I think you guys are too hard on Peggy. She has to set boundaries for Don, Don is working for her.She has to put him to work using Lou's stupid system, she works for Lou.
I do not think that Peggy was fooled by Lou for a second, she realized what was happening. Lou is trying to pit Peggy and Don against each other. If one or the other burns out, he has that much less competition for his job polishing that new monument. If they take each other out, shit that's a strike.
It's not what she did (I agree, what she did is fine, she IS Don's lead on this and Lou is parking her in a tough spot); it's
howshe went about it. There is a method and tact to dealing with someone who was obviously demoted; especially if they were your mentor for a decade. Look at how Don was with Freddy when he first returned. He did make Freddy to menial work, but he didn't have a little ritual to let him know he was damaged goods. That situation could have been handled with immensely more tact, but Peggy chose her little display because her primary motivation wasn't professional; it was personal. She wanted to emasculate Don with some naive, and childish view of control, like somehow marking her territory and putting him in her place was the doorway to get his acquiescence to her leadership. Like I said, it was a move I'd expect from a mustache twirling Machiavellian cliche, like Cutler--not a character like Peggy.
The reality is, if Peggy were intelligent (Which she always has been), she'd put her personal feelings aside and use Don to smash Lou. Because Don is damaged goods, she could wind up in a profoundly stronger position once Lou is gone, but she needs Don status as a partner to do end-runs around Lou. But instead she's being dumb and myopic; using her resources to settle a grudge over Ted. (Which, a lot of is purely in her head. Some of it's legit, of course, but a lot of it just isn't. It's like the whole Valentine's day flowers thing was a metaphor for Peggy's overreaction since that incident.)
I don't know that Don has been phoning it in, exactly. He's had an eventful personal life, but he didn't really become distracted until Megan began doing creative work after their marriage. That's arguably the happiest Don has ever been, and also the time when his work began to slide. After she left, that's when the drinking really started in earnest. Either way, Don still had occasional flashes of brilliance..
Yeah, I agree with this. Even the show writer said that his adds, like the suit on the beach, were meant to show Don is years ahead of everyone else. Lets not forget, Don and Megan saved Heinz Beans after Peggy boon doggled it. Then Don slam dunked Jaguar, then he got Chevy AFTER a rejection and expanded the company (To fix Jaguar). He phoned it in for a couple months while he was honey-mooning with Megan, but he was still killing it during his drinking and right afterwords. I mean, aside from Pete? No one has been more instrumental in it's growth than Don.
I think the reason a lot of them turned on him wasn't because he phoned it in and let creative sink. But rather, he became such a
hugeforce in the office the rest of them felt like they were under his thumb, and that was
especiallydangerous because Don was a huge risk taker (As most "creative" driving forces are.). Don decided on which clients could stay or go--he dictated the IPO or not; he dictated the merger. I'm sure even Burt was sick of how much power Don wielded and how hungry/risk prone he was. And once Don fucked up and gave them an opening, they tossed him.
They'd all rather have a stable, mediocre company where they all wield power--than a more successful BUT high risk company where they are supplicants to Don's will. Roger and Pete are the only ones who are different because they've always been about the climb too. (Roger said so when they went after American; it's not about the money, it's about the hunt).