Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1032

So Bob Benson Is Definitely Gay, Right? An Investigation

Mad Men's latest man of mystery hasn't made his move on Joan, is not a fan of brothels, might be a psychopath, and — spoiler alert — made a move on Pete Campbell on this week's episode. All of which might be a slow build to the coming-out party of the show's second major gay character, some of which might speak to bigger issues about being gay in the '60s, a little bit of which might be a preview of the Stonewall Riots to come, and none of which may mean much of anything concrete. But no matter whether you're trusting the conspiracy theorists, the recappers, or Matthew Weiner this season, Mad Men's big gay subplot probably won't get resolved that simply in the last two episodes. So what do you believe about Bob Benson? And what does this mean about next season?

Actor James Wolk has become a not-quite-regular in season six as Bob, the man who works upstairs and is always — always — happy to lend a helping hand. And this season has needed help. Amidst complaints that the show has been low on action and high on soap, the conspiracy theories have been arguably more exciting than the plot lines. (Megan Draper as a dead Sharon Tate is way better for the water cooler than Don making that lady from Freaks and Geeks wait around in a hotel room.) One of the big Internet mysteries to arrive in this more-meta-than-ever moratorium has led fans back to Bob, whatever the hell it is that he's been doing at the Sterling, Cooper & Partners office this spring. (He's a murderer! A journalist! A spy! A young Don! Or Peggy's time-traveling son!) Reddit's Mad Men page has been having a field day with spy theories, and gay blogs and recappers got more than clue about his veiled homosexuality on Sunday night, when this happened:

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(via Reddit)

Yes, it wasn't just that Benson hooked up Pete with a whimsical male nurse named Manolo to take care of his mother. When confronted by Pete's accusation that Manolo was sleeping with his often forgetful mother, Bob countered with nothing short of a move on Pete, with that look in his eye and this great line, all classic Weineriean levels of perfect words and pronounced restraint:

"Is it really so impossible to imagine? Couldn't it be that if someone took care of you, is it impossible that you might begin to feel something for him? When it's true love, does it matter who it is?"

And then came the kneesies — that's footsies, but with knees, even if it's just a nudge:

(via Vulture's always fantastic weekly Mad Men GIFs)

And then the awkward walk away. "Of course," Bob says to Pete's denial, all brooding blank serious face on his way out the door.

To hear all sorts of recappers tell it throughout the day today, the kneesies was or was not the ultimate sign that Bob Benson is gay. Over at Towleroad, the gay blog that has been following the is-he-or-isn't-he speculation closely, Bobby Hankinson declared the issue all but over: "Sunday's episode of Mad Men finally answered the question." At Slate, Paul Ford wonders if there's more there: "I suppose the fact that Bob came on to Pete could be seen as the 'reveal' of his secret, but is sex the only driving force of this character?" Because maybe it's not that simple: "Benson harbors his own desires to make Pete happy," wrote Jen Doll here at the Wire. Meanwhile, at The New York Times, Sloane Crosley said Bob's knee bump "gives him depth" and insisted that it's "[n]ot the nature of the secret, but that it exists," while Logan Hill, on the other end of the conversation, said "all it proves is that Bob is seriously kinky." At The Atlantic's Mad Men roundtable, Amy Sullivan says there's more in store: "As for the Talented Mr. Benson? I have no doubt he'll figure into the last two episodes of this season. And I don't buy that his eager beaverness has all been for Pete's sake." At Esquire, Jen Chaney still thinks "that the perpetually hard-to-pin-down Bob is up to something." 

[image error]So, wait, we're only at the "seemed to confirm" or wait-there's-more stage? What about the rest of Bob's suggestive story line? Gay sites like Tom and Lorenzo emphasized a very un-Mad Men lack of romance with Joan during that beach getaway a couple weeks back: "Let's note that there is yet to be any physical contact or affection at all between Joan and Bob. That's downright odd for any romantic or sexual relationship depicted on Mad Men." And remember episode six, when Bob was in a brothel — and Pete was in a room for which he got caught? Well, Bob didn't seem into physical contact then either. So, we suppose you could argue that aside from the kneesies with Pete Campbell kneesies (we're going to make this kneesies thing a thing), Benson hasn't really had a kneesies-level spark with anyone, male or female, gay or straight.

[image error]And, come on, Bob is supposed to be... important, right? Well, as we know, Mad Men has been really heavy — as in hit-you-over-the-head heavy — on the historical moments in this, its big important 1968 year. We've moved from New Year's Eve of 1967 to the late summer of '68 pretty quickly this season, since August's Democratic National Convention featured so prominently in the Megan-must-be-dead conspiracy-feeding episode a week ago. With two episodes to go in season six, that would seem to position Benson as a potentially pivotal character if season seven — Mad Men's last — were to pick up on the even more big important events of 1969. Namely, the Stonewall Riots of June 28, 1969, a night that changed gay history in America, and especially in New York City. "Mad Men has a habit of bringing in minor characters who signal the broader theme for the following season," Jaime Woo wrote at The Huffington Post, adding that the gay reveal and "his sudden appearance in Season 6 could allude to next season's big theme. To be sure, the supporting role as major storytelling device is a staple of Weiner and his writers, most recently put to work with Don's secretary, Dawn, and her confrontation with the death of Martin Luther King Jr., that awkward award show scene aside.

(via Paper)

Which brings us to the return of Mad Men's other big character, Sal. (With respect to that Nordic design guy who tried to take Peggy to a Bob Dylan show once.) Could the departed design director return with the Stonewall plot, Bob Benson, and something more than subtlety when it comes to the show's gay themes? Vulture's Margaret Lyons wanted him back for other reasons:

In early seasons, Sal's closeted-ness helped amplify the themes Don embodied: That many of us live lies, that people see what they want to see, that the lens of today is different than that of yesteryear. And that sort of ran its course. But now that Don has scootched his way toward sociopath, there are themes the show's exploring through other characters that Sal's reappearance could help deepen.

[image error]Sal's not officially out of the closet anyway, according to the actor who plays him, and neither is Bob, at least not with two big Sundays to go. And besides, this is a season still waiting for its truly big reveal to satisfy the conspiracy theorists, and, hey, maybe Bob's just your friendly Madison Avenue sociopath!  Sure, the jump from handsome, smiley, possibly-gay guy around the office to psycho killer sounds like a bit much, but this is Mad Men, and the TV critics like to get meta. "I'd argue, Bob has masterfully honed in on and exploited Pete Campbell's greatest insecurity," writes The Wrap's Tim Molloy, who insists that playing kneesies was merely a cool and calculated move on Bob's part: "He's psyched out a potential rival, and if Pete later accuses him of propositioning him, then Joan, for one, will attest that Bob sure doesn't seem gay to her, based on their previous history."

Then there's the theory from uber-meta critic Matt Zoller Seitz at New York, which is all about Bob Benson, "good sociopath." As in, he performs acts of kindness without any human connection. "I wonder if it's possible that he really does feel a connection with damaged or needy people, often at the moment of their greatest distress," Zoller Seitz wrote in his excellent recap today, suggesting that Bob might be coming on to Pete not because he's gay but in order to make Pete feel better about Pete's own repressed homosexuality. And that face Bob makes after his knee signal is rebuffed? That's an even bigger signal, Zoller Seitz adds:

Bob’s demeanor when he closes the door is fascinating: He’s suddenly a take-charge guy, with posture and gestures that reminded me of Don. His face as he leaves is notable as well. His expression doesn’t say, “Oh, hell, I screwed that up,” or “I better pack my things,” but something more like, “Well done, Bob, you totally nailed that,” or “That went even better than I’d anticipated.” It’s not a smug expression, though.

For his part, Weiner will only say that Bob is "definitely a liar" and that Wolk is "definitely mysterious. And that's deliberate." So there's that. Or, as Mark Lisanti's Mad Men Power Rankings at Grantland jokingly reminds us, we could be reading a bit too much into this whole thing:

Signal received. Now let's not throw around words like 'disgusting' too hastily. What if I told you I am a secret government spy, sent to monitor the internal workings of a high-profile ad agency? Would that change anything? No, of course not. That's ludicrous. I don't even know why I brought that up. Oops, knee's back. Let me move that out of the way. Sometimes it's got a mind of its own.

See you next week for another episode of Bob Benson, Mystery Man.

       

Why Is a Defense Contractor Paying for Sesame Street's Parents-in-Jail Lesson?

Sesame Street — home of Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Elmo — rarely incites controversy. But on Sunday the website of the Public Broadcasting Corporation's endlessly influential children's education show uploaded a curious feature called "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration." The point of the package, which includes printable brochures, streaming videos, eBooks, and apps for iPhone and Android, is explained thusly:

The incarceration of a loved one can be very overwhelming for both children and caregivers. It can bring about big changes and transitions. In simple everyday ways, you can comfort your child and guide her through these tough moments. With your love and support she can get through anything that comes her way. Here are some tools to help you with the changes your child is going through.

The package has so far elicited pretty polarized reactions. CBS News, which unveiled the effort, praise the attempt to confront the very real issue of children with loved ones in jail: "Sesame Street, in its simple, familiar way, is trying to break [incarceration] down, using imaginary characters to explore — and explain — what was once unimaginable, but now more and more common." (Indeed, the U.S. incarceration rate is the world's highest.) The libertarian magazine Reason, however, saw things a bit differently: "Congratulations, America, on making it almost normal to have a parent in prison or jail."

Maybe the most awkward part of "Little Children, Big Challenges," however, is the feature's main sponsor, BAE Systems. The British contractor, whose U.S. subsidiary is one of the largest suppliers to the Department of Defense, depends — like many other defense contractors — on the low-overhead labor of prisoners incarcerated at for-profit facilities. That said, BAE has a large philanthropic arm, and perhaps "Little Children, Big Challenges" was one of the more obvious projects to support.

To get a feel for project, check out the first video, titled "What is Incarceration?", on Sesame Street's website.

       

'Game of Thrones' Is the Biggest Thing Since 'The Sopranos'

Today in show business news: HBO has a big ratings hit, Oprah re-ups with LaToya Jackson, and there's a new man in charge of American Idol. Also: Hobbit​.

Sunday night's season finale of Game of Thrones reeled in a total of 6.3 million people over two airings, capping off a season that saw the show grow to become HBO's most popular show since The Sopranos. An average of 13.6 million people watched each episode of Game of Thrones this season, through a combination of live viewing, DVR, On Demand, and HBO GO. That's a lot of people! But it can't compare to The Sopranos's height of 14.4 million, especially when you consider that most people didn't have DVR or On Demand back then. And of course HBO GO didn't exist at all. Meaning they just watched straight-up regular style, all 14.4 million of them. Well not all of them, but a lot of them. Most of them, probably. Anyway, the point is that Game of Thrones is a big, big hit for the network, which had been sort of lacking a flagship show for a little while there. Good news all around, as it ensures that HBO stays committed to the series and of course everyone who works on it gets to keep their job. Except the people who get killed off, of course. And people are going to be killed off. Many more people. Prepare ye. [Deadline]

On the other end of the cable spectrum, we hear the news that OWN, that's the network that Oprah OWNS, has renewed LaToya Jackson's show Life With La Toya for a second season. So that's great. The LaToya Jackson show is one of OWN's most popular series. I'm sure that's exactly what Oprah envisioned when she set out to start her own television network. "Someday my great and powerful network will air a second season of a LaToya Jackson reality show on Saturday nights." Oh well. Whatever works, right? For some networks it's mystical alter-Earth fantasy and for other it's Game of Thrones. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Fox has officially let go of longtime American Idol producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick as they attempt to revitalize the slumping show. To replace them, Fox has brought on the whimsically named Per Blankens, who successfully ran Swedish Idol for five seasons. So next season expect to see lots of bespoke blond wood on the set and tall elfin blonde people singing, and of course we can expect the show to start in darkness in January and eventually brighten up into the forever-sun of May. Should be interesting! Every week the contestants make a Volvo commercial and then the judges throw dill and salmon at them. Sweden! [Deadline]

Here is the first poster art for the next Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug. It looks great, all grand and foreboding. And you don't need 3D glasses to enjoy it! Hopefully this second movie will improve on the first, which was a videogame-y muddle. So far so good... [Entertainment Weekly]

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And here's a trailer for The Frozen Ground, which features Nicolas Cage as a detective hunting a serial killer (John Cusack) with the help of a prostitute, played by Vanessa Hudgens, who escaped the madman's clutches. The movie is based on the real-life serial killer Robert Hansen, who ran rampant in Alaska in the early '80s. Seems like some cheery stuff. Shockingly, the film will be released On Demand simultaneous to its theatrical release.

       

Cory Booker Is Running Away, Quietly, with the New Jersey Senate Race

Newark Mayor Cory Booker has a massive lead in the race to replace the late New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, according to a new poll from Rutgers-Eagleton. Booker is getting 55 percent of the vote to Rep. Frank Pallone's 9 percent and Rep. Rush Holt's 8 percent, as The Washington Post's Aaron Blake reports. Likewise, Quinnipiac University's poll shows Booker crushing the competition with similar numbers. Booker is well-known, earning far more Sunday show interviews than your typical mayor of a town of less than 300,000 people. Quinnipiac's poll shows only a quarter of voters don't know who Booker is, while more than 60 percent don't know his competition.

This helps explain why Republicans are so mad at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. By appointing Jeff Chiesa, a placeholder who won't run for Lautenberg's seat, and scheduling the election so soon, Christie denied the Republican candidate a chance to get a little bit more famous before the October 16 election, and the chance to ride the popular Christie's coattails. 

Booker announced his candidacy on Saturday. In January, the mayor had made it clear he was running for Lautenberg's seat back in 2014 — before it Lautenberg said he would retire. It was not very polite. Since Lautenberg's death, Booker has played it a little cooler.

Oh, and in case you still don't know who Jeff Chiesa is, the clock is still ticking:

Chiesa has ' + hrs + ' hours, ' + mns + ' minutes, and ' + secs + ' seconds left in his term.

 

 

 

       

Blame the Pats for Tim Tebow's Tabloid Resurrection (and Maybe ESPN, Too)

On the third month of the year 2013, the world rejoiced: The New York Jets had released Tim Tebow, and finally — rejoice! — tabloid Tebow-mania was over. But, lo and behold, the evil genius of Bill Belichick just made everyone care about the Christian quarterback from Florida once more.

ESPN's Ed Werder and The Boston Globe's Shalise Young report Tim Tebow has signed with the New England Patriots. But there will be no quarterback controversy here, as he will play backup behind Tom Brady, who has the better looks and, most importantly, championship rings to keep his job secure for, like, ever. The craziest detail about this news is that USA Today's Dan Shanoff nailed this prediction in April with piece about the myriad reasons why the Patriots were the best fit for Tebow:

(1) New England Patriots. Not unlike before the 2010 draft, I think this is where Tebow ends up, for a couple of sensible reasons:

*Josh McDaniels, who drafted Tebow in Denver, is the offensive coordinator. No one is a bigger Tebow fan. McDaniels also has a vested interest in proving Tebow to be a solid NFL contributor.

*Bill Belichick loves to tweak — conventional wisdom, the media — almost as much as he loves a strategic advantage, which Tebow gives him.

Shanoff has been a fan of Tebow's since he was still suiting up for the Florida Gators in the NCAA. So, upon hearing today's news, he quickly mocked up pictures of Tebow in a Patriots jersey. 

But, yes, New England — a team that is everything to success the Jets are not, a destination second only to New York in sports talk — is really the only place that could have brought back the hype after ESPN and the New York papers dragged us through a Tebow-induced nightmare for so long. It was over. He was a bad football player, out of New York, out of the spotlight, and out of our lives. But uniting him with the Emperor from Star Wars Bill Belichick and the juggernaut Patriots is the only thing crazy enough to make use care. It's like Shanoff said: "Watch Belichick get Tebow 10 TDs, just to show he can." 

So, how is the world reacting to this news? Hilariously, of course, because for some reason Tim Tebow makes the world go mad, and not just diehard Boston sports fans. Of course, some Boston sports fans are mostly cursing the free-agent signing, though it's unclear if they're cursing out of shock or resentment: 

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

— Dan Graziano (@espn_nfceast) June 10, 2013

Ho. Ly. Sh. It. RT @harryh Tebow!

— Lockhart Steele (@Lock) June 10, 2013

! RT @katz: Holy shit RT ‏@edwerderespn Just filed to ESPN: The Patriots are signing QB Tim Tebow and expect him to be in minicamp tomorrow

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) June 10, 2013

The most famous Boston sports fan, ESPN's Bill Simmons, seems excited: 

Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 10, 2013

There are unconfirmed reports that Simmons is on the phone recording an emergency podcast as we speak. 

Coach Belichick is getting most of the praise for this decision, from both serious and not-so-serious sources: 

I'd like to think that Belichick signed Tebow just to punish the media for claiming he hated the guy.

— Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall) June 10, 2013

Bill Belichick: Genius, troll, and magnificent bastard.

— Chuck Klosterman (@CKlosterman) June 10, 2013

Bill Belichick is going to deploy Tim Tebow's virginity in exciting and unconventional ways.

— Mark Lisanti (@marklisanti) June 10, 2013

Some people also want to see Tebow, the ultra-Christian boy scout, team up for some reality TV action with the Patriots' hard-partying tight end Rob Gronkowski: 

How many Emmys do they give out? RT @jlundbladespn: Tebow-Gronk reality show. Who doesn't watch that?

— Erik Malinowski (@erikmal) June 10, 2013

And lo, Tim Tebow and Rob Gronkowski's wacky roommates reality show was greenlit by MTV

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) June 10, 2013

So, yes, just like that, Tim Tebow is back in our lives. ESPN will likely be an embarrassing mess tomorrow, so avoid blowhards like Skip Bayless with extra vigor. Maybe it's best to take the next 48 hours off from sports TV. You won't miss much. The NBA Finals will still be there when you get back.

Oh, also, the Patriots     

An Early Look at This Year's Emmy Race

[image error]The Primetime Emmy Awards (hosted by Neil Patrick Harris) aren't until September, and there's more than a month to go until nominations are announced. But the voting begins tonight. Though the Emmys have a tendency to be redundant and boring—sorry, Modern Family—but so far there have been some surprises in the precursor awards. Usually critical darlings Mad Men and Girls were both snubbed in the Critics' Choice nominations (the ceremony is tonight), while the Television Critics Association Awards nominations, announced today, piled praise on The Americans. Here are a few story lines that are taking shape.  

The Netflix Question

Whether House of Cards and Arrested Development will give Netflix Emmys clout is one of the big unknowns this year. And how they were going to try to campaign for that clout was another question. According to Deadline's Pete Hammond, the company was debating whether or not to send out screeners, but at the last minute decided they would. "Netflix strategists clearly realized without sending screeners they would be at a huge disadvantage so last week the entire first season of House Of Cards landed in members’ mailboxes followed closely by five selected episodes of Arrested Development," Hammond wrote. "That package also included a card offering a free Netflix subscription to all voters for the month of June." House of Cards is glitzy enough that it seems like a shoo in for drama nods. Arrested Development may come attached with too much emotional baggage. 

Will Jon Hamm Break His Curse? 

For four years straight, Mad Men winning best drama was one of the things that made the Emmys rather predictable. But last year they lost for the first time — and, in fact, didn't take home a single prize. So, while it may be that the AMC show has lost its allure with Emmy voters, among all of the awards for the show, Jon Hamm has never won for actor. Will this finally be his year? Or did he miss the show's moment? Elisabeth Moss got the show its only nomination in the Critics' Choice competition. For what it's worth, Matt Weiner was not happy last year. Aside from the Mad Men frustration, there are other big questions in the drama categories. Will Breaking Bad get a big farewell? Will Game of Thrones be treated as more than just genre? 

The Newbies 

Last year, Homeland emerged as the new kid on the block to take Mad Men's crown. Another show might steal it away this year. Perhaps The Americans, which dominated the Television Critics Association nominations, is the one. As for the acting categories? The Hollywood Reporter tells us to keep any eye out for actors and actresses that might get an Emmy bump from the Critics' Choice. One of those people is Tatiana Maslany who plays multiple women in Orphan Black.  

       

'Monsters University' Looking Like It'll Continue Pixar's Poor Sequel Streak

Monsters University has us worried. Late Sunday evening reviews for the Pixar sequel, which comes out on June 21, began trickling out and they range from mixed to bad. The world may well survive a not-so-great follow-up to Monsters Inc. But we don't think our sense of nostalgia could bear similar treatment of the impending Finding Nemo sequel.

In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthy points out that this is the "third sub-par film in a row from Pixar, after Cars 2 and Brave, suggesting that the brain trust in Emeryville has lost a bit of its edge." Not all reviews were that searing, but they do suggest that not all is right at pixar. Justin Chang at Variety explains that Monsters University isn't "even attempting to scale the heights of Pixar past." Alonso Duralde at The Wrap compared it to The Internship. Oof. (He adds that it's not as bad as Cars 2 though—but that shouldn't have been hard.) 

Of course, Pixar has tons of projects in the works, and we don't doubt them are inspired, but what concerns us most about this down-period for the studio is what might become of Finding Dory. Finding Nemo is (arguably) Pixar's most beloved property, certainly more so than Monsters. We now know that—aside from Toy Story, wonder that it is—Pixar's sequels haven't been particularly inspired. There's of course still hope for Dory. Nemo was a better movie than Monsters, Inc. and Cars. Still, might, like in the case of Arrested Development, we want to rein in our expectations? That seems like a pretty good idea. 

       

Mad Women: 'I'm Not Your Boyfriend'

Mad Men episode titles have been especially literal this season, haven't they? "Favors," last night's episode, falls in the same naming vein as the previous week's "A Tale of Two Cities," in which the allusions are evident from the start. Can people do things for other people without expectations in return? What's in a favor, anyway? (Plenty.)

The episode begins with an urban-dweller's nightmare. Peggy's getting ready to leave her apartment for work, and catches sight of a rat. She runs out, because maybe the rat will just go away. (This never happens, but one can hope.)

Don arrives at his office and Roger's there, juggling oranges — look at that, Roger can juggle! — as he tells Don about Sunkist, a possible new client. Also at the office is Pete's mom, who's come in with her new nurse (the Bob Benson set-up), a man named Manolo. In an intensely awkward moment between Peggy and Mrs. Campbell, Pete's mother tells Peggy she's glad to see her and Pete reunited: "I"m glad you both swallowed your pride, if nothing else but for the good of the child you have together." Peggy's eyes water; Could Mrs. Campbell know? "Your son and I are not together that way," she says, and it becomes clear that Mrs. Campbell has taken her for Trudy. But the awkwardness persists as Pete's mom turns to herself. “I’ve waited long enough to experience the physical satisfactions of love,” she tells Peggy, referring to her newfound relationship with her male nurse. Pete, oblivious in his office, is thanking Manolo for his efforts with his mother. "The pleasure is all mine," says Manolo. 

Sally is off to do Model UN with her frenemy Julie, and Betty's lecturing her after finding out they are the only two girls on the trip. She's suspicious it's "just an excuse to make out." Sally asks to stay with Don. "You hate that Daddy supports my dreams,” she tells Betty. 

At the Draper apartment, Megan is talking to Mitchell, Sylvia and Arnold's 19-year-old son. He's 1A, having sent back his draft card, and could be shipped off to Vietnam at any moment. "He wants to run to Canada," Megan tells Don, who retorts, "He can't spend the rest of his life on the run." It's fine talk for Don, who's basically done just that, unless maybe Draper is having a moment in which he realizes he's done it all wrong? He tells Megan that Mitchell's draft isn't his problem, but he quickly makes it his problem, so maybe there's a little bit of metaphoric saving of his own life, here — or maybe it's that he sees a way to get his mistress back. 

Pete, Peggy, and Ted are drinking whiskey sours in a restaurant after having flown to meet with Ocean Spray (a client that would be in direct competition with Sunkist, but no one at the office appears to have noticed). Ted tells his two employees, who are both getting drunk, "This is the agency I always wanted. Ambition, brains, beauty.” Peggy and Ted flirt across the table while Pete confesses that his dad died in a plane crash, and that he's afraid of flying. When Ted gets up, Pete acknowledges that he knows how Peggy feels about their boss. “And he’s in love with you, too,” he says. “You’re the one who’s in love with him,” says Peggy. “At least one of us ended up important,” says Pete, whose existential crisis is spiraling. "Please don’t tell you you pity me, because you really know me.” “I do,” says Peggy, who goes on to tell him of his mom's sexy confession. As they laugh, Ted returns, and looks a little bit jealous. 

Dr. Rosen, pale and concerned, has come to the Drapers, and he and Don go out to the bar, where Arnold tells Don that something's been wrong with Sylvia "all year." She's been lying about little things — including the person sitting right across the table, as we and Don and not Rosen, not yet, are fully aware. They talk about Mitchell and there's a shift from Don's earlier conversation with Megan. “War is wrong,” he says. “I’m sure he’s a good kid.” “The best,” says Arnold, stricken.

There's a glimpse into Ted's home life, which seems just as stable and normal as Ted himself. That is to say, not exactly euphoric, but his wife has a conversation with him that's without the daggers, anger, or manipulation of a Betty-Don or a Megan-Don fight. She's upset that he's working too much, but also that he's distant when he is there, and so entirely obsessed with work. “I just wish you liked being here more,” she says. 

[image error]Don's suddenly on a tear to get Mitchell out of the trouble he's in. He asks Pete for help; Pete suggests Chevy might be able to do something, what with GM's defense contracts. They emerge to an angry conversation as Ted finds out that Don's been working on Sunkist, while Ted's team has been toiling away on Ocean Spray. “Why don’t you join this company and read a memo once in a while?" he yells, while Cutler advises wisely, “I warned you about the memos, the more you send, the less they get read.” “I want my juice,” Ted tells Cutler later. “It’s all your juice,” soothes Cutler, the highest-paid babysitter at the agency. But Don's one-track mind is not on juice but on saving Mitchell. Later, at a meeting with Chevy, he awkwardly turns the conversation to his neighbor's kid's draft dilemma in hopes that they might be able to help. Instead, they are flummoxed, and Ted considers the meeting nearly ruined.  

Sally and Julie meet Mitchell in the lobby of the Draper's building, and Julie immediately has eyes for Mitchell, or she thinks Sally should. (Julie is a monster-manipulator who insists on sweetly calling Megan "Mrs. Draper" because she hates it.) In their pajamas in bed, the two girls write a mash-note titled "Things I like about Mitchell." It's entirely innocent, until it's not.

Pete confronts his mother about Manolo, and she says, "Manny has awakened a part of me that was long dormant.” When Pete tells her “he’s a pervert" and that they're going to have to let him go, she rages back: “You’re a sour little boy and a sour little man. You’ve always been unlovable.” Unlovable Pete may be, but more unlovable is the rat that's caught in the trap at Peggy's apartment, leaving a blood trail across the floor. Peggy calls Stan for help, but he's with a woman. “I’m not your boyfriend,” he says, and when she tells him she'll make it worth his while, he tells her, “It’ll be dead by morning.”

Ted confronts Don about the meeting with Chevy. "Stop trying to poison my relationship," he says, "A client shouldn’t have a single negative feeling in your presence." But Ted will help Mitchell, and therefore Don (or Don and therefore Mitchell), if Don stops his own war against Ted. Ted's perception that Don is warring with him may be a bit overblown, at least, Don doesn't seem to think "dropping his weapons" is much of a problem — was Don ever that aware of his own weapons, or is he just acting involuntarily? In either case, he seems surprised and grateful that Ted will help him, and that the guy who taught Ted to fly may be able to prevent Mitchell from being sent to Vietnam. Don immediately calls the Rosens and reaches Sylvia, who breaks down in tears at his news. Suddenly, his power is back. "I hope you know I was just frustrated with you,” she says, referring to the end of their affair. “I do now,” he says. “I didn’t want you to fall in love,” she says. “You didn’t feel anything?” he asks. While she says she doesn't want to go through this again, you know that it's just moments away. 

Pete confronts Benson about Manolo, and Benson delivers a talk about love to the "unlovable" Pete Campbell in which it becomes evident that Benson harbors his own desires to make Pete happy. "Is it really so impossible to imagine?" Bob asks. "Couldn’t it be that if someone took care of you, is it impossible that you might begin to feel something for him? When it’s true love, does it matter who it is?” Benson shifts his knee to touch Pete's. “Tell him I’ll give him a month’s pay, and tell him it’s disgusting," says Pete. 

In the cab on the way to Model UN, Julie reveals to Sally that she's put the mash-note under Mitchell's door. Sally runs home to try to recover it. And this is where it all goes wrong. In the Rosen's apartment, she sees the note, and then she hears a noise. It's her father and Sylvia, in bed, in each other's arms. Don, still pulling up his pants, runs after Sally, but it's too late. She's gotten a cab, says the doorman, and Don, confused, paces in the lobby for a moment before heading outside to find her. We get a long shot of the doorway in this moment, which is a bit uncharacteristic of the show. 

The episode ends with four scenes of home:

Pete, pouring himself a bowl of Raisin Bran alone only to find that the box is empty. Poor, poor Pete.  Peggy, smoking a cigarette on the couch and watching TV with her new orange cat. Ted, returning to his wife and kids, who are watching TV, his wife having fallen asleep. Pleased to see him, the smaller boy crawls onto his back, and Ted carries him out of the room as the older one follows.  Don, returning home so drunk he can barely put the key in the door. Megan kisses him, says "Wow," and laughs. Sally won't look at him at all. Mitchell and Dr. Rosen come over to offer their thanks, and when Megan tells Don, “you are the sweetest man,” Sally explodes. “You make me sick!” she yells — this is a far cry from the daddy who supports her dreams; this is a father who kills dreams pretty fully — and Don goes after her again, attempting to explain. “I know you think you saw something. I was comforting Mrs. Rosen,” he says. “She was very upset. It’s very complicated." Sally, who is not new to walking in on adult sexual situations (remember Roger and Marie?) but hasn't had to face her own father's indiscretions in the flesh, and doesn't seem to have suspected they existed at all, mumbles an O.K. and throws herself on the bed.

We get another long-shot: Don walking down the hallway, turning back, looking, and closing the hallway door. (Note that the very first episode of the season was called "The Doorway," and that's not for nothing.) So is Don shutting down one part of his life — or the other — or will he simply continue to ratchet back and forth between closed and open doors? A guy can't stay on the run forever. 

       

A Skinny-Jeans iOS, the Pandora Killer, and New Macbook Air: It's WWDC Time

If all those rumormongers have it right, this year's Worldwide Developers Conference will be one big game of catch-up for Apple, a technology giant that's not exactly used to coming from behind. At 10 a.m. in San Francisco, Tim Cook will take the stage to confirm, deny, and/or bolster week's worth of chatter leading up to the annual nerd-fest-turned-product-announcement. No matter which of the expectations are fulfilled, Apple will no doubt align with its encroaching competition. Probably like this: 

A Flat 'Skinny Jeans' iOS to Make the iPhone Hip Again

With Apple losing so much market share to Samsung of late — and some of its stock price with it — the former smartphone king of the world is expected to announce a new operating system, featuring a brand-new look in hopes of appealing to Apple's ever-image-conscious fan base, according to The Wall Street Journal's Jessica Lessin. "Software blunders, like Apple's widely panned mapping app, have raised doubts about the company's ability to build cutting-edge mobile services," she writes. Part of the offensive will include the much talked about "flat" iOS 7 to freshen up a tired iOS look. 

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In addition to the revamped apps, home screen, and notification center, "the whole OS has that 'skinny jeans' Helvetica Nueue Ultra Light," according to 9to5Mac's Seth Weintraub, who claims to have seen the new software. It's unclear how a phone operating system slips on a pair of skin-tight pants, but if we've learned anything from New York Times trend stories, well, skinny jeans a hipster does make, and that's what Apple needs right now: to get some of its cool-kid credibility back in the year of the Galaxy S IV.

Do what does a skinny-jeans iOS look like? Weintraub got his Photoshop guy to recreate the home screen based on his notes, the results of which are at right. Much like the pre-WWDC rumors (most of which ballooned from 9to5Mac), the new iPhone icons no longer have that faux-3D look or the sheen that comes with it. Also, the images for photos and your game center show a move away from "skeuomorphism," those cheesy visual metaphors that don't actually make sense. For example, rather than attempt to mimic some real-world arcade, the game center goes for an abstract design instead.  

iRadio: Not Just 'Pandora with an 'i' in front of it'

Apple is also likely announce its delayed music streaming platform, at a time when there are already various popular music streaming platforms encroaching upon and even putting a stranglehold on the space Apple so long dominated with iTunes, beginning with Pandora, Spotify, Grooveshark, and Rdio — to name a few. Spotify has 1 million paying users and 24 million who sit through ads. Pandora, a service that's more similar to what Apple supposedly has slated for release, is 200 million users strong. That's a pretty mature market. If Apple wants to win people over with music again, it needs to do give listeners something more than is already available. "It's going to have to innovate," James McQuivey, a Forrester analyst ,told The New York Times's Brian X. Chen. "It can't just be Pandora with an 'i' in front of it or Spotify with an 'i' in front of it."

It's not exactly clear how Apple will do that. It's signed on all three major record labels, but it sounds a lot like Pandora Lite right now, serving songs based on a secret-sauce algorithm. Maybe if Apple's technology leads to better music discovery, it can win back some streaming listeners, but that bar is already very, very high. 

...and Some MacBooks, Because Why Not?

If all else fails, at least Apple will have some shiny hardware with which to distract the fanboys. (Update: The Apple store is down ahead of the event.) Internet services have never been the company's forté. (Hello, Maps disaster!) But a new Macbook Air with better insides? That can't go wrong. Of course, relying on that hit has turned into a less lucrative prospect of late, with fewer people buying computers than they used to.

None of this catch-up is too exciting. But who knows: Maybe the rumormongers have it all wrong and Apple will announce something big and crazy and future-now. But, considering the accuracy of past leaks, we're going to bet on the rumorers this time. 

       

The World Is Getting Warmer Faster Than Expected

The world is getting warmer faster than anticipated. A new report from the International Energy Agency says global temperatures will rise twice as fast as projected if countries don't act to slash their admissions soon. Released this morning, the IEA report shows carbon diaoxide from energy emissions rose 1.4 percent globally last year, a new record, and puts the world on pace for a 5.3 degree Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in global temperatures by 2020. In 2010, a UN summit agreed the goal would be to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees by 2020. 

"This puts us on a difficult and dangerous trajectory," IEA chief economist Fatih Birol said in her statement. "If we don’t do anything between now and 2020, it will be very difficult because there will be a lot of carbon already in the atmosphere and the energy infrastructure will be locked in."

So, who are the culprits most responsible for the world's bad record so far? China and Japan are two big culprits. They saw 3.8 and 5.8 percent rises in emissions, respectively. Countries in the Middle East were also singled out. Amazingly, the U.S. earned a gold star for their work, per The Washington Post: 

The United States was one of the few relatively bright spots in the report. Switches from coal to shale gas accounted for about half the nation’s 3.8 percent drop in energy-related emissions, which fell for the fourth time in the past five years, dipping to a level last seen in the 1990s. The other factors were a mild winter, declining demand for gasoline and diesel, and the increasing use of renewable energy.