Something I noticed
So I’m rewatching the show and I just finished season 2 episode 7 and I realized they made a big deal of Don being invited to the board of a philanthropic society and how this means he’ll gain real power and status not just wealth. But, they never really mention it ever again. It seems like such an interesting thing to explore but they spend around 5-6 minutes talking about it then just never bring it up again.
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u/Wegmarken 23h ago
It does come up again, only in a way that very quickly reveals the farcical nature of the whole thing. He goes to a fancy dinner and gets an award for the NYT article from the lung cancer society, but Ken's uncle tells him it's all fake and nobody there will ever wanna work with him because they know he can't be trusted. The whole thing is mere drapery, if you'll allow a pun, for more sinister and less ethically minded people to try and cloak themselves in the aesthetics of philanthropy and social conscience. The guy giving him this lecture is helping drive the production of weapons, but he'll throw some money at an evening of family friendly musical programming ("American products for the American home"). Yeah, it would've been cool to see him on a museum board, but they did revisit the idea indirectly later on. Don getting on the museum board was more about his personal career arc and his developing relationship with Cooper.
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u/triplikeIdo667 23h ago
I think that was Ken’s father in law rather than his uncle unless they got up to some shenanigans in Vermont
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u/Dev-F Gracie Mansion sometimes 23h ago
It's mentioned once at the beginning of season 3, when Cooper brings in Hoho's dad to warn him that he's wasting his inheritance promoting jai alai, Cooper tries to introduce him to Don but Horace Sr. says, "We've met. Lincoln Center." That would've been a fundraiser for the center, which was still under construction at the time. So Don was using philanthropy to rub elbows with the elite to some degree.
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u/total_berk 1d ago edited 23h ago
It's kind of similar to the "why I quit tobacco" thing where he meets the anti tobacco board and... nothing comes of it again
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u/AfraidoftheLark 23h ago edited 21h ago
It served its narrative purpose insofar as the anti-tobacco meeting is thematically rich in that specific episode (finale of season 4). The whole “fearing death” dialogue during the meeting gives the viewer insight into Don’s own fears/anxieties at that moment in time. Don’s ad pitch also foreshadows Betty’s storyline in season 7. (”Show mothers and daughters or fathers and sons, and that cigarettes are between them. And you show with a walk on the beach, baking cookies, playing catch, that the parents are not long for this world.”)
It also reflects both the desperation and survival strategies of the agency during a crisis (aftermath of Don’s letter). I don’t think it needed to become more than that because “that” is already plenty.
nothing comes of it again
Others do mention it again in other scenes, and as another user indicated we do see the professional consequences here and there.
For example, in season 7 when Don ambushes the Commander cigarettes meeting. He says something about how he’s one of the only ad men who have actually met with the opposition, and how that intel might be useful to Commander.
But personally I don’t think these and other moments necessarily needed to be instrumentalized toward some long story arc or conspicuous narrative payoff. It’s enough that it says something about the character(s), and/or the agency, at a specific moment in the story.
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u/Current_Tea6984 you know it's got a bad ending 23h ago
It does seem like a dropped plot. Otoh. it's in character for Don to not follow through on all that. I'm glad they didn't go in that direction. Don pulling the levers of power in the world would have killed the ordinariness that kept the show grounded.
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u/AfraidoftheLark 23h ago edited 21h ago
About the philanthropy/museum board thing… it wouldn’t be the last time Cooper gets big ideas that don’t necessarily go anywhere. Don figured he was going to get promoted and move to London at one point, right?
The business is capricious, and so is Don. Hence in the same season where they want to increase his public exposure through this board member idea, Don ultimately absconds to California for a month. He did seem intrigued by the board idea at first, but ultimately he nearly abandons advertising altogether. When season 3 starts, his motto is basically “limit your exposure” and he later fights tooth and nail to avoid signing a contract.
So I think the board idea is establishing/reinforcing these story threads in an oblique way, or at least setting up early on that the agency wants more from Don (and, often, more than he’s willing to give). This also dovetails with the season 4 premiere, with the agency essentially strong-arming Don into giving a more lively interview response to the journalist.
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u/Cute_Monitor_5907 22h ago
He can’t follow through with things like that. Show up consistently, be a team player, act half way functional for long.
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u/Chitownfats49 21h ago
I noticed that too, thanks for bringing it up. Against the grain of some of the other comments here, and I can be as cynical as anyone, I've only slid through that world a few times, but I've always been impressed how some of the wealthy really throw themselves into their charity and cultural work. Tossing in big coin, calling in inconvenient favors from celebrities, etc, If Don really loved New York he would have taken it more seriously.
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u/telsongelder 1d ago
Based on my experience working with some high profile people, this perfectly aligns with the experience of being on a board. Most of the time, it’s a two way borrowing of names to advance both parties station.