A Mad Men Birthday Party

SPOILER ALERT!!!


I don’t believe I’m alone in thinking that this season of Mad Men has been pretty stellar. That being said, I’m sure the Mad Men blogs are filled with people criticizing this episode. After the last two episodes (which were two of the best of the series in my humble opinion), I’m sure we were in for a bit of a letdown, but overall I still think the episode was solid. I’m not sure what to make of the voiceover. I think the only other time we’ve seen that with Mad Men was in the first season when we hear Don reading passages of the book he sends to Anna. I guess it was effective in this episode, but I’m not sure it needs to be a recurring device.

So Don is trying to get his life together and cut down on his drinking. Well good for him. Although we still see him do plenty of drinking (baby steps, right?). But on the positive side this is the first time in a long time we don’t see Don drunk once. And hey, Don even has not one, but two (ahem) successful dates. Don might finally have his mojo back.

I do think that Don sees how similar Bethany is to Betty, and although I think the scene in the restaurant shows that Bethany views this as a positive, Don seems to have the opposite opinion. I think Bethany might be out of the picture soon, especially if this relationship with Faye takes off. And I did find it interesting that Don asks Faye out knowing (because he was eavesdropping) that she just broke up with her boyfriend. Sly move Draper. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Remember Faye predicted that Don would be remarried within the year.

When Henry and Betty are fighting in the car Henry says something to the effect of his being an adult, which of course implies (as we’ve seen all along) that Betty is not acting like one. Does Henry have a little buyer’s remorse? And Betty seemed ok with Don at Gene’s party at the end. So does she still have some feeling for him as Henry hinted earlier, or was she ok with it because after her talk with Francine she thinks (childishly) that he’s not happy and she’s won?

I thought it was funny how Betty criticized Don for dating Bethany by saying that she was like 15 years old. Uh, Betty, did you look at your new husband? Because he’s a tad bit older than you too.

I liked how Don was struggling in his first lap in the pool. Hey, I’ve been there, it’s not as easy as it looks to swim a full lap in an Olympic size pool.

As Joan yelled at Joey, Stan, and that other guy did anyone else feel that what she was saying is what she wanted to say to her husband?

We didn’t see much of Pete this week, but I liked his surprise at discovering that the firm had a vending machine. I half expected him to run into Lane’s office and scream “I’m a partner damn it, I need to be consulted about these decisions.”