Talking ‘Mad Men’: Was This the Worst Episode Yet?

Every Monday morning, Sloane Crosley and Logan Hill will be offering their post-”Mad Men” analysis here. Read on and in the comments share your reactions to the characters’ reactions to the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.:

Logan Hill: I feel as if I have been defending this show against its critics: “Remember ‘The Suitcase,’” I say. “Remember Season 3,” I say. And then, this? I think this may be the worst episode of a great show.

Sloane Crosley: Wow, coming out of the gate with that, huh? I actually disagree. I think the pipe of “How to Fictionalize a Historical Tragedy” is so deeply laid, the show has painted itself into a trite corner at times. But I demand a GIF of that awkward Joan-Dawn hug.

LH: At its best, “Mad Men” has struck at the core of all these historical nerves â€" but this episode just seemed so scattered and distracted. It sounds like we may disagree, but I felt like the show just struggled to incorporate this enormous moment of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in a way that made dramatic sense.

SC: You couldn’t possibly be talking about the “Have You Hugged a Black Person Today?” undertones, could you? Which is to say yes, I cede the point that there was something tonally off when there didn’t need to be. Remember the Chicago rape-murder case last season? That’s not an event everyone knows and it felt less forced to make it the focal point. Or compare this episode with the stunning Kennedy assassination episode. Actually … Harry wanted to keep watching TV then, too. What do we think? He gets fired any minute, right?

LH: Thanks, Sloane â€" I’m glad you’re noting some of the moments when this show has taken huge historical moments and made something surprising of them. That off-kilter unpredictability is what I love about “Mad Men,” but this episode? I felt it was scrawled onto Sticky Notes. And Harry? Yes, he’s a moron. But I worry that he’s less a human at this point  and more of a straw man stand-in for all that Matt Weiner (aspiring film director) hates about the TV executives who have made him a star.

SC: When he and Pete have that duel-paced fight, I kept thinking of that George Bernard Shaw quote, “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it.” And up until Pete makes his race-free “King was a family man” argument, I wasn’t even sure which one of them was the pig. But it’s Harry. Which is saying something because Pete can’t even order Chinese food without making us loathe him.

LH: Yes â€" and Roger’s flippant reply was no more respectable. His line about how he thought King could have talked his way out of trouble was almost too typical for Roger, too cutesy and too obvious.

SC: Too in character for an ad guy, right?

LH: Yes, it was like a caricature: Roger, as we’ve seen him develop, is actually smarter than that.

SC: Actually, everyone’s smarter than that. What about Ginsberg?

LH: Why Matt Weiner decided to pair his weak date story line with this moment is beyond me. Narratively, it just felt willfully bizarre to me. I love Ginsberg’s character and I was hoping to see more of him. But not like this.

SC: To your Post-it note point, you know who just came unglued and fell beneath the fridge? Sylvia and Dr. Rosen. Now you see our concern, now you don’t. You’d think she was one of Don’s children. Do we buy that Don started up and loving Bobby because Bobby busted out with Don’s magic word? “Sad.”

SC: Can we talk about Randall, Roger’s insurance friend (played by William Mapother)? Nice insider “Wouldn’t want you to get ‘Lost‘” line, Roger.

LH: Oh, that line …

SC: I would also like a GIF of Stan’s face during that meeting. I’m gonna need several GIFs.

LH: His pseudo-hallucinogenic query was fun, but so rushed. Really, they just skipped right over it. The whole episode seemed scattershot to me. When I love “Mad Men,” the characters are embodying the contradictions of the times. This week, they seemed to be acting them out.

SC: Well, we still have that problem of not caring about the couples that take up the most real estate. Or I do. Do I care if Henry runs for office? If Betty fits into her old dresses? If Megan’s father persists in his Canadianness? Nope. But do I care that Peggy breaks up with Awful Abe for Stan? Very much.

LH: Peggy deserves better. And that reminds me: Are two references to Marx too many for one hourlong drama about King’s assassination? I think one Marx reference is a good rule of thumb.

SC: Or one should be Groucho. Also: two viewings of “Planet of the Apes” in one episode is too much.

LH: True. If half the episode had been performed by Harpo I’d have been happier â€" less ponderous, deliberate talk.

SC: Right now, I’m sensing you’d gladly replace the last line, “Henry’s not that important” with “This whole show is not that important.” Perhaps next week will turn it around for us both?

LH: I hope so, because I am â€" despite appearances  â€" really optimistic about this show: I’ve never loved a show more. But this episode felt like a placeholder: King. dies, characters react. The black characters remain on the fringes. Everyone reiterates what a clueless jerk they’ve become. And it culminates in Don’s mopey monologue to Megan, which I didn’t buy.

SC: Basically, Don’s no longer allowed to have heart-to-hearts with brunettes in bedrooms. Nothing good ever comes of it. I have a feeling that if you’re waiting for suspense to return to this show, the Second Avenue subway line will come quicker. What we’re looking at is an ever-beautiful baby-sitting job on these characters.

LH: Yes, I’m critical, though I’m also bit irritated with all the fans who complain that Don is not changing enough: I mean, he hasn’t changed for five seasons and just because he sells aspirational dreams is no reason to believe that any such aspirational dreams are achievable. It’s just marketing. And that’s just Don.

SC: He’s the control in the experiment, the blank piece in Scrabble. I don’t want to see change in him. I would actually argue that what fans are looking for is a reversion. They want a less watered-down Don. The old Don. But it seems like the price we pay for complexity is … bedroom monologues.

LH: So, commenters, what did you think about Don’s monologue delivered to Megan? About Pete’s fight with Harry? Ginsberg’s date? And about Peggy’s thwarted gentrification dreams? And what did you make of the way the show handled the assassination?

Sloane Crosley is the author of “How Did You Get This Number” and “I Was Told There’d Be Cake“; Logan Hill is a journalist who has contributed to The New York Times, New York, GQ, Rolling Stone, Wired and others.