Vincent Kartheiser Says Pete Campbell Was Afraid Of Getting Beaten Up By Bob Benson

Vincent Kartheiser sat down with Vulture to discuss this season of Mad Men and all the things that are going on with his character, Pete Campbell (falling down stairs, yelling at Don, getting eaten by a bear, etc.), but the most interesting part of the interview for me was his answer to a question about why Pete didn’t fly into a rage after the knee-bumping incident with Bob Benson last week.

Now, you also have to understand the reason he didn’t explode is because Bob is bigger than him and stronger than him, and Pete last season got his ass kicked by someone who wasn’t as big or as strong as Bob. Matthew’s allowed his characters to learn. Okay, Pete can scream at his secretary. He can scream at his mom. But to scream at or attack someone like Bob, who has a lot to lose in this situation, may open Pete Campbell up to a broken jaw or a black eye.

Why did I find this interesting? Well, two reasons:

1) Everything about Bob Benson is interesting, especially this post at Tom and Lorenzo that examines his sexuality in the context of the era, and how it explains both his actions in the scene and his character’s personality throughout the season. I’m not going to blockquote it because I’d end up blockquoting the whole thing, so I’ll just link to it again and insist that you go read it.

2) It gives me an excuse to re-post this video I made.

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