“Peggy is the new Don,” many Mad Men fans, including Buzzfeed, the New York Times, and various social media personalities, tweeted after the show’s long, alternately tropical and Lean In-themed season six premiere.
“Do you think Peggy is the new Don?” Vulture asked Elisabeth Moss herself, who replied that Ms. Olson is “trying her hand” at Don’s, how shall we say, less than sensitive leadership style (though as of yet, she hasn’t thrown dollar bills in anyone’s face.)
The Cut weighed in, hailing Peggy as “confident, ballsy, and unapologetic, replacing Don as one of the series' most compelling and ambitious characters.” The Times called it Peggy's "new attitude."
Call me naked-on-LSD crazy, but I don’t see anything new about Peggy—except her circumstances. As far as I can tell, she's the same ambitious, take-no-prisoners, kick-ass career woman she's always been—she’s just finally getting the power and respect she deserves.
Yes, she saves the Koss headphones ad campaign from near disaster (and during Christmas break no less) and cracks the whip on her junior copywriters, forgetting to send them home. But the truly new thing was seeing her get some credit from her new boss Ted Chaough, who told Pegs that she’s “good in a crisis.” And he doesn’t even know she hid a full-term pregnancy and gave her baby up for adoption without ever telling the father!
Peggy did display Draper-esque behavior in the premiere, but why are we pretending she just grew a pair? She’s been tough and steely, leaning in from the very start—it’s just finally starting to pay off.
Even when she was Don’s mousy secretary, Peg was thinking outside the box. When all the other ladies were blithely enthusing about their Belle Jolie lipstick shades, Peggy unwittingly churned out the “Basket Full of Kisses” line—and landed a copywriting break, albeit unpaid and in addition to her typing duties.
When Roger asked her to stealthily work up projects on the side, she demanded more cash in hand. Joey the copywriter making sexist remarks about Joan? Peggy took it upon herself to fire him. When Don took out his frustration over Megan leaving advertising for acting on Peggy during the Cool Whip meeting (with Mr. Belding), Peggy fought back, shouting, “I did everything I was supposed to do ... and you're not mad at me, so shut up!"
By season four, Peggy had proven herself such an unsung hero around Sterling Cooper, Duck (remember Duck?!) deemed her formidable enough to woo away in an attempt to start a new shop specifically for lady-centric ads (pour one out: Mad Women might have ruled.)
She helped save the agency in the bleak post-cigarette era, landing Topaz pantyhose and unabashedly pointing out, “I signed the first new business since Lucky Strike left. But it’s not as important as getting married. Again.” Could she have done all of this—way back when—without being a tough bitch? Her drive was no different from Don's. In fact, while he slept on the job and skipped out to Cali, Peggy was still burning the midnight oil.
Pity the fools who tried to date her—or so much as get her to leave the office for dinner with their family (Mark) or indulge in a little morning sex (Gabe). Miss Olson had her eye on the prize all the while. Not that that means she’s been emotionally healthy or anything, what with the aforementioned pregnancy hiding. She just brushed that massive ordeal under the rug, assumed a new identity, and pretty much never talked about it again. Sound like someone else we might know on Mad Men?
Peggy isn’t the new Don. She’s always been Don. But perhaps not for long. As Moss told Vulture, Peggy's "journey is about discovering...her own style of leadership. And I think that she as herself, as Peggy, if she can find that, she will be a much better boss than Don. Because she has a positivity, she has a sensitivity."
Screw the new Don, I can't wait to see the new Peggy.
Photo Credit: AMC
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