Mad Men Wrap-up: What a Trip!

AMC’s Mad Men served up a delightful concoction of intrigue and marital strife, mixed in with blended slices of mood inducers.

Last night’s riveting episode saw Peggy, Don, Megan and Roger, as passengers to a destination none of them expected to be bound for but the inevitable arrival proved gratifying, at least for the viewers anyway.

The theme seemed to hinder on surrendering to the elements and emotional displacement without any constraints, and our favorite Ad execs were definitely up to the challenge – for the most part.

The defining moment was the breakthrough between Roger and is long suffering much younger wife Jane, who didn’t realize how life changing her decision to drag Roger along to an LSD sponsored get together at a friend’s house would turn out to be. After a melodious night complete with hallucinations and uncontrollable shrieks of laughter, the once tortured couple actually started communicating in a way that was endearing and refreshingly moving. The end result was the realization that they both needed to end their misery and part ways. Of course the next morning after the fog had lifted; Jane wasn’t as resolved as Roger was about the epiphanic moment they had shared the night before. But it was clear after witnessing Roger’s euphoria that she had no choice but to accept the terms of their LSD laced verbal agreement.

Peggy also had the opportunity to escape a maddening day and her choices of comfort included a movie, pot, a random sexual encounter and an unsettling conversation with office newbie Michael. After the haze cleared, Peggy was reduced to a puddle of wiry nerves, which inspired her reaching out to Abe to confirm that there was at least one thing in her world that made sense.

Don and Megan’s impromptu road trip went south quickly as the tension slowly started building in the car, ending with Don storming out of the diner and driving off as Megan watched in disbelief. Predictably Don went back to the diner after he had presumably calmed down but his wife was nowhere to be found. Panicked beyond reason, Don calls everybody from Peggy to Megan’s mother, hoping they could provide some relief for his tormented soul. But every turn he takes leads to a dead end. He finally throws in the towel and heads back home where a visibly shaken Megan awaits him. What transpires is the usual song and dance that these two seem to have perfected. At the end of the performance, a distraught Don grabs on tightly to Megan and voices how scared he was at the thought of losing her, and a touched Megan responds accordingly.

The episode ends in the conference room with Bert giving Don a verbal whipping for allowing his loins to dictate his work schedule which in turn is costing the business to suffer. Don tries to defend himself but the damage is already done and as he sits alone staring out at the employees walking gingerly to their posts, its hard to guess what is going through the elusive mind of Don Draper.

Just another eventful at the office of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.