Mad Men - "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" (Robin Veith & Matthew Weiner)

Mad Men - Joan closes the light

What an episode.

Random observations:

  • Jared Harris made me think of of his dad, Richard, as Dumbledore when he addressed the whole office.
  • The title of this episode is cheeky.
  • I write a blog post about how humourless the show is and then this comes along. It was extremely funny.
  • Joan is a great character. And Christina Hendricks makes her even more compelling. This episode showed that the entire series could be about her. Her scene with her husband where she tries very hard to make him feel better was riveting. The actor who plays Greg (Sam Page) was pretty good in scene too.
  • Don and Joan have such extraordinary chemistry. And Christina said the following lines perfectly:

But that’s life. One minute you’re on top of the world, the next minute some secretary’s running you over with a lawn mower.

  • Peggy desperately trying to talk to Joan was frustrating because she didn't say what she wanted to say before...
  • The riding mower incident was very close to being a jump the shark moment but I think they pulled it off. I think the guy playing Guy was brilliant in his agony and seeing Joan in full efficiency mode was wonderful.
  • Betty gets a lot of flak for being a poor mother. What I think many people fail to see is that she is quite an ordinary mother because, guess what, mothering isn't something we can do perfectly just because we have a vagina. She tries and she sometimes fails. What we rarely see (never?) on the show is her parenting triumphs.
  • I see a bit of my parenting in Betty. I lose my temper and get frustrated and it takes Andy to step in and defuse the situation. And that happens the other way around too.
  • Betty accepts Sally's apology rather sweetly, however, that is rather overshadowed by Don's parenting triumph in the conclusion to this episode.
  • Pete catches Peggy when she faints.

  • I love the exchange between Guy and Pete. It is hard to tell which part of Guy's statement that Pete is referring to.

Guy: I know everything about you. You’re a very impressive fellow.
Pete: I wish I could return the compliment.

  • Don looked like California Don in the first scene he has with Sally.

  • Don and Betty have a normal conversation when she offers him leftovers for his tea and he asks her if he would like to go to London. They actually seemed like a normal couple for a while eating Ritz crackers and drinking Budweiser.
  • Roger had the best line:

Paul: He might lose his foot.
Roger: Right when he got it in the door.

  • I didn't really understand why Guy's career in advertising was over. Douglas Bader lost more than a foot and he managed to fight in the Battle of Britain. However, in light of the fact that Lane was asked to remove his glasses when he met the other English executives seems to indicate an intolerance of imperfection which is an odd characterisation of the English.
  • I may have got over my fear of Ken. I think he may just be an uncomplicated fellow.