Mad Men- Season 6, episodes 1-2

The Doorway parts 1 and 2- We loved the hair! Times are changing. We hardly recognize half these people though. We know now that Don decided to cheat on Megan, but man are we glad she's still around. And she's a successful actress! We never thought that would happen, but that's amazing.

Mad Men ends its fifth season (Episodes 11-13)

Ladies and germs, this was our favorite season of Mad Men. Maybe it was that I could finally root for Don Draper since he didn’t spend the season philandering and ruining his own life. Maybe it was the dramatic exits. Maybe it was the LSD. Maybe it was the accessible pacing. Maybe it was the humor. Maybe it was the 90s guest stars, including Nickelodeon’s Alex Mack and the WB’s Rory Gilmore. Maybe it was Betty’s fat suit and Sally’s whorish boots. A safe bet is that it was Megan Draper. Or Pete getting punched in the nose. We really can’t decide. This season was fun, deep, and full of great episodes. It's amazing that this was the show Ern once called "soulless." There was a time when we couldn't get through the first season. It took ten episodes to hook us. If season one were anything like season five, it would have taken one hour.

The last three episodes included arguably one if the best episodes of the entire series, "The Other Woman". The theme of “owning/objectification of women” was inspired and well-executed. Having Peggy walk out on Don after he humiliated her was genius and heartbreaking. Their awkward goodbye (that kiss!) was gripping and her smile as she walked onto the elevator, upbeat music starting, healed the wound a little. And then Joan, oh Joan, sleeping with the nasty Jaguar guy… The victory in getting the account was bittersweet (mostly bitter). Actually, it was gross. Don acted like a full human being there, and it was so sad that he didn’t get to Joan before she went through with it. We understand that she wanted to protect and provide for her son. On the bright side, we love Joan as a partner. Not silent. It's hard not to want Don with either Peggy or Joan in the end, even though it would be cliche.

Pete is such a worm, especially when he put the business before Joan’s well being. That’s the definition of greed, according to Ern’s dad: putting money before people. But we really liked the way Pete got into a fight with Rory Gilmore’s husband on the train. That guy is even more of a pig than Pete is and totally deserved it. Maybe that’s why he bothered Pete so much; he’s a future Pete and a mirror. Trudy is gorgeous and if Pete thinks another beautiful woman will make him feel alive, attractive, and happy again, he’s going to stay miserable and pathetic.

Lane’s death was a shocking, grisly moment for the series and we really felt for him in his depression. We aren’t fully sure yet of the repercussions the suicide will have on Don. We’re sure he feels a little lost and responsible. Don acted perfectly toward Lane. It seems like Don’s honor in business is back. That’s one thing we’ve missed about Don Draper during the Megan year: his business mojo and class.

We didn’t like the finale as much as the two episodes that preceded it. It left us with a bad taste in our mouths. It was so morose and repetitive of the season at large. It didn’t leave us with anything new, in other words. It hinted that the show is going to replay the old Don cheating thing and his Dick Whitman issues. Blah blah blah. This season moved things forward for the show and had Don facing old age. Are they going to go back to his mid-life crisis? The finale was too cold and ordinary, but it was still pretty good and it was very Mad Men. It just felt too low-key after the episodes that preceded it. 

The Don/Megan drama now centers completely on her acting career. Megan isn’t going to sit home barefoot and pregnant, but she’s having trouble breaking into the business. Don would rather her go back to creating brilliant advertisements at the firm, but he is forced to back her endeavors up. We were cheered by his eventual casting of Megan in the commercial she wanted, but we are wary that Don might go back to his old ways after the last shot of the season. We really hope he doesn’t. While we would love to see Megan’s freak-out when she catches Don, we really aren’t into cheating or storylines about cheating. It always really bums us out. We will understand if it happens though. It’s true to the character and it would be interesting to see it all play out.

The Other Woman: A+

Commissions and Fees: A

The Phantom: B

Season grade: A

Checking in with Mad Men (Season five episodes 7-10)

This season is all about Megan, so if you are not Team Megan or a Megan enjoyer, we feel for you, because you must be hating this season. However, we think you are crazy, because Megan is driving this show to new and better places. Our fear last year was that she would be stupid. We thought she would just be a young trophy wife who wouldn’t challenge Don at all and who would be way in over her head. We thought she would be a plaything before Don realized his mistake, threw Megan away, and got Faye back. However, Megan doesn’t take crap from anyone, and she isn’t stupid at all. In the first six episodes, we saw the couple go through some histrionics, figuring out how to treat each other. Megan wouldn’t put up with Don’s usual chauvinism and Don seems unaware of how to react to Megan’s dramatics.

But there have been bright spots in the last few months for the newlyweds. Don allowed Megan to quit the ad firm to pursue her acting dreams, she gets along with the children (for the most part), Don doesn’t cheat, when Megan had a good idea for a pitch Don supported it and admitted her tagline was better than his, and they really do seem to like each other. We never thought we’d see Don in a good relationship and we wonder how long it will last. Megan knows about Anne Draper and thinks it’s just fine. The fighting is healthy in that it’s out in the open and both parties speak their mind. Yeah, there are issues. Don’s mad at Megan for leaving the firm and feels judged for his business by Megan, her theater friends, and her family. Megan likes to fight and then have makeup sex. But with a show like this, this relationship is as nice as you can hope for.

We loved seeing guest stars Julia Ormond and Alexis Bledel. Julia, who we remember well from our childhoods as Guinevere in First Knight (a guilty pleasure movie about King Arthur and Lancelot), played Megan’s French mother. Alexis Bledel is Pete’s newest crush. He cheated on Trudy yet again, and this time with the wife of the nasty miser who commutes to work with him on the train. Alexis, if you can believe it, is thirty years old. She speaks a little differently, and we like it. She sounds more mature. She looks the same as ever. She could still pass for a high schooler, easily. It’s so fun to see her. For a while, she wasn’t getting very good projects, and Mad Men is a great one, especially this season. We really didn’t need to see that much of Rory Gilmore’s boob though.

Lane stole money from the firm and committed fraud in order to pay his debts. We like Lane. Okay, no we don’t. We mostly just feel bad for him. But we feel like this move is going to end in him leaving the firm, and he is going to deserve to lose his job and have to move back to Europe. Was Peggy threatened by Megan? She told Joan that Megan was a girl who was just good at everything, and her heartfelt congratulations to Megan after the Heinz closing seemed genuine. But she had a stank look on her face at times, and Don seems to think that Peggy was jealous of Megan. We are giving Peggy the benefit of the doubt…this time.

We agreed with Peggy’s mother than moving in with her boyfriend was a bad idea, but the mother’s reaction was uncalled for. People should be allowed to do what they want. We guess that was a different, less accepting time when it comes to cohabitation. Also, Momma’s advice to get cats instead was truly sad. Peggy might not have too many romance options. Ern’s brother said that Peggy looks like Dobby from Harry Potter. (What??!!) We never can tell if we think Elizabeth Moss is attractive. They give her the worst hair on this show. But she’s certainly better looking than a house elf.

Sally continues to intrigue. She’s growing up fast (too fast, since she had to see Roger getting head from Megan’s mom). We actually weren’t that mad at Betty for her sabotage attempt. Yeah, it was low and Betty is more unlikeable than almost anyone else on this show, but we’ve seen real life parents badmouth each other and try to turn their kids against each other in much worse ways. That didn’t exactly shock us.

What is shocking Don’s work life. He used to be so honorable toward his clients and respected, but he’s burned bridges with the Lucky Strike letter. He’s distracted because of Megan. Don also screwed over Ginsburg for the sake of his own pride when he didn’t show the client both Sno-Ball ideas. We expect more from Don, but these are signs that he’s feeling insecure at work. Not to mention how painful it was to watch Don try to make his stupid idea work. What happened to his cool magic at the workplace? We like that the show is doing this to Don. It's taking his mojo and yet the show is still interesting. 

Roger needs to do LSD again so he gets less clueless. We felt bad for Judy after he had sex with her in her new apartment. His admission that he felt terrible was welcome though. We wonder where the show is taking the Roger character. We don’t like Harry much, and his dalliance with the Hare Krishna woman only served to further annoy us. We loved Don and Joan getting time together last week, and we think everyone agrees with us there. Joan has been at her most badass this season. We also loved Megan teaching Sally to cry on cue, which should come in handy in the future, since Sally is getting to be a little batty. We tried Megan’s tips, but we need to practice more…

We’ve been finding the show to be warmer, more thoughtful, and more accessible in season five. Since the show has already done the “adulterous superhero ad men and their secretaries” thing to death, it now has to find someplace new to take the characters and themes. The world is moving on, Don Draper is starting to feel like an old man, and the men who used to be on top of the world are now a little out of touch. They are playing more Beatles and showing us the changing world. We love seeing the show grown up and explore different ideas. There hasn’t been a boring episode yet this season. For Mad Men, that’s a huge achievement. Also, Pete got punched in the face! Come on! Best season ever.

Netflix is claiming that it boosted Mad Men’s ratings by making the show’s four season available to stream. We tend to agree. If it weren’t for Netflix, we wouldn’t have been caught up this season, and we wouldn’t have been into the show at all. It takes nearly a whole season to like this show for most people, so streaming on Netflix for free is pretty necessary.

At the Codfish Ball: B

Lady Lazarus: A-

Dark Shadows: A

Christmas Waltz: B

Mad Men, Smash, The Good Wife, Game of Thrones, The Voice, Make It Or Break It

Game of Thrones- Garden of Bones

Catelyn tries to get Renly and Stannis Baratheon to band together against the Lannisters. Then she has to see Ned Stark’s remains in a box. GROSS, LITTLEFINGER. She should have just stuck with the mental image of him alive. Now she has the mental image of him rotting, and a nice smell to go along with it. Joffrey becomes even more of a jerk than usual, but at least this leads to the best line ever (“There’s no cure for being a ****). Daenerys finds a city to take her in, and Tyrion continues to be awesome. Arya ends up a cupbearer for Tywin Lannister who hilariously realized she was a good as soon as he saw her. Gendry barely escaped with his life. We’ve heard of that rat torture before, and we have to say, that must be one of the top ten worst ways to die. GROSS. We ship Robb Stark and random healer girl. Melisandre gives birth to a smoke thing. She’s so eccentric.

Episode grade: A-

Smash- Publicity

Rebecca Duvall starts inviting Karen out. Paparazzi follow. Jerry and Nick meet, and Jerry is not happy about it. You know, Nick is way too cute for Eileen. We just have to throw that out there, because we are shallow. But we love the way he handled Jerry. Leo thinks his parents splitting up gives him a blank check to just be a dick. He runs away from home and allows his parents and the cops to worry about him for days. Turns out, he’s sleeping on his friend’s floor. He comes home and apologizes, but seriously dude? Plenty of parents split up and many kids think about running away just to get away from it all and build a wall between yourself and parents who hurt you, but you don’t do it, because it’s mean and it helps nothing. Except in this case, it brought Leo’s parents close enough for a hug, because it’s this show and it’s unrealistic. Hear that kids? Just run away and your parents will unite to look for you. The emotion will bond them!

The Bollywood number was weird. And isn’t A Thousand and One Nights an Arabic story? The show seems to be saying, “Hey, they are all brown and exotic, so what’s the difference?” It was pretty fun though. We like this show a little ridiculous rather than just boring. It’s time for Dev to go, and we are glad that Ellis got stuck on smoothie duty, where he belongs. Ivy’s plot to steal Karen’s dull solo was pretty clever, but she has to know that she will be found out. It’s on again. We like Rebecca Duvall. She tells it like it is and wants some control over her projects. Yeah, she can’t sing, but she’s not going to end up an empty puppet like Marilyn Monroe. Uma Thurman brought life back to this show.

Episode grade: B+

Make It Or Break It- Dream On

It’s semi-qualifications time, so there are cuts. The main cuts victim is Kelly Parker. Fortunately, Kelly is now strong enough to tell her mom to get out of her life. She has a room waiting for her at her dad’s, knows that she will be ok, was strengthened by Kaylie’s friendship, and is ready to discover that there is more to herself than gymnastics. She even admitted that she peaked at World’s and her progress has been stagnant. So yeah, she took it well. It made us like KP more. We’re sad to see her go, but we know that someone important had to be cut this episode. Lauren Tanner’s dreams have been halted since Payson told Coach McIntire about her health problems. Lauren hates Payson now, but we suspect that Lauren will be right back at the training center in a few episodes. Also, Wendy is the mole. Meh. Why do all the girls on this show except for Payson, Kaylie, and Emily have to turn out to be secretly underhanded and bitchy? Come up with a new plotline, show. We’ve decided that the actress playing Jordan is not very good. Leeard hates Jordan with a  fiery passion, but Ern kind of likes her. This episode was really touching with the KP stuff. It felt like old MIOBI. 

Episode grade: A-

The Good Wife- The Penalty Box

Cary is back! CARY IS BACK! Yeeee! Also, Kalinda and Alicia are hanging out in bars again! Friends! Friends forever! Those things are awesome. The rest of the episode was ok. Alicia defends a judge who is in hot water for actions during his time as a prosecutor. We liked her questioning her role and the law at the end of the episode. We couldn’t care less about Kalinda’s FBI business or Will’s new fling. If we could only take two famous people to a desert island? Ern would probably take Tim Keller and Stephen King. Leeard would probably take Donald Glover and Jenna Marbles.

Episode grade: B

The Voice- We are sad to lose Pip and Mathai this week. Pip was versatile and had a genuinely good voice. He just hadn’t found his niche yet. The loss of James Massone was fine. We don’t know what Adam sees in Katrina Parker over Mathai. We don’t need a less good ADELE, and Mathai’s singing was consistently good. Cee Lo continues to make mostly excellent choices. Keeping Juliet Simms over Cheesa was a good call. We didn’t like either of the songs Juliet sang this week, but we liked her voice so much during the first live show last week that we think she needs to stay around so that we can hear more of that. Tony Lucca’s Baby One More Time was a great cover and an even better idea, so he deserved to stay. We think Jamar Rogers was voted saved by the American public partly due to sob story factor, but he has a good voice. Contestants we are rooting for now: Juliet Simms, Lindsey Pavao, Chris Mann, Erin Willett, and Tony Lucca.

Mad Men- Far Away Places

This show finally gave us someone to love. Yeah, Peggy is a nice person, but she started out so timid and she occasionally shows that she has no self-respect. Peggy gave a handjob to a stranger in this episode as a way to forget work and her relationship problems. Megan, on the other hand, is not only interesting but incapable of taking crap from Don Draper lying down. Scenes with her are never boring, and we love the way she’s not afraid to tell Don when he’s being a chauvinist pig, even if it devolves into a melodramatic fight. These two are hilarious. We actually laughed when Don was chasing Megan around the room. Don really loves Megan and we think she’s the best thing for him (at least for now). We used to think that was Faye, but it looks like it’s Megan. As for Roger’s tripping balls, we just kept thinking, “Take those big earrings out before you take LSD.” Try couples therapy with drugs! 

Or not. It just gave Roger permission to leave his wife even if it also gave him some clarity and courage to be honest. That guy is a 15-year-old wreck. At least Don shows a little growth sometimes. But get back to work, Don. This was one of the more entertaining episodes so far this season. The LSD sequence was inspired. We loved the lack of Pete and the format of three short stories with a common theme. It wasn’t your average Mad Men episode. Sometimes the jumping around between characters in this show causes us to be unable to engage with one particular story. This episode stayed with characters until their story was told and it really sucked us in. On a more technical note, this was visually great. We liked the camerawork and many of the shots.

Episode grade: A

Mad Men - Signal 30 review and The Good Wife - Pants on Fire review

Mad Men - Signal 30

Pete is such a child. Of course he needs to take driver’s ed. He gets a ridiculous crush on a high school girl who fortunately ends up falling for an attractive schoolmate. That girl dodged a bullet. Ern has never liked Pete. When Pete wrongs Trudy, Ern gets offended because she is Annie from Community. Leeard likes him. It’s nice to see some growth in Don, however long it lasts before he probably relapses. We are still loving Megan unabashedly.

It’s great to see Joan back to work. She is so perfect and her tact has no end. She always knows what to do, as evidenced by how she handled being kissed by Lane. Is it possible that Lane/Joan might actually happen? Lane had the best line of the episode.“You’re a grimy little pimp.” Wow, did you see Pete’s girly, sideways punches? We think it’s safe to say that either of us could beat Pete in a fight. How great was it to see Pete get punched in the face after an episode (and possibly series) of him deserving it? We are rooting for another fight on this show. We are also rooting for Ken and his writing.

Episode grade: B-

The Good Wife - Pants on Fire

Holy moly, this one was eventful. What a bunch of politicians this show has. It also gave us hope that Cary might come back to work with Alicia. They are getting along and Cary is unhappy at his current job. Kalinda did her usual Veronica Mars act and solved the case for Alicia, but most of the happenings were personal and political. Thankfully, the episode opened with Alicia confronting Jackie at the beauty parlor. Jackie is so creepy! She wants to move into the old house with Peter and the kids, replacing Alicia as the family matriarch. Gross and tacky. Is that stroke real?

It was sad when Eli slept with Vanessa but then had to stop working on her campaign. We get why he had to do it, but it’s still less than admirable. We will miss Vanessa. It’s nice seeing Eli’s romantic side. Matthew Perry’s character, Mike Kresteva, gets slimier every time we see him. He tells outright lies to make Alicia and Peter look bad, because he is running for governor and doesn’t want Peter to. Threatening Peter’s family was a low blow, and we look forward to seeing this guy try to take Peter down through Alicia. We guess we needed someone truly evil to replace Wendy Scott-Carr. Alicia is flabbergasted that someone could be such a shameless liar. We can't wait to see Peter run for office with Alicia's support. We’re glad this hiatus is over.

Episode grade: B+

Mad Men- Mystery Date

What Happened- Megan and Don run into Andrea, a woman Don once slept with. Megan is severely annoyed by this and makes it known. Don is sick, so he goes home. Andrea shows up at his apartment and Don sends her away. Later, he has a dream/hallucination where Andrea comes back, they have sex, and Don ends up strangling Andrea to death. He wakes up to Megan smiling and bringing him food.

Several student nurses in Chicago were raped and murdered, and Joyce comes to work with exclusive crime scene photos. Everyone is very interested, except for Michael (the Jewish new hire), who is disgusted. Sally reads about the massacre in the news and gets scared. Sally and Henry take a road trip, leaving Sally home with Pauline, Henry’s mother. Pauline gives Sally extra information about the killings and then gives her half a sleeping pill so she won’t be up all night, frightened.

Greg comes home from war and meets “his son.” He also has plenty of sex with Joan until Joan finds out that Greg is only staying for ten days. Greg volunteered for another year as a military doctor. Joan tells Greg to leave and never come back. She tells him that she is glad the military makes him feel like a man, because she is stick of trying to make him feel that way. She tells him that he is not a good man and wasn’t even before they were married. This is a clear reference to the rape. Greg leaves.

Roger forgets to get Michael on a campaign for Mohawk and tries to fix it by paying Peggy to work up a campaign. Peggy ends up getting $400 out of him. When working late, Peggy finds Dawn (the new black secretary) sleeping in the office because she’s afraid to go back to Harlem due to outside chaos. Peggy invites Dawn to stay the night with her. Peggy gets drunk and confesses that she doesn’t know if she really has the talent to be a good copywriter. Peggy ruins the budding friendship by momentarily hesitating to leave her purse alone with Dawn. Peggy wakes up to find a thank you note from Dawn, but Dawn is gone.

Comments- Alrighty. Back to the adventures of America’s classiest scumbag. What’s this we saw? Wait, what? Whoa. Don didn’t cheat. How is he still Don if he doesn’t cheat on his woman?!! Does Don love Megan more than he did Betty? Is he scared of Megan? Is it just that Megan is hotter than Andrea? Is he still in the honeymoon phase of marriage and uninterested in cheating? We doubt that last one is the case, since he hallucinated sleeping with Andrea. We loved Megan from the last two weeks, but now we love her even more. Megan doesn’t seem like the type of woman who will take cheating lying down. She’s got some oomph and gumption, and not in a passive aggressive way.

Pauline is fairly awful, but she’s entertaining. We like that the show still gives Sally storylines and things to do. We think she’s a strong character. We love Michael for being disgusted at the victims’ pictures and his co-workers’ voyeuristic, sick reactions. We need another good person in the office besides Peggy. The best character of the night is obviously Joan. The show FINALLY addressed the rape by having Joan stand up to Greg, confront him about it, and end their relationship. Her words were right-on and if anyone is strong enough to be a single mom in the 60s and rock it, it’s Joan. It also frees Joan up to return to work and nab a new, better man. The end of this marriage is the best thing ever. We are glad we watched this episode just for that scene.

This episode was a little slow but nicely subtle. Fans of the show know that they have to wait a while before a secretary dies at her desk, secrets are found out, or feet are overrun by lawn mowers. Overall though, this show is worth the wait and slog through quieter episodes like this one.

Episode grade: B-

Mad Men - Tea Leaves

What Happened - Betty has gained some weight. It’s noticeable, and it’s supposed to be. She sits around the house in robes and housedresses, and Henry’s mother stops by and tells her to lose weight. Betty goes to get diet pills, and the doctor finds a node on her thyroid. Betty calls Don, panicking.

She goes to see a specialist and sees a friend who has terminal cancer. This, a fortune teller, and a creepy dream freak Betty out. The node is benign, but the episode ends with Betty stress eating. Don calls to check on Betty, Henry answers and tells Don that Betty is fine, and Henry does not tell Betty that Don called.

At work, Don has a new black secretary, Dawn. The Heinz client wants the Rolling Stones to be in his commercial and sing a jingle. Harry and Don go to see the band’s manager, but Harry messes everything up. Don expresses concern for a young girl at the concert. She steals his tie.

Pete gives Mohawk to Roger, but then takes all the credit. Roger is ready to resign, but Don tells Roger that Betty has cancer. This sobers Roger up, and he lets things go…for now. Peggy is tasked with hiring someone. The young man she hires is clearly and stereotypically Jewish, too genuine, fun, zany, and always says the most awkward things. Fortunately, he is talented, creative, and stuffed with provocative ad ideas.

Comments - While last week was all about Megan, this one was all about Betty. AND BETTY GOT FAT. One of us doesn’t hate Betty and has always been annoyed on her behalf because of all Don’s cheating. Yeah, Betty couldn’t handle Richard Whitman. But maybe Richard would have been worth handling if Don had been a good and worthy man in the first place. Just that blogger’s two cents… We know everyone else hates Betty, and this is a great gift to people who have been waiting to see her get cut down to size. One of us doesn’t hate Betty, but everyone else must be thrilled.

It’s mean and chicken that Henry didn’t tell Betty that Don called. We like that the show is doing something new with Betty’s character. It must be her greatest fear to lose her looks. January Jones did not gain all that weight. It’s half that she is pregnant and half that the show used makeup and a fat suit. They made Peggy fat in season one and now they’ve applied their makeup skills to Betty. All that said, Betty is still really pretty. We don’t know how offended we are that the show has bought into the weight gain = failure philosophy of our culture, but if it takes Betty somewhere interesting, we will forgive it. 

One thing we won't forgive is the swipe at Mitt Romney's dad. One line referred to George Romney as "a clown." We aren't attached to George Romney or anything, but it's annoying when shows smugly slip in their writers' political preferences into entertainment. 

They hired a black secretary! Yay! Good job, firm. Of course, Dawn/Don is already confusing everyone. We liked that Don said, “She was the most qualified” and left it at that. We were happy to see the cute daughter from Lie to Me getting work as the Rolling Stones groupie. We think she has magnetism. We also liked seeing the older, concerned version of Don continuing. He’s turning into our grandparents and we love it. After all, our grandparents lived in that world.

We also kind of like the new guy. Most of the characters on this show need to lighten up. Adding Megan was a breath of fresh air. The era is starting to liven up, and we don’t know if professional Don will be comfortable in the changing world this season. Bringing the new guy, Megan, and the Rolling Stones to the show works for us. Overall though, this episode bored us a little. We guess it was a little funny. Mad Men is always stylish and packed with commentary, but it’s only rarely gripping. When it is, it knocks our socks off.

Episode grade: B-

Mad Men- A Little Kiss parts 1 and 2

Welcome to our first Mad Men review. Last year, we got caught up on this show, despite all the adultery, which you know we don’t like. The truth is, there’s nothing else on TV like it, and when it’s good, it’s great. Most of the time, it can be a tad dull. Overall, it’s worth watching.

What Happened- Months after the season four finale, Don and Megan live together in a large, nice city apartment.  Megan has moved into the creative department of the ad firm. Shockingly, Megan knows that Don is really Richard Whitman, and she is totally ok with it. Don’s children visit and Sally gets a glimpse of Megan’s naked, sleeping back when she opens her father’s bedroom door. Don drops them off at their mothers, instructing them to “give Morticia and Lurch my love.” Joan had Roger’s baby and took some time off of work. Joan’s mother came to help her out and pressure her to be a stay-at-home mom.

Executives at rival agency Y&R dropped water balloons on civil rights protesters, leading Draper’s firm (SCDP) to run an ad in the paper that said they were an “Equal Opportunity Employer.” The ad was a snipe at their less progressive competitor. They didn’t really want to hire anyone, but a bunch of black people show up, looking for work. Lane collects their resumes.

Megan threw Don a surprise 40^th birthday. Now, we’ve seen every episode of this show, so we know that Don does not like that sort of attention. It makes him feel out of control and too scrutinized. Megan should have known better, especially since Peggy warned her against it. Peggy gets a little drunk at the party and has words with Don about how hard she works and how Don is slacking now that he is “happy.” Don does not care, but Megan got upset about it.

Harry gives Don a walking stick as a present, rubbing in the fact that Don is old. Stupid Harry. Megan does a burlesque performance of a French song, “Zou Bisou, Bisou,” which means “Oh Kiss, Kiss.” This is probably the tie-in to the episode’s title. After the party, Don lies in bed and whines while Megan tries to talk to him and possibly have sex with him. He makes it clear that he didn’t enjoy the party, the waste of money, the embarrassment, or the recognition that he is old. The next day, Don gets the silent treatment.

At work, Roger screws Pete over by stealing a lunch meeting with Pete’s clients, so Pete gets all ambitious again. Pete is upset that Roger has seniority when Roger doesn’t do as much work as Pete. Pete demands Roger’s office in revenge. The partners tell Roger that Pete could use a bigger office, so Roger pays Harry to trade offices with Pete. Pete takes the office, but is unsatisfied. Pete then puts a fake meeting on his calendar for Roger to steal. Roger ends up going to a fake breakfast meeting at 6 a.m. on Staten Island. Nicely played, Pete.

Lane Pryce finds a wallet in a cab and keeps it, hoping it will help him meet a woman to distract him from his financial and personal stresses. It doesn’t work. Megan overhears Harry talking about her dance and having sex with her. When Harry is caught, he spends the rest of the episode freaking out that Megan will tell Don. Megan reveals that she is upset to Peggy and Peggy apologizes for her words at the party. Megan tells Peggy that she doesn’t feel well and goes home. Peggy goes to Don’s office and tells him what happened.

Don goes home to find Megan cleaning up after the party. She is doing it in her underwear, since she doesn’t want to get hot and sweaty. She tells Don that he is old and that he shouldn’t look at her while she is cleaning. Of course, Don keeps looking, since he is talking to her (and since her body is bangin’). He goes over to her and Megan tells him that he can look while she cleans, but he can’t touch. We know this sounds crazy and sexist, and it’s supposed to. Megan is having a mini meltdown. Don solves the situation with sex. They end up lying on the carpet, talking.

Comments- Question: Did this really need to take two hours? The recap we did is just as long as, say, a recap of Once Upon a Time or Pretty Little Liars, and those shows were only one hour. Mad Men takes a lot of time to get somewhere and started slow last night. Megan was the star of the episode and it’s about time, since we don’t know her very well from last season and Don proposed. Megan is a little crazy and conniving, but maybe she is good for Don. Betty stayed when Don cheated, but as soon as she found out that he was Richard Whitman, Betty had a problem. Megan knows everything and is still into Don.

Megan’s performance of the French song (which can already be found on iTunes) was sexy and pretty good, but it was awkward. We were so uncomfortable watching it. We knew what Don was thinking, we knew that all his stupid pig work friends were watching, and we knew this was the 60s. Ladies don’t do sexy dances in public in the 60s if they want to be taken seriously at work the next day. Don was probably starting to realize that the hip, modern advertising couple act might wear him out just as much as the perfect family act he had with Betty. Also, Megan invited all of his coworkers into his home and safe place.

We don’t know where the show is going with Megan. There are hints that she is a nice person with everything Don thinks he wants. Megan is fun. However, she doesn’t seem smart or emotionally stable enough to take on a thing like Don. She’s no Faye, in other words, and Peggy isn’t sure about her yet. We think this character is one that people will either love or hate. Some people might love to hate her. We can’t help being fans right out of the gate, since she is so accepting, different from Betty, interesting, and free-spirited. The age difference might be a problem. Don wants to relax, not have a surprise party. Megan can’t imagine such a thing, since she and all her young friends would love one. We guess the show is saving comparatively dour Betty for another episode because we didn’t see her in the premiere.

 It was really funny when Joan brought her baby into work and even funnier when Roger met it. He didn’t seem impressed and cracked a few jokes about how unremarkable the child was. We also liked the scene where Lane assured Joan that she had a job at the firm and that she was indispensible. We like Lane, overall. Still, Peggy is clearly the nicest person on this show. It was funny when Roger ruined the surprise party (and when he asked his wife why she didn’t sing like that, and she replied, “Why don’t you look like that). Ern tried to do Megan’s eye makeup from the party to herself. The results were disappointing.

Episode grade: B

Shows That Grew On Us Months/Years After We Shunned Them

Sometimes you watch a show and you just don’t get it. It’s not for you. But then, months later, you are obsessed with it. We all know the shows that have jumped the shark (the ones most of us have stopped watching). We have listed them, voted on them, and ranted about them. But it’s time for a list of the ones to give more time to, even if they suck at first. This is a list of shows that we have started watching and then shunned, only to try them again and love them.

Arrested Development and The Office - We had trouble getting into these at first simply because we needed time to get used to the humor. One of our friends, let’s call her Cassi, had trouble getting into Arrested Development, scoffing at a girl who called it, “The funniest show ever.” Cassi muttered, “It’s so not.” However, a few episodes after the pilot, we noticed that Cassi had caught onto the amazingness, and by the third season, she was gasping for breath laughing.

Sex and the City - WOW that first season was slow. The girls were unlikeable and slutty, Carrie kept talking to the camera (and interviewing people), Carrie’s hair was horrible, her column was lame, the sex questions and issues were common, and the guys were not hot yet. We’re glad we stuck with it though, because it ended up having lots of heart and humor.

24 - Ern LOVES 24 (even though she doesn’t believe in using torture). She used to marathon it for full days, no kidding. So it might surprise you that the first time she tried to watch it, it was a complete fail. Ern rented the first two DVDs from season one and promptly returned them, thinking, “Good riddance.” There were no characters worth caring about yet, Jack Bauer’s daughter was an idiot who deserved to get kidnapped, his wife was annoying, Jack Bauer looked like a muskrat, and the big crime mystery moved at a glacial pace. However, Ern’s friend, Rachel, lent her season one in a box, and Ern will watch anything a friend lends her in a box. About halfway through the first season, when Jack Bauer rescues his daughter, things picked up. And then things never let up. After that, 24 was never boring. Controversial, but never boring. Leeard caught random episodes of this show and didn't like it. Silly Leeard. You have to watch this one from the beginning of a season or you won't know what's going on.

Rome - This show covers 20 years of Roman history, and the characters never age a day. But our real beef is that half of the first season was SO BORING. It was like this show just existed to show people in cool costumes take them off and then have sex. Then we got into it and enjoyed it. Before you pick this one up, it helps to know some Roman history and be into the Roman politics.

Boston Legal - This show is a funny classic now, but when we started the first season, we were extremely turned off by the liberal PSAs every week. Even if we happened to agree, this show was so preachy, it made us literally gag one time. There were monologues by the judges at the end of the episodes. Top that off with nearly every young woman in the law firm looking like models and every one of them thinking humpty-dumpty-looking Alan Shore was a great catch, and we were changing the channel on this one at first.

Dexter - This started off gross, exploitative, confusing, and creepy. We put it on a level with gory crap like those moronic Saw movies. But then Dexter’s inhumanity was contrasted with real humanity. We got to know his history. Deb stopped working vice and got to put some clothes on. And by the end of the first season, we were happy someone had convinced us to give it a second try.

Breaking Bad - The pilot tried our patience. Then it got awesome.

Community - While Leeard loved the pilot of this show, Ern was not impressed. It took Ern half a season to think this was funny. The Halloween episode of the first season is what did it.

Cougar Town - In the beginning, the show was about cougars, it wasn’t funny, and it wasn’t cute. We think just about everyone gave up on this one in the beginning, but word of mouth has brought a few back. Now, it’s a Scrubs-like, zany show about a group of friends. Jules is a much better character than Monica Gellar. We’ve said it before, and we will say it again: If you like fun, light humor, try this show, because it’s good now.

Dollhouse - It’s tough to have a show with few good guys and a main character with no identity of her own. It’s tough to watch a show drag and feel like it doesn’t know where it is going or how fast it needs to spill answers (LOST, anyone?). But it would be tougher for you to miss out on a sci-fi show this unique.

Fringe - Just start on the second season, seriously. 2/3rds of the first season is horribly slow. But now it’s good.

The Vampire Diaries - The pilot was the only lame episode of this fantastic series. Ern shunned it for nearly a full year, because a) she HATES Twilight (shitelight), b) thinks vampires should never go to high school, c) rarely likes teen shows, and d) the title “The Vampire Diaries” just makes it sound hella lame, right? Leeard kept sending Ern links to watch it, offended that Ern did not trust her taste. For the sake of the friendship, Ern watched the links. And now, we can both love it together.

Then there are shows that we have shunned, but keep thinking we should go back to. Currently they are Mad Men and Nikita. People rave over Mad Men, but we didn’t see it. Is it time for a return visit to the ‘60s? And now that Nikita’s advertising campaign has died down, it might be less annoying, and we might get into the story better if we can see many episodes at a time.

In fact, that’s a good trick. Get a full season on DVD, and if it doesn’t hook you after a few hours, it might not be for you. It’s harder to get into a difficult show week-to-week.

What are some shows that you hated at first that grew on you?

Mad Men Finale Approaches - Is one blogger wrong to hate the show?

You might have noticed a lack of Mad Men coverage on this blog, even though it's supposedly such a popular show. Why? Because one blogger hates it, and the other blogger is far from being caught up. But we thought, due to its acclaim and popularity, we would mention it, because the finale is tomorrow night.

Why does one blogger hate it? For these reasons:

1) Glacial pacing. The aforementioned blogger made it through LOST with no impatience at all. Ever. All the plotlines are so slow-moving.

2) All the cads. Cheating, sleezy guys just aren't that interesting. This blogger doesn't care how messed up Don Draper's past was. He is a ho-bag, this blogger doesn't go for the "bad boys," and there are too many guys like this in life and on TV for it to be edgy anymore. Maybe it's a great fantasy for some guys, being so successful and cool at work and having many women, but it just doesn't do it for the rest of us.

3) Mad Men is obsessed with pointing out how racist and sexist America was in the '60s, allowing us to look down upon the past with the benefit of our politically correct hindsight. Have we really come that far? Don Draper was AskMen.com’s most influential man a while back. When Don Draper is idealized as an example of manhood, we have to wonder how far we’ve really come.
4) The actress playing Betty can't act at all, and Don Draper is so stiff. No, not that way, you sickos.

BUT both bloggers like the style/visuals, and we love Christina Hendricks for bringing that real woman’s body back into fashion. Also, this blogger didn't get very far into the show. Being bored to tears by the first couple of episodes and not hearing anything about the show in subsequent years that would draw her back in, this blogger might not have given it a chance. The blogger who likes the show doesn't like it enough to be watching over Chuck, Glee, The Vampire Diaries, and random Disney fare on Instant Netflix.

We are wondering if we should both catch up on this show when we are on winter break or if our first impressions were correct. Are we wrong? Are we taking Mad Men's attributes out of the context of the whole show?