Mad Men Season 3 Episode 6: A Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency...

...and gets his foot hacked to pieces!!! BWAH!

The Brits are back! They are stopping by just to remind us just how disposable everyone is!

In other news, Connie also shows up to remind Don just how indispensable he is.
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Roger and Bert encourage Don. Telling him that the home office is very interested in his work and possibly suggesting more responsibilities in London. Bert also insists that Roger and Don play nice at a male salon. This is Sparks/xTian circa 1998 btw - suits and shaves. Except we didn't hate each other. Much unlike these two.

All this manual stimulation is for naught though. There is no promotion for Don at all. In fact the Brits have reorg in mind. They show up with a fancy new account man, a promotion for Rich Somer, more freedom for Don and a complete lack of Roger anywhere. Don is on some level delighted. Pryce also gets a one way ticket to Delhi and a stuffed serpent (symbolism much?) He takes takes it about as well as anyone would in 1963, which is not well at all. So Roger and Pryce are promptly shoved out a window in broad daylight. Its all very Cesare Borgia of them...

This of course does not stand.Smitty randomly takes a john deer lawn mower Ken received as a gift for a ride in the office and somehow the shiny new brit practically loses a foot! Holy crap. Is Smitty in the Armenian mob? That’s an Armenian mob move. Roger might be the lord of the Armenian mob because he finds the whole thing hysterical.

While the Armenian mob hit is in play, Don is off hanging out with his new bestie Conrad Hilton. Hilton (hearts) Don – such a man, so decisive but he clearly needs to break him, like one would a bucking bronco. Don is hip to this game and plays hard to get. Suddenly, it sinks in that everything Don does is a seduction. He is actively trying to seduce Connie. Connie looks like John Waters btw. I don’t know if Connie is being seduced or just playing along because he wants Don for his mind.

Lost in all the blood is that its Joan’s last day at SterlingCooper. Of course, this would be the case. Remember everyone is totally disposable. It is really too bad for her that Date-Rape Surgeon sucks at the second part and doesn’t have a job, so she needs to keep one even though she just quit. Joan is my favorite woman on the show. Why can’t she catch a break? The storyline we never explored but I really wish we had is the Don/Joan dynamic. We get a hint of in the hospital as a foot is getting reattached. I view these two as equals on the show, much more so than Betty who is basically a child. I suspect from their interaction that Don agrees. Why don’t I know their history? Clearly not the last of Joan, I wonder where she will show up again?

Just to confirm to everyone why we are here – Don hears from the Brits that the shiny new exec is done. He has in fact gotten the “boot” (bad dum pum). Pryce gets a stay of execution and Roger lives another day. I bet Connie’s offer is looking more and more attractive to a suddenly concerned Don.

The one place where Don is not disposable is at home, where he is subtly growing into a serviceable father. Betty remains an infuriating mediocre mother, but I just can't deal with her self involvement this week. It's clear that on some level he is trying to create his own Peggy/Joan in Sally. I can't wait to see where that goes.