Written with my good friend Margaux Poupard.
Trevor: Well, that was one of the better mental breakdowns I’ve seen on television in a while.
Margaux: I mean honestly, you’re going to have to be more specific. I’ll assume you’re talking about Ginsberg, which was definitely the most shocking moment of last night’s episode for me, more so than Megan’s super sad threesome.
Trevor: I’m surprised it took us this long to get to a threesome on Mad Men. But yeah, I was talking about Ginsberg. In a lot of ways, “The Runaways” was a really out-there episode, similar to last season’s “The Crash.” At least once a season, Matthew Weiner likes to play with conventional narrative, and I’m guessing this was it.
Margaux: It was hard to watch Ginsberg slip further and further away, though you can’t tell how much of it was Ginsberg being himself, and how much of it was mental illness. I was really impressed how Peggy handled it all too.
Trevor: Poor Peggy, all the weirdos make passes at her. Stan tried to kiss her last season, and she had fucking Pete Campbell’s baby. And the one guy she actually wanted to be with, Ted, left her to go to California, where he’ll be the only guy wearing turtlenecks. No wonder she’s watching TV with Julio.
I really liked Ginsberg being a dick to Julio. I have a weakness for people being mean to kids for no reason, I find it hilarious. “I’d like to say Peggy has mentioned you at work, but she hasn’t.”
Margaux: I saw Ginsberg’s interaction with Julio as protective and somewhat charming, “you just open the door? This is a very dangerous neighborhood,” perfect concerned Jewish Mom Ginsberg.
But Ginsberg catching Lou and Jim in the computer room turns out to be much more than the computer turning the office “homo”.
Trevor: It’s them putting the nail in Don’s coffin. “If we get a cigarette company, they’ll demand that Don leave because of the letter. Then it will be out of our hands and we look blameless.” They weren’t counting on Don’s surprising humbleness. It’s almost strategic.
Margaux: What about the reappearance of Don’s “niece”? Something about her Bay Area hippie life just screams: harbinger of death.
Trevor: Stephanie (played by Arrow’s Caity Lotz) did what she promised Anna she would never do: interfere in his life. It wasn’t just being sent to Megan’s door; I think it was when she off-handedly told Megan “I know all of his secrets.” There’s a connection between Don and Stephanie that Don and Megan will never have. She represents a whole other life that Don led, under an entirely different name, and that life has nothing to do with Megan Calvert.
Margaux: Well, yeah. Megan’s over the top reactions to Don throughout the episode highlighted that a lot. “I know what he likes.” If there was an A for effort in marriage, Megan should get a gold star. Kind of disappointed we didn’t a “Zou Bisou” part deux at her acting class party though.
Trevor: Yeah, she’s trying hard to save the marriage. I mean, Betty would never even think of having a threesome, she just flew to Reno for a divorce.
Stan was amazing tonight. It was nice to see Lou given the same amount of regard by his underlings that he’s given by viewers.
Margaux: The phrase “Scouts Honor” will never seem the same. “You know who else had a ridiculous dream?” “You?” How is that Lou is always manages to lurk around long enough to overhear how much everyone hates him? Is that part of his job description?
Trevor: I think it’s a numbers game. If you suck as hard as Lou Avery does, eventually you’re going to hear people talking about you. It’s pretty much inevitable.
Speaking of Lou, what a dick. Making Don stay just long enough to miss his flight. He’s poking the bear. He believes that his relationship with Jim Cutler makes him invincible, but I think the two of them are both massively underestimating Don. Also, who knew Lou was a Bob Dylan fan? Although in retrospect, he was probably just trying to make a reference that would be understood by the “flag-burning little snots” who work for him.
Margaux: When Don puts Jim and Lou in a cab, after he crashes their meeting with Commander Cigarettes, I think Jim knows a little better than Lou that getting rid of Don isn’t as easy as they’d hoped. He’s still got it, whether or not those corporate suits want to admit it, Don charmed the shit out them. And it’s the one thing that Jim and Lou can’t muster up between them.
Trevor: Oh, absolutely. No one at that office has Don’s swagger. Maybe Roger. But who are you going to send to charm clients like that? Burt? Ted?
So, to switch gears a little bit, what exactly was Betty’s subplot tonight? She’s clearly upset and feeling marginalized, but I think between the Sharon Tate theories and giving fans more reason to hate January Jones, Matthew Weiner seems to be doing a little bit of fan service to the Internet.
Margaux: Betty has always struggled between loving the spotlight of being the trophy wife but also having her own intelligent voice that isn’t her husbands. She resents being seen as stupid – “I speak Italian, you know”- and when she was married to Don we heard about her Vassar years constantly.
Trevor: That’s right, I forgot she went to Vassar! It made it easier to sympathize with Betty because Henry was acting like a total prick…and then Betty told her daughter that she’d break her arm, which almost made me laugh out loud, it’s such a comically cruel thing to say to a child. But it did lead to a pretty lovely scene between Sally and Bobby.
Margaux: I always forget that Bobby might be a little fucked up too until he starts talking, I’m going to assume it’s intentional that he only has these moments of child clarity when his sister is around. Even though Sally has been away at boarding school, she still gets more attention than Bobby. Middle child syndrome, replete with bed wetting.
Trevor: I liked that. “I don’t do that anymore!” Definitely a little Draper in the making. That sounds exactly like something Don would say.
It’s hard to talk star count for an episode like “The Runaways.” There’s only three or four really important developments, and the “really” part is arguable. Is it going to affect the overall narrative that Ginsberg Van Gogh’d his nipple off? Probably not. Was it a weird, tragic, and darkly humorous send-off for a character? Oh yeah. That’s what Mad Men excels at. So I guess…four stars? But for an episode this weird, I could probably be talked up to five or down to one, who the hell knows.
Margaux: Star counts for Mad Men are tricky, especially this season because it’s been a really slow burn. But with two episodes left for the year, I’m hoping we’ll get an episode that’s entirely up for debate, not just three or four parts. I’m okay with four stars.
Trevor: It seems like this season is going to have to really be judged as a whole. The seventh episode is called “Waterloo.” I’m really looking forward to that.
Margaux: There better be an ABBA song playing out the closing credits this Sunday then.
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