What Happened Was

Mad Men Recap Roundup: The Other Other Other Woman

My quick thoughts:

In the final Peggy-Don scene, I’m surprised no one mentioned the call-back of sorts to the Season 3 finale “Shut the door. Have a seat.” In that episode, Don woos Peggy to the start-up agency by telling her if she passes on his offer, he’ll spend the rest of his life trying to hire her. Now that she’s gone, we may be in for a season 6 in which we get to see if he really means that. Bonus: that would keep Peggy on the show. No one wants her to become a stranger.

As for Joan: from a strictly business perspective, once she agreed to go along with the plan, SCDP could have taken a lesson from Harry’s encounter with Lakshmi the week before: Lakshmi put out before securing what she wanted; could SCDP have dangled Joan as a reward for Jaguar awarding them the account? Perhaps they could have told Herb, “she’ll only do this if we win.” Of course, don’t let Don hear them say it.

With all the crazy Peggy and Joan developments this week, I feel like Megan’s C-plot has been overlooked a bit. I found it the most fascinating, and it’s stayed with me the most since. Where does she get her confidence? And where does Don get his? 

1. Megan goes for a quickie with Don in order to feel confident at the audition. She gets a call back. 

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What the heck’s happening in NYC this weekend?

These things. Lots of randomness, as always:

Governor’s Island is now open for the season

Dylan fest 2012, May 24 – 25

Beer Here: Brewing New York’s History, starts May 25

Blip Festival, May 25 – 27

College Mansion Paradise Weekend Atlantic City, May 25 - 27

5 Boro PicNYC, May 26 – 27

NYC Zombie Crawl, May 27

World Science Festival, May 30 – June 3

Hester Nights, every Thursday starting May 31

And this week’s weather (a lot of rain on there, ugh):

Mad Men Recap Roundup: Joan Diddle Don? Magical Thinking

Everybody loved the scenes this week between Don and Joan (as they should, of course). The scenes created plenty of speculation as to whether the two will finally sleep together (whether this season or eventually), with people taking sides on the will-they-won’t-they debate. 

While it would certainly be one ridiculously sexy, Twitter-crashing hook-up, I’m in the won’t-they camp. If Don was seriously tempted by Joan, and had any moments of weakness, he wouldn’t have been so open with Megan later about his whereabouts. We know he lies all the time about even the littlest things, and yet he didn’t hesitate to tell his wife the truth. That’s a major sign of trust, and of a clear conscience.

A commenter somewhere made a good point: as the chemistry at the Jaguar Dealership showed, after Megan left SCDP, Joan should have played Don’s fake-wife in the Cool Whip pitch, not Peggy. She would have nailed it.

Recap time:

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The Great GoogaMooga: More Mooga than Googa, but Still Fun

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Busy Week Ahead in NYC: Festivals, Food, Music, Movies, Photos…

So much goodness going on in New York this weekend, and the weather will be perfect for it (see below). Here’s the random rundown:

2012 New York Photo Festival, May 16 – 20 

NYC Pop Fest 2012, May 17 – 20

Electric Daisy Carnival, May 18 – 20 

Brooklyn Folk Festival, May 18 – 20

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Mad Men Recap Roundup: Dark Shadows, Toxic Spills, Kosher Whine

Seems like most critics didn’t like this week’s episode so much; I tend to agree. Though that may just be because it was a good episode after a streak of epic ones.

One question I haven’t seen tackled anywhere: how is it that Roger and Jane weren’t sitting next to each other at the dinner? The audience may know they’re divorced, but Mr. Lippman doesn’t. Seemed weird.

Another lingering thought: Megan doesn’t want the smog let into her apartment, but is fine with watching others breathe in the smog at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Possible hypocrisy? Certainly symbolism: she doesn’t want to be around the toxic air of SCDP, but instead of trying to fix the problem, she just extricates herself from the situation. This though probably needs more flushing out, but I’ll be looking for it more going forward.

On to the recaps and some other good pieces after that:

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Mad Men Recap Roundup: Lazy Ladarus Pizza Party

Let’s recap a bit, shall we?

Anyone else notice when Pete and Harry were talking about women, Pete made reference to conventions? I’m guessing he was referring to political conventions, but it had been two years since the last presidential election, and the craziness of the 1968 Chicago convention was still two years away.

Also, why couldn’t Megan have stayed at SCPD just one more day, especially when she and Don had prepared so much for the Cool Whip pitch? That decision didn’t feel natural, for Megan or Don; it felt more forced by the writers.

I don’t think any Mad Men moment made me laugh as loud as this:

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