This episode was disappointing. The main event in this episode is the birth of the new Draper baby. But it shouldn't have been. Mad Men has always been excellent at pacing things, and I get that sometimes things happen close together, but for the sake of the show, let us wait at least one more episode. Why? A family member just died last episode. We need some aftermath to that. Instead, the episode skips right ahead to about two weeks later, after the funeral, after the grief, after everything. Did Gene's death just not matter to the writers?
What's even worse is how they execute this poor plot choice. The premise is Sally's bad behavior because of Gene's death. And then, because of this, Matthew Weiner and Kater Gordan just decide to barely show Sally's face in the episode? And I have a few more major complaints, and one huge praise for this episode.
The dream sequence was complete crap. I'm sorry, but it had to be said. Dream sequences very rarely work, and even though this one was phenomenally directed, it doesn't make the writing less lazy. The "House of Cards" hallucination, when Frank was in the hospital, was a good dream sequence. This was not.
And then there's the manner of how the hospital scene goes down. I get that it's sort of cliché to show the birth and the "it's a boy!" when the doctor finishes delivering the baby, and I actually really liked the way this show avoided that. What I did not like is the waiting room scene. It was, pure and simple, more lazy writing. I don't know if the writers think they're fooling us into thinking this has any plot relevance, but they're not fooling me. Now, if seven episodes later, the Sing Sing guard comes back, I'll re-write this review. But for now, it sure seems like shameless filler. I mean, seriously, are they kidding? Don sees a stranger in the waiting room and passes the time by getting somewhat drunk? And "best" of all, it ends with another self-reflection for Don, because, you know, the writers just decided that the scene needed some kind of closure.
Now I can finally praise the final aspect of this episode: Peter Campbell and two of the scenes he's in: the elevator, and his argument with Sterling and Cooper and British about his actions in the elevator.
The elevator scene was fantastically written, and was, in Mad Men fashion, mostly quiet but still screaming loud.
However, it's the argument between Pete and the Partners (my new band name) that is the best scene in the episode. I'm not quite sure how to praise it, it just seems so elegant. It's not anything about it, it's just a combination of all those things that, for some reason, really makes the scene click.
The worst episode since early season one.
What's even worse is how they execute this poor plot choice. The premise is Sally's bad behavior because of Gene's death. And then, because of this, Matthew Weiner and Kater Gordan just decide to barely show Sally's face in the episode? And I have a few more major complaints, and one huge praise for this episode.
The dream sequence was complete crap. I'm sorry, but it had to be said. Dream sequences very rarely work, and even though this one was phenomenally directed, it doesn't make the writing less lazy. The "House of Cards" hallucination, when Frank was in the hospital, was a good dream sequence. This was not.
And then there's the manner of how the hospital scene goes down. I get that it's sort of cliché to show the birth and the "it's a boy!" when the doctor finishes delivering the baby, and I actually really liked the way this show avoided that. What I did not like is the waiting room scene. It was, pure and simple, more lazy writing. I don't know if the writers think they're fooling us into thinking this has any plot relevance, but they're not fooling me. Now, if seven episodes later, the Sing Sing guard comes back, I'll re-write this review. But for now, it sure seems like shameless filler. I mean, seriously, are they kidding? Don sees a stranger in the waiting room and passes the time by getting somewhat drunk? And "best" of all, it ends with another self-reflection for Don, because, you know, the writers just decided that the scene needed some kind of closure.
Now I can finally praise the final aspect of this episode: Peter Campbell and two of the scenes he's in: the elevator, and his argument with Sterling and Cooper and British about his actions in the elevator.
The elevator scene was fantastically written, and was, in Mad Men fashion, mostly quiet but still screaming loud.
However, it's the argument between Pete and the Partners (my new band name) that is the best scene in the episode. I'm not quite sure how to praise it, it just seems so elegant. It's not anything about it, it's just a combination of all those things that, for some reason, really makes the scene click.
The worst episode since early season one.