Well, you had Glenn/Betty and Sarah/Don. I guess Joan is the youth in this pairing.
My hope is that Richard ends up being a hallucination.
Chris Pine wasn’t available.
Me, too. The second time he said to me at dinner “Are you lying to me?” I’d have been outta there. Ugh, what a self-important bastard.
I guess I’m the only one who thought Richard was a decent guy, and had great chemistry with Joan. The problem was how rushed it was. I could also care less whether or not Joan and Peggy end up in serious relationships by the series finale. I want to see at least semi-happy endings for both of them, but that doesn’t necessarily need to include a man.
I liked Richard too.
And a happy ending for Peggy is still possible. They can kill Don’t off in the finale and make her creative director. The flaw in this plan, of course, is that it does not involve showing Elizabeth Moss naked.
I think of you have been whooshed. Of course the scene as played was a bit of banter, along with the “colonies” joke. It doesn’t tell us anything – but it would be exactly like Sally to make this admission under cover of a joke that couldn’t be used against her.
Lede is probably more obsolete than newspapers themselves. Burying the lead is the norm and has been for a long time.
Joan does not have a happy future. She has the shadow of a hint of a possibility of a happy future. Just like the rest of them. Including Glenn, since deaths peaked in 1968 and 1969. There’s a difference between the next chapter and an unwritten future.
For a moment I thought that scene was going to end with Betty saying “Fine, go upstairs” in her flat, slightly annoyed, tone of voice. 
Cue Sally getting the news that Glenn’s been KIA at the same time Betty finds out she’s pregnant with twins.
And if what Roger says is true Don couldn’t said or did anything during the meeting and been kept on the client. 
Yeah, Roger’s probably exaggerating, but not by much. I wonder if Peggy is seeing dating Potty Mouth’s brother-in-law.
I think that’s what they were going for, but it still seems extremely rushed & too convenient. Though it is plausible that his trip & move to NYC was pre-planned before he met Joan.
I would be the first one to bash Don, but at no time did I see him playing along with the flirting. In fact he seemed to try to defuse it after Sally’s friend told him what her plans were, he turned his full attention to Sally to ask her what her plans were.
I thought that Peggy finally looked pretty in this episode.
I have an ominous feeling that a Greyhound bus crash is on the horizon…
If it helps, the director says that Joan was being sarcastic:
I thought it was a great episode. For once, I didn’t hate Joan or Betty. I thought that Betty came across as very likeable. For whatever reason, Glen always resonated with her. And I thought it was a hoot when he walked through the door.
I’m glad Don fired that insubordinate underling. (Don’t know his name.) If he lacked the imagination to apologize creatively, then he’s in the wrong line of work.
Poor Don, first Megan, then his daughter, then his real estate agent, then his underling all call him an old, washed up, sad old man.
If it was followed by a scene with Betty complaining to Don about how ungrateful Sally was for dying in agony, and didn’t she understand how that would affect her mother what will the neighbors think, at least it would resemble the Mad Men I liked.
This season, though, if there’s any bus crash it’ll be followed by some handsome young guy Sally’s age pulling her from the flaming wreckage as we find out he’s Ivy League bound, born of old money, yet nonetheless supports counterculture and is conveniently single.
The problem with Richard is 100% the rushed timing. If Richard had just up and gone home then, okay, he at least gets credit for saying something before sleeping with Joan in New York. Too bad but if being unattached is his goal then he’s a better person for saying something right away (after Joan committed a lie of omission in LA).
Likewise, if Richard was a plot over at least two episodes then it would seem more reasonable. Instead, we get a guy who said that he divorced his wife of 22 years so he could be free, then makes a big (legitimate) deal out of Joan’s kid, then reverses course and does a 180 on everything he said before a full day has passed and changes his whole life after spending time with Joan twice. That just makes him look flaky and a little unhinged. I realize this is almost certainly more a problem with the writing than it is about the “real life” character of Richard is but it just played sloppy.
Richard reminded me of Mr. Furley
I thought he looked like Frank Sinatra!
Betty throwing away Bobby’s toy gun seemed so contrived. Directly descended from throwing the Vichy water in the Casablanca airport trash can.
And I remember The Brady Bunch being on in early evening, not when it’s time for bed during the summer.
Finally, did we actually see in an early season the referenced meeting with Don interrupting [Lucky Strike’s] Lee Garner, Jr., or the scene later when he mouths off to them?
I don’t think so. It sounds as though that event happened before the timeline of the show since Lucky Strikes was already an established client when the show begins and they’re worried about the new government regulations.
I thought this episode was great. I loved seeing the return of Glenn, especially with him looking so different. I was rooting for him.
Also loved the clash of Don vs. the realtor; neither of them thinks the other knows jack shit about selling things!
And I like that they are still bringing in new characters. The essence of Mad Men is the never-ending cornucopia of humanity and personalities. You don’t have to get attached to these new people. They are the bed of rice under the meat of the entree. Foils for the main characters to engage with.
The entire exchange with Betty, Glen and Sally was boring and poorly acted. The three of them sounded like they were reading off of cue cards. The actor who plays Glen should look into becoming a plumber.