In Sunday night’s Mad Men, Joan Harris/Holloway did something that traumatized all viewers of the hit television show. She slept with a client so SCDP can get the very-much-needed Jaguar account. Just like every stunt Weiner has pulled this season (see Fat Betty), it polarized fans and critics alike. There are people who understood what Joan did, and they believed “The Other Woman” was one of the show’s strongest episodes since “The Suitcase” and there are others who believed it was uncalled for; they didn’t prepare us for such a move. It was a misstep. Till now, I, honestly, do not know where I stand.
In the beginning of the episode, when Pete suggested it to Joan, she said “NO” flat-out.
Pete: “What would it take to make you a queen?” Joan: “I don’t think you can afford it.”But still the partners talked about it. Is it possible? Can they do it? Besides Don, no one objected not even her baby daddy, Roger. He said he would not interfere, but he did not stand up for the woman he supposedly loved. Lane, being the embezzler that he is, needed the cash they were supposed to give to Joan. So he told her to ask for a partnership – not cash. That way she can provide for her son as long as the company’s there. Sure, Lane has feelings for her. Remember when he kissed her and she pulled away ever so gracefully? But does he, really? Did he just tell her that line to win her over?
And then we learned that Joan’s fridge is empty and it’s broken. She’s a single-mom who’s just been served with divorce papers by her asshole of a husband. She’s confused and betrayed and has been treated like an object forever. Last season, Joey, a new employee, draw a pornographic picture of her and hung it to her office. It was a sleazy move, but Joan was used to it. She was objectified every single day in her office because of her looks.
So she agreed to do the deed – on one condition: she’ll get 5% of the company.
But we found out later on that she had already slept with the douche-bag. That revelation was one of my favorite things about the episode. But the question is: could he have saved her? When she told him, “I was told everyone was on board.” She was disgusted by the men in her office; she was being discussed in between closed doors. Somehow, it felt like she couldn’t have done anything else. But if she knew what Don thought about it, if she knew that there was someone out there who was ready to protect her and who believed she was worthy of respect and admiration, would she still have done it?
I think in a way “Christmas Waltz” built for that speculation. The relationship between Don & Joan is a relationship built on mutual respect. They were thisclose to having an affair together, but they both knew they couldn’t. So the question of whether he could have saved her pops instinctively. But I guess we’ll never know.
In the interview Hendricks did with GQ about the episode, she says that the look Joan gave Don is look of “”Don’t judge me, I’m in this room,” “What’s done is done,” and “Thank you,” all at once. It’s this sort of, here I am and let’s move forward” But can they all really move forward? Will the partners ever treat Joan the same after knowing what she’d done? Pete is a sex-trafficking jerk, so he doesn’t matter. And Cooper is barely there. But what about Lane, Roger, and Don? Those three have had meaningful relationships with Joan each in his own way. Will they ever be the same again?
Another thing Hendricks talks in the interview is the fact that Weiner wanted to use that storyline before but thought it wasn’t the right time which begs yet another question – a question James Poniewozik asks in his Joan Harris character study: Was it a matter of what the writers wanted to happen as opposed to what the character really needed? At this point in time, would Joan really do something like that? And that question has been tormenting me ever since I watched that episode. I really have no answer. I really don’t know.
Joan did not accept any money from Roger for her baby – their baby. But she has a job – a successful job and she’s a very successful employee. But after everything she’d been through, maybe she was too emotionally strained to have made a better decision?
Talking about Roger, lots of people have noted that Joan wore the same fur coat Roger bought her when they started sleeping together. And Weiner never does anything because it looks good or it feels good. He does it because he’s trying to say something. What was he trying to say here? Did Joan feel like she was a prostitute with Roger, too? He gave her gifts and spoiled when they were together. Or did Joan wear it out of spite? She was stunned when Lane told her that Roger did not object about Jaguar Guy’s offer. Was she trying to get revenge against Roger somehow by wearing the coat HE bought her?
And the final comment about the Joan-related part of the episode: are we all fussing about this just because she’s a woman? Each of the characters have had their indiscretions: Don has a secret life and has basically slept with anything that moves, Pete raped his neighbor’s nanny, and Lane embezzled for his own company. Did we freak out about all of those the same way we freaked about Joan? Or is it because it’s JOAN, the character that has become so popular and adored by SO many people, not just another woman or another character that we’re freaking out that way?
I have learned to trust Mathew Weiner over the last four seasons. He’s a genius and no one can refute that. So I’m gonna trust him. I trust that he won’t ruin of my favorite characters on TV of ALL TIME. (Or else!) I’m going to wait to find out what he’s planning to do with Joan after this. There are two more episodes until the season ends, and I’m looking forward to them.
Can you help me answer those questions?
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Ahh, I was hoping you were gonna post about this!! Obviously, it's awful that Joan had to sleep with the client, whatever, I don't think that's what bears discussions. What I've been seeing the most controversy over is whether this action was out of character. And not just out of character for Joan, but for everybody else. I feel that Joan's decision made sense with the circumstances of her character. She's a single mother in the 1960s. Also, she's not young like Betty. She has a baby and she's already in her mid-thirties. It's not likely that she will be able to marry for love again. This was simply too good an oppurtunity for a woman in her financial and social position to pass up.
However, I do think this event forced some of the other characters to be out of character, mainly Roger and Lane. Like you mentioned, Lane cares about Joan. I feel like so far he's been shown to be the most moral of all the partners and even with his recent financial woes, it felt unlikely that he would support pimping Joan out. She's the only one who's been there for him lately. Roger was even more out of character. It's been clear to everyone who's been watching Mad Men that Roger loves Joan. People then ask, is there evidence that he loves Joan more than business? To that, I have to say, I think he normally would. Remember how he intentionally ruined the deal with the Japanese, just to honor the memory of his fallen comrades from 30 YEARS AGO? And we're supposed to buy that he would sell out the love of his life NOW? That just doesn't fly with me. For those reasons, I think it would have made more sense for this episode to have been written differently, with Pete going behind the other partners' backs. He could have still told Joan that the partners had discussed it, which was a contributing factor in her decision, but the partners would actually not have known, keeping everybody in character.
Yes! I thought about that when it came to Roger. That man takes everything personally. She's the mother of his child for crying out loud; how did he not react? He did he not try to stop it. Even Cooper, who doesn't care about Joan at all, told Pete to tell her that "she can say no." Granted, it's nothing big, it's something. And something > Roger's "I don't want to get involved in this" reaction.
However, I don't think Lane's reaction was out of character. He went down a rabbit hole when he embezzled the money. He needs the account AND he knows he can't take a $50000 credit from the bank because he already has without anyone knowing. He was trying to protect himself EVEN THOUGH he cares about Joan.
Thank you for reading :)
Like Monika, I was hoping you'd post about this, too! I was left rather shocked when the episode ended. I stared at the black screen for a good two minutes thinking WHAT? Did that just happen? Alas, it did. It made me mad, it made me very mad. But not at Joan. No. Not at Cooper, because he's useless, not at Don, because he was a dear. Of course I wanted to rip Pete's head off, he's such a little weasel. I was majorly dissapointed in Lane, but absolutely apalled at Roger! This is the woman you've had feelings for (I don't want to say 'love', because I don't know for sure about Roger's ability to love and commit to someone, it still remains to be seen), the woman who had your freaking child and didn't call you out on it, yes, for her own benefit, but also his, right? I mean, at that point, he was still married to Jane. The one person who cares about you in the world is getting pimped out and all you can say is that you're not paying for it? Who are you?!
Yes, yes I was mad. I was mad that she did it; Joan, my Joan who in the past wouldn't have even given it a second thought. But there was not a second in which I blamed her. I mean, look at her bosses' reactions, the men who were supposed to protect her. Maybe not Pete, but she would have expected protection from Don, Lane, Cooper, and of course, Roger. I feel like she did it not because of the money, but because a) she was coerced into doing it b) she realized that despite the 13 (?) years at the firm, the men at SCDP thought of her as a whore. They actually debated whoring her out. She meant nothing, she was nothing but means of persuasion. She didn't have their respect, and you could see that she was hurt and shocked by that. They're all on board, Pete said. Even Roger?, she asked. Of course she felt like shit upon finding out that all the (semi) reliable men in her life really considered her a whore, especially in light of her time with Don in The Christmas Waltz. The chance at a partnership within the firm gave her the chance to be in a position of power, to be an equal, to demand respect, from the same level. Oh, so you guys think I'm a whore? Good, then a whore I shall be, but I will prove you wrong. Fuck all of you, her move basically said to me. It wasn't degrading, it was empowering, from where she was standing. Of course it demanded a sacrifice, but if she said no, their gesture was still there, it would have loomed over them for however long she would have worked there. Not to mention if they didn't get the account, what would the atmosphere in the office be, then, huh? A very unpleasant/awkward/tense one, possibly culminating in her unemployment. So, in the end, it's the only thing she could do. And the fact that she found out (too late) that Don had her back the whole time did ultimately make things a bit easier, because now at least she knows that not all of their respect is gone, because he's one of the good ones, and I think that however shocked he might have been to see her in the office the next day, he's still going to have her back. Out of guilt of not having acted sooner, if nothing else. But I somehow have fait in Don on this one.
Sorry I left such a HUGE-ass comment, I just had a lot of adsgsjhshfs feelings about this episode and needed to vent. Thoughts?
I was VERY shocked, too. I stayed still for a couple of minutes trying to comprehend what happened, and then I started searching every site out there because I demanded an explanation.
"she realized that despite the 13 (?) years at the firm, the men at SCDP thought of her as a whore." EXACTLY.
It's like somehow they made the decision FOR her, and she had no say in the matter. What do you do when the people you trust put you in a position like that? And I think what you're saying becomes very clear when she tells Don, "I was told everyone was board" with this sort of contempt. After all she'd done to them - after being almost the best employee they have. No one can do anything without Joan, and that's how they repay her?
I think somehow it was a revelation of the other characters instead of Joan herself. We got to see just how selfish and sleazy the men at SCDP are and what they're willing to do to get an account. I was (and still am) very disappointed in Roger mainly because I do not understand why he would do something like that. WHY didn't he defend her? He just chose to be indifferent and it makes no sense.
Thank you for your comment, the more opinions about the subject, the better :)
Maybe in Joan's mind she had no say in the matter but remember that all of the partners were operating under the misbegotten assumption that Joan was amenable to the deal and that, essentially, it was just about negotiating a price at the point. That's how Pete manipulated the events because he knew that the partners would not have pursued it otherwise. Every character BUT Pete was operating under the wrong assumptions. I see your point and all I just don't agree that the partners made a decision for her. In reality, Joan did have a say.
Alan Sepinwall puts it perfectly: "If you buy that the partners would be willing to sell Joan, and that Joan would feel the same way, then this is an all-time great episode of the series. But if you don't, then it's Weiner and company making the characters act against their natures to fit the theme."
After wrestling with many of the same questions you had, I saw this an example of the latter. I feel Joan, Roger and Lane needed to act inconsistently with what's been presented of them in the past to service the plot. I've seen a lot of explanations for why Joan did what she did: a combination of needed financial security, a want for an empowerment and a kind of "F" you the partners. Okay, I can buy those explanations and I actually do buy that Joan could have been pushed to this point. However there wasn't sufficient build-up to the story and I feel that fans are having to fill in a lot of the blanks.
The pretenses under which everything happened are unbelievably flimsy. Joan sleeping with jag guy for financial security makes zero sense considering Roger offered to support their son through college. Not to mention during Joan and Lane's conversation it's revealed that she makes a comfortable wage (~ $90k in 2012 dollars!). As far as the partners not respecting Joan, well, the fact that everyone bought what Pete (!) was saying is ridiculous! Everyone at SCDP know what type of person Pete is, so why was there no questioning of his motives? Because the plot would have fallen like a house of cards, that's why! Joan going from a solid "no" to actually sleeping with that guy in 45 minutes was too much.
Don's "white knight" bs made my eyes roll so hard. The Joan/Don interaction in the episode prior was done totally to prop up Don's reaction to Joan's prostitution. I know you ship them but to me those scenes were contrived simply to remind us they're friends. I guess we're supposed to buy that Roger and Joan are so distanced that they wouldn't even converse? And Lane so desperate that he wouldn't have cottoned to Pete's ministrations (the best thing for Lane would've been Jaguar not even happening- and he says as much!)? Whatever. It's lazy to write these characters motives off as "oh well Roger is averse to confrontation and Lane's got that embezzlement stuff going on". Even writing Pete off as evil and amoral is treating him too one dimensionally, imo. They're all just one dimensional, plot moving machines!
On the surface, 'The Other Woman' had elements of a good episode - the acting was top-notch, the direction was great- but it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. There needed to far more build-up throughout the season to attempt to make the Joan plot work. These last few episodes have been packed with a lot of huge events and I believe Weiner, et al should've cut out some Megan/Don stuff to arrive more realistically to what's happened to Joan and Lane in particular.
Sorry for the discombobulated rant! Can you tell I didn't like this episode one bit? lol. Weiner's created a great show but he is certainly not infallible. At the least, the episode was a misstep. At the worst, Joan's prostitution could be a total shark jumping moment.
I love your analysis, and I share many of the same criticism with this episode. I can't believe how many fans didn't blink an eye at that transaction. And Matthew Weiner's comment about how viewers who were shocked by that decision "must have not been watching the show." Please. Please...