There’s a lot to love about Joan in this period. She develops a surprising, tender friendship with Lane Pryce (Jared Harris), and her relationship with Peggy has now firmly gone from frenemies to just regular old friends. This is also the season that gives us the “Surprise, there’s an airplane here to see you!” line, and that electric scene of Joan and Don hanging out at a bar together. Joan and Don’s interactions throughout the series are few and far between, but the writers really made the most of them there.
But most notably, this is the season where Joan goes from head secretary to a partner at the firm, with a 5% stake. She get this position after Herb Rennet, the creepy head of Jaguar, makes sleeping with her his condition for working with the firm. It’s even tougher for Joan because all the other partners know about the deal; it’s not just that she’s basically being pimped out by Pete Campbell, but it’s happening to her in a quasi-public way. Jaguar’s account would be huge for the firm, and Joan makes the difficult choice to go along with the deal.
When asked about Joan’s decision at the time, Weiner explained:
“Honestly, a lot of what happens in the show is derived from what I would call my own personal social-history project — that I’m lucky enough to have people tell me about their lives. This scenario was something that came up so many times that I kept thinking, ‘Well, we’re going to have to do it eventually.’ So while I love that people think that Joan wouldn’t do that, all I can tell you is it really happened. A lot. And it was as simple as, ‘He really likes you!’ The part that’s probably false is the partnership part. Most of them just got a car or cash or an apartment, sometimes a promotion.”
It’s a thankfully nonjudgmental approach to Joan’s choice, one that reflects the mostly kind responses of Joan’s new partners. Neither Pete nor Roger shame her for sleeping with Herb; her only real critics are Harry (who no one likes) and Don (to a more subtle extent). Most of them recognize her decision as the strategic move it was. Joan has not only gotten herself a lifetime of financial security, but has finally gotten herself a foot in the door to real power.
Harry later trashes Joan to her face about not getting her partnership on merit, but us Joan stans remember that when she proved her merit back in season 2, Harry didn’t even notice or appreciate it. Unfortunately, for a woman with Joan’s appearance in the sixties, her options were limited, and no one should blame her for playing the hand she was dealt. Weiner continued:
“There is a Joan in a lot of these agencies, and there still is — this very attractive woman who is in charge of making the medicine go down a little easier. Honestly, I think that if I had not mentioned the word ‘prostitution’ in the episode, I don’t even know if the audience would have really realized that that’s what it was. It’s more complicated than trading sex for money because it’s really about this woman getting into a position of power.”