Campbell discard. Oh, PETE. Mother's icy words come back to bite him with a vengeance.
PEGGY. I don't think, as so many have said, that she was cold or cruel. She cut through the lies, perhaps the first one to do so in the tangled web of Sterling Cooper et al. Pete needed to know. She needed to tell him. God knows WE needed the closure. And she tells him "I had your baby," simply, calmly, undramatically. What more is there to say?
(Plenty. I went mad because of it. I cut myself off because of it. YOU did this to me. But she doesn't.)
And that devastating one tiny little tear from Pete. And Peggy's gentle pat on the shoulder as she quietly withdraws.
Does he feel remorse? I hope that's part of the maelstrom he's feeling. "We could have been so good together/We could have lived this dance forever" or at least the Twist, George Michael being prenatal at this point. Anger? No doubt. Pain? Oh yes. He had his love, she had his baby, he lost both. And never even noticed he'd thrown them both away. And I hope he's becoming adult enough to understand the part he played in this.
Pete stands/sits sentinal over Sterling Cooper, rifle at the ready for those looters swarming up to the thirty-fifth floor. Thinking about shooting a bear and bringing it home to the little woman.
But she is gone far, far away.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
FOR MAD MEN! SEASON 2! AND PROBABLY SEASON 1!
Oh my god. Am I a sloppy, sentimental fangirl? Hell yes. Because right now I am shipping Pete and Peggy like a madwoman, even though--perhaps BECAUSE I know--that it's gonna be harder than ever for them. But mostly I want to see them communing the way they did at the end of this episode, forever and ever, no matter (especially because) they break my heart.
Pete. Oh god. Poor silly, selfish, self-absorbed Pete. Rather little too late, Campbell, but that's no surprise. He opened up his heart to Peggy, as he has so many times before, and said what she would have died to hear in season one: "I love you." Oh, god, Pete. You're married to Trudy. Peggy's had your baby, all alone. She's had to wean herself away and move on, because YOU were too damn selfish to see what was in front of you. "I don't like you this way," when she's happy and vibrant and sexily twisting on the dance floor indeed.
A little part of her went away. A little part of her died. And that's life. You accept, you move on.
Pete's running half a step behind, never quick enough to catch up.
"I could have had you. I could have SHAMED you. I had your baby."
And the Campbell seed floats out into the ether, Campbell discard. Oh, PETE. Mother's icy words come back to bite him with a vengeance.
PEGGY. I don't think, as so many have said, that she was cold or cruel. She cut through the lies, perhaps the first one to do so in the tangled web of Sterling Cooper et al. Pete needed to know. She needed to tell him. God knows WE needed the closure. And she tells him "I had your baby," simply, calmly, undramatically. What more is there to say?
(Plenty. I went mad because of it. I cut myself off because of it. YOU did this to me. But she doesn't.)
And that devastating one tiny little tear from Pete. And Peggy's gentle pat on the shoulder as she quietly withdraws.
Does he feel remorse? I hope that's part of the maelstrom he's feeling. "We could have been so good together/We could have lived this dance forever" or at least the Twist, George Michael being prenatal at this point. Anger? No doubt. Pain? Oh yes. He had his love, she had his baby, he lost both. And never even noticed he'd thrown them both away. And I hope he's becoming adult enough to understand the part he played in this.
Pete stands/sits sentinal over Sterling Cooper, rifle at the ready for those looters swarming up to the thirty-fifth floor. Thinking about shooting a bear and bringing it home to the little woman.
But she is gone far, far away.