Television review: Mad Men, “Hands and Knees”

Poor Roger. First, mistress/love of his life/secretary extraordinaire Joan turns out to be pregnant after their passionate rendezvous last week. Then, slimy Lee Garner Jr. inexplicably pulls the Lucky Strike account (he mumbles something about his incapacitated father) from SCDP, leaving the company soon without their biggest client. And to top it off, Roger loses his temper in front of the SCDP partners after Pete Campbell tells them SCDP has lost another account.  Mr. Sterling isn't having a very good week.

The episode was equally haphazard. The Don Draper/government story felt out of left field, kind of contrived. The audience was definitely as surprised as Don was by the news from Betty that two government agents are looking into Don. If not a little confused, too. I didn't fully understand why the investigation was taking place, who exactly authorized it (the airline client?), and if it was a malicious attempt to find out Don's secret or just standard protocol.

It felt like a convenient way to move the plot forward, which is not something I think often, if ever, about events on Mad Men.

This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2010.