This week's episode was a success because it allowed the characters to act like normal people.
Ted (Rahm) is finally adjusting the his new role at the new company. After a whirlwind few episodes, this week's episode of Mad Men was strikingly simple. Normally, such simplicity could add up to a boring episode, but considering how downright strange last week's episode was, this was a welcome return to form for the series, and another strong entry in the latter half of the season. Let's get right in to what made this episode work.
This was Peggy's (Elisabeth Moss) episode, for the most part, and we finally got a chance to see how she was handling working with both Don and Ted (Jon Hamm and Kevin Rahm). As it turns out, she isn't handling it well, opting to be diplomatically neutral in the opening conversation about Margarine. This spurned the frustration of both men throughout the episode, though Don was much more straightforward about it. As he put it, Ted "doesn't know" her, which was a telling statement from the man who had grown extremely close to Peggy before she left the company. A lot of this series has been about Peggy and her personal ambition, and now this dogged determination seems to be catching up to her.
Things weren't much better for her in her personal life, either. Abe's (Charlie Hofheimer) decision to live in the less-than-kosher section of the city was turning against him, as he was stabbed, and a rock was thrown through their window throughout the episode. This also put Peggy on edge, understandably, and in her fear she ends up stabbing Abe towards the end of the episode, in the trademark shocking scene of the week. This lead to their inevitable break-up, but as far as I'm concerned I don't see the show, or Peggy, suffering from losing Abe for very long at all. The real blow was dealt when Peggy tried to turn to Ted for comfort, following an awkward conversation between them about their kiss from a few episodes ago. Rather than open himself up to her, though, Ted held strong to his decision that they couldn't be together, turning her away in about the coldest way possible. The final shot of the episode of both Don and Ted's doors closing on her was a great moment, showing just how alone Peggy has managed to make herself.
The other surprisingly strong story this week came from Don and Betty (January Jones). We hadn't seen Betty for pretty much the whole season since the premiere, and I'm happy to say that her return could be her best appearance on the show to date. Betty is shaping up to be much more sympathetic, and her time shared with Don while they visited Bobby (Mason Vale Cotton) at summer camp created a bunch of great, small moments between the two. It was nice just to watch them have a normal conversation, even if it eventually ended in them sleeping together. There was never much of a chance for us to see what, exactly, made their relationship work in the time before we met them, but we got a chance to see that this week, and it was a welcome change of pace for the normally contentious characters.
A few smaller arcs made up the rest of the episode, all of them entertaining enough to maintain the momentum of the episode. Most notable was the revelation that Bob (James Wolk) was spending time with Joan (Christina Hendricks) at home. It's unclear if this is a legitimate relationship, or if Bob really is that good of a guy (I don't doubt this), but it'll be interesting to see what this turns in to now that Roger (John Slattery) has been banned from being a grandfather, and may continue trying to turn to Joan and her child to fill this new gap. We also learned that Harry (Rich Sommer) was testing the waters for a new job, using none other than Duck Phillips (Mark Moses) as a headhunter. It's never a good sign to see Duck in the show, but all we got from him this week was the reveal that everyone is confused about the big merger from a few episodes ago, which makes it difficult for Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) to express what his job is, a concern which has grown in him for a while now.
This episode ended with Don and Megan (Jessica Paré) reconciling the fact that they haven't been close lately, and with Peggy more alone than ever. It seems that whenever Don is happy, every other character is hitting a new low. If there's anything we've learned from Mad Men throughout the years, though, it's that happiness can't last, but unhappiness can carry on forever. This week's episode was a success because it allowed the characters to act like normal people, and it let the writing and acting do all of the work, without any cheap gimmicks or pretentious abstractness. If the next few episodes are able to maintain this level of success, than the second half of this season should help return this series to the greatness we are used to.