SPOILERS for last night’s episode of Mad Men, “The Runaways.”
I have to say, Mad Men’s Season 7 has been really good so far. And by “good,” I mean that stuff is happening, it’s not just Don and Megan’s petty BS. I mean, Megan is still around (unfortunately), but Don is over her and that gives the audience an excuse to be over her too, and to see her for the petty, childish, superficial woman she always was. The way she got rid of Don’s pregnant “niece” (really Anna Draper’s niece) was probably one of the worst things Megan has ever done, and she just did it out of spite, because Don wanted to see Stephanie and take care of her. And because Stephanie is beautiful.
Last night something interesting happened. Megan (who was stoned out of her mind) persuaded an inebriated Don to have a threesome with her and her stoned hippie friend. It was… interesting. I couldn’t even tell if Don thought a threesome was going to be a sexy thing. He just seemed to go with the flow, and he didn’t even care about it in the morning. Which pretty much means his marriage is dead as a doornail. Also: remember, the Charles Manson stuff is just about to happen chronologically. Is it wrong to want Megan to be killed?
But really, the craziest thing to happen was the final culmination of everything that has been quietly building for several seasons with Ginsburg, the young, talented copywriter who always seemed a little bit “off.” Many attributed his oddness to a Don Draper-like streak of genius. Most attributed his oddness to the fact that (as was revealed several seasons ago), he was born in a concentration camp during WWII. But the signs have been there – Ginsburg has a profound mental illness that he was only able to “contain” because A) everybody is stoned and B) he actually is talented. But Ginsburg’s freakout about the computer and then his… presentation… of his bloody nipple in a box, given to Peggy. Were you expecting that? I was not.
So, do you think Mad Men treated Ginsburg’s mental illness in a fair way? I thought it was moving to see Peggy so upset and Stan trying to help his friend (“I’ll ride down with him!”). It felt like we always knew Ginsberg (beautifully played as always by the very talented Ben Feldman) was going to crack. But the way it happened was just so… unsettling.
PS… Wax Jon Hamm!!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmbG5laYZze8yam5illaOstLHArKanl2eUxKarzZ6cnZekpKy1rcuklpqan6rBoLPIp6qbraKcrKe1wq2gqKaRoayusc2tmKWXmaG5r7HSrGY%3D