Mad Men: “The Good News”

This episode begins with Joan visiting her gynecologist. She wants to get off birth control pills and start a family, and the physician says that she shouldn’t have any problems… even after having two abortions.

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We then see Don walking into the office. Whatever awkwardness he and Allison had seems to be been smoothed over. Harry walks in to Don’s office, where he says that he’s noticed that Don will spend a day in Los Angeles before heading down to Acapulco. He recommends a restaurant to Don and gives him the name of a director he should look up whilst there. Lane then walks in Don’s office, and while Harry tells him to have fun in London, Lane indicates that he has much work to do.

Meanwhile, Joan asks Lane for some time off during January, as Greg is working during the holidays. Lane gruffly rebuffs her, and after the two have some words, Joan calmly walks out of his office.

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Mad Men: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year”

This episode kicks off the “Francis family” looking at Christmas trees. As the rest of the family walks off, Sally hears a familiar voice calling out to her: Glen, the neighborhood kid with whom Betty has had an… “interesting” relationship. Glen’s mother has gotten married, and he gives her advice about dealing with her new family.

The next morning, we see Don typing away when his secretary, Allison, comes in with the mail, which includes a “Santa Claus” letter from his kids. She reads the letter to Don, and at first it’s your typical, light-hearted letter to Santa Claus. But things become emotional near the end, when Sally says the thing she wants the most is for Don to be home for Christmas. Don gives Allison some money to buy the kids gifts, then tells her that Lane’s cost cutting prevents her (or anyone else) from bringing guests to the office Christmas party.

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Meanwhile, Roger welcomes the newly-sober Freddy Rumsen into his office. Freddy says that he’s left JWT and can bring SCDP the Pond’s Cold Cream account, a $2 million deal. When Roger asks how, Freddy only says that he and the Pond’s contact are “in a fraternity together”. Freddy’s only condition is that Pete, who got him fried from Sterling Cooper, not me let anywhere near the account. Roger agrees, then takes him to Don’s office. Peggy welcomes him back with open arms.

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Mad Men: “Public Relations”

This episode begins with Don giving an interview to a reporter from Advertising Age. Unfortunately, Don doesn’t see the point in it, and comes off as aloof and secretive. This leaves the reporter to fill in the blanks, something that will haunt both Don and his new firm in the near future.

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Roger and Pete approach the table where Don is sitting with the reporter. They’re there to take Don to the Sheraton, where the agency will take place in a “cattle call” with representatives of the Jantzen (swimwear) company. The meeting doesn’t go as well as they might have hoped: Murray emphasizes that Jantzen is a family company, and they’re not about to stoop to (what they consider to be) the near pornography of their competitor’s ads.

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A Brief Update on Mad Men Recaps

The season premiere of Mad Men was last night (hooray!) and I just wanted to let you know that I’m changing the format of the recaps. As much as I love the show, I just don’t have it in me to do the “full blown” recaps I’ve done in the past.

When I first started with the recaps, I decided to make them as comprehensive as possible, so that if you missed an episode you could read my recap and know everything that happened in that episode. This often led to episode “summaries” of 7,000 words (or more). This is something I just can’t do any more.

So, starting this season, I’m drastically cutting down on the “summary” part, making it more like the recaps you see at other websites. However, I’m keeping the “Other Stuff” section (the part of the recaps I enjoyed doing the most) as well as the “My Thoughts” section.

I have a couple of errands to run just now, but hope to start on the season opener some time later this afternoon.

FRIDAY FUN: The Women of Mad Men

Mad Men returns this Sunday, and I’m so excited I could almost pee in my pants! Let’s hope that doesn’t happen… and in the meantime, enjoy this new promo picture of January Jones, Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks:

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Wow… They’re all so pretty!

Don’t forget folks… THIS SUNDAY at 10pm on AMC! Squeeeeeeeeee!

Congrats, Mad Men!

Congratulations to Mad Men for their 16 Emmy nominations! Special congrats are in order for January Jones for her role as Betty Draper, her first nomination. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for her, John Slattery, Elizabeth Moss, and (of course) Jon Hamm.

Also, AMC has released the first pictures from season four, which you can see here. There’s one surprise in the very first picture: Betty is standing with a man, who has his back to the camera. The man appears to be much younger than Henry Francis. Also, check out Peggy’s new haircut! Man, talk about not flattering!

Season 4 of Mad Men premieres on July 25 at 10pm on AMC.

Say It Ain’t So!

The latest from the Hollywood rumor mill has it the January Jones, “Betty Draper” from Mad Men, is having an affair with… celebrity chef Bobby Flay.

Since I’m already in an awesome relationship and since I’ll probably never meet January, it really doesn’t matter all that much to me. Still, the thought of January hooking up with Bobby Flay makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

January Jones
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Ashes to Ashes: Season 3, Episode 8

Can it really be the end? After four years of brilliant television, will we finally find out who Gene Hunt really is, what really happened to Sam Tyler, and if or when Alex will ever get home? Will we find out once and for all what the Life On Mars\Ashes to Ashes universe is all about? Let’s put the tissues away and fire up the Quattro for the last time and find out!

The finale of Ashes to Ashes begins with Alex having a dream. She’s on It’s a Knockout, and Molly cheers her on from the sidelines. Alex finds the epaulet numbers, only to have an evil (oversized, rubber) Gene Hunt start to hunt her down. Alex appears to wake up from the dream, but we can still hear Molly telling her to wake up because “he’s coming”. Alex looks over and sees a familiar face knocking on the glass of Gene’s office:

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Back in the dream, the oversized Hunt continues to bear down on her when a gunshot rings out. Dead Cop appears and falls to the ground, as does costumed Alex. Molly continues to tell her mother to get up, and Alex removes the suit whilst saying that she must know the truth. Costumed Gene finally catches up to her, and just as Alex turns to him… the lights come on in the office. Alex has been asleep at her desk the entire time. She looks at the photograph of the farm, which has been curled up in her hand. She simply says “Today, Gene”.

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