Matt Weiner has been really meticulous about arcane details that nobody would notice (e.g., what train Don takes home) but blew it with a drum set that any drummer would spot as easily as a digital watch on Pete's wrist. Shame on that.
I like the effort to steer the show away from despair. Bacardi must have been drooling to be part of this, though I imagine hey balked that Cuba Libre came from "boo." I like that Sally is treated as an actual character, something seldom seen today.

This show is always going to be in danger of becoming a parody of itself (Jon Hamm's SNL skit that mocked what, for me, was a beautiful moment that perfectly juxtaposed the nostaligia with the actual mood of the day).

Matt Weiner and I are about the same age... my mother got her first modern washing machine the day Kennedy was killed and the joy of being modern was forever cloven to the despair of that day..I understand where he's going. I am also an avid historian and I have worked for lots of ad agencies. Details like the drum kit and Don's mispronouncing Julian Koenig's name make me think he needs to hire a better continuity person.

Matt needs to be very careful that he doesn't follow the model of the Simpsons (or, God help us, of MASH). This show should be tight and should die with the Daisy ad. I have a sneaking suspicion Don writes that ad and jumps off the building while it airs. We almost saw the roof this episode.

Joan's "La Vien Rose" was amazing and Roger in blackface underscoring his bufoonery with his ex-secretary-now-wife was stunningly on the money. Joan, Peggy and Betty stole all the scenes this episode. Wow!

i don't think that song was la vien rose, very familiar tho

Is there going to be a music post for Season 3?

Joan's song was "C'est Magnifique".

Yup, it was actually Luis Mariano's "C'est magnifique" from the '50s. The lyrics from later versions are not the same as the original French, with its "baisers lumineux [luminous kisses]" and all that.

Welcome to the SC talent show with Roger as Jolson, Joan on accordian, Pete and Trudy cutting a rug, Paul as glee club harmonizer and Don mixing a conplicated concoction. The camera really lingered on the performances in most of these scenes. A fun-for-the-actors departure episode? Talent show, plus conniving kid, and creepy G-man didn't add up to a terrific ep for me. Always interesting though. And always requiring a second viewing.

i was surprised to fund out "c'est magnifque" is a cole porter song from "can can" 1953

How any woman can make playing an accordian sexy is a gift very few of us have. God bless Joan.

Joan could read the phone book and make it sound sexy....

...esp. if she threw in a couple of those little air-kisses....What a dame!

I am a big fan of the Mad Men series, but as an African American, I found last Sunday's episode disappointing and offensive. In particular I am refering to the Black Face scene. There are many things of the 50s look back at in this show that are both amusing and interesting including Race relations of that period, but showing the overall insensitive and insulting attitudes of White America of that time only gives justification for their actions. The Producers of this show should apologize to their audience in particular to Black American viewers for their lack of sensitivity in showing this Black Face scene.

Lehman, i am sorry you were offended by the black face scene. i hope you are wrong about white american. i was offended by the character"s actions but thought the scene was realistic. but i agree with you i think the scene needed more then the very few disapproving looks from the guests to make the statement clearer. i remember one halloween in the same line as the show my cousin dressed as a "picaninny" complete with black face, i was very young [sally's age]
'but still i was horrified, she couldn't understand why.

Lehman, I too regret any hurt that scene may have caused you. Your feelings are valid and while some in Roger's audience may have found his performance amusing, I can assure you that virtually none of the show's actual viewers found anything remotely funny about his stupid song.
This show has had any number of scenes in which women were treated disrespectfully and mockingly, however, and while I abhor those attitudes, I have no objection to the writers showing the era for what it was -- cruel and insensitive to anyone who was a white, WASP, male. To be an accurate depiction of the times, It's important to show this kind of insensitivityfor what it was -- nasty and hurtful. It helped us know more about the character of Don Draper to see that he was so offended by Roger's antics that he actually left the tent with a sneer on his face.

The fact that Betty could laugh at it without realizing how vile it was speaks volumes about her as well. That Roger actually thought it was amusing reinforces our understanding of him as a boor, a bigot and an all around jerk. As for his wife, she's nothing more than a bimbo.

I can recall as a child that my parents had a lawn ornament of some sort that was a jockey, holding a lantern. The jockey had a black face and when I became a teenager, I was embarrassed that this object sat alongside our driveway. I mentioned this to my parents, who scoffed at my objection. In response, I bought white paint and had a friend help me change the color of the jockey. My father was furious that I had defaced the jockey and grounded me for a week. I'm proud to this day that I never apologized. It was my first, but not last, act of civil disobedience. It taught me that a clear conscience is far superior to the approval of anyone -- even the authority figures in one's life.

Racism and bigotry played a huge role in the 1960s and to refrain from showing how it played out would make the series less important and less honest than it is. I hope you'll try to see this scene for what it was: An example of the cruel and disrespectful way some people felt they were entitled to behave at the expense of others.

Lehman, it's unfortunate that you were offended by the "blackface scene" in last week's episode. I think most people watching it were uncomfortable with it, but isn't that the point? In Slattery's chat transcript, he says he was initially unsure about doing it, too, because it made him uncomfortable. However, we need to stop allowing political correctness to be a catalyst for revisionist history. The episode showed America's racial sensibilities of the time and to not show that would be re-writing history! We're disturbed by many things concerning life in America in the 1960s when we watch this show, but--again--that's the point. The fact that we are made uncomfortable by it shows that we have experienced some progress at least. Many people are disturbed by Sal having to stay in the closet (but that's how it was in the 60s). Many are offended by the treatment of women as mere sex objects or the plight of the housewife (but that's how it was in the 60s). People are angered by female characters in the show smoking and drinking while they're pregnant (but that's how it was in the 60s). And you could probably add to this list with numerous other "offences." However, can't we watch this and simply be disturbed by it without being offended? Rewriting the history so that audiences won't be uncomfortable would make us discuss or question nothing, and what's the point of art (and, yes, I would call this show "art") if it doesn't elicit discussions or questions about it's themes?

Lehman,

Please stop the Politically Correct Madness and be intellectually honest with yourself!!!

I frankly find it offensive that you would be offended when part of our fascination with Mad Men is it's authenticity that reflect the times. When are you and others that are offended going to say to yourself,
"It is what it is and this is the way it was back then?" Nothing more, nothing less. Why is it that as an American Jew, I can take the anti-semetic comments that were on more then one episode of Mad Men and not be offended?

BECAUSE IT IS REAL!!!