Oh, Mad Men, I love you and every one of your dull, slow-paced, supremely meaningful moments.  I love every minute. Every.  Minute.

Seriously, watching Mad Men is like reading a D.H. Lawrence novel; 250 pages in you’re still riding on the high of a sparsely-described exchange between a lady and her gamekeeper.  Did something happen just now?, you ask.  Probably.

Stay with me here, okay?  I’m trying to explain art to you.  Last night’s episode of Mad Men concerned itself with image, outward appearance, the show you put on to be the way you want others to see you.  Let’s discuss.

Ken Cosgrove and Pete Campbell tell Creative they have to work through the weekend to come up with something for the Bacardi account, while everyone else attends Roger Sterling and wife Jane’s Kentucky Derby party.  The Creatives - including our gal Peggy Olson, Kinsey, and Smitty - decide to spend the time smoking pot to spark (ha! spark!) their creativity.

We witness more instances of Peggy attempting to break through her prudish image; she insists the boys include her in their smoke-out sesh, refusing to be left out again because she’s a prim young lady, a constant buzzkill. We even hear the phrases “My name is Peggy Olsen and I want to smoke marijuana” and “I am so… stoned” come out of her mouth.  The guys truly see her in a new light that weekend as she continues to assert herself against the boys’ club.

The pot comes from Kinsey’s college friend Jeffrey Graves, a drug pusher with a chip on his shoulder - he consistently introduces himself as “Jeffrey Graves, Princeton ‘55,” for example.  Jeffrey seems intent on letting everyone know he’s no worse than any of them - and that the educated Kinsey is himself  just a Jersey man.

At the Kentucky Derby party, we see an amazing assortment of things: Roger performing a Stephen Foster number in blackface (!), Pete and Trudy Campbell breaking their usual awkward mold and doing an amazing Charleston that clears the dancefloor, and Betty Draper, in a too-intimate moment, testing the boundaries of her pregnant sexuality and allowing a flirty man from the Governor’s office to feel her belly.

Meanwhile, Joan Holloway hosts a dinner party for her husband’s bosses and puts on the performance of a lifetime, being charming as hell, entertaining the ladies, and smiling through news that times with her Rapist Doctor Husband will be tough - he recently botched up a surgery and has little chance of advancing in his field.

It all ends with Rapist Doctor Husband’s insistence that Joanie plays a song for them on her accordion, which she reluctantly does.  What we get is a charming French ditty (Cole Porter’s “C’est Magnifique” - so meaningful!) through gritted teeth - Joan Holloway is nothing if not always on point and presentable.  But something tells me, some serious shizz is going to go down behind the scenes with her and Rapist Doctor Husband.  It’s so, so hard to disguise who you truly are, right Mad Men?

Meanwhile, Jane has one too many mint juleps at her party, and embarrasses Betty by indicating that she knows about her and Don’s separation.  Betty runs off, and  Jane pulls Don Draper in by the waist, demanding to know why he doesn’t like her. Roger walks in on the scene and they have a confrontation that seems to have been brewing for a while - we always knew Don was silently judging!  Don tells Roger everyone thinks he’s ridiculous for marrying his secretary. “That’s the great thing about coming here,” Roger says about his country club, “You can be happy, and choose your guests.”  Oy.  I really can’t tell who’s happy on this show.

Back at the ranch, creativity strikes for stoned Peggy and she retreats to her office to get it down in writing.  Trouble is, she has a new nosey secretary who won’t leave her alone, is constantly silently judging her, especially now that she’s crazy stoned.  Enlightened, Peggy tells secretary to quit worrying about her; in a proclamation to not just nosey secretary but to all of mankind, Peggy asserts that she will be absolutely fine.  Peggy Olson, feminist hero!

The program ends with Don finding Betty out in the garden, their silhouettes kissing her in the moonlight.  In the dark, no more pretending.  They can be whatevs.

Best episode of the season so far?  Too much pot humor for my likes, but still, a supreme achievement in the chipping away of Mad Men facades.  I love when imperfections are exposed, y’all.

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