I wake up in the morning and I look into Trudy’s eyes, and I think we’re supposed to be one person. But whatever I try—all these things going on in my head—she’s just another stranger.
—Pete Campbell, The Hobo Code
June 8, 2008
Basket of Kisses
The unofficial blog of AMC’s Mad Men
June 8, 2008 at 6:54 am
OMG – that quote made me want to reach through the TV screen and smack the shit out of him. Damn, I can’t stand that Pete Campbell! So self-centered, so entitled, so clueless, such pathetic acts of bravado trying to mask massive insecurity, such condescension toward women – common to most of the males in MM but especially irritating in him because he’s such a little weasel.
Well, it’s just another example of the good writing in MM that the characters can get under your skin so much. But I’ll leave it to other folks here talk about Pete’s less-irritating and/or sympathetic qualities. I’m just gonna get my hate on, because that’s how me and Pete Campbell roll.
June 8, 2008 at 7:47 am
Actually, and I am the last one to defend Pete Cambell, (for me he is almost entirely devoid of sympathetic qualities and is utterly irritating), but that particular quote didn’t make me hate him. I mean, how he used it (to continue to work Peggy) sucked, but to me that quote represents the foolish naivety that is our culture; the expectations of the Cinderella marriage with no clue that you have to like, find the other person.
Dumbass.
I have no objection with just randomly calling him dumbass.
June 8, 2008 at 8:10 am
I’m with Roberta; I despise Pete, he’s a “love to hate” guy for me. But this, to me, is a sympathetic quote; he has a fantasy of perfect connection, and he’s confused by the reality. The world is full of strangers and he’s got a classic case of existential suffering.
Plus, Pete suffering? Okay by me!
June 8, 2008 at 11:59 am
I hate hate hate Pete Campbell! When he’s onscreen, I just wanna kick him in the nuts!!
June 8, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Don’t hold back, Kay, tell us how you really feel.
June 8, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Agree w. Deborah & Roberta – Pete’s a lot of despicable things, but his character always displays a core of humanity that, IMO, young Pete doesn’t really know how to cultivate.
He’s horrible with people, poor at getting his point across, generally venal, self-centered and mean .
But quotes such as these show not the 99% of him that is all these bad qualities, but the 1% that’s thoroughly human and that the audience (esp. males, I think) can identify with. He’s just another guy trying to figure things out.
June 8, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Plus he’s funny:
June 8, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Roberta said: but to me that quote represents the foolish naivety that is our culture; the expectations of the Cinderella marriage with no clue that you have to like, find the other person.
And Deborah said: he has a fantasy of perfect connection, and he’s confused by the reality.
Exactly! That’s why I wanted to reach through the TV and smack the shit out of him. Remember, one of my main gripes against him was “so clueless”.
God, whoever did the casting for the Pete Campbell role is a fucking genius. And by the way, I think I want to slap the shit out of that person too.
June 8, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I like Pete [ducks and covers]. Yes, I want to smack the isht out of him, but I want to do that with Don, Roger, Ken, and Paul, too. Truth is, I love all those guys, but I want to wring their necks as well. They’re such a**holes, but they’re so fascinating and make such cool TV.
June 8, 2008 at 7:54 pm
OG, I laughed out loud. Right out loud. Now, if only there were a tight, concise way to communicate that electronically…
June 8, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Pete’s completely mercenary. I have no doubt that he married Trudy for the money. Maybe he liked how she looked and convinced himself they had this perfect connection, but I think his main motivator was her money. The other guys even chided him about it. Unfortunately, as is always the case with Pete, he didn’t think things through. For someone like him, who’s always trying to assert his manhood and prove his worth, marrying a woman with money was probably the worst thing he could do. It makes him more dependent on her, instead of she on him–no matter what happens. He’ll never be his own man, which is what he desperately wants.
June 8, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Roberta – Ha! : )
OK, on to the other business at hand, the “Hobo Code” episode itself. I had a very interesting thing happen I’d like to share with the congregation / coven / assorted miscellaneous but much beloved mob:
Toward the end of episode, Li’l Don (um, Li’l Dick Whitman) looks to see what symbol the hobo has carved in front of his house. When the episode first aired, my eyes/brain thought it was the “Tell a sad story” symbol, which I thought was incredibly profound. I guess it depends on how you interpret what “Tell a sad story” means. My interpretation was that it meant “this is a very sad or troubled household”, or the like. It really moved me in that I felt it so strongly showed the Hobo’s sympathy for young Don.
Now, the second time it aired, I clearly saw that the symbol carved on the post was the one that indicated a crooked and dishonest man lives in the house. I was like, “Oh, I got that one completely wrong on the first viewing, didn’t I?”. Also, I was a little bit sad because I think I like the “Tell a sad story” version better. Or, at least my interpretation of what that would have meant.
I’d love to hear what y’all think.
June 8, 2008 at 8:30 pm
By the way – that was a very well stated analysis of Pete, hullaballoo.
June 8, 2008 at 9:03 pm
OG, it’s definitely the symbol for a dishonest man. I thought I linked to hobo symbols. Did I? Maybe it was a discussion elsewhere. Anyway, I looked them up and linked them somewhere entirely useless to us now if it wasn’t here.
But “tell a sad story” means, “make them feel sorry for you, they’re soft touches.” As in “I’m a hobo because my wife died tragically” kind of thing.
“This is a sad family”–are you kidding? They’d be carving that fucking EVERYwhere.
June 8, 2008 at 9:20 pm
“This is a sad family”–are you kidding? They’d be carving that fucking EVERYwhere.
Yeah for sure. It was the Depression. And look – we’re almost back there again!
I think my brain was thinking that “Tell a sad story” means this family might be sympathetic (give you food, work, etc), which is kind of on the same track. In any event, whatever my thinking, it didn’t diminish my love for this episode, which I thought was particularly outstanding.
June 8, 2008 at 9:37 pm
It’s the episode that was nominated for best writing of a single episode by the Writer’s Guild. (Didn’t win. Did win the WGA for best new series.)
June 8, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Oh, well hey – there ya go!
June 14, 2008 at 4:54 pm
[...] the post itself, the juiciest juice continues down in the comments. So like, one innocent little Weekend Quotation can evolve into a whole fascinating character analysis of Pete Campbell, the rat bastard. [...]
September 15, 2008 at 8:59 pm
[...] the post itself, the juiciest juice continues down in the comments. So like, one innocent little Weekend Quotation can evolve into a whole fascinating character analysis of Pete Campbell, the rat bastard. [...]
September 10, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.