Mad Men returns. Thumbs up or down?

And I notice Pete's "clicker" doesn't work - He keeps pressing it, but the channel never changes. Judging by his handyman skills (the leaky faucet that exploded in Season 5), it's going to be broken for a while. Maybe Don will fix THAT for him, too.

I can only imagine the conversation between Brenda and Trudy on the drive to the motel.

 

They should just call this show Cheaters now

 

Jeez, no wonder Don's screwed up. He had Moe's hairstyle before it was cool.

 

The same kid who played the young Draper/Whitman also played young Michael Bluth on Arrested Development and the young version of Dexter's brother: http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/don-draper-and-michael-bluth-are-the-same-person.html. That's quite the list of characters.

 

This has been a common refrain for years now - that Don was growing out of touch and, short of that, that he would grow out of touch. It has become pretty much just accepted knowledge of the show. It's the '60s. So old people must grow out of touch.

The thing is, I don't think it's necessarily true. He's a boss at a white-collar office in Manhattan. He would be wearing a suit, even in 1968. He's lost the hat, you'll notice. And the creative people dress very casually, which he seems completely fine with. It's never been raised as an issue at all. Don dresses for the occasion. I've seen him wearing plaid sports jackets at certain times, for example. In Hawaii, he was dressed down all the way.

He still largely kills it on the job. Witness his takedown of Herb this past Sunday. The only time he's struggled at work it wasn't because he was out of touch with what's new, it was because he was distracted in his personal life. Cooper called him out on it, if I recall.

He's a 40-year-old man with a second wife and two children. I think he largely carries himself the way one would expect a 40-year-old man with a career and a family to carry himself. Like I said, I think people just have come to assume that this is a show about Don Draper growing out of touch, a show about a man of the '50s losing his way in the '60s. But I don't think it's about that at all, and I don't find it to be even a minor theme of the series at this point.

 

Michael Ginsberg exists to show how Don is growing out of touch.

 

But he doesn't like Tomorrow Never Knows!!!! He has to be out of touch!


Seriously though, you make some good points. If Don came to work looking like Harry he'd come off as an older guy trying too hard. He lets his creative people smoke weed in the office. He smokes it himself occasionally. I think he might like Eleanor Rigby and Taxman.

 

Minor quibble: He has 3 kids (Sally, Bobby, Gene).

 

And 3 wives.

 

But he has had many more.

 

Matt Wiener's wife might not want him hanging around any interesting brunettes.

I still don't love the Peggy story -- I thought that we had the perfect end last season. She also would not have been so indiscreet with Ted.

Did Megan have an abortion or a miscarriage? I'm leaning towards the former based on her conversation with Sylvia.

The "we're all just prostitutes" thing has been explored repeatedly before on this show, but it still worked for me this episode.

Is the doctor also sleeping around or does he condone/plan what Don is doing with his wife? I'm not sure yet, but I can't believe that he doesn't suspect something.

Pete has always wanted to become Don. He's close, but he needs to learn to screw the neighbors without his wife finding out right away.

 

"As my mother used to say, 'Your options were dishonor and war. You chose dishonor. You might still get war.'"

"That was Churchill."

---

It seems she might have done something to make herself have a miscarriage.

At least the doctor got a free camera out of the deal.