bill bodkin is a mad man …
The Low Down: It’s Mother’s Day weekend and the company is all a tizzy. Burt Cooper (Robert Morse) is getting ready to take the company public. Don (Jon Hamm) puts the final nail in the coffin with Jaguar and everyone who was in on the IPO loses their mind. Meanwhile Megan (Jessica Pare) has her mother (Julia Ormond) in town. Roger (John Slattery) goes across the country to hunt down a big lead — Chevy … which leads to a HUGE change.
The Bed and Booze Count: Sterling beds a stewardess, Don and Megan audibly get busy, Pete has offscreen whoopie with a hooker…as does his former father-in-law. … and who didn’t drink this episode?
Favorite Performance: It was brief, but it was powerful. This week’s best performance goes to Christina Hendricks. Her brief speech to Don after he’s lost Jaguar was her most powerful moment. She feels Don was the only one in her corner when it came to Jaguar and the affair she had … now that he killed the deal, she feels that her bedroom encounter was worth nothing. Joan, who’s also been an ally of Don forever, finally let’s loose on him and delivers a speech as firey as her hair.
The Supporting Scene Stealer: Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm) has never been more than just a passing character outside of his wooing of Peggy to his firm. In this episode we got to see him deal with the realization one of his partner’s is dying, his falling for Peggy and then his alliance with Don. Rahm really is a great foil for Don and I’m looking forward to seeing his expanded role.
The Best Part of The Episode: The bar scene with Don and Ted where they realize their companies are doomed is awesome. It’s a game-changing moment in the world of the series which none of us saw coming … at all. Of course it seemed like it wouldn’t happen especially when Ted says he doesn’t want another drink. Then when he explains it’s because ‘they’ve got a lot of work to do’ that just was a complete ‘HOT DAMN!!!’ moment.
The Part We Could’ve Done Without: Megan making ‘Don feel like Superman’ in their bedroom was kinda absurd.
The Little Thing We Loved: Roger Sterling was just excellent this episode and when we walks into the fracas between Don, Pete and Joan … he’s just at his charming best.
Final Thoughts: This was a completely unexpected episode. Never saw a merger between the two rival companies happening at all. So that means we’ll see more of Ted Chaough and possibly Harry Hamlin and I think that’s going to add a whole new dimension of drama. When it comes to outside of the office, I really like that Pete came crashing back to earth and was his usual weasel-esque self (and his trip down the stairs was a brilliant touch). The Megan storyline, especially with the addition of her mom, was a bit ‘meh’ but overall, this was a really strong episode.
All Photos Credit: AMC
