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In the last three weeks, Mad Men has once again shown that when it comes to quality television, the show shines far above almost anything else TV has to offer.
"The Beautiful Girls," "The Summer Man" and "The Suitcase" were all episodes that gave us more about Don Draper, helping answer the question first posed at the beginning of the season, but also showcased the women of Mad Men on the brink of one of the most stunning social changes this country has ever seen.
Here's a rundown of what's been happening with "The Beautiful Girls," but beware, there are spoilers a plenty.
Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss): Peggy used to annoy the heck out of me, but this season she's finally turned into a character I can sympathize with and root for. She's also seen the most action in the last three weeks and been in the middle of several key, socially relevant plots.
For example in "The Summer Man," Peggy and Joan have a conversation that in just a few words summed up the enormous challenges facing women in the workplace at that time.
It takes place after Peggy gets up the gumption, on Don's advice, to fire her obnoxious assistant for basically calling Joan a glorified office whore and then posting a crude picture of her having sex with Lane Pryce.
The problem? When Peggy tells Joan how she defended her by getting rid of the worm, Joan is royally pissed. Instead of the thank you Peggy was expecting, Joan reams her out for making herself look like a bitchy big shot and Joan like a lowly secretary who needed protecting.
See Joan had already handled the situation sufficiently, she felt, by telling the men on Peggy's team, including the worm, that when they all ended up dying horrible, agonizing deaths in Vietnam, she wouldn't lose a wink of sleep.
Peggy's first lesson in 60s Feminism 101? No matter what you do, you can never win.
Peggy has another eye opening discussion in "The Beautiful Girls" when Abe Drexler (Charlie Hofheimer), a socially conscious firebrand she's met at a party tries to tell her the sexism she faces in the workplace is nothing to the racism Negroes face everywhere. After all, one of her clients, Fillmore Auto Parts, doesn't even hire Negroes in the south.
At first Peggy doesn't believe him because the guys from Fillmore are so nice, but Abe says, "I'm sure they're perfectly nice for racists."
Further into the conversation and on the defensive, Peggy says, "Most of the things Negroes can't do, I can't do either and nobody seems to care." Adding that if Negroes wanted to work in advertising, "I'm sure they could fight their way in like I did."
After joking that they should then have a civil rights march for women, Abe points out, "they're not shooting women to keep them from voting."
Peggy's highly offended and pretty much dumps poor Abe on the spot.
Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the white women vs. black people victimization sweepstakes. There are no winners and no prizes, just plenty of misunderstandings and defensiveness to go around.
Oh, and in "The Suitcase" Peggy consoles a devastated, vomit covered Don after he finds out the Real Mrs. Don Draper (see below) has died of cancer. There are some lovely moments in this episode between Don and Peggy that never descend into the trite or sappy.
Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks): Thank you Matthew Weiner and company for bringing Joanie back front and center this season. That tough office manager with the can't be cracked facade has come under terrible strain this season, what with her hubby about to be shipped off to Vietnam, her office authority being challenged like it has never been before, (see Peggy above) and Roger Sterling pining for her like a lost, gray-haired puppy.
In "The Beautiful Girls" her office managing skills have to go into overdrive when Don's over the hill secretary, Miss Blankenship drops dead. Then she and Roger do the nasty, on the street no less, after they're mugged. The next day, she tells Roger she doesn't regret the fling, but since they're both married, fill in the blanks.
See, after the husband dies in Vietnam, as we all know he's going to, Roger should dump his drippy ex-secretary and just marry Joanie like he should have in the first place.
Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka): Okay, so raise your hand if you think little Sally Draper is a future bra burner in the making?
