TV Review: Mad Men 5.6, 'Far Away Places'

rating: 5

(warning: significant spoilers follow) The producers of Mad Men seem to be taking a sadistic glee in tormenting their characters this year. Last week we had the emasculation of Pete Campbell and this week€well, this week one character gets to a very unhappy place and the other gets to a very happy one, and both come at it from different directions. To make things even more interesting, the episode employs a fascinating non-linear style. First, we have Peggy (Elizabeth Moss) and her team putting together a pitch for Heinz. They€™re just about ready when Don (John Hamm) comes in at the last moment and steals Megan (Jessica Pare) away. The two leave for a visit to a Howard Johnson€™s restaurant/hotel and Peggy is stuck trying to do the pitch solo. She does her best, and the idea for her ad isn€™t a bad one, but Heinz isn€™t impressed. Undaunted, Peggy tries to pull a Don, telling the client that he€™s wrong and that it€™s a good idea. What might work for Don doesn€™t work for Peggy and she gets removed from the account. She then decides to go to a movie where she winds up smoking a joint and€well, as this is a family website I won€™t go into too much detail about what she does to the guy who gave it to her. Suffice to say it was good to see her washing her hands after. I like Peggy, but this year her character seems to be stuck in a sort of limbo. I really hope they wind up doing something more with her. This story was pretty good, and it was nice to see her trying to be more like Don (meaning that along with Pete, Don has two imitators at the agency), and I really loved a conversation between her and new hire, Michael Ginsburg (Ben Feldman), where he talks about being born in a concentration camp. But overall it feels like there€™s something really missing from her this season. The second story centered on Roger Sterling (John Slattery). He gets looped into going to a party with some of his wife€™s friends. It isn€™t anything he wants anything to do with, especially once the LSD comes out. Ah, yes, the Sixties. People did drugs back then, you know. Anyhow, Roger drops some acid and pretty soon he€™s tripping balls. The hallucinations he experiences, including seeing Bert Cooper€™s face on money and hearing music coming out of a bottle, are fascinating, but what€™s much more fascinating is a conversation he has with his wife, Jane. It seems she€™s been very discontent with their marriage, and he has, too, though he hasn€™t been voicing it. Soon they€™ve pretty much agreed to break-up, something that is a bit awkward in the light of day when Jane doesn€™t remember the conversation but Roger does. I am very pleased that Roger seems to get his mojo back by the end of the story. He€™s confident, happier and seems to be in a better place, and all it took was a divorce. I€™ll be very keen to see where they take him from here, especially given all the wheel-spinning he was doing this year. Finally we have Don€™s story, with him and Megan going to the Howard Johnson€™s flagship location. For those of you who don€™t know (as I didn€™t), Howard Johnson€™s is a chain of restaurants and hotels that used to dot the US landscape. Anyhow, the agency is planning to do something for HJ, so Don and Megan go to check it out. This does not go as well as Don thought it might. It turns out that, not surprisingly, Megan resents being yanked out of the office while working on the Heinz project. She knows that it makes her look weak and ineffective in the eyes of her office mates, and she does actually like the work she is doing. None of this seems to sink in with Don, and eventually an argument erupts that ends with him getting into the car and driving off. He doesn€™t get too far before he turns around, but by the time he gets back, Megan is gone. Don then spends a frantic night trying as hard as he can to find Megan. When he finally goes him, he finds her there, and the wo have a very nasty fight. The next morning all appears well, but appearances can be deceiving. I liked what was done with Don this story. It was good to see him kind of get slapped in the face by reality a few times, and it was very good to see Bert Cooper tear him a new one about the way he€™s been acting lately. Don€™s basically been skiving off on work, and I€™m glad that€™s been addressed. I also loved the way that he and Megan€™s visit was basically the polar opposite of their visit to California, and I thought it was pretty great that by the end of the episode, Don was miserable and Roger was happy and upbeat. Where this goes from here should make for very interesting viewing.