The Televangelist: ‘Mad Men’ Season 5, Ep 11

• AMC.com
• You grimy little pimps

In case anyone didn’t get the theme of last night’s episode after the bum shot of Megan’s friend crawling across the table, it was brought to you by the letter O, for Objectification. Don throwing money in Peggy’s face, those grimy little pimps (minus Don, but he has other sins) voting on how much to pay for Joan’s act of prostitution, the casting directors telling Megan to “turn around” ... but hey, the firm got Jaguar, and we got one of the creepiest slogans since the Cinderella rape fantasy with “Jaguar - finally, something beautiful you can truly own.”

“The Other Woman” left me feeling queasy, and it was probably the most sickening episode of this dark season yet. It wasn’t enough that the pig man from Jaguar openly asked to be “given” Joan in return for his pro-SCDP vote, but that Pete and Ken actually entertained it. Further, that Pete brought it up to Joan in a mildly threatening way before the partners voted on it - one of whom, lest we forget, is the father of her child. Worse still, Lane, a former ally for Joan, also casually guilts her into doing the deed, and then offers her terms that she feels she cannot refuse. And then, before viewers could recover from the nausea of Joan stripping down for this pig man, we see a quick rehash of an earlier scene (or so we thought) when Don visits her to tell her there’s no pressure and that she’s better than that. Except oops, that happened after she had already done it.

But let’s look at this another way. Did Joan require Don being a White Knight to make it ok for her to have said no? Not in the least. Joan could have rebuffed the entire idea in no uncertain terms. Moral implications aside ... the financial deal is not a bad one for her. It gives her freedom from Roger, who is obviously willing to sell her out. It also gives her power within the company she adores. The flip side to these positives, however, is will there even be a company after Lane is finished with it (since his partnership deal to Joan was really just to keep her from asking for cash that they didn’t have ... because of him)? And of course, though Joan will technically have equal power with the other shareholders, each one of them will forever know how she got it. It’s something she will be reminded of every paycheck she gets.

Having said that, it’s not that Joan hasn’t used her feminine wiles to get what she wanted in the past. Remember flashbacks to her initial relationship with Roger? He gave her necklaces and money, too. Joan has used men to her financial advantage over and over again, but there is still a terrible sadness that she’s having to do it again ... even after she has been married and has a baby. It’s a pattern she hasn’t been able to escape.