Again, the writing on Mad Men is penetrating and on point. In this week’s episode, the powers that be put the squeeze on Don after he brings a big fish (Conrad Hilton) into their deepening pond.
The partners want Don to sign a three-year contract to ensure he doesn’t just get up one morning and decide to walk, with or without said hotelier.
Naturally, Don resists and Bertram Cooper persists. As I said last week, “this guy Cooper, he knows things.”
Draper: What do you want?
Cooper: Sacagawea carried a baby on her back all the way to the Pacific Ocean. And somewhere that baby thinks that he discovered America. You Don, have been standing on someone’s shoulders. We brought you in. We nurtured you like family and now’s the time to pay us back. You can’t go any further on your own Don.
It’s interesting that Cooper would use the word “family” here. Don signs the paper and tells Cooper that he wants no further contact with Roger Sterling. Not exactly brotherly of him. Then again, Sterling did hit on Don’s wife and then attempt to use her to bring him around to the agency’s POV.