Mad Men

[RobinFinderson]

Great episode. I concur with PAC on just about everything he says. Don's fever dream was a nice way to depict his inner struggle.

[BoylenOver]

Spoiler for discusses most recent episode:

The slate.com recap had some sleuth commenters who unearthed that Don was lying about when he had the dalliance with the woman in the elevator. The Lincoln Center didn't feature the New York Opera until 1964, and they didn't feature the Met Opera until 1966. Also, I think it's totally plausible the old flame stopped by chez Draper, but the sex scene is a dream.

Ginsberg is great. In retrospect, him building this "rape fantasy as shoe ad" and the crusty old white guys loving it seems trite, though.

The accordion showing up in the middle of the Joan/Greg fight was awesome. I'm surprised they were together that long.

Finally: I really love Kiernan Shipka/Sally Draper.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

What a great episode tonight.

[Colly Wolly]

What a great episode tonight.

One of my favorites in the series thus far. "Reschedule the meeting.". LOL.

[PaloAltoCougar]

It's interesting that, at least for now, Don has become the moral compass of the office. And as Joan and Peggy both observed, who wouldn't love to deck Pete? The fight was poorly choreographed, but still very enjoyable, especially with everyone looking on with much anticipation.

[clackamascoug]

- Gotta love Trudy's verbal Jiu Jitsu on Don.
- Will Pete's beat down make him a better man, or was this episode the beginning of his undoing.
- Cosgrove is in the right place in the right time.

[wuapinmon]

http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/mad-men...-lane-fight/5/

Don's maturity, his desire to live up to the promise he made to himself last season that he doesn't "want to be that man anymore," was really heartening to see. But I was even more impressed with Ken Cosgrove. Throughout Mad Men's run, Ken has been the good-natured yin to Pete's high strung yang — the JFK to Pete's Nixon — and last night we saw how Ken has dealt with dissatisfaction at the office. Rather than stew and plot, or spiral into self destruction, he buckled down and pursued his true passion, writing fiction, and found real success publishing them in sci-fi/fantasy magazines. His wife's uncle from Farrar Straus was even interested in publishing his 20 best stories in an anthology. (Certainly one of them would be "The Punishment of X4," which already has at least one high profile fanfic author.)

Ken was writing under a not-so-veiled pen name — Ben Hargrove — partly out of an innate sense of modesty, but mostly because he knew his bosses would not think so well of his moonlighting. And indeed, when Pete ratted Ken out, Roger dressed him down: "As a fellow unappreciated author and a friend, let me tell you, when this job is good, it satisfies every need. Believe me. I remember." But rather than give up, Ken dug in even deeper, killing off Ben Hargrove and forsaking genre fiction for straightforward short stories under the new name Dave Algonquin. And what better way to get back at Pete than to have his first story be about him: "The Man with the Miniature Orchestra," about a fellow named Coe — i.e. the namesake of founders of the community of Cos Cob — who still cries while listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony — i.e. the same music that was playing on Pete's music system during their party. "It might have been living in the country that was making him cry," wrote Ken, as we watched Pete back in driving school, impotently witnessing Handsome's hand reach up Jenny's skirt. "It was killing him with it's silence, and loneliness. Making everything ordinary too beautiful to bare."

[PaloAltoCougar]

http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/mad-men...-lane-fight/5/

That was a good write-up. I liked the jump at the end of the show from Pete's utter despair and frustration to the credits which had Beethoven's 9th (Ode to Joy) playing over them. And I'm still chuckling about the fight. "I know cooler heads should prevail, but am I the only one who wants to see this?"

[HauteCoug]

Finally someone got to punch Pete, and that it was Lane was even more fitting!

I have such respect for Joan - she manages to fight her through the stickiest of situations and still come out on top.

And Roger Sterling remains the shining star of the series. I would do anything and everything with that silver fox. Too much? Sorry I'm not sorry.

[Tim]

This was a great episode.

[Tim]

And not only that, but it yet again showed how strong of a viewpoint John Slattery has as a director. The episodes he directs all seem to be golden -- depth and richness that really defines this show. This episode will be Emmy-nominated and Slattery will come out of this show with countless offers to direct.

[BoylenOver]

Brilliant episode. The juxtaposition of Ken and Pete (a running theme since S1) was terrific. And I really enjoyed Trudy maneuvering around Don.

[RobinFinderson]

Brilliant!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Excellent.

My money was on Lane too.

[wuapinmon]

No me gusta mucho. Last night was all over the map. Part of it was great, but it was really disjointed---the nonlinear thing threw me for a minute.

Spoiler for spoilers:

Don and Megan made me really sad--a little too close to home growing up--mom and dad always fighting over who-in-the-hell-knows-what. My mom would've totally done that about the sherbet to my dad, and he would've probably left her if she had said to him something akin to what Megan said to Dawn about calling his mother.

I enjoyed the sidetrack about the new guy being a Martian, and the part with his dad? talking about "making his case." If I had to guess, I bet it's going to be about a war criminal he's after, given the born in a concentration camp story we got.

Peggy tried to be Don in the meeting with Heinz, not realizing that she didn't have the gravitas and charisma to say essentially what Don probably would've said. Then the handjob in the movie after a little pot? I felt like that was a For the Strength of Youth/Reefer Madness moment. I also liked the look on Dawn's face after she woke up Peggy, since Peggy had told her a couple of episodes ago that she couldn't sleep right where she was then sleeping.

Bert Cooper reasserting himself was a welcome return to his character's role in the show.

The only part of the night that I truly enjoyed was Roger and his wife lying on the floor talking while they were on LSD (that and the Russian opera playing when he opened the vodka bottle). It almost felt like drug advocacy after we saw what happened to Peggy after a few tokes on a joint. The sort of sinister "it's going to be expensive" line might hint that Roger's fortune is going to force him to get serious about the business again.

I didn't like that we learned nothing about the ramifications of Peter's fight with Lane. Roger's single and so is Joan....will he propose? Will she accept? Will Megan quit working for Don to save her marriage?