‘Mad Men’ season 7, episode 5 preview: Speculating over ‘The Runaways’

Any time that you choose to name an episode of your show “The Runaways,” it is pretty fair to say that you better expect there to be some serious speculation to follow that up. After all, people are going to want to know just what that means!

This just so happens to be the name for the new “Mad Men” episode airing on Sunday night, and since AMC is giving us almost nothing when it comes to what to expect, we are left to debate this very subject ourselves. What in the world could the title be talking about?

One easy possibility to consider is what is happening with Roger Sterling. A daughter who leaves her son behind could be very well be considered a “runaway” … but this title implies that there are two of them, and Roger is not taking off with her judging from what we saw of him in this episode.

Meanwhile, you could come back to the office and wonder if Ginsberg and company are the ones who decide to storm off in a huff. After all, are these guys going to accept the arrival of technology? They are already feeling marginalized enough, and the computer coupled with Don Draper’s return may not be the sort of change that they can handle.

Now, we turn to the final possibility: Sally Draper emulating Roger’s own daughter and taking off. There has to be a better reason for Betty to show up beyond just her being upset over a sandwich. The only real issue here would be that the story would not make a substantial amount of sense. Sally actually looked rather happy the last time we saw her, and that is a rarity for this character.

If you want to get some more discussion before the new episode airs, click here for our most-recent podcast. Also, sign up now to get some further updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: AMC