Mad Men Season 4, Episode 13: "Tomorrowland"

Apologies for the lateness--it's deadline week, and work did a good job of getting in the way of life yesterday and today.

[Standard disclaimer: I have avoided reading any other recaps, writeups, or other commentary on this episode before writing this, so if I express something similar to thoughts you've read elsewhere, it's entirely a coincidence. If you have not watched the episode, assume there are spoilers ahead and act accordingly.]

For a season-ending episode, this wasn't what I was expecting. I feel like Matthew Weiner and company threw us a little bait and switch here. Story lines took surprising turns that I'm sure not everyone feels happy about.

We had the big buildup about the uncertainty of the agency's future, and the only real change there was the pantyhose account, not exactly a big deal. No disrespect to Peggy and Ken; they saw the opportunity and made it happen. But didn't you feel like something bigger was about to happen? So the agency is still in business for now, and maybe everything's going to turn out fine, but it ended up being anticlimactic.

It looked like Don was moving toward a serious commitment to Faye, then he gets stars in his eyes for Megan. I think this had at least something to do with Faye's reaction to Sally's behavior and her admission that she isn't comfortable around children, and Megan's subsequent comforting of Sally after she fell down in the hall. Don saw Megan's maternal side in that situation, and I think it affected his judgment.

Don's proposal ended up seeming like a bit of a desperation move, like grabbing onto the first thing he could, and it was out of character--maybe that was the point? It's even more puzzling than Betty's attraction to Henry. And of course Roger, having married one of Don's previous secretaries, is congratulating Don the quickest and loudest.

Remember, too, that when Faye and Don first met, she told him he'd be remarried within a year. I assumed at the time that the line would end up coming true in regard to Faye herself.

And even the answer to Joan's situation was a bit of a fake-out, though certainly the one most people saw coming. But again, it doesn't fit with everything else we've seen. What if the baby looks like Roger? Greg is so jealous, he's not going to miss that. Or is this maybe the clue that Greg won't be coming back from Vietnam after all? And the business about her breasts being bigger from the pregnancy was kind of a sideways smirk at all the fuss made about Christina Hendricks's voluptuousness.

I guess we'll all have plenty to ponder and discuss until next summer. First question to my mind is, when will the story pick up? Will we see Joan in the last trimester of her pregnancy? The poor woman will barely be able to stand. Will we see Don and Megan's wedding? I kind of think they'll just go down to city hall.