Mad Men (TV Series) Babylon (2007) User Reviews

Basket of kisses

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 2 March 2011]

Don is preparing breakfast. He set up a nice tray to take up to his wife Betty. As he goes up, he trips and falls, lying on floor brings back memories of his childhood, as memories flood to him, reliving the birth of a baby, that is supposed to be his brother, something that is not sot so. Later he is seen in bed with his wife. They talk about Joan Crawford, whom Betty thinks has not aged well, when she compares the actress to her own mother.

At the agency there is a meeting planned with the Israeli tourist board. They are thinking to model their campaign to attract visitors to their country, basing their motivation on the Sterling-Cooper work for Rio de Janeiro. The executives are excited to turn their famous spots to people that will feel they are in Europe.

Roger is surprised by Mona and his daughter Margaret. They stopped by on their way to a beauty salon where the young woman is going to have a haircut. Joan and Roger are seen next in a hotel room where they have had sex; he is wearing his boxer shorts and Joan comes from the bathroom wearing a slip and bra. Joan feels he has been too hard on the girl, to which he replies that he feels the past year has been one of the happiest of his life because of Joan has made the difference.

The junior executives are having a fun time making fun of the prospect of getting into the Israel account. After the meeting Don calls Rachel to discuss with her this new development, thinking she must have a valid point. They meet for lunch where she shows a bit of impatience with Don thinking he is asking her because she is Jewish, and wondering at the same time, if he does not know any other Jews.

Fred Rumsen wants to have a feedback from the women in the office on the Belle Jollie lipstick. For that, Joan takes the girls into a room with a one way mirror. The women are to try their favorite colors. Peggy sits on a corner never smearing any color to her lips. After the women leave there is a basket full of tissues that served to dry their lips. Peggy presents it to Fred calling it 'a basket of kisses' as each tissue shows a different color. The catchy phrase gives him a marketing idea, as he brings it to Don's attention.

Don arrives at Midge's place by surprise. He wants her at that moment, as it is clearly shown by the way he grabs her. While on an embrace, the doorbell rings. Midge goes to the door to find Roy. He came to take her to see a friend performing at the Gaslight. Roy proves to be an annoying thing for Don, who clearly had another idea for Midge and him.

The episode was written by Andre and Maria Jaquemetton, producers of the series. One of the themes from the chapter shows Roger's hypocrisy with the double life he leads. The other main idea that runs through this installment is the way ad agencies treated their Jewish clients, which also was hypocritical, at best. The waspish junior executives making fun behind the closed door of the Israel's campaign. Andrew Bernstein directed.

Mad Men - Babylon

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 4 February 2015]

Peggy hasn't been taken all that seriously, and she has been viewed as just another secretary, full of "earnestness". However, that changes here as she offers a tag line ("basket full of kisses" referring to a waste basket with lipstick imprints on napkins during a "brainstorming" session) that impresses a couple of the ad execs (one played by Bill Murray's brother, Joel). She is told by Joan that there's a chance for her to do more than file documents in a cabinet and be at Don's every beck and call. Now Peggy has a chance to pitch! This is a big deal, and Joan seems a bit jealous (it is hard for her to contain it but Joan does everything, even mad, sexy; she's all presentation and quite a performance artist Joan is). We learn that Joan is having an affair with Sterling (no surprise, right? Another affair…), and the two meet at a hotel to assume their tawdry sexcapades. Don and his team is saddled with a job to encourage tourism in Israel, with a campaign that attracts Americans and others to the Jewish clients' country. Don tries to maintain a healthy marriage with his dutiful gorgeous (and vacuous) wife, an affair with a beatnik artist who seems less and less his type the longer they continue, and a relationship with a client he is thoroughly attracted to and affectionate for (he even asks for a lunch to scan her brain for ideas in his Jewish clients campaign because she is a Jew). The episode ends with Don hanging out at a beatnik club, sticking out like a sore thumb, encouraged to attend by his lover. Don and his client, Rachel (Maggie Siff), just have fireworks and can't seem to escape each other…their chemistry and attraction is hard to deny. Because Don has committed to the "American Dream" of the domestic ideal with the pretty wife, two kids, and perfectly kept house, he is walking the razor's edge with carrying on one affair while on the verge of starting another one. That balancing act will not exactly be easy! As seen here, the men in the office don't exactly have a flattering view of the women that work there, considering them the perfect guinea pigs who "speak moron." Watching behind the glass of the "test room" are the execs, gleefully commenting on the ladies as if an audience watching clowns, mockingly amused. Pop culture is all the rage in this series as Betty speaks to Don about how old Joan Crawford looks with her "caterpillar eyebrows". In a previous episode, some of the boys in the officer were listening to a Bob Newhart standup record. It is a fun little aside the show has in its favor considering when Mad Men takes place.

Zion Just Means Israel

[borowiecsminus · 8/10 · 5 June 2016]

This episode, early in the series, was a great help in setting up the tone of the show when it wasn't fully established. This episode had a few aspects of it. The first: Israel tourism, and the second: Peggy.

Firstly, the Israel tourism plot was a very interesting one. It truly sunk in that not even one of the advertising agents was either Jewish or knew enough about Israel to help. When Draper finally finds an old Jewish friend, he finds she does not know much about Israel. Later, it is strange when they begin an affair. This is only strange to me because earlier in the episode it seemed like she hated him. Perhaps this is meant to say something about the persuasiveness of advertising.

Secondly, Peggy comes up with a catchphrase, even though everyone thought she was just a secretary. While "basket full of kisses" isn't groundbreaking, it is very catchy and clever, if you ask me, and the agents recognize this, if they are quite surprised by her sudden ideas.

A very under toned episode of "Mad Men," and one that truly helped with exposition of the show.

Exodus and utopia

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 23 August 2010]

As hinted by the title, the sixth episode of Mad Men is one of its richest in terms of hidden meanings and deeper truths, while still retaining its standard polished exterior and exquisite dialogue scenes, which provide further development for previously underused characters.

The main storyline concerns the agency's task of coming up with an ad campaign to increase tourists' interest in Israel, but it quickly emerges no one, including Don, who even reads the book Exodus in search for advice, knows much about the country. As a last resort, Don resorts to Rachel's help, causing the woman to come to terms with her feelings for him. To further complicate things, he later spends some time with his occasional mistress Midge, and the experience turns out to be quite cathartic. Back at the office, Peggy shows unexpected skills that pave the way for a new career move, while Roger has to deal with his affair with Joan.

One of Babylon's most important scenes is a discussion between Don and Rachel on the subject of utopia, a word whose current meaning of "ideal world" is most likely a misinterpretation of the original Greek, which means "non-place", i.e. A place that doesn't exist. In a way, that word is the perfect summation of life at Sterling Cooper, where executives come up with pitches for titillating but ultimately unfulfilling fantasies in the shape of commercial campaigns, and everyone else lives in a sort of "dream world" helping bring these fantasies to life. It is also a perfect picture for Don's life, from his mysterious past - which makes his Draper persona a utopia of his own - to his shallow womanizing, and the concept enables Hamm to shine in another great set of scenes, notably with Maggie Siff. Additionally, the episode deserves praise for the direction Peggy is taking as a character, not to mention the delightful interaction between Christina Hendricks (one of the show's unsung heroes) and John Slattery, which give Mad Men the right to be part of a very special utopia: that of outstanding television.

Music is the key and closure in this one and the show is getting better and better

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 7 December 2023]

"Babylon" is the sixth episode of the first season of Mad Men and this means that the episode we got here is now over 15, actually over 16 years already and boy has it aged well. But you see that from the rating of my review anyway. I think the show started alright with the first trio of episodes, but then gained really steam and got way better even and this episode we got here is another example why this show is so brilliant overall. They are actually proceeding nicely with quite a few characters here and we learn a lot of new aspects about them. There is not as much focus on Don as there was during previous episodes. We see Joan has an affair with Roger and I liked how they depicted it when we see Roger in bed first talk to somebody and think that maybe he is at home with his wife, but the truth could not be any more different. And all this after we see his wife and daughter just a few moments earlier. Peggy gets a nice boost too and it's pretty much the first time we understand there is more to her than a typewriting career. It was kinda cute and funny to see how much she enjoys the appreciation. At the same time, it was interesting to watch Joan react to all this. You probably would not want her as your enemy. This episode really had a gigantic amount of elaboration on gender roles back then. Actually, before I get to that it was also interesting to find out a specific date here as on one occasion it was mentioned that Adolf Eichmann was arrested a few days earlier, which means we are in May 1960 right now. This was of course inevitably linked to the Jewish background of the episode. This one you can call Mad Men's tribute to Jewry.

But I was mentioning the gender roles, so let's look at all we have here: Early on, the show is pretty specific about how much Betty physically needs Don in her life. Yes, we talking about sex there. Interestingly enough, there is a scene later on when Don is not really in the mood and his wife has to accept it of course. Nonetheless, what stayed almost more memorable were two other moments from their conversation early on. The first would be Betty joking about cheating and Don's face expression afterwards and the second would be Betty's comment about her mother and herself as an older woman, which is of course almost a bit on the bitter side if you know how the show ended. Then there is Roger not getting enough of Joan and probably also a bit the other around, even if she is far from self-sacrificing in their relationship from the way it sounds during their conversation. Still you had to feel a bit sorry for her honestly, especially with the bird scene then, which was totally a metaphor how she was the bird in the cage in reality. There is even talk about what he would like to do with her and how he does not want her to see other men, which is of course really ironic looking at how he is the married one. In addition to that, we have this really special scene that could not be more loaded with sexism when all the office girls get lipstick to try on and the boys are watching behind the glass with almost none of the women knowing. This was then of course one inclusion where Peggy was allowed to shine, but at the same time you can look at Joan's behavior there and she may not have been 100% sure that Roger was in the room, but she knew that the men would be crazy about what they saw. What did one of them say? He needed to bow down to her magnificence or so. As always, there were many very stunning women in here again, not just the obvious ones, but also for example the one who plays Don's mother back when he was a child or the actress who portrays Rachel and who had to be in this episode of course given the background.

The beginning with the flashback from centuries ago when Don falls down the stairs takes us back into his mysterious past a bit, but this was not really the center of attention for the episode. Interestingly enough this must have been around 1930 again, so even before the darkest (political) crimes of the 20th century happened. Speaking of Don, we get to meet one of his lovers again and in this scene you could even see how there is no getting away when he is in the mood to have intercourse. He even breaks some of her stuff haha. Pretty crazy. The company is dealing with the Israeli Tourism Ministry or whatever they were called exactly which was of course again no coincidence given the contents here. One character who gets almost no elaboration this time is Pete. Yet the one moment he had when cracking an execution-themed joke while they were watching the girls was also telling. You could see that the other boys do not really like him much.

Before I come to the end, this episode also had some really nice music and movie references again. We hear a bit about Joan Crawford and Paul Newman, but the music was where the episode really shone. The intro is always a winner, but here we are especially exposed to the talent of David Carbonara who gets to perform two songs even. Lipstick is the first, but the real winner is the way it ends then with his rendition of the really good Don McLean song "Babylon". What a voice Carbonara has. Pity we (or at least I) have not heard from him on other occasions. Definitely my loss as he is sweet as silk. So if there was any minor doubt then before that if this is not just a good, but a great episode, then said doubt was literally crushed by this song and the pictures we see at the same time. Seeing Joan and Roger get out of the hotel there and stand away from each other as if they are strangers again really had an impact on me. Just lie the episode as a whole. Really nice work by André and Maria Jacquemetton and you don't hear too often that spouses are in charge of the same writing credit. But of course Matthew Weiner must not be omitted, the third writer from the bunch and he is always good. Same is true for director Andrew Berstein. Maybe a special episode for him too. That is all. Another big thumbs-up for these minimally over 45 minutes that totally make me curious for the next episodes and for those viewers who do not like Don it was maybe tough to see Rachel fall for him so hopelessly again (I guess it is safe to say she was talking about him), but at the same time it was kinda funny what she responded when being asked if the man she wants is one who has a lot of humor to him. Certainly not Don's biggest strength. Now that is really all, even if I could probably keep elaborating on this episode and talking about many other inclusions until the character limit is reached. But I won't because you should just go and watch it yourself. Highly recommended.

Affairs and Basket Of Kisses

[vivianla · 7 June 2020]

Don Draper makes breakfast in bed for Betty. I love the little vase with the yellow flower he uses. He trips and falls down the stairs, triggering a memory.

He remembers when he was a boy and saw his brother for the first time. His stepmother holds the newborn and the baby is adorable - he looks so fragile and coos in her arms.

Don is reading the Exodus book and Betty undresses. I like the way Don holds Betty around the waist with Betty underneath. It looks so romantic. They kiss and make out.

In the office, the men are trying to come up with a good ad for lipsticks and gets all the "hens" to try out the lipsticks. There is a one-way glass and the men gather in the room to gaze at the women making what is to them, sexual faces as they apply lipstick. Peggy comes up with the slogan "basket of kisses".

An older businessman is having an affair with Joan. His wife and daughter came into the office earlier for a haircut recommendation. He complains about his daughter being useless and does not know where he went wrong.

Babylon (#1.6)

[ComedyFan2010 · 8/10 · 7 September 2018]

The agency tries to come up with marketing for tourism to Israel. They also work with lipsticks and we see men with their mistresses.

A pretty good episode. The whole Israel thing was pretty symbolic. I especially liked the conversation Don and Rachel had.

It is also interesting where Peggy's story turns. Her clever sayings give her an opportunity to write. This can develop in a pretty good story for the character. The whole lipstick scene was actually very well done with all women trying the lipsticks.

Don and Midge going with her friend to that art show made me think those weren't even 60's. Reminded me of today's left and their art which I feel pretty much like Don does about.