Living in the “not knowing.”

This week’s episode of Mad Men is largely about uncertainty. Talking to Peggy, Don describes their whole job as being about uncertainty. 

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Life is about uncertainty, too. Bob Benson, who is gay, has been hired by Buick, and as he puts it when proposing to Joan, “GM expects a certain kind of executive.” He’s looking for a bit of certainty in an uncertain world. But sometimes uncertainty is better.

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There’s a remarkable arrogance to Bob in saying that he’s thinking of Joan and offering her more than anyone else ever will when he can’t even offer her love, and Joan is right to hold out hope for love even though it’s far from guaranteed, for her or for anyone. But perhaps that’s a luxury Bob doesn’t have, as a gay man with a career in the late 1960s, so perhaps it is cruel of her to tell him that he should do the same. 

Don is troubled by the profound uncertainty of just about everything in his own life. There’s only one thing he seems certain about, only one person he can be himself around, and that’s Peggy.

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When should we worry, really worry, about ourselves? About each other? Should Bob be worried about Joan? Should Don be worried about Peggy?

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Don and his wife Megan don’t really know each other, so they can’t truly love each other. Peggy is the only person who ever sees Don as he really is. That’s a kind of love. And in this uncertain life, a love like that is worth holding on to.

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