Mad Men “Favors” Review: Work and Play

 Don looking concerned on Mad Men

Photo Credit: AMC TV

A Review of this week’s Mad Men as soon as I learn to juggle oranges…

“Not all surprises are bad.”

-Roger

Spoiler alert!! Usually I don't put this before Mad Men reviews because it's not often a spoilable show but this week is an exception!!

Surprise! The strength of Mad Men over years has never been its sudden and surprising moments. The show has always been best at its characters and the gradual building of their relationships and characteristics. Surprises on Mad Men always seem a little off within the context of the show. They seem to not play as brilliantly as the rest of the show does on a regular basis.

On the other had there was “Favors” an episode that dropped the surprise of Sally walking in on Don and Sylvia so perfectly, and with a payoff that is so devastating, that it was a surprise that ultimately paid off very well for Mathew Weiner and crew. The reason the big moment worked in the end was the natural build to it and the devastating ripples of its effects on the characters of the show. Sally being put in the awkward situation regarding potentially crushing on the Rosen’s boy Mitchell, whom Don is also trying to aid was an interesting set up for Don’s first massive mistake with Sally. The sequence played out like a perfect game of chess with all the pieces coming together in such a naturally perfect fashion.

Will Don ever do a good deed for someone ever again after this experience? The intentions behind Don trying to save Mitchell from getting arrested for not going to war are entirely good after seeing Arnold greatly devastated by the potential fate of his son leaves him caring enough to take immediate action, without it being Sylvia driven at all. Don has a great concern for what the Rosens are going through and for once his need for an outside engagement was not a factor in his decision.

Then, unfortunately for Don Sylvia’s emotional phone call at work propels himself back to Sylvia out of a need to comfort her (strangely, while the lie to Sally about what was going on was really lame in every facet there was some truth in the whole comforting thing) and while the big mistake begins. Sally just looking to get rid of a note that her friend planted about Sally and her interesting feelings runs into Don and Sylvia about to do it. On an execution level the sequence could have been a disaster but with the set up, the writing, and the amazing in the moment acting from Kiernan Shipka especially made it all work perfectly.

What was even better and more devastating was the aftermath of the whole event. “Favors” allowed the events to continue on for about ten minutes allowing the aftermath to take its devastating shape. Sally is done with caring about Don now and there is no going back. For Don that’s completely devastating as loosing Sally’s love is a true loss at this point for Don. Great work is done here by both Shipka and Hamm to display the emotional devastation of both parties in the final conversation with the door in between them (some very overt Mad Men symbolism yet again this week). The desperation of don as he tries not to lose the love of his daughter and the devastation felt by Sally as she tries to process what she has witnessed. Both will face consequences equally as devastating in their lives and ultimately it may ruin both parties emotionally in substantial ways. The episode ends in a perfect, eerie silence as Don shuts the door to the living room leaving him and Sally equally alone in their situations.

That was only about a third of this brilliant episode too, but because of some constraints (not much sleep due to some graduation things) the rest of the episode review will be given in the bullets so…

Some other Musings:

•  Pete had a great little episode this week as well in a few aspects of his life. First off Bob Benson is really looking up and caring for Pete. Man was that sequence a strange yet fascinating look into the mind of Bob Benson. I personally ultimately predicted that Benson was looking to barge in and take the spot of Pete Cambell but in the end it looks like he actually has feelings of intrigue and care for the man who is slowly falling out of importance at the company.

• To the other point, no I don’t think that Bob Benson is in fact gay but instead he has a more in the moment feeling about Pete than anything else in the knee on knee sequence.

• The dinner sequence featuring Pete, Peggy, and Ted was absolutely fantastic in every way. It felt so natural watching that after watching Before Midnight just a couple of days ago and comparing dinner sequences. It gave a chance for Pete and Peggy to have a candid moment together allowing for them to share what is going on feelings wise (Pete with his mother and the company, Peggy with Ted) with each other’s lives in ways that haven’t been possible in long stretches of time.

• Pete’s mom potentially getting sex from her male nurse is both very funny and strangely disturbing.

• Ted is stuck in opposite mode from Don at this moment. While Don’s energy mostly relies on his personal life Ted is planted firmly in the workplace as of late. The scene with his wife is telling of where Ted’s head is right now and his sequences with Don suggest that he may be more interested in wrestling control of the company while Don’s out of it (especially in the near future with the whole Sally debacle) than was initially thought last week.

• Peggy (probably drunkenly) asks Stan for sex and gets a cat to kill rats!

• Roger juggles!

In all this was just an amazing episode of an amazing show! Potentially this season’s best!

That’s just me though, what did everyone else think?