Once again Mathew Weiner and company have hit one out of the park! The series continues to operate in its minimalistic but eloquent dialogue while speaking loudly in subtleties of body language, innuendo and facial expressions. Once again the sets, costuming, lighting, and props are spectacular. The acting continues to be superb across the board and the character development is being ramped up to ever greater heights of angst, sexual tension, cut throat dog eat dog business machinations and deliciously layered office politics with the British element of the new partners in Sterling Cooper adding a dazzling new element and culturally detached chemistry that both confuses, and adds gigantic, mesmerizing plot twisting possibilities to the show going forward! I have left out specific details so as not to create a spoiler in the plot, needless to say fans of season one and two will have already viewed this season premier. Newbies do yourself a favor and make a commitment to this series, you will NOT be disappointed!
6 Reviews
A Slightly Rocky Start to Season Three
borowiecsminus8 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
When I say "Slightly Rocky," for Mad Men, 8 stars is slightly rocky. So that's how good the show is.
If you were to rank all the episodes of Mad Men as you watch them (which I am doing), this would be a little close to the middle, but at the same time, well below it. There's nothing terrible about this episode. Unfortunately, there's nothing stand-out about it, either. I feel like I'm back in that first stretch (you know, episodes 2-5) in season one. It's fine, it's just so slow.
I'm not hating on slow television I'm hating on a slow episode in an already slow show. The show is, by default, slow! And yet this episode is slow even for Mad Men! That's too much, man.
All in all, if I had to pick a highlight, it would be the whole chunk of episode from the moment the fire alarm sounds, when Don and Salvadore are coital in... different ways.., and Don discovers Salvadore's secret. The eye contact, or lack thereof, between Sal and Don throws the viewer off-balance, and the acting on both Jon Hamm's and Bryan Batt's part is great.
All in all, aside from the ending few minutes, it seems to just be about recovering, rather than moving the plot. Then again, most season premieres of most shows are a lot worse than this one, so I'm favorable.
If you were to rank all the episodes of Mad Men as you watch them (which I am doing), this would be a little close to the middle, but at the same time, well below it. There's nothing terrible about this episode. Unfortunately, there's nothing stand-out about it, either. I feel like I'm back in that first stretch (you know, episodes 2-5) in season one. It's fine, it's just so slow.
I'm not hating on slow television I'm hating on a slow episode in an already slow show. The show is, by default, slow! And yet this episode is slow even for Mad Men! That's too much, man.
All in all, if I had to pick a highlight, it would be the whole chunk of episode from the moment the fire alarm sounds, when Don and Salvadore are coital in... different ways.., and Don discovers Salvadore's secret. The eye contact, or lack thereof, between Sal and Don throws the viewer off-balance, and the acting on both Jon Hamm's and Bryan Batt's part is great.
All in all, aside from the ending few minutes, it seems to just be about recovering, rather than moving the plot. Then again, most season premieres of most shows are a lot worse than this one, so I'm favorable.
Out of Town
DanialAbufarha14 July 2019
Although this episode was a bit slow at times, it is much better than the season two premiere, whose episode was agonizingly slow and out of touch. I really enjoyed the flashback scenes of Don's mother giving birth and his step-mother's in vain attempts to conceive a child. I would not mind at all if the following episodes are to have similar flashback scenes.
Affairs and Office Changes
vivianla10 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Not much talk of the Cuban Missile Crisis here so I guess it is done?
Don has a flashback as he boils milk for a very pregnant Betty. Dick's stepmother has a stillborn and she looks at the dead baby's face. We see how Don was born. His father pays his mother money for sex and she says if anything happens she will cut off his dick. She repeats this over and over in her sleep in a crazy manner when Dick is born. Therefore that is how Donald Draper got the name Dick. The newborn Dick is brought to Dick's stepmother who takes him in.
The office politics has changed with new foreign workers and old employees being fired. It is a strange atmosphere and I miss the old Sterling Cooper.
London Fog is a coat company and the Sterling Cooper employees make a sexy ad of a woman with her coat open to a man sitting down. It is assumed upon seeing this ad the woman is naked.
Salvatore Romano and Dick Draper are on a business trip where they meet a very beautiful stewardess who looks like Betty Draper. She is attracted and invites them to join for dinner. They are to meet with London Fog (the coat company) account clients.
They lie about their names to the three flight employees they sit down in a restaurant with. The stewardess follows Dick to his hotel room. She looks beautiful as she leans over Dick who is sitting and takes off her clothes. She has on white granny panties and bra. She takes off her bra and covers her nipples and the camera shows the front view of her face and hands covering her nipples. She asks, "You like?". Don gives in and she lets go of her breasts and leans over Don in the bed. I am so angry Don is cheating on his PREGNANT wife who he APOLOGIZED to!!!
Salvatore gets kissed and fondled in the pelvic area by the elevator man. There is a fire and a bell is ringing. The couples quickly rush to leave the building. As Don and the stewardess climb down the fire escape they pass Sal's window and now Don knows Sal is gay. Everyone in the hotel is outside peering up. Don and the stewardess look beautiful - the stewardess is pulling the coat tightly around her and her face looks like Grace Kelly's.
There are more scenes I will take notes of later.
Don has a flashback as he boils milk for a very pregnant Betty. Dick's stepmother has a stillborn and she looks at the dead baby's face. We see how Don was born. His father pays his mother money for sex and she says if anything happens she will cut off his dick. She repeats this over and over in her sleep in a crazy manner when Dick is born. Therefore that is how Donald Draper got the name Dick. The newborn Dick is brought to Dick's stepmother who takes him in.
The office politics has changed with new foreign workers and old employees being fired. It is a strange atmosphere and I miss the old Sterling Cooper.
London Fog is a coat company and the Sterling Cooper employees make a sexy ad of a woman with her coat open to a man sitting down. It is assumed upon seeing this ad the woman is naked.
Salvatore Romano and Dick Draper are on a business trip where they meet a very beautiful stewardess who looks like Betty Draper. She is attracted and invites them to join for dinner. They are to meet with London Fog (the coat company) account clients.
They lie about their names to the three flight employees they sit down in a restaurant with. The stewardess follows Dick to his hotel room. She looks beautiful as she leans over Dick who is sitting and takes off her clothes. She has on white granny panties and bra. She takes off her bra and covers her nipples and the camera shows the front view of her face and hands covering her nipples. She asks, "You like?". Don gives in and she lets go of her breasts and leans over Don in the bed. I am so angry Don is cheating on his PREGNANT wife who he APOLOGIZED to!!!
Salvatore gets kissed and fondled in the pelvic area by the elevator man. There is a fire and a bell is ringing. The couples quickly rush to leave the building. As Don and the stewardess climb down the fire escape they pass Sal's window and now Don knows Sal is gay. Everyone in the hotel is outside peering up. Don and the stewardess look beautiful - the stewardess is pulling the coat tightly around her and her face looks like Grace Kelly's.
There are more scenes I will take notes of later.
Would Don Really Act This Way in Front of a Subordinate?
azjimnson28 August 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Not my favorite episode of "Mad Men" by a long shot--though I also disliked most of the Don in California subplot in season two. I guess the point was being made in this first season three episode that Don will never be able to resist bedding an attractive woman if the opportunity presents itself, despite his alleged re-dedication to Betty and the kids. I was a bit surprised that Don would engage in a pretense about being FBI accountants, or whatever they claimed to be, with Sal. Sal is on a much lower rung of the corporate ladder at Sterling-Cooper. We have seen Don engage in this behavior with Roger, but then Roger is on his level in the firm. Perhaps the point of Don seeing the bellman in Sal's hotel room was to give Don some leverage over Sal for future use, though why he would need that I don't know. Having been a dedicated fan since the first episode, I am not dissing the series or the writing overall in saying this was not a very strong episode, particularly as it is one that viewers new to the series will use to determine if they will keep watching.
Checking IMDb Pro
rrosenwald16 August 2009
I'm a new fan by the way. Since I quit smoking myself back in 1965, camels non-filtered, I do get a bit nauseous with all the smoking going on especially in elevators and on the plane. Can't find a listing in the cast for the character of the Stewardess "Shelly" if that's the character's name or for that matter, the other stew and the airline pilot. Having once worked in a corporate environment (investment banking and trust and estates) in New York many years ago, I do find the machinations of the characters somewhat apt, however I never experienced anything quite as blatantly cutthroat as the competition between the new "Heads of Accounts." Having flown a fair amount back in the mid-late 60's while still in college I appreciate the mise en scene of the airplane and the dialogue with the stews. It's somewhat nostalgia inducing.
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