Mad Men 'Flight 1' - Episode 2 Season 2

'Mad Men' may have moved on and there may have been some remarkable changes over the last two years, as we noted last week (read the blog here) but something that hasn't changed dramatically in that period is racism. It would probably have taken a miracle for a complete change of behaviour during that period but to see how strong people's attitudes were, it very shocking.

Jealous Joan
She wasn't the sole offender but Joan was certainly the most obvious. When she made those ambiguous remarks to Paul's new girlfriend, Sheila it was difficult to know if she was being downright patronising or trying to be liberal with a bad choice of words. While inappropriate, her "Its good to see you and Paul together...when Paul and I were together, the last thing I would have taken him for is open minded" is case in point. That was until she was back in her own domain where she made it clear that she was being unequivocally racist.

Baby Boy Blue
Peggy has learnt from the past and is all grown up. Now she leaves her men longing for more. Her wisdom has come at a great price though. My heart nearly melted when we saw the beautiful little baby boy, who has to be Peggy's son?

Personality Transplant
Don has certainly changed since Season One. He's more open with his feelings and opinions. For such a chauvinistic, racist, party-hard, complex man, I'm continually amazed at how likable Jon Hamm makes the character. It was refreshing to hear him talking about American legend, Colonel John Glenn. The former astronaut, who became the third person to orbit the Earth before becoming a US Senator, is a true hero in Don's eyes: "I think he's a winner. Square jaw, false modesty - he looks like he just took off his letterman [traditional college] jacket." It's refreshing to see him in awe of someone, as he's normally so disappointing and disapproving of people, including himself.

Jumping in with Both Wellies
When news broke about the American Airlines crash, Pete as usual had to be the first to come out with a cold, tasteless joke about the tragedy – granted he is quick, Jon Slattery looked genuinely amused. Then reality hit home, literally and suddenly he's not so quick-witted anymore.

There's Life and There's Work
It was hard not to feel sorry for him as he walked shocked into Draper's office and blurted: "I just got off the phone with my brother, it's the strangest thing. Apparently my father was on that flight." What was clever about that scene is that for once the two men put their differences, and office heads to aside and turned to each other in a time of human crisis. Of course, the first port of call was to reach for the bottle and the next? To go home: "because that's what people do." I never thought I'd hear Draper say the words: "There's life and there's work", let alone mean them. It's good to see him sweat a little over his family and loosing them, given his hedonistic past actions.

Duck Dastardly
Following Pete's lead, the rest of the ad men continued with their battle of quip-witticism's. The worst offender has to be Duck Philips though, looking to make money from the human tragedy. Interesting to see how the big boys deal with an international crisis, seeing opportunities where a hundred bodies lie.

Childs Play
It jars every time the characters talk about their children. If it isn't derogatory comments like "they're growing like weeds", then its just plain inappropriate chat such as Carlton's sleazing over his babysitter or getting their tweenies to mix their alcoholic drinks. Was this really socially acceptable behaviour a mere forty odd years ago?

Next
After discovering that his father wasn't the tough, successful man he pretended to be, is there a chance Campbell will soften into a more likeable character? Or would that a boring Pete make? More next week in 'The Benefactor'. Drop us a line and share your 'Mad Men' thoughts below.

Taragh Loughrey-Grant

'Mad Men' is on RTÉ One on Mondays at 11.55pm.