Let’s dive into it like Peggy (almost) dove back into the lady pond!
WARNING: SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP
This one was a bit of a snooze fest for me. It focused a lot on Teef and who really cares about Teef? My thoughts on the episode in no particular order.
- GUIZE. PEGGY AND STAN ALMOST HAD A THREE-SOME (by the transitive property)!! How fantastic was that storyline? I was getting a lot of Mary Tyler Moore from Pima right up until the point where she propositioned Peggy and Stan. Possibly a nod to The Mary Tyler Moore Show which would premiere later that year?
- Teef had a rough episode which I felt bad about but not that bad. She’s really a pretty insufferable character. She wants everything and she expects it to just be handed to her. Sorry, Teef. Life doesn’t work that way. It seemed like this episode wrapped up her storyline with a nice pretty bow so hopefully that was the end of that. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
- Fucking Harry Crane. I can’t imagine anyone was shocked to find him taking advantage of his connections to the casting couches. Weiner has said he wants the viewer to understand how the themes of the show reflect on today’s society and this certainly tied in a modern day scourge (see: Harvey Weinstein, Terry Richardson, et al.). The scene with Harry and Megan at lunch had a very current vibe to it. I’m sure similar scenes are playing out at restaurants all over New York and Los Angeles right now as I’m typing this.
- The overarching theme of the episode was how everyone is so wrapped up in their own wants and needs that they can’t see clearly those of others. They see what they want to see and fail to see a lot. Roger failing to understand Don’s divorce because he can’t separate it from his own divorce with Jane. Diane being so wrapped up in her guilt that she can’t accept Don’s offer of help. Megan having seen Don as the ticket to the lifestyle she wanted. In the last episode we saw that Don was still up to all of his old tricks seemingly having not learned any lessons over the past six and a half seasons. This episode questioned who is more responsible for that behavior – Don or the people who let them do it by turning a blind eye in favor of seeing what they want to see how they want to see it. The episode was titled ‘New Business’ but all the “new” business was old business wrapped in a new package with everyone repeating the same patterns over and over.
Those were my thoughts. Toss yours in the reply!
[Image]
