Mad Men Season 4, Episode 1: "Public Relations"

I'm not going to write these as recaps per se, because there are plenty of other places on the web where you can find those, written by professional writers and critics. I plan to post just a few thoughts each week. One tricky thing about this is that I have to avoid reading what others have written until after I've posted my own thoughts, to avoid others' ideas seeping in and coloring my own.

Blanket warning: If you're reading these on Mondays and you haven't watched the episodes yet, you should assume that there will always be some spoilers ahead, and act accordingly.

First, I'm glad the show skipped ahead almost a year. Each season has moved ahead in time from the end of the previous one, which works well for the show's structure and approach to storytelling. And after the way the principals' departure and the formation of the new agency was portrayed so thrillingly in "Shut The Door. Have A Seat," seeing mundane things like finding new office space would have been a letdown. I'd rather be jumped ahead, after all the dust has settled.

It's weird to see everyone working in the new office. I didn't realize how used to seeing the surroundings of Sterling Cooper I'd gotten. It feels a little claustrophobic with that long corridor, as opposed to the open steno-pool area back at SC, and I really hope they get a conference table--what kind of impression does that convey to potential clients?

Don is obviously uncomfortable with the attention he's getting (which, ironically, probably came about because he was so emphatic about wanting to get out from under McCann and form a new agency). It was terribly unprofessional of him to order the two guys from Jantzen out of the office, but it was also pretty funny, because they just weren't getting it.

I like Don's apartment. Wonder what rent would have been on such a place, back then? The bunk beds for the kids were a nice touch (my brother and I had them when we were young), but shouldn't Don be taking Sally and Bobby out to do something fun during his limited time with them, instead of sitting around working while they watch TV?

What was with the prostitute slapping Don? Has he always been like this? Creepy moment. And did he address Peggy as "honey" at one point? Did I hear that correctly? Also a little creepy.

More Joan, please. I think she had just that one scene where she spoke with Harry. But she has her own office!

Betty seems almost as unhappy as when she and Don were still married. I didn't find this surprising at all.

Sally, overheard from off-camera after her Thanksgiving dinner antics: "Ow, stop pinching me!"

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One more thing, though it's not from this episode. Last week I rewatched the last two episodes from season three, and in the scene where Don and Roger come to Pete's apartment to ask him to join them in their new venture, Pete (who is faking being ill) is wearing a flannel bathrobe. I didn't catch it when I first saw the episode, but the robe is the Campbell tartan, and Pete is Peter Campbell. Perfect. Pete is just the sort who would think it was important to wear his namesake pattern.