Mad Men (TV Series) 5G (2007) User Reviews

5G (#1.5)

[ComedyFan2010 · 9/10 · 6 September 2018]

In this episode we find out that Don has a secret past and even changed his name. His little brother arrives but Don doesn't want to have him in his life. And now I wonder why. What exactly happened there that he wants to keep it a secret to the point that he wants nothing to do with his brother. This was actually very heartbreaking. This poor guy who was dreaming from his childhood to meet his brother and when he did got a reaction he didn't expect. The scene in the hotel was very strong.

Peggy finding out about Don's affair was also a good part of the episode. We'll see how she will end up dealing with it. And there was also some humor in this episode with everybody being jealous of a guy who got published. Was a good addition in a very otherwise serious and sad episode.

Adam Whitman

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 18 February 2011]

Betty and Don arrive home after the award night in which he won a coveted advertising award. Don shows the following morning clearly hung over. Peggy makes a comment about what she heard Pete Campbell's version of how Don got the award, and how he thinks his boss' head is swollen with the pride he won an important recognition.

Ken Cosgrove's short story is published in the prestigious Atlantic Monthly. Most of the men in the office feel they can write, but no one can claim to have something published. To make things worse, Ken also has written two novels. Pete Campbell is fuming inside. Paul puts down Ken's achievement.

Peggy buzzes Don to tell him there is a person on the phone for him, whose name does not ring a bell to her. It is Midge calling. Don is not happy about her doing such a thing. Peggy, without thinking, picks up the extension where Don is talking to Midge. She cannot help but listening in shock to their heated conversation. Peggy does not know what to do when Don walks out of his office and announces he is out for lunch!

Pete made Trudy read a short story he has written. Her reaction: it is too modern for her taste. He asks her to call her friend Charlie Fiddish, a big man with a lot of influence to see if he can get the story published in a high brow magazine. Trudy points out to the fact that Charlie was 'her first'; she hesitates in complying with her husband's request. Reluctantly, she sees Charlie, who is more interested in reviving their relationship than in what she came to see him about. As an answer, he promises it will be included in a children publication, when Pete had thought it was better suited for The New Yorker.

At a staff meeting with Roger Sterling, Don is interrupted by Peggy, who hands him a note from an Adam Whitman who has come to talk to him. Don is rattled with the interruption, but he goes to the reception area to see this person. The red headed man is elated when he sees Don, who is horrified at the intrusion in his place of work. He tries to tell Adam he has him confused. When the other man insists, Don asks him to go to a cafeteria four blocks from the building and wait for him. Their encounter is not pleasant. Adam keeps saying he is the little brother, but Don is adamant in holding his ground. Don insist that he will not pay for the lunch because the meeting never happened.

Betty and the children arrive at Sterling-Cooper to get Don for their family portrait. Peggy, figuring Don has gone to a tryst with the woman on the phone has no explanation for his absence. She tries to get help from Joan, who feels she has to know where Peggy's boss is at the moment. Peggy explains he goes to meet a woman, which is music in Joan's ears. Joan suggests Peggy keep entertaining Betty. The two women get along fine, until Don arrives.

Don is surprised when he opens an envelope that contains a picture of a younger man, himself sent by Adam. He is staying at a seedy hotel. That night Don goes to see him. Don wants Adam to stay out of his life. He wants nothing of his past because he has reinvented himself into the actual persona. He opens his briefcase and hands over five thousand dollars to Adam for him to disappear and never contact him again. Betty talks to Don that night about getting a summer place near their home, but Don explains they cannot afford it now.

Lesli Linka Glatter directed this episode which was written by the creator of the series, Matthew Weiner. The main idea behind the chapter is that now the viewer knows that Don Draper is a fictitious person. Dick Whitman wants to hide into his new identity which has given him so much that he will do anything not to lose it. An interesting installment in this award winning series that reflects a slice of life during the 1960s

Boys' lives

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 22 October 2023]

Those 46 minutes we got here are the fifth episode of the first season from "Mad Men". It took until the fourth episode for the show to really win me over, but I would definitely say that the level of this episode following right thereafter was equally high and this makes it a contender for me personally for the best episode season one of what I now consider maybe my favorite episode of all time. Anyway, the title "5G" is of course not only fitting because of the hotel room, but also because of the episode number. There were episodes before that where other characters like Peter or Pete felt at the very center of the action, but here it is all about Don Draper. I feel even hesitant to call him that now with what we find out during this episode, namely that he is not the man we thought him to be. That he has a past that includes a lot that nobody knows about. Well, with the exception of his brother who shows up here after recognizing Don in a newspaper article about a trophy he won. I really liked the brother and also the actor, so it was almost heartbreaking to see his expectations unfulfilled when it comes to the future relationship with his brother. And those were clearly high expectations. But you should really watch for yourself. There was also some suspense in terms of what Don would bring to the hotel meeting with his brother, if it could even be a gun, but in the end it was just a whole lot of money, so he in a way bought himself free from his past. His initial attempt to act as if his brother was erring also did not last long when he realized how convinced the man was. So there was definitely some sadness to the key story from this episode. Several aspects that make Draper feel pretty unlikable or I could say more unlikable even as we know about his affairs already. We also watch Peggy understand what is going on, even if she was wrong about the meeting that kept Draper away from seeing his family for the photographer. How she puts the receiver down without wanting to make a single sound was funny for sure.

Anyway, there is a second story here that mostly involved the other males from the company when one of them has an article printed in a big newspaper. Jealousy galore. We understand the working climates is really not too pleasant as a consequence or maybe wasn't pleasant before already. As a consequence of this envy, we once again find out a little bit more about Pete and his wife and also her former lover who is in a position to really do her and as a consequence Pete a favor. I would say that this story felt initially rather light, also with slightly humorous references about (non-)talking bears, but towards the end it also becomes really serious when said woman refuses to sleep with the man who has the power to make her husband more known and what she gets from her husband, who understood exactly what was going on, was not respect and praise for her courageous decision, but instead he despised her for it or at least disliked her choice that she put herself above her man's ambitions. When the truth is his writing wasn't particularly good and he needs relationships from others to boost him. In the end, it was a somewhat unfulfilling outcome for almost everybody in here.

Of course, you could wonder, if we go back to the main story, if Draper really missed his brother or only says so to comfort him and not antagonize him any further because he could obviously tell everybody who Don Draper really is. Maybe the saddest moment was the farewell scene then when we realize there will be no future for them when there is a hug taking place. Other than that, we also find out a little bit about the girls' mentality in the office there and their professions. Nice to see Olsen have some more screen time again here and also Hendricks, who did not have too much screen time, but was still memorable with what she was given. Plus there was another really attractive typist seen briefly here, stunning woman wearing glasses in the first half, but sadly without a credit. But back to the main ingredient of it all now: It was also almost comforting to see Draper lose all this money in the end because of how he treated his brother and if there was any doubt left that the creators and writers of this show do not want us to like him, then it is definitely gone after these three quarters of an hour. So yeah, as I stated, this is more about Don than about everybody else. A crucial step forward in exploring this truly multi-layered character and as a consequence a really fine episode. Or John Slattery is of course also always really nice, but this one does not need him in detail to reach a truly high quality overall. Very much recommended this one and despite all the serious plots, you will probably still smile or even laugh more than you usually do with Mad Men episodes. Seeing Moss in-character struggle with comforting Mrs. Draper as awkwardly hilarious too. That is all. Don't miss out.

Mystery revealed...

[Red_Identity · 6 September 2010]

This is a crucial and important episode to the series. It gives us a deeper insight into Don's secret life, where he was previously known as Dick Whitman. His entire past life is not revealed, but the episode does introduce his younger brother, and the way Don deals with the situation is very sad, but appropriate given the type of man he is.

On the other side of the episode, we find out how selfish Pete can truly be, and we see Peggy hilariously trying to deal with covering Don's affair. Her quick need for Joan's help shows how naive and helpless she is in this new world for her, and when she mentions how difficult it is, Joan replies with a smile "Yes, but don't you love it?" That was one of my favorite moments.

Overall, this was a brilliant episode all around, the best so far of Season 1, and I look forward to more.

Don's younger brother

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 18 August 2010]

After New Amsterdam's character-based drama, 5G returns to a combination of character and plot in terms of storytelling, going further in its attempt to establish Mad Men as a truly impeccable series. Needless to say, it succeeds.

The center of the story is, once again, Don Draper, who has already been approached by someone claiming to know him as Dick Whitman; this time, things get more complicated as his picture appears in a local newspaper and he is contacted by none other than Adam Whitman (Jay Paulson), who calls himself his younger brother. In a shocking turn of events, Don eventually admits that he has in fact changed his name, and then tries to buy Adam's silence. Meanwhile, Pete is envious when he finds out one of his colleagues managed to get a short story published, and subsequently discusses the matter with his wife, who suggests asking an old boyfriend for help...

Slowly but confidently, the drama is shaping up to become something really original, injecting some welcome mystery into the already gripping story of a very unhappy man. Beneath Don's shallow image of perfection lies something deeper, and Jon Hamm's mastery of those moments is one of the episode's highlights, alongside with the exquisite writing in what could have been a throwaway subplot and the consistently excellent visuals. A worthy "successor" - the term is employed loosely here - to The Sopranos in the "great TV" department, which makes it even more ironic that HBO failed to see the show's potential. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Mad Men - 5G

[Scarecrow-88 · 10/10 · 4 February 2015]

"5G" just broke my heart. This episode pointedly assures us that Donald Draper does not want his past to ever intrude on his "forward progress" in life. He was not Donald Draper at one point in his life and wants to keep that past secret. However, a brother arrives at his company wanting to reconnect after realizing he's alive, having not died in the war. Donald won an award and was in the paper. With recognition in New York located at a big ad business how long can Don carry on the façade? Jon Hamm has never been better than in this episode from what I have seen. Excruciating blockade put up against a sweet, pure-at-heart young man who has found his older brother and just wants to be a part of his life, Hamm allows us to see how this decision is ripping him up inside. Still, it is something he feels is necessary. Whoever he was prior to the war, after it Don considers himself completely alien to that version of his life. If anything this episode tells us that skeletons exist in the closet and sometimes a man will do whatever he feels he must in order to maintain his burdensome secret. Meanwhile Don's secretary, Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), has discovered that he is having an affair and must "hold down the fort" when Betty shows up with kids ready for the Draper family portraits. Joan (the eye candy definition if there ever was is Christina Hendricks; those curves and breasts, that red hair and those lips; My, my, my) learns of Don's affair from a shellshocked Peggy. Peggy anguishes still in her position; will she ever find a comfort and ease as Don's secretary? Joan will try and goad Peggy into embracing her job and making sure Don is happy as his secret life is kept just that…secret. When one of the ad execs gets a story published in a respectable magazine, he's the envy of the office as the boys kind of have a bit of a contempt for him (jealousy?), and so Pete tries to get his wife to talk to her publisher ex boyfriend to publish his story. When she does (Charlie is his name, and he wants to rekindle their former sexual relationship), but it isn't in a magazine that will impress the boys, Pete is upset with her. The show has a bunch of characters in it that are so self-involved and so self-absorbed that I find myself even grimacing and chewing away at a disdain and disgust with them. Seeing them claw away inside and the real person they are surfacing despite how they try to maintain an appearance that isn't truly them; this places them in an authentic light that shows exactly who they are. Behind the veil, these are people who care very little about anyone but themselves. Right now, only Peggy seems to be a halfway decent human being while even Betty remains so concealed her own little world (she feels slighted when she shows up at the company and no one responds to her! She tells her pregnant friend that at the job is a whole different world than the domesticity she contains herself), worried about her family portraits and the summer house where the Drapers go to during the holiday in August. Betty mentions to Peggy that his secretary knows him better than she does. That is the sad state of this marriage. The agonizing nature of Don's dismissal of his humble and thankful brother (he just wants to have a familial re-bond with his brother; that is all) is so tragic. The episode even toys with the idea that perhaps Don has a gun and will kill his brother…such a tease thankfully is just that. Still, the ending is unfortunate as Don turns away someone who just wanted to be family to him.

A revealing episode but oddly written

[getbacks · 7/10 · 2 September 2022]

An episode that was quite interesting as it revealed a small portion of Don's past. We know this happens throughout the series and then explodes in the finale, but this is just the beginning.

The only thing that I had trouble with is the writing of this episode, which seemed rather odd. If you didn't think that it was Don's brother that had approached him and the dialogue between the two, you would swear that this mystery person was a former lover that's the conversation between the two appeared to be up a person finding a lost love.

The reaction of Don's younger brother towards him just seemed rather odd.