In 1961, right around the time in which the first season of Mad Men takes place, Clark Gable starred in his last movie, The Misfits. Though ostensibly a Marilyn Monroe vehicle (also her last picture), The Misfits really just undercuts the very image its two stars supposedly represented. Arthur Miller's script puts some very strange words in the actors' mouths, at least considering where the rest of their careers are concerned. Gable plays a man who is effectively the last real cowboy in the not-so-wild west and Monroe takes the role of a disaffected divorcee who struggles to find her place in a world that no longer requires her to have a husband. It's my opinion that The Misfits is the true quintessential movie of the 1960's. Instead of focusing on the fashionable (and therefore fleeting) elements of American society at the time, it's a story about how the mainstream itself was shifting. The concepts of manliness and the responsibilities of women were in flux. Mad Men is the same thing, only in retrospective. "Red in the Face" is an episode that concerns itself chiefly with how drastically life was changing in 1960-61, not for the beatniks and hippies but for the regular folks of the middle class.

On the eve of Sterling Cooper's ill-fated partnership with Richard Nixon's first presidential campaign, the episode takes a closer look into just what makes Roger Sterling Jr. tick. At the start of the episode his plans to spend the weekend with Joan are stymied by Joan's own holiday plans with a friend. Left unexpectedly alone, Roger worms his way into an invite to the Draper residence for dinner, where he proceeds to drink superhuman amounts of vodka and cap it all off by hitting on Betty while Don's out of the room. It's equally creepy and sad, but the real kicker is that Don puts most of the blame on Betty. Of course, he's in a difficult position considering that Roger is technically his immediate superior at work, though it's clear that Don is struggling with his own hypocrisy over marital fidelity.

But Don and Roger's respective home lives are paradise compared to Pete Campbell's quickly dissolving marriage. After getting two of the same powerfully lame gift at his wedding (the ridiculously named Chip-n-Dip), Pete responds to all of the humiliation surrounding returning the gift by using his store credit to buy a rifle. Naturally, Mrs. Campbell isn't too keen on this exchange, so a mere day after his attempt to reclaim his fading masculinity Pete is forced to return the gun. This prompts what is, so far, my favorite Pete Campbell moment. He describes a fantasy he's been harboring to Peggy about killing a buck, field dressing it with a giant knife and having a fresh loin of his kill cooked up by some imaginary woman in the woods. The story is equal parts disturbing, hilarious and pathetic. As for Peggy, she punctuates the scene by indulging her sudden craving for meat in the form of a ham sandwich from the company cart. In the shifting gender politics of the Sterling Cooper world, Pete can only fantasize about being a manly hunter while Peggy, hot off her first bit of copy, is the one who can actually get what she wants.

The episode ends with Roger's deeply unfortunate first meeting with the Nixon camp. After a four martini lunch (which also included two dozen oysters), Roger and Don are forced to walk up 23 flights of stairs to the office thanks to an out-of-service elevator. Faced with his age, an ulcer and the general inability to keep up like he used to, Roger's the last man to the meeting and all he can do to say hello is vomit on the floor. The times, they are a-changing.

Best Moment: Roger and Don's lunch was really excellently played. It began with a confident Roger out-drinking Don and introducing his protege to the wonders of shellfish, then gradually evolves in Don taking the reigns. It's like an alcohol and tobacco fueled version of passing the torch.

Notes: Helen Bishop shows up just long enough to confront Betty about giving some of her hair to young Gill Bishop and then get slapped in the face in public. Poor Helen. At least she chose the winning political team.

Episode Rating: 4.8/5- Roger's vomiting scene went on a bit too long and I wish the Helen Bishop bit had gotten a little more screen time, but the rest of the episode was as strong as I've come to expect from this series.