Well, it’s not like he lost something vital, like a foot (he’d never be able to golf again).
The doors seemed legitimately jammed – he messes with them when he’s alone at night and they still won’t close. I’m sure there’s some lovely symbolism there and the partially opened doors made for a nice “bars” motif when we panned back from sad Don on the balcony now seen through the multiple vertical bars of the patio door frames.
I’m getting weary of the Cosgrove punching bag. He used to be one of my favorites, a spot of optimism who kept work separate from his personal life. Now he’s growing bitter and surly, limping and half-blind, having given both body and soul for the industry. Yeah, yeah we get it and it’s becoming increasingly less entertaining to watch.
Really, even for “first episode of the season” allowances the entire thing seemed to lurch along from caricature to caricature with Super Maimed Ken, Super Orgy Sterling, Super Put-Upon Peggy, etc. Don’s starting to feel like the most normal of the bunch. I did like his using Freddy as a proxy and how, if he had been in his office, Peggy would have swooned over the watch ad and it would have gone
on to likely be winner with the client but instead gets cold-blocked by the intermin creative director for “Accuratime is Accurate” or whatever that dreadful line was.
Oh, and no Bert Cooper 
That is true. It appears he’s been working with Freddie to pitch ideas all over town, so that must keep him busy somewhat.
I loved the line that Avery (is that the Creative Director’s name?) said: “I guess I’m immune to your charms”, while even though Peggy had a great idea, she’s always had bosses who she could somewhat ‘charm’ (in a manner of speaking) in Don and Ted. Also there seemed to be a LOT of people who were talking about what a great job the new Creative Director was doing… but he seemed to be such a horrible judge of ad talent… I wonder what that was about.
Is Don’s office still vacant then? Avery (I think you’re right on the name) had his office upstairs. I know everyone got the titters over Peggy sitting in Don’s office at the close of last season but she’s still in her old digs as well.
Who was Ken yelling at? He bemoaned being the only accounts guy to handle all this crap but he just yelled at a bunch of drone… I don’t think they were from creative.
Yes, the patio doors are broken, and yes I definitely thought he’s sitting out in the cold detoxing. That bottle he willfully left sealed was his nightly load. It’s very likely the only way he gets “sleep.”
Megan also says that she set him up with a bottle as soon as he’s at her place that night. It’s telling that it’s not a drink or cocktail, but a bottle.
The thing is, Peggy is getting to the age when she is no longer the “cute young talented thing.” I remember when that happened to me around 1976-78. I’d always been bright and precocious and stood out for being young and smart. Smarter than the people around me (especially older men) thought a young woman could/should/would be. Then around age 30, it’s just expected of you and you can’t trade on being smart for your age anymore.
I thought Avery was in Don’s office, not upstairs. Remember, Avery’s secretary was Dawn, who was sitting in the same space that she did when Don was in that office.
It didn’t look like Don’s office but I might have been wrong about upstairs and mistook the scene in Ken’s office and confused the locations.
Maybe Avry just moved the furniture and closed the curtains.
I just felt like the storylines have gotten old and predictable. The drama is just starting to seem like drama. I wanted something different to happen to Don. I don’t think Nev Campbell looked very attractive. The characters seem more pathetic and immature than glamorous. Roger and Don just look kind of old and haggered, definitely not aging like Harrison Ford or Sean Connery. Peggy is turning into some sort of lonely self centered shrew of a woman. And where is Bob Benson - that was turning interesting. I think the next episode will get much better though, usually I don’t like like season opening episodes. This are just my honest feelings about the episode - please don’t clog the thread with snark etc. if you disagree.
Joan might be getting older but she was still able to turn a lot of heads at that college.
Don is still getting paid by the agency while he’s on leave, so he doesn’t need Freddy to kick anything back to him.
I think Neve Campbell’s story about her husband dying of alcoholism struck Don in a sharper way than maybe he’s thought about the issue in the past.
And hey, we’re 50 posts in and not a single mention of Betty. I guess she wasn’t missed all that much. I do hope we see Sally soon though.
Eaten by a bear, I hope. I hated him and the whole redundant “man of mystery and deceit” bit that he was far too precious at. I can’t imagine what Weiner was thinking when he made that part.
It is kind of funny that I missed Cooper more than Betty.
Do we know that Don is getting nothing back from Freddy? As in, was it said (and I missed) or are we just assuming because Freddy didn’t give him an envelope full of cash? My attention was waning a bit. The “next week on…” had Pete saying they should make their own agency which probably means he’ll have a passing conversation about a home sale his floozy made 
I still think Don looks pretty sharp when he’s dressed the part but how much of people looking haggard is make-up and effects versus actual aging. I know Pete in particular is artificially aged for the show with a hairline that’s been shaved back to make him look balding.
I think Bob Benson is an interesting character because he is a complex character in certain ways; that being said I don’t think there are many who would consider him likeable. I kind of wonder if there is a bit of tarnish deliberately being put on these characters who previously had nothing but shine and if it is a foreshadowing of things to come. A recurring theme of the show seems to be the negative effects that occur when the lust for glamour, money and power becomes an all consuming passion.
I’m 90% sure we saw Benson for a moment in the background at the beginning right after Joan was introduced.
The opening with Freddy’s pitch steamed me. Freddy Rumsen? To start the first episode of the final season? What the …?
And then it’s explained later. Cool trick. But still a trick.
No Betty, Sally, Bobby #?, or the other kid.
Megan and Don are done. And geez were those console TVs huge. Completely unlike the 50" sets of today!
I thought Neve Campbell was going to do something under the blankets with Don.
There has been speculation about the balcony and the death of someone. Having the door jammed open and Don ending up sitting on the balcony plays into that.
Joan continues to go behind peoples’ backs. Time for Peggy to make a change in her life. Not just professionally. Did you see the wistful look she gave her brother-in-law (?) on the couch. She is desperate for a man. Perhaps too desperate.
I loved Allan Havey (Lou Avery) way back when. He and Nick Bakay on Night After Night were great. But he is just wrong for this role. (Fun fact: He was in Wild Things … 2.)
Nixon’s the one!
I “liked” Pete back when he was more complex and interesting and you could see where his drive was coming from and conflicting with his family, both blood (his father/mother) and married (Trudy steamrolling him on the first apartment, the rifle thing). He was never really “likeable” but he had his moments and I could share in some of his triumphs. Of course now he’s mainly just a cartoonish lech.
Bob Benson though always just struck me as too precious. All his little conniving bits fall into place: the fake background, the ridiculous side plot of him recommending an ex-lover nurse who then murders Pete’s mom at sea, the Detroit shenanigans, etc – he’s like a daytime soap opera character. He just sticks out as even more fake (as a character, not a personality) than all the rest.
They’re obviously jammed, but that’s a whole separate issue. The doors were wide open when Freddie arrived, and then Don went to sit outside after gazing wistfully at the unopened bottle of liquor.
Benson is in Detroit, people!
Remember when Cosgrove complains because Benson calls him every day at 2? and then Pete calls at 5 (or something).
I know he’s in Detroit (the whole stick-shift thing), I just hope to not see him this season 
Well I was referring to the folks asking where Benson was
Don was offering to pay Freddy. He whips out a roll of bills to hand to Freddy and Freddy says, “No, no, I should be paying you.”