Monday, August 30, 2010

Mad Men Live Blogging - Season 4.6: Waldorf Stories

It's Monday, time for some Mad Men! Will Don woo Honda -- or the psychologist? Will Roger refuse to eat sushi? Let the fun begin!

2:00 - Wow. Talk about bad resumes. 5 riffs on the same idea, then ads he likes? It's too bad this guy is such a square, because he's got the perfect skill set for an unemployed hippie.

3:30 - "It's a relief to see someone worse than me" - I've been waiting for a nice, pithy summary of my dating choices, and this is it.

5:30 - Roger is writing his memoirs? Well, dictating them, at least.

6:30 - Flashback to Roger & Don's first meeting! And the model in Don's ad campaign for the fur company? Betty. I wonder if those two crazy kids will make it?

9:00 - "For my wife" Riiiiight. It's good to see Joan happy, though. Probably not so good that the "work story" for the memoir is an unflattering one to Don.

11:30 - Peggy has apparently followed Pete's lead and also grown a pair.

14:30 - Duck is back! And, unfortunately, back on the sauce. Was Peggy there when it happened?

16:00 - Peggy's no longer enamored of Don, apparently. Taking credit for her work isn't flattering?

17:15 - I like how Roger AND Don hold Joan's hand -- I thought for different reasons, but Don did go for a kiss. Niiiiiice!

18:45 - I assume Peyton Place is the Melrose Place of the 60s? Or is about the Colts?

19:30 - Ooof. Don a la Booze is not the right dish to serve.

21:30 - Bizarro Don is back! The opposite of season 1's Carousel, now he's just offering bad puns on "Life".

23:45 - Bitter, insecure Pete is back! And a bit chastened that Lane actually likes him.

27:15 - Fine, shoot him down, but do you really need to give mixed signals?  Don's now 0-for-2 with the hot psychologist, right?  But she's clearly tempted.  I'm now hoping for her since I think Joan may be destined for Roger.

28:30 - "I know you're ashamed of your body, or you should be." "I can work like this, let's get liberated." Having recently rewatched the pilot episode, I can easily say that based solely on that, this scene is less plausible than Don being in training for the Apollo missions.

31:15 - "You've crossed the border from lubricated to morose." Ahhhh, Joan. Beautiful and wise. 

32:30 - Now we see the key to his morose-itosity: Don was nothing and Roger was the big shot.

34:45 - Nice work by Peggy!

36:30 - Waking up on Sunday thinking it's Saturday with a different woman? Who calls you by your real name? I think this might, finally, hopefully, be rock bottom.

38:45 - Or not. He's already back to the booze. And looks like complete shit, too.

42:00 - I like that there's been a steady trickle, and not a stream, of jokes about how useless his new secretary is.

44:15 - Pete is getting
really good at lording power over people.

46:30 - Don was hired because Roger was DRUNK? That's pretty sweet. And doesn't bode well for Don's reign as creative king.

Verdict? Another great episode, though the expected payoff of "Mikey Likes It" will have to wait -- Wiki says until 1974. Don's drinking is getting worse, not better, and the only question is if Peggy will try to help him or take his spot like she did Rumsen. So I give it a:
A-

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