Dear goodness, did someone kill Matthew Weiner’s puppy before he started breaking down the stories for this season? Did his little contract spat with AMC really upset him this much? This season has been one big spiral down to gloomtown. I called last week’s episode the darkest ever, but I think Mad Men may have topped itself only a week later.
I’ve mentioned before how I think Lane has just gotten too pathetic this season, and that theme was followed through to its logical conclusion this week. On a show where story lines have been known to linger in the background for years, I was a little surprised to see Lane’s forged check come back and bite him so soon. From the moment that Don fired him, I started getting concerned that he was going to kill himself. Let’s face facts; Lane has never been the most emotionally stable character. It really shouldn’t have come as a surprise that he ended up hanging himself in his office. Frankly, it shouldn’t have come to a surprise to Don. He should have known better. Will he inform the other partners of why Lane killed himself? Also, kudos to the makeup department for making that corpse way too realistic. I’m going to have nightmares.
While the big story was Lane’s demise, there were other things going on in this episode. It was a big week for Sally. She continued her rebellion against Betty, forcing her way out of a skiing trip with her and Henry. This led to a clandestine meeting with Glenn Bishop and a trip to the Natural History Museum. It was there that Sally “became a woman,” which is to say she got her period; she didn’t do anything untoward with Glenn. It took something dramatic, but I think Sally realized that sometimes she really does need her mother, even if Megan is young, hip, and fun. It was nice to see Betty actually be a mother for once, too. It will be interesting to see if a little bout of mother/daughter bonding will go a long way or if Betty and Sally will fall right back into fighting with each other.
It was clear that Don is still a little peeved about how everything with Jaguar went down. First there was the not-so-subtle jab in the partner’s meeting (and boy, did it look like Joan was loving every second of that meeting?). Then there was his insistence on getting a meeting with his “Moby Dick” at Dow. We’ll have to wait and see if Don’s little show in Ed Baxter’s office proves worthwhile, but I would be a little surprised if we don’t see more of Ray Wise in the near future (even if the writers did have Roger refer to his character as a wax figurine). I certainly hope we do. I like a fiery Don, and with Peggy gone he’s definitely going to need to pick up some slack in the creative department.
Speaking of Peggy, I was sad not to revisit her this week. I am certainly hoping that we get a glimpse of her new life before the end of the season. I can’t imagine that Elisabeth Moss is leaving the show, and with the relationship between Peggy and Don being one of the shows hallmarks, I would hate to see them separated for a long period of time.
With only one more episode left in the season, I am hoping that the writers will give us a little glimmer of hope to end this bleak, bleak season.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jun 03, 2012 @ 23:27 EST5EDT
During the commercial break after Lane walked into his office and typed his letter, my boyfriend and I were trying to figure out how he was going to kill himself in the office.
I think we have a problem.
The moment Jane shot Lane’s advances down it was pretty much set in stone. After that I was dreading every scene with him. I didn’t want to see him go. I actually broke down laughing when the Jaguar broke down. It was just too much of a relief for me to handle, but then he had to go over to the office.
On a much less depressing note, I can’t wait for them to get Dow. They have to land the account just so Pete can do a double-take when he gets shut out by Ken.
Do you think some of Ken’s loathing of Pete comes from last week’s episode? Because I can bet Ken put two and two together with Joan and the account. The one thing I can say about Ken from last week is that once the auto guy made it clear that Joan was the only way he would let them get the account, Ken just saw it as gone from their fingers. If he didn’t find Pete despicable for his crap before, he sure hates him now.