- Anna Draper (Melinda Page Hamilton) and Don Draper (Jon Hamm) before the bad news in "The Good News."
Admit it…halfway through “The Good News,” after Don hears the not-so-good news about Anna’s terminal cancer, you knew the rest of the hour would be spent watching Don suffer through another in his steady stream of life-wrenching gut punches, right?
It’s a nod to the greatness of “Mad Men” that that’s when the episode flips a hard u-turn, gleefully grinding gears from the impending loss of Don’s last true support to a sloppy drunk Lane, slapping a steak over his crotch and screaming, “Look at me! I got a big, Texas belt buckle! Yee haw!”
From “Brian’s Song” to “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” in the space of about 10 minutes…ladies and gentlemen, the best show on television.
After all the darkness and loss of direction Don has faced in the first two episodes of this season, it seemed Don’s trip to L.A. could be season 2’s “The Jet Set” redux – another flight to the left coast for Don to re-center after a crisis.
And at first, it seems to work. Don, so badly battered and tired both personally and professionally, comes back to life a bit in the loving embrace of Anna Draper. You’ve got to hand it to Don – it’s not often a man can feel his most loved and supported in a platonic relationship with the wife of the man whose identity he stole.
LAST WEEK: Read the Bunker review of last week’s Mad Men episode “Christmas Comes but Once a Year”
ARCHIVES: Read all of this season’s “Mad Men” reviews
But after Don brings up the still-fresh sting following Betty’s rejection of Dick Whitman, Anna sums up her odd relationship with Dick, saying “I know everything about you and I still love you.”
The newly-recharged Don even take the opportunity to slide back into his usually lecherous, often icky horn-dog saddle when he puts the moves on Anna’s college-age niece Stephanie.
The revelation of Anna’s cancer, coupled with the fact that her own family is keeping that news from her, slams on the good times brakes and once again puts Don on his heels emotionally. Anna Draper, who not only didn’t turn Dick in to the police, but essentially helped build the Don Draper persona, is the last true family Don has left.
But all of Don’s money can’t change Anna’s test results, leaving him just “a man in a room with a checkbook,” as Anna’s sister Patty says.
Don cancels his Acapulco trip and returns to New York without telling Anna about her cancer. While we can already see how much her illness affects Don, the other shoe will drop hard on Don when he eventually hears of the cancer reaching its inevitable conclusion.
This episode also featured one of those jarring reminders that the 60s really were a different time. It’s pretty shocking to think that just a few decades ago, it wouldn’t have been unheard of for the family of a grown woman – and her doctor, no less – to lie to her about her condition. It’s kind of like one of my all-time favorite “Mad Men” scenes — the amazing Draper family picnic litterfest from season 2’s “The Golden Violin.”
(FYI – I was just went looking to attach video of the picnic scene here and came up empty. I’m stunned that no one has ever uploaded it to YouTube. I thought it would be there, for sure. America, you’re slipping…)
For those of us who didn’t live through the era, it’s almost hard sometimes to know how we survived it.
Thankfully, rather than dwelling in the pit of Don’s sorrow, we get a second half chock full of the comedy stylings of stiff-upper-lip English dandy Lane Pryce finally letting loose.
And when Lane lets his hair down – well, have you ever seen Rapunzel? When his hair is down, it’s all the way down.
While Dick Whitman plays the role of Don Draper in the halls of his agency, it’s become more and more clear over the past two seasons that Lane Pryce is usually acting as well. While he plays his part as the stern voice of fiscal authority at SCDP, the old saying about still waters seems to apply to old Lane.
Beyond the Texas belt buckle moment (the hands-down best laugh of a hilarious episode), here are the other four Lane Pryce Golden moments of “The Good News,” in ascending order: 5. “We’re not homosexuals. We’re divorced!”; 4. “I want my meat! Ah, there it is!”; 3. “This movie’s very good!” (Don and Lane watching Godzilla – tell me this show isn’t awesome); and finally, 2. “If you don’t mind…”
Jared Harris, you sir, rock.
Other thoughts…
- It seems like every time we get a storyline centered around Joan, it ends with her either demoralized or ignored or just generally abused. It was nice to see that at least this time, she’s got a little bit of hope. Granted, she was crying, but at least, Greg was being surprisingly charming as he stitched up her hand and they both tried to ignore the Vietnam possibility.
In fact, Greg was so sweet, let’s just forgive that whole raping Joan in the Sterling Cooper offices thing two years ago. What do ya say? He’s a good guy now, right? Right?
- Alison seems to be bearing up well after her disastrous one-night stand with Don. I think we can still fully expect the situation to blow up in Don’s face at some point, but at least for now, no signs of an imminent meltdown.
- Very light week for most of the cast. No Betty or Bert. Non-speaking cameos by Roger and Pete. A short scene each for Harry and Peggy. Thankfully, when “Mad Men” focuses intently on a small subset of the regular cast, it never particularly feels like we’re truly missing the rest. But I may be willing to amend that thought if we don’t get some quality Roger time next week, capisce?
