Blowing Smoke, Mad Men Season 4 Episode 12

The Return of Midge!! I was watching this episode with my little brother Jonny, and almost as soon as Don walked into Midge and her "just for the bread" husband's apartment, he said "This is some kind of set-up." Correctamundo! I didn't see it coming, but Jonny did and Don quickly figured it out too, thanks to clues from the Heroin Husband. Heroin!! Wow.

For a minute I thought we had seen the last of Pete's blue suits. He wore a black suit last week for a funeral, and in one of the first scenes of this episode, he and Don were sitting next to each other both wearing grey suits. Samesies!! Sadly, he was back to a blue suit the next time we saw him. Rats.

My favorite lines from this episode came from Sally Draper and Bert Cooper.

Sally: "She doesn't care what the truth is as long as I do what she says." Therapy with Dr. Edna has really helped Sally, and I'm happy that she's figuring out how to get along in this world. Too bad her mother, a grown woman, still hasn't figured that out.

I so wish Betty hadn't caught Glen and Sally in their secret but completely innocent meeting place. Sally truly was being a good girl and nothing bad was going on, but there's no doubt Betty will twist the situation around to turn something innocuous into something dirty. Just as Dr. Edna is able to talk Sally through what could have been a lifelong neurosis, Betty has to come along and heap another complex onto Sally's poor little mind.

Bert: "You there! Get my shoes!" This was just comical. I giggled for minutes in a row.

The most perplexing line of this episode was supplied by old #92, Glen Bishop. Reaching the end of his Coke, he asked Sally "Do you want the backwash?" Really? Who wants the backwash, especially when you don't even try to disguise it as something else?

Chinese Wall, Mad Men Season 4 Episode 11

Seriously, Bert Cooper looked almost identical to Colonel Sanders in this episode. I think he was wearing a string tie, which clinched the resemblance.

Peggy's new guy Abe (Charlie Hofheimer)

keeps reminding me of Fred from Valley Girl (Cameron Dye), even though I know it's not him.


Ken Cosgrove's father-in-law is Leland Palmer (Ray Wise)!! Another David Lynch actor (Lane's dad is Mr Reindeer)!

I wish Megan and Don wouldn't have hooked up so soon. What's done is done though.

When Trudy's dad, confused why Pete was hanging around the waiting room while Trudy was in labor, said "I was at a ballgame when Trudy was born", it reminded me of something Roger said a couple seasons ago while reminiscing about his daughter: "One minute you're drinking in a bar and they come and tell you your kid's been born, the next thing you know they're heading off to college." Later in this episode, Pete, class act that he is, heard the news of his daughter's arrival then immediately went to network at the funeral of someone he probably barely knew. [My dad was at a Fourth of July parade when I was born.]

Peggy's response of "Every time something good happens, something bad happens. I knew I'd pay for it" (after hearing the news of SCDP's loss of Lucky Strike the morning after impulsively sleeping with Abe) was very relatable. When a seemingly consequential negative experience totally kills the high of a positive experience, it kind of ruins your day and makes you beat yourself up a bit. But really she shouldn't have slept with that Abe guy that she was so mad at just a couple episodes ago anyway! I don't know what she sees in him, or what she saw in Pete (yuck) or Duck (too old, among other issues) or that weak Mark lame-o. Pegs, shape up! You're the coolest chick I know; why can't you see that about yourself? At least she's not falling for Stan (totally gross). I loved when she asked him "Why do you keep making me reject you?"!

Wise Words from Bert "The Colonel" Cooper

Bert Cooper to Roger Sterling: "Lee Garner never took you seriously because you never took yourself seriously."

That's a finger-lickin' good statement of fact.