Mad Men, Season 5, Episode 6: “Far Away Places”

This week’s episode had much less hilarious material than last week’s (which I didn't get the opportunity to write about), but was no less fantastic for it. The episode features three stories which occur more or less simultaneously, but which are narrated sequentially, which raises an interesting formal question: Why arrange the order of events so that each of the different stories appears sequentially, rather than crosscutting between them as they occur? One answer could be because it makes more subtle the thematic connections between the various stories. Each story features romantic relationships at different stages, so ordering them sequentially could be a way of showing the lifecycle of romances. Moreover, each also involves characters going on a “trip” of sorts: Peggy gets high; Roger and Jane drop acid, and Don and Megan travel to a Howard Johnson’s (and get “high” on their adrenal glands during another intense fight). However, episodes of Mad Men often create parallels and themes without resorting to temporal backtracking. Theoretically, crosscutting could also work in this one, as it does in others. I think a better answer can be found by examining the content of the stories. Each story is compelling in itself, but each one is also more compelling than the last, and breaking them up might have scuttled the momentum each accumulates.

Mad Men, Season 5, Episode 4: "Mystery Date"

Go Joan! Goodbye Greg! Not only did Joan finally kick Greg to the curb, but she did it in an extremely satisfying manner, airing the grievances of seasons past: his never consulting her on important decisions that affect both of their lives (like his joining the army in the first place, and now deciding to return for another tour), and most importantly, his raping Joan on the floor of Don’s office. “You’re not a good man. You never were, even before we were married. And you know what I’m talking about.” This line had me applauding my television. Greg has always been a selfish, oblivious fool, and he demonstrates it in spades in this episode. After breaking the news about his imminent return to Vietnam, he tells Joan, “I need to store up as much of you as possible,” totally oblivious to Joan’s needs and feelings. Later, at the restaurant, Greg explains his volunteering to go back with one sentence: “They need me.” As in the previous scene, Joan’s reaction shot speaks volumes: what about her needs? However, the show did a good job of selling his desire to return to Vietnam; unlike his career in America, he is actually an important person in Vietnam. We see it in the restaurant in his brief exchange with the enlisted man, and again when Greg and Joan have their final argument later in the episode. Nevertheless, it was wonderfully satisfying to see Joan finally decide to stop deceiving herself about Greg, and to finally apply the strength and severity of her office persona to her home life. Good for her for realizing she doesn’t need this rapist and his perpetual letdowns; I hope the writers have someone more worthy of her in the cards.

Mad Men, Season 5, Episode 3: "Tea Leaves"

Fat Betty! I'm of two minds about Betty's new predicament: 1) It seems kind of out of left field. like the writers didn't know what to do with her this season, and thought, "Let's just put her in a fat suit." It seems a bit hokey. 2) On the other hand, it's some nice karmic comeuppance for her terrible mothering, and provides some further insight into her character by (re)emphasizing that she is perpetually dissatisfied with her life, and is actually happier when she can find something to blame it on. Either way, it’s great that she doesn't understand calories. "Ho hum, well I guess I'll just finish Sally's ice cream." Also, it was great that we got to see Henry’s reaction to Don knowing about Betty’s cancer scare. His disappointment that Betty felt the need to reach out to Don, and couldn’t rely on Henry’s support alone, is almost palpable. Once again, I find Henry to be a very sympathetic character.

Mad Men, Season 4, Episode 13: "Tomorrowland"

I think Mad Men will zig, and then it zags instead, but the zag is just as good as the zig would have been. There’s no white knight to bail out SCDP (I suspected, wrongly, that we might see the return of Honda), but a small victory instead from Peggy and Ken with Topaz – SCDP will recover, but slowly, building up business with smaller clients, and weathering the storm. It’s a good decision that gives the show more creative freedom. As for that zag, poor Dr. Miller! I was excited to see that Don seemed to have found an intellectual match in her character, so I was a little disappointed when Don knocked on Megan's door (we all knew where that was going as soon as he heard her return to her hotel room for the evening). It seemed to be another instance of Don’s penchant for cheating getting the better of him. So even when Don started to profess his love for Megan, I was still somewhat conflicted. But the more I thought about it, the more I warmed to it – especially once Megan walked into his office and asked if he’d told Faye yet. This was a nice moment that revealed a slightly restricted narration. Given Don’s past behavior, I was inclined to think that his proposing to Megan didn’t necessarily mean he was being straight with her about Faye. But the show played off that knowledge of his character, creating a pleasant surprise when Megan asks if Don told Faye, because it implied both that Don had already told Megan about his relationship with Faye and that he was actually very serious about Megan. Ultimately, I’m excited about this development: it’s good for Don to finally be with someone who makes him feel like himself again (even if he hasn’t told her about his past yet) – his not being able to be himself around Betty was something that was sorely missing from that marriage, and which contributed to its destruction. And it’s even better for Don’s kids, Sally especially – Megan’s already been a better mother to her than Betty ever could be.

Mad Men Season 4, Episode 9: "The Beautiful Girls"

This was the Sally episode I've been hoping for, but oh man, was it heartbreaking. This episode shifted gears so often I think I got whiplash, if whiplash was awesome. I'm floored, ecstatic, heart-warmed, and devastated. The different emotional registers this episode goes through: the satisfaction of seeing Don enjoy what is perhaps the healthiest and most mature relationship we’ve seen him in; the hilarity of watching Pete and Joan deal with Mrs. Blankenship’s corpse in the background of a shot (Harry on his afghan-turned-death-shawl: “My mother made that!”); the shock and anxiety of two characters getting robbed at gunpoint, and then the heat-of-the-moment passion in which Joan finally gives in to feeling good, even if it’s only fleeting (also, check out Roger’s mad deferential skills! You’d think he gets robbed at gunpoint all the time); the wonderful moments between Don and Sally, and finally and most distressingly, the terror Sally expresses at having to return to living with The Worst Mother in the World in her Palace of Ice and Terror.

Mad Men Season 4, Episode 8: "The Summer Man"

So many joys in this week's episode! Interior monologues! Henry Francis realizes he married a woman with the psychological makeup of a 12 year old! "Satisfaction!" Confronting 1960s sexual harassment! Exercise! The return of suave (and sober) Don! A significant stylistic departure from the Mad Men "house" style (retrograde zooms, slow-motion POV shots, no closing credits music, voiceover)!

Mad Men, Season 4, Episode 5: "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword"

This week's episode was particularly phenomenal, packed full of great scenes from end to end like a string of pearls, each as wonderful as the last. I loved it so much I had to write a note about it.
- The trickery with the Honda bid displayed shades of last season's finale, both in style and in concept – it's another caper pulled off by team Draper (rather than stealing, they are deceiving. Kind of like INCEPTION - Don plants ideas Ted Shaw's head). Great musical accompaniment to the scenes of Don and co. pulling off their misdirection: Don knocking on Joan's door with the motorcycle, Peggy making sure the competition sees them sneaking the bike into the studio – I love Love LOVE the shot of Peggy just riding around in circles on the empty set. There 's also a great cut from a close-up of the commercial director saying he'd love to do Don's commercial but that right now he's too busy, to another close-up of him saying to the competitors that he'd much rather shoot their Honda commercial. The episode also deftly established Ted Shaw as a rival who is "drafting" off of Don; this is the first time we've seen him, but in a few easy steps he becomes so unlikeable that I wanted Don to squash him like the fly Don describes him as (Ted became very easy to dislike the moment we realized he was preying on one of the only sympathetic qualities still remaining to Don at the this point: his genius).