Was Peggy Supposed to be in a Relationship With Joyce?
Confronting the most unsatisfying storyline of Season 4
Even in slower seasons of Mad Men like Season 2, I still celebrate the show and focus on what it is building towards.
Season 4 is close to perfection and some of the best TV ever… but one storyline has always felt unfinished and I want to address that.
Assistant photo editor for Life Magazine Joyce Ramsay, played by Zosia Mamet, enters Season 4 with a bang and makes an immediate impression. She’s Peggy’s invitation to a bigger world beyond her office walls.
Hip parties that are not about impressing clients.
Young people that actually want to change the world.
And maybe even love?
Well, not with Joyce… despite what felt like a clear setup.
Joyce unfortunately continues the Mad Men tradition of introducing a gay character and then launching them into space before their story reaches a satisfying conclusion.
I’m not saying that Peggy should have begun a relationship with Joyce, from this episode alone you can tell she is uninterested. She refuses a kiss from Joyce because she has a boyfriend and then a minute later makes out with her future boyfriend Abe. It’s unclear if they ever have an offscreen relationship but it does not matter.
Joyce has a few more appearances on the show as a close friend of Peggy’s with little to no personal boundaries. She is in Season 5 for only one scene and then we never see her again.
The story goes that Zosia was cast in the NYC production Girls and could not continue to act in Mad Men, a Los Angeles production. I don’t buy that being the reason for this relationship never materializing.
From her first appearance, there is a hesitation in this character that makes her feel unfulfilled. Watching Joyce’s interactions with Peggy, the viewer feels like “Ooh, I know where this is going!” and then it doesn’t. You can tell that the writers were intrigued by the idea of Peggy openly entering a gay relationship in the unaccepting 1960s. It would further push her away from her family and old life, offering a refreshing portrayal of a relationship not built around hiding yourself like Salvatore in the previous seasons.
If the show had been made today, the writers likely would have included a relationship between these two characters. In 2010, they probably felt it inclusive enough to write an openly gay character even if this character’s story fizzles and has little point in the end despite the seemingly obvious setup. Just because a gay character is introduced and interested in an established character does not mean they have to be in a relationship but you do wonder why Joyce was introduced.
It does not benefit the narrative to have her be why Peggy meets her next boyfriend. Peggy could have met Abe in the elevator instead and it would be the same story versus Abe being a friend of Joyce.
Would a relationship between Peggy and Joyce have made sense? Yes, the episode “The Rejected” built the foundation for it. Did it need to happen? No, Peggy having an unfulfilled story is fitting for her arc in Season 4. She feels unnoticed in all aspects of her life even though she has climbed up high from the very bottom. This is why she is dating an absolute loser for half of the season.
Had Season 4 premiered even five years later, this relationship would have been more likely to begin. Peggy still would have gotten with Abe at the end and then Joyce’s relationship with Peggy ending would have mirrored Don’s relationship with Dr. Faye.
As written in 2010, Peggy is not interested in a relationship with Joyce but does want her friendship and is comfortable having gay friends. There’s no shame or hiding in Joyce being by her side and that’s a beautiful thing for a young person in the 1960s. It’s a beautiful thing now!
Whatever the story could have been, the lesson is to be accepting and your life will become more full.
If the show had chosen to use the foundation of “The Rejected” and build a relationship between Peggy and Joyce, here’s how I see it playing out.
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