I know that a lot of critics have just not taken to this episode in any way or form, but, do not put me in that category. I absolutely loved this episode, but that may be due to Stan Rizzo's actions evoking fond memories I had of a high school friend.
My friend used to run around with his shirt off and a tie around his head saying crazy shit, imitating everyone (really well and fucking funnily), doing crazy shit all the time and just basically always having the attitude that said lets roll the dice and say fuck it and do it. A lot of the times he could just sit there with a blank expression when he talked with you, as if he did not give a shit and then he could be crazy. Man I miss him, it was always an adventure hanging around with him.
Every time Stan was on screen he evoked those memories and I had a smile the size of the Missouri whilst reminiscing.
As for Don, Urgh, even if he was making some sort of breakthrough's...he totally ignored his kids, just so he could create this grand pitch to make to a married women who is not willing to throw everything away like him. Silvia told him to leave her alone, told him that it was a short term thing, told him that he should know when to let go and told him that this is upsetting her. But Don Draper has to have that charge that comes from the beginning of things, it is so old and so repetitive that I just could not stop laughing my ass off when he was running to his apartment muttering his great speech to Silvia to win her over. Fuck the work he was supposed to do, fuck his colleagues, fuck Chevy, fuck the agency, fuck his kids, fuck Megan....fuck everything! Whatever man, I am tired of this shit.
Yes, what made this episode for me was everyone else's actions and going on's. Elizabeth Moss was fantastic, you could tell that she was genuinely having a blast while J R Ferguson was doing his shit, she gave a very complex performance with her heart to heart with Stan, she was great with Ted and she was fantastic in calling out Don's shit. Ginzo was funny and annoying, Harry was great, Cutler was excellent, Ken and his joy riding and tap dancing was just epic and Roger is always awesome, we need more Sterling's Gold and more Sterling one liners in general and......all good.
Something that also made me appreciate this episode was that in the first time in a long time, there were periods were the surrealism made me feel like we were right there in the 60's. Whenever I visit relatives who lived in the 60's there love affair with that time period and era, along with the pictures...they always make me feel an odd sense. Gleason's first appearance did that...her doing those Eching and all the crazy other hippy shit made me feel like I was staring at those family albums and made me feel like I was living some of their stories. Excellent all round. I loved that that all the characters were in that zone...more please.
By the time we got to the end and Ted is holding Stan's 600 odd ideas of which half were crap and Stan's drawings where he misspelt Chevy...I was on the floor laughing my ass off. Stan just does not give a shit and banging Gleason's daughter was just awesome! So way to go Stan, you Awesome SOB!
Next time I will throw the knife! If you ever want to do some crazy shit brother, I am here, just give us a shout!
Grade: A+
Stray Observations:
- The time jumps were just fantastic, made me laugh every time Don seemed so lost when he did not know where he was or who some of the people in the room were.
- See when Ginzo takes the pen from Peggy, he has to click it so he can write, she was pretending to write Stan and Freddy Crane's crazy ideas, Peggy Olson for the win!
- I think the fact that I only started watching this show after season 4 helps. The fact that I first heard of this after the first 4 seasons were uploaded to Netflix - and I could binge watch them helped. It makes me less impatient over the repetitiveness and allows me to enjoy the rest of the episode that is not Don centric or Betty Centric or whatever. I feel for critics who have had to study and spend hours upon hours going over every episode since 2007. Sorry guys!
That is all folks, as usual, shit grammar from me, but you knew that was coming!
Please feel free to comment!
Shawn Mahone
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