Mad Men recap “Far Aways Places,” Part I: Abe’s bracha and Jane’s Yiddish

I was out of town for three days and backed up at work, so I was hoping we wouldn’t need a “Mad Men” recap this week, but Matt Weiner & Co. gave us another Jewy episode Sunday night. So here we go… [[READMORE]]

Let’s start at the beginning, with the opening Peggy-is-rushing-to-work-after-a-romantic-night-with-Abe scene. It’s really not a secret that Peggy’s boyfriend, the communist named Abe, is Jewish. What’s interesting, however, is how the Jewish question on the show waxes and wanes in importance, as opposed the racial issues and black characters, which pass through the show like a thick fog. We feel the reverberations of WASPy anti-Semitism in the halls of the firm formerly known as Sterling Cooper, but it feels like folks there are just going through the motions.

Of course, this reflects the reality of Jewish integration and assimilation in the 1960s, as opposed to the 1940s (see “Gentlemen’s Agreement” and “Focus”) and compared to the still-raging civil rights movements and related social realities of the era.

So, yes, Peggy dating Abe doesn’t rise to the level of taboo, but, still, you’d expect the issue to pop up from time to time, if only lightly. Which is what we got this week, when Abe quips that if Peggy the good Catholic girl is really that worried about missing her good-luck-candy she should go buy a new one and he’ll supply a “bracha.” Nothing too deep, just a charming can’t-we-all-just-get-over-our-religious-hang-ups moment. [UPDATE: I should have mentioned the punch line there… in the end, the bracha he did end up giving Peggy — "Have a shitty day" — actually ended up wroking. Take that Karl Marx!]

More interesting is Roger and Jane’s morning debrief after their first and presumably final LSD trip together.

“You were quoting your father — in German.”

“I don’t know German, it must have been Yiddish.”

With that exchange, I think the writers are settling what has already been the subject of plenty of blogosphere speculation — yes, Roger Sterling’s trophy wife is Jewish (or at least has Jewish roots). At the same time, the fact that we get there through a string of drug-induced moments of self-reflection suggests that whatever the extent of her Jewishness, it was essentially under the radar at work, and even to some degree in her own psyche.

Here’s what Weiner had to say on the topic in an interview with The New York Times at the end of last season [my italics]:

I don’t mean it defensively. To me, I’m telling a story about segregation and assimilation, and who’s coming along at what time. I hope people can tell Faye Miller is Jewish. I hope people know at some level that Jane Siegel, Roger’s wife, is Jewish. They are assimilated. Not everyone can be an heiress like Rachel Menken, who feels absolutely bulletproof. Bobbie Barrett and Jimmy Barrett certainly were transparently Jewish. 

I think this backs up my yes-and-no take. But feel free to disagree.

Two somewhat related points:

1) Remember Roger’s dig to Joan about the dreamy doctor she’s going to marry:

"What happened to the Jewish doctor?"

"He’s not Jewish."

"Not anymore, but he was, trust me. Is he still a doctor?"

Was Roger aware of the irony? Or is the joke on him?

2) So what does all this say about Danny Siegel, Jane’s cousin who Roger strong-armed Don into hiring last season. Was he (not Michael Ginsburg) really the first out-of-the-closet Jewish employee? According to my theory, no — the folks at work see him as a nebbishy Gentile. So when Harry Crane told Danny "you’re such a Jew" — I don’t think he meant to hit so close to home. And I think Danny’s "Do your Hollywood friends know you talk like that?" response was meant as a deflection… as in, "Who you calling a Jew. You’re the one hanging out with all those guys."

OK, back to this week’s episode… 

The Roger-Jane marriage was a train wreck from Day 1, starting with the age, experience and maturity gap, not to mention Roger’s basket of issues. So let’s not go blaming some primordial Jewish-goyish fault line on the inevitable demise of the union. But, since we’re blogging at JTA, it’s worth noting that their captain on the trip is a seemingly Jewish shrink/professor type and Yiddish is apparently the language Jane unknowingly reverts to as she affirms the deeper truth about their sham of a marriage.

And then there’s the Michael Ginsburg-Holocaust twist… but I need a little more time to chew on that. So check back tomorrow.

For now, two more non-Jewy thoughts:

• What exactly was going on with Peggy in the movie theater? My first instinct was to take it as another example of her taking control, assuming the dominant male role. And I suppose there’s truth in that. But, more importantly, she used the upper hand, well, to… OK, we’ll skip the pun … to give the guy what he wanted without his even having to ask — to play the feminine servant that she no longer can afford to be at work, or even in her real relationship. Earlier this season she lamented to Dawn about always having to act like a man, even though she doesn’t always want to. And this week, she wouldn’t/couldn’t give Abe the intimacy that he was looking for in the morning because she had to stay focused on work and at  work she couldn’t/wouldn’t give the Heinz executive what he wanted because she needed to be strong. But, here, in this moment of public anonymity…

• What to take away from the last scene with Cooper giving musar to Don and Sterling (happy and) free as a bird? For the first time in a long time, we are seeing signs of the old order, with Don looking up at Bert and Roger. A momentary, fleeting echo, or a sign of things to come?