I feel a lot more sympathetic to Pete this season. Is it just me or is he chilling out a little?
Well, I think it’s probably just you. I mean, I’m sure there are some people who still don’t like him, and I’m sure there are some people who have always liked him. It’s hard to say: What one person likes, another person doesn’t. I will say that he is growing up. And I think he’s learning how to be a little socially not-awkward. Obviously the protagonist Don Draper has some secrets, and Peter seems to be helping him out with those. And in a show like this, where you have a definite protagonist, whoever is serving that person’s mission tends to be liked by the audience. And I think when he covered for him with the Department of Defense, he probably gained a lot of people’s — if not respect, but at least, he got them on his side. But I can see him kind of chilling out and slowing down, and realizing that now that he’s made partner, he has to act a little more professional.
Do you think making partner has had more of an effect on him than his marriage and starting a family?
Well, no, I don’t. I think the marriage has probably had more of an effect on him. [Trudy] tends to know kind of how to persuade him to take a more adult approach to things, and I think just the responsibility of the child and all of that's changed him a bit more. But I think the partner thing has changed him. He’s always wanted respect. I don’t really know if there’s much to the title; he has a smaller office. I don’t think he gets paid any more. Maybe he gets paid a little more. But there’s not a lot to it, other than a title. But I think that for a lot of people, that means a lot.
So he took the blame for Don on the Defense thing for the good of the company?
I think he did it for the company. I mean, what choices does he have? Is it selfless? Absolutely not. I mean, I don’t think anything in relation to the advertising business is considered selfless, you know? It was to save the company. If Don Draper goes to jail, there’s no company. What do we have? What’s gonna keep Glo Coat, what’s gonna keep any of these clients, if Don Draper’s not there? So it wasn’t selfless, it wasn’t like Pete is like, “Oh, I love Don Draper so much.” And I don’t think he dislikes Don. But he just did what needed to be done.
I think the selfless part of it is the part that he said, "I fucked up. It’s not Don who did it, I did it." But it's not all selflessness there, either, because it’s also protecting the community within the agency. Roger Sterling went to war, he fought in World War II, and if he found out Don was a deserter, how is that gonna change the dynamic between those two? If Lane Pryce finds out that he’s working with someone who could go to jail at any moment, is he going to hang around or is he going to go back to London? So, he kind of did that, not selflessly, but because it kept a cohesive workplace. And also because I think he now feels that Don will be indebted to him somehow. And I think he understands how these things work more than he did in season one. I think he understands that this is maybe a more subtle form of blackmail in a way. There’s going to come a time that Pete’s going to need something, and maybe Don will remember this. I think that’s what Pete’s thinking.
But there is a bit of selflessness to it. It’s just the easiest solution. Like, we all do it, take the blame for something that isn’t ours once in a while, just because it’s easier and faster than arguing the point. Like when a cop pulls you over, you can argue for 30 minutes or you can just say, “Give me the ticket.”
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