[Spoiler alert — stop reading now if you haven't seen the latest episode!]
SCP is, finally no more. After many near death experiences, the company is being dissolved into McCann Erickson and no one is happy, except maybe Teddy. That said, this was one of the funnier, most eventful episodes the series has ever done and a very welcome showcase of just how great Mad Men can still be. Anyway, onto the best moments of the week. Only three episodes to go...
Proof Pete Campbell isn’t always an asshole: This was a great episode for Pete. Sure, he’s still kind of an asshole at times and the butt of some jokes at others, but he gets to deliver some good one liners himself (more on that a little later). This episode did a good job of humanizing him for us, presumably, one last time.
His interactions with ex-wife Trudy are more civil and sweeter than what we've become accustomed to. They're obviously better off as friends than a bitter married couple, but Pete didn't have to show concern for her feelings like he did and slug the headmaster. Same goes for him giving Peggy a heads up that the agency was being dissolved into McCann. They have a bond, however long ago it was, and he still realizes that. Finally, assuring Joan the jerks at McCann don’t know the type of strong woman they're dealing with was touching.
This week in Lou Avery is the worst: Lou calls Don to gloat that his shitty cartoon Scout’s Honor got picked up by a Japanese company. Sayonara, gasbag.
Let me tell you about my best friend: The scene between Peggy and Stan is among my favorite the show has ever done. He picks up exactly what she’s putting down with the specificity of her remarks about a woman in that world giving up having a child. The only other person who knows that she was even pregnant is Don.
Stan: “What did you do?”
Peggy: “I’m here...and...he’s with a family...somewhere. I don’t know, but it’s not because I don’t care. I don’t know because you’re not supposed to know, or you can’t go on with your life.”
Exceptional emotion work from Elisabeth Moss.
Peggy asking Stan to stay on the phone later while they go about their work is very sweet, and something the younger generation is never going to do in 2015 but was common for many years.
Joke of the week: Mad Men can be the funniest show on television when it wants to and this episode shows how. It’s impossible to pick the funniest line from this hour, so I’ll highlight the three that made me legitimately laugh out loud
“Greenwich Connecticut is built on divorced money!” — Pete to Trudy
“But he loves feeling the tip of your nose on the seat of his pants.” — Roger to Pete about Ken’s hatred of them.
“Were they difficult to move?” —Don, after Pete secured Secor Laxatives.
Don Draper emotional level: Drunk enough to go back to Diane’s apartment, yet seemingly happy enough to pack up and move to California. It’s a good thing Diane has moved, though left all her furniture like a gypsy. Don doesn’t need to see another emotionally unstable woman when he’s in that sort of shape, though we've been saying that for seven seasons now.
