Past seasons of Mad Men have usually had one episode that's a clinker: Far Away Places is season 6's dud. There were some interesting ideas such as Roger's acid trip but they weren't well executed. The episode felt flat and ennervated. It may set up some interesting stuff down the road but on the whole it was a bummer, man.
Fly me, I'm Roger: I didn't care for the acid trip. A few moments were fun-the musical vodka bottle and Bert Cooper's face on currency-but overall it was a bad trip, man. Perhaps it was the first batch of the brown acid Wavy Gravy warned everyone about at Woodstock.
The break-up: I'm glad Roger and Jane are going their separate ways. They never did anything very interesting with Jane's character and she ended up being a stereotypical trophy wife. This will inevitably lead Roger to sniff around Joan's door, which has gotta be more interesting than Jane and her big ass earrings.
The Pegster blues: I'm not pleased with the direction they're taking Peggy's character this season. She's become more of an archetypal pioneering mad woman and less of a fully realized character. Maybe the Heinz cockup will lead to her finding her inner human being. I hope so: she's getting tiresome and she used to be one of my favorite characters on the show.
Don and Megan's not so excellent adventure: The whole thing was rather dull and repeated too many past themes: the ice cream parlor thing, the wrestling match and Don's speaking to Megan like she was the reincarnation of Betty. Both of them behaved badly and overreacted to the other's misbehavior. Plus the misbehavior was dull, dull, dull. I almost hoped that Megan had been kidnapped by a Richard Speck wannabe but she took the bus home instead. Boring,
The two bits I liked were Ginsburg's telling Peggy about his background and Bert Cooper's chewing Don out. The former was interesting and the latter was well-deserved.
The good news is that after bad episodes in the past, the Mad Men gang have usually knocked the ball out of the park the next time around. Okay, time for some orange sherbet...
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Totally agree with your analysis of this dud episode -- though I thought the scene where Don comes home to a furious Megan was extraordinary; she was dressed like a little girl and the subsequent fight was shot through with menace. It felt very real.
Megan is dangerous. Don can be dangerous. Together they're unsettling to watch.
But when the episode's highlight is the HoJo's orange-and-aqua color scheme dreamed up by Sister Parish, it means your audience isn't paying attention to the characters.
Posted by: Kevin | April 23, 2012 at 15:27
Hey, Adrastos and friends. My good friend Jimbo Brown passed away in his sleep Friday at 50. Huge Saints fan and great Democrat in Monroe. We lose a Saints fan and an Obama vote. He'd want us to fight like motherfuckers against right wing fanatics and religious nuts. Let us win this battle and beat these nasty, mean-spirited nutjobs this year. Please!
Posted by: Mass | April 23, 2012 at 19:54
I guess the theme was "nowhere is safe" but I was a little irritated through the whole thing. And I'm sorry but there's no frickin' way Don would have been able to kick in the door in a luxury high-rise, modern apartment. All those doors and frames are made of METAL. He'd have broken his leg.
Posted by: Brooklyn Girl | April 23, 2012 at 22:01
Perhaps it was the first batch of the brown acid Wavy Gravy warned everyone about at Woodstock
Nah, upper class white people, NYC in 1966, it'd be GREAT acid, either Owsley from the west coast or the same kind of stuff that Leary and his group were experimenting with at Millbrook.
Bill Hicks:
Wouldn't you like to see a positive LSD story on the news? To base your decision on information rather than scare tactics and superstition? Perhaps? Wouldn't that be interesting? Just for once?
"Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration – that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."
Posted by: Henry Holland | April 23, 2012 at 22:27
Well, Henry, Leary was one of the characters in the acid party scene, so I am guessing that Roger and Jane had the "good stuff."
I am not liking the direction that Don and Megan's relationship is taking. It's beyond twisted. Seems like every time after they have a fight, Don dominates her, pins her down and she submits. Ick. Just don't like it.
Posted by: mothra | April 24, 2012 at 10:22
Sorry, Mothra, I don't watch the show, I was just reacting to Adrastos comment.
Posted by: Henry Holland | April 24, 2012 at 22:09
Brooklyn Girl: The door was ajar and only the chain lock was engaged. It's easy to break such a lock by kicking the door hard.
Posted by: Sli Boots | April 25, 2012 at 09:05
"Past seasons of Mad Men have usually had one episode that's a clinker:"
"Clinker" could sort of be used here, but I suspect you may have meant "clunker?"
Posted by: Sli Boots | April 25, 2012 at 09:08