‘Mad Men’ season 7, episode 5 review: Don, Megan, and Amy in a tangled web

On the new episode of “Mad Men” Sunday night, we once again had a story that was full of surprises … especially when it comes to the relationship between Don and Megan Draper.

After the last time we saw these two together, we expected their next move to be something along the lines of a permanent separation or a divorce right away. After all, they have not been on the best of terms … not even remotely. Instead, what we saw was one strange threesome, and the sort of thing that even conspiracy theorist Ginsberg wouldn’t have expected. She and Amy got really stoned, and decided to share the love with Don after a party. So while Megan had already pretty much figured out that her husband with a cheater, there is a little bit of a difference between thinking it, and seeing Don actually kiss another woman in front of you (even if you are told that it is okay to do so). It may be too early to tell at the moment just what the implications of this will be in the future for the two, but something was clearly on Megan’s mind when she spoke with Don the next morning in between his call from Stephanie.

What did you think about that Stephanie appearance? That just spelled awkward and obvious in every which way to us, and that was hard for Megan to handle.

This surprise, though, was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what was otherwise a fast-moving episode by this show’s standards. For one, we imagine that the fall of Ginsberg into insanity is something that would have been fleshed out more on other seasons if there were more than just seven episodes in a year. It was still an interesting, at-times disturbing story to behold, and it makes us wonder further how jarring it must have been to live in those times and be afraid of what things like technology could do to change daily life.

We could spend a ton of time again talking about how awful Betty is, but instead, we are more interested in discussing the politics of the firm again. Harry Crane informed Don that SC&P had found another way to effectively squeeze him out, but once again, Don proved to be a step ahead in the Phillip Morris business. It’s hard to know how long this advantage will last, but it was certainly interesting to see him back to his old fighting ways.

Overall, yet another outstanding episode of the show. You have to love “Mad Men” when it is firing on this many cylinders. Grade: A.

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Photo: AMC