Mad Men and Motorcycles

There were mixed feelings in our house on this week’s Mad Men. I thought it was really good, but Mrs. was less impressed. Either way, we agreed that the first 19 minutes (before the first commercial) packed quite a punch.

So Roger still has some lingering issues left over from WWII (and that’s putting it mildly). The scene where he barges in on the meeting with the Honda executives was well done, but man was that uncomfortable.

Joan is eventually able to calm Roger down, and we really need more Roger/Joan scenes as the season progresses. We’ll probably see more after Greg gets shipped out. It’s also interesting how Joan tells Roger that the world is safer because of his service, but we know that the Vietnam War is about to escalate.

I liked how Pete stood up to Roger regarding bringing in new business and making the firm less reliant on Lucky Strike. One more example of the “out with the old, in with the new” mentality from this season. Roger is still holding onto the past, but Pete says the world has moved on.

And speaking of holding onto the past, Betty seems to be using her mother’s behavior towards her as an excuse for how she treats Sally. And she can’t get over her resentment of Don (not that I can completely blame her). But once again Betty is portrayed as the cruel mother, slapping Sally and later saying she’ll cut her fingers off. She just doesn’t have many redeeming qualities at this point.

I also think it’s interesting that Betty rips Don for going on a date while he has the kids (and probably rightly so), but if Don’s an absentee father, is Betty really any better? She has Carla taking care of the kids after all. Even at the end we see Sally at the psychiatrist’s office with Carla, and Betty is nowhere to be seen.

I really enjoyed the fake commercial the firm stages to try to bankrupt the firm where Don's "competition" Ted works. It reminded me of the finale from last season where they leave the firm overnight and start the new firm. It's always fun when Mad Men adds a little adventure.

Don’s new secretary has provided some laughs, but are they overdoing this a little? It’s veering into slapstick at this point.

And between the fake commercial and walking into the meeting with Honda alone and resigning, Don appeared to be on his game this week. He comes out on top in his battle with Ted and impresses the Honda execs. Is this the beginning of the Draper rebound? And even though we still see him drinking (some Saki with the fake married Faye), Don never appears to be drunk in this episode. Hey, it's a step in the right direction.

So the only question left with Don is whether this thing with Bethany is going somewhere (and after a dinner at Benihana, watch out), or is it destiny that he starts something with Faye sooner than later? You can never have enough office romance, right?