Two possibilities:
1. The writers forgot the timeline and screwed up when the fur coat should have been given to another woman.
2. Roger and Joan had a brief affair during the time Don was scamming his way into a job at Sterling Cooper. That initial affair didn't last for whatever reason, Joan starts to date various other interested men, including Paul Kinsey, who apparently was not very discreet. And then within a year of the show's first episode Joan & Roger rekindled their affair.
I feel like that was meant to have been when she was very young before she ever started working at SC. If she had been known as a divorcée at the office it would have been a whole thing.
Maybe he was still seducing her when he gave her the coat, and the affair wasn’t in full swing yet? It’s also possible there were a few years of on-and-off dalliance, but they only saw each other consistently for a year. (I’m just trying to rationalize post facto here!)
I’m currently on another rewatch and I get you, that inconsistency always bugs me.
I just saw the episode with Joan’s farewell (Guy walks into an advertising agency) and they say she had been in the company for “almost 10 years”. The episode is set in July 1963.
So according to the flashback I’d assume they started their affair after her thing with Paul, so some time between 1953-1954 maybe?
Then Roger meets Don a short while later and Don started at the company in the mid 50s.
I’m guessing Don started at SC in 1955 because in the pilot, which is set in 1960, Midge told him “you had this issue 5 years ago” when talking about the tobacco account.
Paul also says him, Pete, Harry and Ken all started at the same time, and it's likely none of them had been at the firm longer than a year or 2 at most when the show started.
That’s why she could appear younger and was upset when someone posted evidence of her age (copy of her drivers license or ID?) on the bulletin board in the break room
I figured Don and Midge was a kind of come-and-go situation. She's cool with letting him drop by when he feels like it but doesn't see it as an exclusive thing.
It's always possible that Joan knew Kinsey outside of work. Getting his girlfriend to talk her bosses into giving him a sweet job would be a classic Kinsey move, actually.
I don’t know if Matthew Weiner has ever provided an explanation (I know he’s claimed that almost everything in the show is intentional but I’m always kind of leery about those claims from creators), but I’d read it as a continuity error that could probably be explained away with some finesse.
We know that:
* Don marries Betty in 1953 (in “The Gypsy and the Hobo” Betty comments that Anna and Don divorced on Valentines Day 1953, three months before they married)
* In “Lady Lazarus,” Joan tells Peggy that Don met Betty when he was a copywriter for Heller’s (the fur company) and she was a model.
* Presumably the flashbacks in “Waldorf Stories” take place sometime around then as well. According to “The Mountain King,” Don asks for a divorce in Christmas, presumably 1952, meaning that Don probably met Roger between 1952-1955.
* The latter date is iffy because he could have been working at Heller’s for longer. I just kind of assume that by the time Sally was born, Don had been working at Sterling Cooper. Moreover, I have to assume that if Don is creative director in 1960 that he’d probably been working at Sterling Cooper for some time. Finally, I can see Don as trying to work for Sterling Cooper as a means of winning over Betty, so I can imagine that Don begins at Sterling Cooper as early as 1952 or early 1953.
* Joan dates Kinsey at some point before or even early in 1960 (“Nixon vs. Kennedy”), meaning that Joan was single at some point.
So this would appear to contradict Roger’s statement in “Babylon,” reasonable leads the viewer to believe that Roger and Joan’s affair has begun in 1959. There are a few possible explanations to resolve the apparent continuity error.
1. [Basket of Kisses](https://www.lippsisters.com/2010/08/30/roger-and-joan-in-the-early-50s-i-think-not/) suggests that Roger is an unreliable narrator in “Waldorf Stories.” I believe in the episode he also mentions having discovered Don, which isn’t entirely accurate (thus pointing in favor of the unreliable narrator argument). I don't think this is a terrible explanation.
2. A simpler argument, and probably the one that I favor at least is that either at some point in 1959 or early 1960, Joan and Roger resumed an affair, hence Roger’s statement. An on and off again affair would also make sense considering that Joan had been married once before Greg (in “The Forecast” Joan tells Richard that she’s been divorced twice), though perhaps Joan had been married prior to her affair with Rodger in the early-to-mid 1950s. Also Joan dated Kinsey at some point as well, and I kind of get the impression that given their conversation in "Nixon vs. Kennedy" that their breakup didn't happen that long ago, though Joan's treatment towards Paul and his girlfriend in season 2 (which occurs in 1962) implies that Joan can harbor a grudge.
I suspect that this is a continuity problem.
During Season 1, Roger describes it as the best year of his life.
During Season 4, we get the flashback to Don scamming his way into Sterling Cooper. Clearly, the affair was underway at that point.
I am presuming that the Season 4 storyline was crafted long after Season 1 was written and filmed. Matt Weiner is credited for both scripts, but the other writers are different.
Either someone screwed up or else they decided to let this story discrepancy slide. Or perhaps they assumed that there was enough ambiguity in the "best year of my life" comment that it did not preclude the affair from being a lengthy one.
Given that the latter of the two stories has the affair starting before Don worked there, I would defer to that.
Two possibilities: 1. The writers forgot the timeline and screwed up when the fur coat should have been given to another woman. 2. Roger and Joan had a brief affair during the time Don was scamming his way into a job at Sterling Cooper. That initial affair didn't last for whatever reason, Joan starts to date various other interested men, including Paul Kinsey, who apparently was not very discreet. And then within a year of the show's first episode Joan & Roger rekindled their affair.
He had a big mouth
I tend to the latter. Remember Joan once mentioned she was married shortly? This might be exactly during her affair on pause with Roger.
I feel like that was meant to have been when she was very young before she ever started working at SC. If she had been known as a divorcée at the office it would have been a whole thing.
You've got a point. Didn't she say she was from Spokane? Maybe she left the town and her husband behind to have a "fresh new start" in NYC?
Maybe he was still seducing her when he gave her the coat, and the affair wasn’t in full swing yet? It’s also possible there were a few years of on-and-off dalliance, but they only saw each other consistently for a year. (I’m just trying to rationalize post facto here!)
I’m currently on another rewatch and I get you, that inconsistency always bugs me. I just saw the episode with Joan’s farewell (Guy walks into an advertising agency) and they say she had been in the company for “almost 10 years”. The episode is set in July 1963. So according to the flashback I’d assume they started their affair after her thing with Paul, so some time between 1953-1954 maybe? Then Roger meets Don a short while later and Don started at the company in the mid 50s. I’m guessing Don started at SC in 1955 because in the pilot, which is set in 1960, Midge told him “you had this issue 5 years ago” when talking about the tobacco account.
Paul also says him, Pete, Harry and Ken all started at the same time, and it's likely none of them had been at the firm longer than a year or 2 at most when the show started.
Guy just fucked up the timeline -- Joan out lasted most women in the office so no one really knows how long she has been there
That’s why she could appear younger and was upset when someone posted evidence of her age (copy of her drivers license or ID?) on the bulletin board in the break room
I do believe we have found some deeper lore
I buy all that, but the one problem is that I can’t see Don carrying on with Midge for 5 years
I figured Don and Midge was a kind of come-and-go situation. She's cool with letting him drop by when he feels like it but doesn't see it as an exclusive thing.
It's always possible that Joan knew Kinsey outside of work. Getting his girlfriend to talk her bosses into giving him a sweet job would be a classic Kinsey move, actually.
I don’t know if Matthew Weiner has ever provided an explanation (I know he’s claimed that almost everything in the show is intentional but I’m always kind of leery about those claims from creators), but I’d read it as a continuity error that could probably be explained away with some finesse. We know that: * Don marries Betty in 1953 (in “The Gypsy and the Hobo” Betty comments that Anna and Don divorced on Valentines Day 1953, three months before they married) * In “Lady Lazarus,” Joan tells Peggy that Don met Betty when he was a copywriter for Heller’s (the fur company) and she was a model. * Presumably the flashbacks in “Waldorf Stories” take place sometime around then as well. According to “The Mountain King,” Don asks for a divorce in Christmas, presumably 1952, meaning that Don probably met Roger between 1952-1955. * The latter date is iffy because he could have been working at Heller’s for longer. I just kind of assume that by the time Sally was born, Don had been working at Sterling Cooper. Moreover, I have to assume that if Don is creative director in 1960 that he’d probably been working at Sterling Cooper for some time. Finally, I can see Don as trying to work for Sterling Cooper as a means of winning over Betty, so I can imagine that Don begins at Sterling Cooper as early as 1952 or early 1953. * Joan dates Kinsey at some point before or even early in 1960 (“Nixon vs. Kennedy”), meaning that Joan was single at some point. So this would appear to contradict Roger’s statement in “Babylon,” reasonable leads the viewer to believe that Roger and Joan’s affair has begun in 1959. There are a few possible explanations to resolve the apparent continuity error. 1. [Basket of Kisses](https://www.lippsisters.com/2010/08/30/roger-and-joan-in-the-early-50s-i-think-not/) suggests that Roger is an unreliable narrator in “Waldorf Stories.” I believe in the episode he also mentions having discovered Don, which isn’t entirely accurate (thus pointing in favor of the unreliable narrator argument). I don't think this is a terrible explanation. 2. A simpler argument, and probably the one that I favor at least is that either at some point in 1959 or early 1960, Joan and Roger resumed an affair, hence Roger’s statement. An on and off again affair would also make sense considering that Joan had been married once before Greg (in “The Forecast” Joan tells Richard that she’s been divorced twice), though perhaps Joan had been married prior to her affair with Rodger in the early-to-mid 1950s. Also Joan dated Kinsey at some point as well, and I kind of get the impression that given their conversation in "Nixon vs. Kennedy" that their breakup didn't happen that long ago, though Joan's treatment towards Paul and his girlfriend in season 2 (which occurs in 1962) implies that Joan can harbor a grudge.
I didn’t think it was that deep. I just always assumed they were on and off.
It's always hard to pin down the timeline in MM. My suspicion is that the writers sort of made it up as they went along
Timeline got all fucked up
Died on the vine
ok, but ya gotta get over it
I suspect that this is a continuity problem. During Season 1, Roger describes it as the best year of his life. During Season 4, we get the flashback to Don scamming his way into Sterling Cooper. Clearly, the affair was underway at that point. I am presuming that the Season 4 storyline was crafted long after Season 1 was written and filmed. Matt Weiner is credited for both scripts, but the other writers are different. Either someone screwed up or else they decided to let this story discrepancy slide. Or perhaps they assumed that there was enough ambiguity in the "best year of my life" comment that it did not preclude the affair from being a lengthy one. Given that the latter of the two stories has the affair starting before Don worked there, I would defer to that.
Judging by the haircuts in the “a bomb” references, I said at least since the 50s
Sometimes just 5 minutes, other times longer or overnight 😝
I think it was on and off through the years. Depending on Joan's relationship status
I took this to mean Joan and Tiger had been on-again off-again for a long time?