Weekend Frivolity: Don Draper’s Battle with Contracts

In case you are still on the fence about whether or not to attend KCON XVI in two weeks, this might get you to hop on a plane: there will be an event called A Cinematic Perspective on Contracts Law at the New Isis Theater.  Of course, if you are lucky enough to live in Oklahoma City, you can just drive there!

So, as a small taste of what’s in store, consider the following.

My wife and I are re-watching Mad Men.  Television was so good, just recently, and now we struggle to find a drama series that does not depart from believability during the first season.

But I digress.  Duck Phillips, who is a central character in the second season and is demoted to important but marginal in season three, has great plans to rein in the power of creative (Don Draper) within the agency.  But what is to prevent creative from engaging in a mass walk out?  “That’s why God made non-competes,” Duck says smugly.  

And then, during a meeting that was to be his crowning glory, Duck is apprised of a most important fact.  “I don’t have a contract,” Don says.  All eyes turn to Roger.  “We’re close; I didn’t think we needed one.”  

But in the end, the power of contracts itself, coupled with a veiled threat to reveal Don’s deepest secrets, reins Don in.  It’s an interesting play from Bert Cooper who, when he first learned of Don’s secret backstory opined decisively (if rhetorically) “Who cares?”  At a certain point, it seems, Bert cared, and the scene reveals a great deal about Bert’s pragmatism.