'Mad Men' trivia: What Joan wants after two divorces and 17 years in advertising (2024)

Mad Men

Joan (Christina Hendricks) tries to convince herself that Richard (Bruce Greenwood) is worthy of her in "Mad Men" season 7, episode 10, "The Forecast."

(Courtesy of AMC)

While watching "Mad Men" season 7, episode 10, "The Forecast,"I felt pressured to make the call -- the arbitrary, unnecessary call-- that Joan's new beau is not a red flag in a wide collar.

With four episodes left, there might be time forRichard Burghoff, alias Jim McCloud, to prove that he is, in fact, worthy of Joan -- but with the myriad story lines that "Mad Men" must settle, there just as easily might not be. Or, worse, the last of Joan's story will be about her disappointment in him.

I want Joan to get what she wants. She is my favorite character. "The Forecast" is full of characters trying to determineand express what they want, but what does Joan want?

Let us begin with a man named Scotty.I was so worried about Joan's happiness that her admission to Richard that she has been married and divorced twice blew right by me.

Vulture clarifies: "We know Joan is divorced from her rapist Greg, and she's said that other men have proposed to her, but it isn't until season six's 'To Have and to Hold' that we find out Joan was married before Greg. To someone named Scotty, apparently."

The Scotty situation presumably struck Joan before the story of "Mad Men" started. She was around 22when she launched her career with Sterling Cooper (counting back from her season 7 admission she had been with the agency for 16 years).She probably married and divorced Scotty right out of college. That might even be what compelled her to New York, to start over.

Peggy's first day at the agency was also the first episode of "Mad Men." It took place in March of 1960, soJoanwas 28 or so when she took Peggy on a tour around the office andtold her that, if she makes the right moves,"You'll be out in the country and you won't be going to work at all."

Even after "the worst six months" of her life, when she was marrying and divorcing Scotty, Joan still upheld domestic bliss as what Peggy shoulddesire. Even when she embarked on an affair with the then-married Roger Sterling, Joan did not get cynical about the sanctity of marriage. Even after her fiance, Greg, raped her, she went through with the marriage.

Joan knows what everybody should want: to be her or to be with her. "My mother raised me to be admired," she told Don in season 4. Her self-worth is inextricable from the way she represents, to her last, 1950s standards of beauty. She places all her trust in the life she should want because, probably, she fears that people want to be with her only because they should, only because she happens to embody that ideal so thoroughly.

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Joan got a chance to confront this fear in "Mad Men" season 7, episode 6, "The Strategy."She was aware that former account man Bob Benson was gay, and their friendship that developed in season 6 flourished, relatively free of ulterior motives (by "Mad Men" standards) as it was.

But when Bob, who had moved to Detroit, visited the office in "The Strategy," he concluded his visit with an attempt to propose to Joan. She declined.

"So you don't feel anything for me?" Bob asked. "My face doesn't please you? I don't believe it....Kevin would have a father. You could come with me, you'd love Detroit. We could have a mansion....I'm thinking about you, Joan. Is this what you want? To be near 40 in a two-bedroom apartment with a mother and a little boy? I know I am flawed, but I am offering you more than anyone else ever will."

Joan responded, "No, you're not, Bob.Because I want love.And I'd rather die hoping that happens than make some arrangement."

Bob countered, "I'm just being realistic."

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This is just one of the incidentshaunting Joan as of "The Forecast." Bob's sole currency was his ability to be exactly whatever anybody wants-- an extreme version of Joan's condition. The threat of being part of a fake unit dedicated to nothing more than looking exactly like a man and a woman should look together -- an even more hollow example of what vintage Don and Betty Draper represent -- might have been enough for Joan to consider what she really wants, not what she should want.

And what does Joan want? It has turned out to look like what Peggy wants, and it is not out of Joan's reach. She tells Richard that she has the job she has always wanted; Peggy is still rowing towards hers.

When Peggy forged a relationship with her tenant's 10-year-old son, Julio, she recognized what a sacrifice she made by giving her child, who would also be 10 as of season 7, up for adoption. Joan's 5-year-old son, Kevin, represents the sacrifice she has made to the kind of life she thought she should want -- even though he was the result of an affair with Roger.

So when Richard tells Joan he does not want to be involved with her because she has a young child, Joan tells him she would send her son away. He concedes that that is not reasonable and tells Joan he wants to start sharing a life with her and her family -- all after two dates!

But is that what Joan wants? Or will this be her opportunity to abandon the vestiges of her commitment to what, throughout "Mad Men," she believed she should want?

Anything could happen between now and the finale of "Mad Men," which will air on Sunday, May 17. I am notabout to make predictions regarding the ending, but --

Peggy seems to be determining how she could make her personal life work in concert with her professional life. If Joan were to come to the understanding that her season 3 pitch to Peggy was right all along -- "This is about two young girls in Manhattan!This is about an adventure!" -- if she were to try to find happiness her own way and wanted to draw strength from Peggy's support just as Peggy might embark on a serious relationship: that would be a devastating way to find Joan at the end of "Mad Men."