It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Mostly the worst, at least for all of our struggling heroes on Mad Men. We love our trips down the rabbit hole into sunny California. These episodes always end up being bizarre excursions where we inevitably end up asking, “Is any of this actually happening?” We knew that we were going to have lots of fun treats when we saw that this was another episode directed by John Slattery (who we’ve been enjoying as a kooky anesthesiologist in the new season of Arrested Development), and we were not let down with features such as Don’s hashish nightmare, the return of Danny Siegel (with his hilariously simple-minded friend, Lotus), and this lovely lady:
Anya is even more sure that Megan is going to bite the bullet, but Paul remains unconvinced. Her ghostly hippie presence in Don’s trip/vision/near-death drowning experience does give viewers an interesting set of questions, and Megan’s usefulness as a character has been a frequent topic of discussion between us, since the only thing she really has inspired in Don this season is ambivalence. (You guys, she was pregnant in his vision! Are you shitting me that that wasn’t her miscarriage?! Talking about a second chance? And then that soldier showed up with one arm and literally said “I’m dead!” Come ON.)
The partners (sans Joan, thanks to scumbag Pete) deciding to settle on Sterling Cooper & Partners, or SC&P. They’re glad they don’t have to “buy a bigger door” with the easy replacement of the Draper Ds with ampersands, and we’re glad that we will (hopefully)never have to try to type out all the names of SCDPCGC again.
We are also fairly sure that we now safely have the answer to Ginsberg’s question to Bob Benson, “Tell me the truth, are you a homo?” After we realized that Joan was trying to go out on a date, everything kind of clicked into place, and we have a better-supported hypothesis for his actions at the whore house and lack of chemistry during his baby beach trip with sex-on-a-stick Joan. Bob Benson is as squirrelly and secretive as ever, so we’ll have to wait and see if anything ever actually comes of this.
Best Mad Men lines from last night’s episode:
- ROGER: Our biggest challenge is to not get syphilis.
- STAN: And this is my stop.
- JOAN: I thought it was a date, but it turned out to be better!
(If only we could say this more often.) - STAN: I can’t watch this.
- MEREDITH: Does this color look good on me?
- PETE: I have to tell you that in your absence things have become quite dire.
Our favorite looks:
6. Harry’s Hollywood Schmooze Suit
God, Harry is such a boob. He at least usually gives us something to talk about with his clothes, which we usually ignore because of our mutual dislike for him. Alas, here Harry is, in his West Coast Hollywood element, and even we do not have the power to deny him his place on our list of noteworthy looks (after we reluctantly agreed that we needed more variety than that of our original triple dose of Joan). He was certainly bold, wearing mustard and then bright red blazers. His color fits in much better with the West Coast crowd, and we wouldn’t be shocked if he moved there. His refusal to ditch the convertible was just another way to set him apart from gray clad Don and Roger, the Manhattan Executives. The Libertarian turned to Anya and asked “Can I wear a scarf as a tie?” Her response? “If you’re going to buy a silk tie from the sixties it had better be a GIFT for ME.”
5. Peggy’s Fishy Behavior Office Wear
The day after the secret breakfast meeting with Avon, Peggy shows up wearing the exact same color scheme that Joan rocked the day before. The two tone blue silky fish scale pattern was lovely, and with yellow shoes? She still totally looks up to Joan, even while she comes to her rescue. We loved watching more of Peggy and Joan’s relationship unfold this episode. They’ve come a long way, and it’s nice to see that though they’ve had their fair share of tiffs, they both like and respect the other. In a workplace divided into powerful men and secretaries, Joan and Peggy are both outside the box, and it’s refreshing to see two strong, opinionated, and driven women united and backing each other up.
We loved Peggy’s move to eavesdrop on the conference room, and her decision to send a rather pathetic Meredith in to save Joan’s gorgeous ass. Joan was wearing a fantastic dress in this scene as well, rocking the navy blue dress with enormous green bow, but we had to cut something...and 50% Joan seemed a leeeetle over the top. We like that Peggy has been going sleeveless lately, and the mock turtlenecks are a nice way to keep it modest, her signature style. Again, nothing her mother would wear is always a good sign.
4. Joan’s Floral Flounce Dress
The longer we looked at this dress, the more we liked it. It’s very feminine, and a little unusual for Joan’s Office Wear. No brooch, less form fitting, a busy print, and not much structure. Sounds nothing like the Joan we know and love, with her perfectly tailored punch-you-in-the-
face-with-the-color dresses and suits. This dress is much softer, and the cute little one arm sleeve flounce really grew on us. Her hair was looking phenomenal in these scenes. The best part of this dress though, was the fact that Joan was wearing it on what she thought was a lunch date. Once she realizes that she’s landed a potential account, her next meeting outfit goes for the complete opposite feel. Don’t worry, we’ll get to that blue suit, but this is the opposite end of the spectrum for her and we relished seeing both.
3. Peggy in Plaid
Paul wasn’t nuts about this the way Anya was, being reminded of her earlier go-to office wear... until he saw the yellow in the plaid while screencapping and hopped on board. Anya thinks this outfit looks super modern and ahead of its time (having recently seen a very similar jacket on Heather Dubrow, her spirit animal/current Real Housewife of Orange County). Love the cut, the tiny hidden pop of color, the piping, the accessories! Love it all. Peggy’s mother wouldn’t be caught dead in it, and that’s basically our measuring stick for Peggy’s fashion progression.
2. Cindy’s Hollywood Hills Hostess Jumpsuit
Ah, Cindy the Hollywood hostess, purveyor of hallucination inducing hashish and harbringer of less than heavenly hydrous hazards. She sealed her much-coveted second spot on our weekly countdown with the ridiculously fabulous oversized pearl ring that she kept throwing around in all of her scenes. We enjoyed what we thought was a funky graphic print dress, and we went wild when we later realized it was a bell bottom jumpsuit. Cindy topped it off with huge yellow earrings and some fun Megan-esque hair. Cindy also provided us with the best evidence for the “none of this is real,” theory with her casual surrendering of Don to dream Megan.
1. Joan’s Blue Business Suit
Our top look this week was Joan in her Account Man suit. Despite the feminine touches of color, buttons, and broach, this is the most masculine look we’ve ever seen from Joan. Her wardrobe has changed over the years, with her higher salary and partner position, but this still seems like a dramatic step, especially since we saw her ten minutes ago meeting with the same man in a drastically different dress. Joan isn’t entirely comfortable in this role, which is made evident in the facial expression you see in our screenshot. (“Peggy?”) She has a history of dressing the part to make her feel more like she belongs somewhere (Her housewifey phase with Greg characterized by aprons and dresses, and wearing the fur from Roger as she goes to get the Jaguar account), and this is no exception.
Although she says she has been doing accounts in one form or another since she began at SC&P, it’s worth noting that her latest was that unfortunate incident with Herb. She is bound and determined to keep this one professional and above board, except when it comes to office politicking of course. That’s why it was a little gut punching to hear Peggy say “I never slept with him!” when defending her rise into Don’s good graces. Once again, Joan carries the day (and TWO gorgeous white bags!). We liked that she kept her signature brooch and earrings, but opted for a collared jacket with fun and flowery buttons. And don’t get us started on the scarf! Also loved that she paired the whole look with yellow shoes...something Peggy did the very next day in her fish scale outfit. Aww, besties!
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