After the last two episodes brought some heavy emotional weight to the table, Mad Men takes a step in the right direction. We have a competition on our hands, with Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce working against competitor Ted Chaw to land a deal with the Honda motorcycle company. It would be a hell of a lot easier if it weren't for Roger Sterling's issues with the Japanese owners of the company. It's been about twenty years since World War 2 ended, and it's quite easy to see why Roger hasn't let it go. Things like war are hard to forget, and when you lose friends to it, hatred is the easiest direction.
Roger's intervention at the initial meeting nearly ruins any chance of beating Chaough. It's quite a moment of victory for Roger, who sees these men as the same ones who attacked Pearl Harbor. It's his chance for some sort of vengeance. Don, being who he is, plays one hell of a strategic game in a last ditch effort to take out Chaough. He doesn't go for his usual "fireworks" approach of dazzling the competition because the rules don't allow it, and rules matter most to the Japanese.
However, my favorite aspect of the story regards Sally Draper, who has begun to act out of line. Her first offense, cutting her hair, isn't much cause to worry these days. I suppose that's how things were back then, but it seems a little harsh how Betty punishes her daughter as soon as she sees it. However, I kind of understand her alarm in hearing that Sally was publicly masturbating. She's a young girl dealing with a harsh mother and a father who is never around. Of course she's going to act out in some way. Ultimately, I felt this episode didn't quite deliver enough drama, but it was pretty well crafted to keep me interested.
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