getting over the “ewwwww!” factor

Men Men spoilage.

The more I think about it, the more I think that Duck and Peggy sleeping together is not a terrible thing:

1. Peggy has already established that she is more than adequately capable of having sex-for-fun without adversely impacting her work life or taking on emotional damage. The woman is emphatically not a delicate flower.
2. Duck is her first sex partner who respects her work. He knows that she is an adwoman; he knows that she’s damn good at it; he admires both these things. There’s no misrepresentation. There’s no inequality. (He may think he has the upper hand; we know better.)
3. Duck is neither married nor a child.
4. On a certain level, Peggy and Duck are oddly well-matched: they are focused, serious, calculating, and ambitious people who are never taken seriously by others. They could be a very dangerous, and very satisfying-to-watch, team.

I am definitely not arguing that this will bloom into a perfect or satisfying relationship, nor do I want to see that, but our Peggy Olsen is not being used, and she isn’t a victim here. In fact, she has far more power in this episode than Svengali Don: this is the first time in the series that we see her exercise her sexual and professional power in concert, on the template that he established in the first and second seasons. She’s learning to control this thing, just as Don’s firmly honed sense of command is spinning out of control.