A Chasm in the TV Space-Time Continuum, Or: Rachel Green Fucks Don Draper

Just when you thought scenes of Rachel Green Alex Levy boning Don Draper Paul Marks (not the other way around, as some might sexistly presume) would stop at last week’s episode of The Morning Show, “The Stanford Student,” the latest installment of the third season, “Strict Scrutiny,” chose to pick up where the banging session motif left off. This time commencing a new one that viewers are made privy to after a few requisite “romantic foreplay” shots of a pizza box on the counter with two half-drunk glasses of wine next to it. 

The tracking shot then passes by the sleeping dog (because dogs aren’t as perverse about watching as cats) and into the living room with the multimillion dollar view of the city—that looks like any megalopolis—before finally showing us Alex and Paul continuing to delight in their forbidden tryst from the previous week. But it’s not really Alex and Paul, is it? Or even Jennifer Aniston and Jon Hamm. No, no. All one can truly see is the unlikely fan fiction melding of Friends and Mad Men come to life. 

And while it might seem that Green and Draper are worlds (and decades apart), when one stops to think about it, the two really have quite a bit in common. Or maybe, more accurately, Rachel has quite a bit in common with Don’s usual type: Betty Draper (January Jones). For instance, like Rachel, Betty is overly spoiled and a little too into spending money on clothes and other “look at me” frivolities. But, at least in Betty’s defense, she has little else to occupy her time (certainly not the raising of her kids). Even though Rachel could have landed herself a similar trophy wife lifestyle had she not left Barry Farber (Mitchell Whitfield) at the altar.

Another key similarity between the two “TV queens” are that both Betty and Rachel serve as the quintessential representation of the spoiled daughter/Daddy’s princess. Who no man will ever be good enough for (and this is how Electra complexes happen). Except that Rachel would like to believe getting a job has changed her nature. Alas, the true essence of a person (and the effects of their upbringing) never really goes away. 

And while Rachel is more like Betty and less like Alex, Paul Marks, though seemingly modeled after a less socially inept Elon Musk, instead has many Don Draper characteristics. Starting with an arrogance and self-assurance that mimics the creative director who was able to make Sterling Cooper change to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce by season four. Because while the Kennedy Camelot era had just ended in America, Don’s own Camelot era in advertising was just getting started. And so is Paul Marks’ proverbial Camelot era, as he extends his many business endeavors into the world of “legacy media,” cajoled back into a deal he was initially going to back out of thanks to Alex’s batting eyelashes. Granted, he had initially backed out in the first place largely as a result of her actions, so it’s only fair that she should be the one to reel him back in. 

Indeed, the development of their attraction since the beginning of The Morning Show’s third season has almost felt as simultaneously prolonged and inevitable as the one between Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (with Rachel taking a little more time to get on Ross’ pining bandwagon). Except, in this case, there are far more risks involved beyond merely “weirding Monica out” or making things awkward for a tight-knit friend group after the unavoidable breakup. At the forefront of those risks is sabotaging the deal that would arrange for Paul to buy UBA. A deal that still hasn’t been locked down, despite Cory’s (Billy Crudup) best efforts to push it through without any more scrutiny from the government.

And yes, the board would surely blanch over the knowledge of Alex and Paul banging, because what would that do for the optics of this deal? For the public would then be keenly aware of a huge conflict of interest. It is this type of high-risk behavior that Don was always known for engaging in throughout Mad Men, and Hamm appears to be attracted to characters with this sense of self-destructive bravado. Aniston, on the other hand, has a flavor for the “goody two-shoes” ilk. And Alex being America’s sweetheart (no matter what dirt on her comes out) plays into her usual typecasting ever since taking on the role of Rachel Green. 

What’s more, this isn’t the first time The Morning Show has had TV worlds involving Friends collide, with Reese Witherspoon a.k.a. Big Little Lies’ Madeline Mackenzie having once cameo’d as Rachel’s sister, Jill Green, for a two-episode arc (though “arc” is a strong word for a character who doesn’t change) in season six. However, in contrast to Ross falling for Jill’s coquettish charms, Paul has zero interest in Bradley Jackson (lesbian or not), who shows up after Alex backs out of her agreement to partake in a suborbital rocket launch (yes, it’s all very Bezos meets Musk) with Paul on live TV. The power play on Alex’s part (designed to indicate to Cory how much clout she really has) ends up putting Bradley in the rocket launch seat next to Paul and Cory, and, ultimately, titillates Paul. Because, after all, what other woman would have “the balls” to flake out on him in such a public and humiliating way? And, in cliche fashion, powerful men are turned on by “things” they can’t have, seeing those “things” as a challenge. A new “terrain to conquer.” And oh, how Paul conquers Alex’s by episode six, “The Stanford Student.”

After a brief pause on their “unwittingly” romantic day date, of sorts, in episode four, “The Green Light,” their story comes back into sharp focus. Namely, with regard to their clearly, um, mounting attraction. With Alex playing the Rachel card of delaying gratification for as long as possible before finally giving in after interviewing Paul at his Hamptons house for an episode of Alex Unfiltered. And yes, she was the one who suggested the interview, as though to confirm Paul had feels for her too…by seeing if he would agree to do it. Because Paul never agrees to do interviews with anyone. 

Watching how “good” the two seem for one another (that is, in this portion of the program, before the invariable crash and burn that TV drama requires), it’s enough to make one contemplate how Rachel Green existing in the 60s, or Don Draper existing in the 90s, might have made things better, relationship-wise, for the two. Because we all know ending up with Ross Geller or, in Don’s case, at an Esalen-like retreat center, isn’t exactly a happy ending. Maybe Don wouldn’t have felt the need to suppress his more narcissistic, work-obsessed qualities, as Rachel possessed them as well. Maybe their mutual narcissism could have tamped down the other’s in some fashion, or they would have simply felt more free to be who they truly were.

But since this pair of unlikely lovers could never exist in each other’s world due to the limitations of being hemmed in by their respective TV series and decade, The Morning Show offers an unexpected glimpse into a fan fiction narrative that perhaps no one ever thought to concoct before. So yes, they might tell us this is “Alex Levy” and “Paul Marks,” but na. The only way these two can be looked at with each other is: Rachel Green and Don Draper.