Full Spoilers ahead for Season 5, episode 5 of Mad Men (if you haven't seen it there's no reason to read this)
Lane Motherfucking Pryce. If it hadn't been for Tupac making Coachella nothing but a gangsta party later that night (if you're one of the 5 people who haven't seen it, watch it now.), Lane's beatdown of Pete Campbell would have definitely been the most gangster thing to happen last weekend. This Sunday's episode began with Pete in driving school and it set the tone for the rest of the show as this was certainly a Pete-centric hour. Thus far this season we've gotten some hints that Pete isn't happy with his new suburban life with Trudy but this episode really went further in that direction to show just how unhappy Pete is. Throughout the episode we see Pete attempting to court a high school girl from his driving school class even going as far as to ask her out on a date to the botanical gardens in the city.
Pete also seems incapable of living the suburban life as he unsuccessfully fixes the water tap before it eventually breaks at the party that him and Trudy are hosting. Something that causes Don to go "Superman" (Trudy's words) and fix the tap so easily that makes me wonder if there's anything he can't do. This is completely opposite to Pete who can't even find the proper tool in the time it takes Don to fix the tap. Sad episode for him. Speaking of the party it was very interesting to watch the three couples, Don and Megan, Pete and Trudy, Ken and Cynthia (Whose name Don and Megan didn't know up until Ken said it. Funny stuff.) interact with each other. Even Don who at first didn’t want to go to the party seemed like he had a decent time and even brought up his own childhood willingly. Something he rarely if ever does. This might be a cause of the calming, relaxing effect Megan has on Don or the amount of alcohol Don had before and during the party (“I want to hit the doorbell with my chin”). Regardless of the reason, it was fun to see Don relax a bit with people other than Megan.
The other participant in the fight at the end of the episode was Lane. A character who I always liked in the show as he was a nice contrast to the rest of the men at SCDP. Lane begins the episode watching England win the World Cup (great episode for the British) with Edwin, a high-ranking Jaguar executive. This of course bodes well for the company as Edwin wants to do business with SCDP but also puts Lane in charge of his first account. This news is taken greatly by everyone except for Pete who in typical Pete fashion seems jealous about the whole thing. Lane's lack of expertise in handling an account leads to some great Roger lines as he's giving him pointers on how to handle the dinner meeting. Even with Roger's advice, the dinner doesn't go as planned causing Pete, Roger, and Don to take Edwin on a night on the town starting with a restaurant and ending at a whore house.
Don in keeping with his whole new and reformed outlook on life is the only one of the foursome to not pick out a girl but rather has a conversation with the matron (boss) of the place about growing up in one of them as a kid (again talking about his childhood), earning free drinks in the process. Pete's actions cause him to try and explain himself to Don by attacking Don's previous infidelities to which Don responds with "you don't get a second chance at what you have" and in reference to Megan and his divorce with Betty "yeah and if I met her first, I wouldn't be stupid enough to throw it away". Great scene with Don putting Pete in his place.
The next day we learn that Edwin's wife found out about the trip to the whorehouse and that as a result Jaguar will no longer be working with SCDP. How did she find out? The answer led to this great interaction, Lane - "he was caught with chewing gum on his pubics", Roger - "did she just put it there and forget about it?" (one of many funny scenes this episode). Lane's anger at the other three's lack of apologetic behaviour led to the the fight between Lane and Pete because of Pete insulting Lane's contributions and value to the company. Something that clearly hit a sore spot for Lane as he proceeded to take off his suit jacket and knock out Pete. In the aftermath of the fight Lane kisses Joan who brushes it off while Pete confesses to Don "I have nothing" basically explaining all of his feelings in one sentence. Great episode that ended with Ken's new story "The Man with the Little Orchestra" perfectly mirroring Pete's own descent into unhappiness. Can't wait for this Sunday's episode.
Random Thoughts: Pete did not have to tell Roger about Ken writing science fiction/fantasy novels on the side further showing just how big of a selfish/jealous prick he is. Speaking of Ken's books, I would definitely read the one about the robot who monitors the bridge in between two planets. How funny was it that Hanson's (the high school guy in driving school) nickname was Handsome? Or am I the only one who found that amusing? No Henry or Betty in this episode. No complaints here. I would like to see more Sally though as for me she is becoming a more and more interesting character. Roger had two great lines during the fight "I know cooler heads should prevail but am I the only one who wants to see this?" and "I don't know about you two but I had Lane" which once again showed how amazing he's been this season. Every scene with him in it is good to watch. I told Daki (fellow blogger) a few weeks back how I felt that Lane and Joan would hook up and I'm still thinking it's going to happen as they're the most similar to each other in the whole show. Finally I don't want to take credit for this but ever since calling out Don for being boring, Mad Men has come hard with two great episodes in a row (I realize I had nothing to do with this but still).
Last week's episode: 8.7.10 (Dream Draper choked out a woman!!!)
This week's rating: 9.1/10
Sorry for the extremely long delay on posting this review but exams are the worst. Can't really explain it anymore than that. I have another one on Monday but I will try to post my thought's on this Sunday's episode then or at the latest Tuesday.
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I just think that this show has the bst actors of any sereies currently on TV
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