Well it finally happened: we saw self-described puppy lover Don Draper being vulnerable as hell last night. He got dumped, you guys! And you could see his cold little heart breaking right there on your TV. This is what happens when you try to boss a woman around without properly feeding her — even Don F-ing Draper can’t get away with that sh*t! And then he probably crapped his pants a little in that plane with the inadequately livered Teddy. In other words, Don simply couldn’t deal with it!
Anyway, let’s dive in, shall we?
– A while back a commenter noted that Sylvia’s overt Catholicism could point to her getting pregnant by Don and then refusing to have an abortion, and I’m beginning to buy into that idea more and more, especially now that they’ve broken off their affair. I mean, there has to be a reason the show continually goes out of its way to point out — in ways subtle and in ways not so subtle — her religious beliefs, right?
– I’m more convinced than ever that Mad Men will end in a scene showing the agency 20 years or so into the future, and the person running the whole operation will be Bob Benson. The dude is somehow endearing as hell while also being overtly conniving at the same time. That’s talent, friends! That guy just knew that getting in good with Joan was the way to go, and gosh darn he damn well did it.
I mean, just look at that sneaky that son-of-a-bitch! I find myself suddenly looking forward to the next episode just to see what he does next.
– Pete Campbell demanding a chair at the conference table in that meeting was, while subtle, perhaps the most Pete Campbell move ever. What a shriveled little penis he is. Conversely, Teddy giving up his chair to take a seat on a cabinet thingie was the move of a strong, self-confident man. No wonder Peggy wants to bang him.
– This tweet from Daily Show writer Tim Carvell made me laugh.
– If one of Matt Weiner’s goals in creating Mad Men was to get people to never want to ride in elevators ever again, he’s succeeding, that’s for sure. Every elevator scene is awkward as awkward can be, and let’s not forget the time Don almost stepped into an empty shaft.
– Is it safe to assume that whoever wrote this episode had just finished reading 50 Shades Of Gray?
– What’s better than Roger firing Burt Peterson AGAIN? Nothing, that’s what!
– Actually, I take that back — there is one thing that could be better than Roger firing Burt again: Roger and Harry Hamlin traveling to Europe together, banging younger women and dropping zingers all over the damn continent. More scenes with those two would be glorious. If the writers can somehow work Megan’s mom into a love triangle between the three of them, all the better!
– I was a little disappointed that more wasn’t made of the Bobby Kennedy assassination last night. Then again, perhaps more will be in the next episode.
– “Your apartment’s been overrun with vermin.” Pete Campbell to his mother, who is apparently loosely based on Lucille Bluth.
– Emily Nussbaum from The New Yorker thinks that Don Draper has started to weigh down the show a bit, and I can’t say that I don’t agree with her.
The episode was beautifully structured, but it was also worrisome: Don had become a drag. “Mad Men” ’s other characters—Peggy, Roger, Pete, Joan, the bizarre Betty (her blond hair now dyed Veronica black)—largely feel like individuals, escapees from their archetypes. Newer roles, including Don’s black secretary, Dawn, are more contrived, but the show keeps finding fresh angles on complicated subjects, like the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., which it re-created as a tone poem of white-person awkwardness. But Don, instead of being the show’s engine, has become its anchor—heavy, even in the sixties sense.
– I just love when Joe Biden’s wife weighs in on Mad Men.
– F*ck Fleischmann’s. It’s Country Crock or GTFO.
– Want to decorate your apartment like the Draper’s place? Here’s how!
– I would totally support the continued muting of Megan Draper. Just saying.
– Finally, let’s relive the wonderful Don/Teddy/flying scene from that night one more time, shall we?
Your thoughts are appreciated in the comments.
