Television review: Mad Men, season 4, episode 2 — “Christmas Comes But Once a Year”

It's Christmas, in August!

And with Mad Men's holiday episode came a delicious mix of returning characters.

First, the return of so-drunk-he-wet-himself ad man Freddy Rumsen, who approaches Roger Sterling about working with the new Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. With him he brings a $2-million Ponds face cream account and a catch: He doesn't want to work with that smarmy Pete Campbell. So naturally, resident ad woman Peggy is put on the female-centric account with him. The old, friendly colleagues clash almost immediately. Freddy's return did little for me personally, but the ever-present hints of sexism between him and Peggy were a nice reminder not only of how far Peggy has come since her days as a secretary, but also how far women in the SCDP offices still have to go. (It was also a nice characterization of Freddy as indeed an old-timey jerk.)

This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.