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?"!

Don Draper IS the Elephant in the Room

How hilarious is it that Don walked into Baby Gene's birthday party, where his presence was not expected and certainly not welcome, with a huge stuffed elephant in his arms? Did he do that on purpose in an attempt to bring some levity to the fact that he was the elephant in the room? Probably not, but I liked the imagery anyway. FYI, I don't care how old that kid gets, I'm always going to refer to him as Baby Gene.

How about what a jerk Henry Francis was when he called Don to come get the boxes marked "Draper" out of the garage? He took that opportunity to inform Don that he should stay away from his own son's birthday party. Henry would have more of a leg to stand on with this box issue if those boxes weren't in the garage of the house that Don owns! Also jerky was Henry ramming the boxes with his car, and the fact that he had the boxes out on the sidewalk when Don got there. Don couldn't have been any cooler when he drove straight to a dumpster and pitched the boxes without so much as a look inside.

I'm once again bursting with pride over how Don is growing as a person. He's seeing all the drinking that goes on at the office with new eyes, he's swimming to clear his head, he's making mature decisions in regards to women and his family and his own drinking. I just want him to be happy. Since he's a character on a television show and I am a real person, it's hard for me to reach out to him and give advice or offer support, but I would if I could. For now I'll cheer him and his small but steady personal victories on through the tv screen from my couch.

I wish Joan wouldn't have cattily snapped at Peggy for firing that turd Joey. While I realize that Joan's got her own stuff going on with her husband headed to Vietnam (just Basic Training for right now), she could have warmed up for a change and enjoyed a rare camaraderie with another female, especially since Peggy had just stood up for her. Her ice-cold, tough persona wore on me this episode.

Peggy Olson, I wish I were you

Reason #263 why vacation is simply the best thing in the whole entire world? I can post about Mad Men right after it's over instead of hurrying off to sleep because it's past my bedtime.
So let's get straight into tonight's episode. Don Draper, how you are changing! You drank so much you threw up? Unheard of. You used to be able to take so many pills and drink so much alcohol that grifters had to hit you over the head just to make you finally pass out. Now a long night of drinking with a girl ends with vomit on your shirt. Wow.
And you CRIED! In front of someone! In front of Pegs! Your vulnerability almost makes me cry just contemplating it.
Are Don and Peggy going to sleep together, maybe even end up together at some point? I'm dying to know.
I love Peggy's character. Recently I was discussing this with a friend of mine who also loves this show (as part of our unofficial Mad Men Fan Club), and we both admitted that we expect a lot of Peggy. We want good things to happen to her, but we expect her to go above and beyond to get them. I see something of myself in Peggy, I think. I want her to achieve in a way, on a level that I maybe haven't ever. I believe she can have whatever she wants if she just plugs away and works for it. I quit working like that a long time ago, but if I were to channel my inner Peggy, maybe I could get there.
I don't know.
Anyway, wouldn't it be crazy if Peggy and Don ended up together?
Other obviously mentionable moments in tonight's episode: Drunk Duck attempting to take a dump in what he thought was Don's (actually Roger's) office, poor sweet Anna dying and Don's reaction (what will happen when he goes to California?!), Peggy asking Don "how long are you going to go on like this?" when he asked for another drink not long after throwing up from drinking too much, not to mention how incredibly realistic Don's throwing up sounded. I'm not entirely unconvinced that Jon Hamm wasn't actually vomiting into that toilet.

Mad Men

Last night's Mad Men was wonderful. Here were some highlights for me:

• Peggy's hair looks amazing! Good riddance to those terrible butt-cut bangs.
• Sally has always been cute but is now super-pretty. I think she grew out of the lisp too.
• Don pays for sex?!? More on that in a moment.
• Don likes to get slapped during sex?!? Truly surprising.
• Don and Roger are friends again, or at least they seemed to be. That's good. Why Don was so angry with him in the first place was always kind of a mystery to me.
• When Don threw the squares from Jantzen out of his office, basically for being square

Let's jump right into Don Draper paying for sex. The last three seasons he's had women coming out of his ears and now that he's divorced and can have non-sneaking around, guilt-free sex with whomever he wants, he has sex with what looks to be his regular prostitute? And he wants her to slap him "harder" and "again"! That's just nuts. I'm intrigued.

Also intriguing was that Betty's new Old Man husband seems to have the same penchant for sneaking-around, illicit sex/relationships. He's married to Betty, it's official and everything, yet he didn't want to have sex in their bed but in the car in the garage. Quite frankly I don't know how she can stand to have his gross Dad Hands on her in any setting. It's also totally unacceptable that he and Betty still live in Don's house. That's outrageous.

While I'm thrilled that Betty redecorated the bedroom now that she's sharing it with a new husband, I miss her and Don's teal tufted headboard. I liked that.

I also liked that the new kid working with Peggy is the kid from that Jack and Bobby show that was on a few years ago for like four episodes that I and four other people watched. I like him.

I feel like a snob for using "whomever". I used it because (I think) it's correct, but it feels weird to me because I never say "whom" or "whomever" in real life.