Twitter being Twitter, before the west coast airing, I was semi-spoiled on the fact that Mad Men not only included Megan this week, but Megan’s family, with many pondering why Matthew Weiner felt this was a subplot we needed to delve into at all, with Megan and Don’s marriage over.
That being the case, I felt that, in and of itself, there was some entertaining material here. Megan, her mother and her sister all squabbling in French had its amusements, as we saw just how nasty this family could get. From her mom telling Megan, “It’s a wonder you don’t have syphilis” to her sister saying they were there to help Megan in the wake of her “failure,” they sure had a harsh way of showing support.
But yeah, it is still very difficult to understand why were spending this much time with Megan on her own - and I never hated the character. Betty’s been there from the start and the look at the extended Draper family seems part of the show’s DNA, but we have a ton of supporting characters at the office, many of whom don’t get that much time onscreen as it is. So with only a few episodes left, this did seem like screen time that could have been much better spent.
Also, Megan was written a bit all over the place. Last year, she and Don ended things relatively okay – and, in fact, those episodes were really about Don letting go of a marriage Megan had already checked out of. So her anger at him here seemed too elevated (even knowing she was upset with her mom) and didn’t match what had come before. Oh, and while it’s good she called out her mom on taking all of Don’s furniture, she didn’t then return it?! All of which is to say, if this was the most we see of Megan before the end, that’s probably for the best. Enjoy your million dollars, Megan!
On the other hand, Megan’s inclusion did let us see more of how someone we’ve known since the show began, Harry, operates – and wow, it was as awful as can be. Harry, we learned, is a true casting couch scumbag, and everything about what he said and did both with Megan (“Maybe you’re in this situation because of how you’re reacting to this”) and then trying to cover with Don basically proved he’d deserved the hate he’s always gotten from his colleagues.
That glimpse at Betty was interesting. She seemed in a good place. Happy, able to casually chat with Don and informing him she was going to go back to school to get a masters in psychology, no less! Betty’s been so polarizing and harsh through the years, but if she can come out of the show a more centered, if not quite self-aware, person -- "People love to talk to me" -- that’s a good thing.
Stan and Peggy also got a notable subplot this week, as Pima (Mimi Rogers) was hired by the company and proved to be a rather direct temptress, seducing Stan and attempting to do the same with Peggy. Stan’s a really fun character, so it was nice to see him get a storyline here and the Stan/Peggy dynamic is always a good one to explore. So why not give it even more focus in this episode?
Meanwhile, it’s hard to know what to make of Don’s obsession with Diana. Don being Don, he's projecting a lot onto her and trying to make her be something special to him, after all that’s happened in his life. We saw a lot of her in this episode, and while Elizabeth Reaser is doing strong work in the role, Diana’s sad story about her daughter dying (and the other she abandoned) also is hard to be fully invested in, when introduced this late in the game.
Some notes to end on:
-It was amusing to get a “Manson Brothers” (heh) mention here from Meredith, given all the theories that Megan was going to somehow end up a Manson victim.
-Don saying he’ll just throw his tie over his shoulder to play golf and “they’ll love it” and Pete’s pissed “They probably will!” was hysterical.
- Only Mad Men could get Linda Cardellini to pop in for a super brief, nearly silent cameo like that, as the Rosens ran into Don and Diana.
