Television Review: Commissions and Fees (Mad Men, S5x12, 2012)
Commissions and Fees (S5x12)
Airdate: 3 June 2012
Written by: Andre Jacquemetton & Maria Jacquemetton
Directed by: Christopher Manley
Running Time: 48 minutes
Season 5 of Mad Men marked a distinct departure from the glossy, stylish optimism that had characterised the series' earlier years. By the mid-1960s, the cultural zeitgeist was shifting dramatically, mirroring a nation and a world consumed by social and political turmoil. The assassinations of prominent figures, mass murders, the escalating Vietnam War, and the civil rights struggles created an atmosphere of pervasive anxiety. Yet, the protagonists of the show were largely spared the visceral brutality of these events, relegated instead to the background noise of television reports and the morbid conversation subjects. However, as the season progressed, the narrative began to shed its protective bubble. Things changed notably near the end of the season, following the seismic impact of the "wham" episode, The Other Woman. In a newly established 21st-century television tradition, the most consequential events of the season were reserved for the penultimate episode rather than the finale. "Commissions and Fees" delivered a narrative payload that was, quite simply, the darkest content in the history of the series up to that point.
The plot of Commissions and Fee" is set in February 1967 and opens with SCDP appearing to be on firm footing, buoyed by the successful closing of the Jaguar deal. Don Draper has ascended to the peak of Madison Avenue, celebrated for his visionary genius, while Lane Pryce, too, is basking in reflected glory. His accounting acumen has played a pivotal role in the agency's success, leading to his call by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A) to serve as the head of its financial committee. It is a moment of validation, a reward for years of service and loyalty. Yet, Lane does not enjoy this professional bliss for long. The foundation of his world begins to crumble when Bert Cooper discovers a check with a forged signature—Don's signature—on it. Cooper accuses Don of paying himself an unauthorised Christmas bonus. Don, quick to recognise the truth of the situation, calls Lane to his office to confront him about forgery and embezzlement. Lane folds immediately under the weight of Don's gaze and the gravity of the accusation, confessing everything. Don, in a moment of calculated mercy, tells Lane that he has no choice but to ask for his resignation; it is the more elegant and dignified option than firing him publicly or, even worse, calling the authorities. Lane is devastated, his composure shattered. When he attempts to maintain a semblance of normalcy with some friendly banter with Joan Holloway, he is harshly rejected when Joan finds one of his remarks to be insulting. He returns home a broken man, unable to summon the courage to tell his wife Rebecca that he has been fired.
While the adults grapple with corporate treachery and financial ruin, Sally Draper deals with the issues of pre-adolescence. She is unhappy that her mother, Betty, and Henry Francis are going on a skiing trip. Sally travels to New York City to spend the weekend with Don and Megan. Don, however, is not present in Manhattan, and when Megan has to leave for an audition, she leaves Sally alone in the apartment. This solitude proves to be both a curse and a blessing for the young girl. She seizes the opportunity to contact Glenn Bishop, her former classmate and secret admirer, setting up a rendezvous. Glenn will travel from his boarding school in upstate New York, make his way to her apartment, and take her to the Museum of Natural History. It is there, amidst the quiet of the exhibits, that Sally begins to feel physically ill. She retreats to the bathroom and, in a moment of profound realisation, discovers she has had her first menstruation. Being so engrossed in the physical changes and terrified by the experience, she instinctively flees back to her mother’s home. Glenn, who has been looking for her, returns to the apartment to retrieve his school bag. Megan, seeing his distress, allows him to stay until the next train home, leaving Sally to process her new reality in the safety of her mother’s house.
In the interim, Don Draper, emboldened by the success of the Jaguar deal, decides to tackle the most significant barrier still standing in his way: the unofficial blacklisting that has plagued him since his anti-tobacco advertising campaign. He insists on meeting Edwin Baxter, the executive who had previously alerted him to the blacklist, to secure an account with Dow Chemical. The meeting is brokered with the help of Baxter’s son-in-law, Ken Cosgrove. However, this alliance comes with a stipulation: Ken insists that Pete Campbell must be excluded from the project. Don, with Roger Sterling, visits Dow Chemical to make the pitch. He argues that Dow shouldn't be content with only 50 per cent of the market, pushing for a complete domination of the chemical landscape. It is a bold move, a declaration of war on the forces that have sought to silence him.
Before these dramatic events unfold, Lane Pryce’s personal life reaches a breaking point. He is surprised by his wife, Rebecca, who, completely unaware of his dire financial situation, has bought him a brand new Jaguar. The car is a symbol of status he cannot afford, a shiny veneer over his crumbling empire. Overwhelmed by the pressure and the humiliation of his financial destitution, he decides to use that very vehicle to kill himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. However, the car, known for its notoriously unreliable electronics, fails to start. Lane is denied even this final escape. Instead, he returns to the SCDP office and types a letter—the final act of his life. On Monday, he is not seen in the office. When Joan cannot enter his office to retrieve a file, she asks Pete and Ken to take a look. They find him hanging from the door, a tragic tableau of defeat. Don and Roger, upon returning, find the office empty, with Joan and the top partners waiting for the coroner. Don insists on taking Lane’s body down himself, a visceral and gruesome task. He reads the resignation letter, which is a boilerplate document, devoid of the emotion it should have contained. Devastated by a profound sense of guilt and responsibility, Don returns home.
At home, Don is thrust back into the chaotic reality of his daughter's life when he meets Glenn Bishop. After a brief, stilted conversation, instead of taking Glenn to the train station as he likely intended, Don allows him to, with Don's supervision, drive home to his boarding school. It is a strange, tentative moment of connection.
Commissions and Fees is notable for being the first episode in which a regular character died. The end of Lane Pryce’s character arc feels logical and believable, a tragic convergence of social pressures, misguided pride, and deep personal insecurity. The actual suicide is not shown on screen, but Don having to cut down Lane’s body makes the event the most graphic and potentially unsettling image of the entire series so far. It is only partially tempered with the black humour that often permeates the office, while the juxtaposition of Rebecca Pryce’s elation at her husband’s success with her husband’s despair makes the event even more tragic. Jared Harris delivers a strong performance in his final outing, carrying the episode with a quiet dignity that belies the terror beneath the surface.
The episode also makes Don Draper look incredibly human. His handling of Lane, although inadvertently leading to Lane’s suicide, appears to have been the right thing to do at the time. Don genuinely wants to comfort Lane and tells him that things will get better, offering a lifeline that Lane unfortunately was too weak to grasp. Yet, the result is devastating for Don, as it mirrors the fate of his spurned brother Adam Whitman, creating a haunting parallel that makes the loss even more personal and traumatic. Don tries to make sense of the tragedy and find comfort in a strange, unexpected bond with the creepy teenager who wants to date his daughter, a connection born of shared loneliness and the messy realities of fatherhood.
In the end, Commissions and Fees is another very good episode, demonstrating that Matthew Weiner passed another critical test by delivering a major character’s demise with the same skill and emotional resonance with which he portrayed the ordinary, mundane details of characters' lives. It was a brave, bold move to kill off a beloved player in the penultimate episode, and it paid off by shifting the tone of the series permanently. It showed that the show was no longer just about the suits and the drinks, but about the fragile, fleeting nature of life itself.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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