“In this very weird episode, one thing gets back to normal: Don the ad man returns.” – Michael Errigo

Mad Men has never been a show that is easy to peg down. Every week before a new episode, thousands of bloggers (like myself), spend their time making desperate grabs at what will happen on Sunday night. And every Sunday, without fail, Mad Men makes everybody look dumb. Showrunner Matthew Weiner’s detest of spoilers is well documented and it’s part of the reason his brainchild feels so fresh every week. It’s unpredictable, it’s well-written and it’s entertaining.

In “The Runaways”, Weiner not only surprises viewers once again, he turns things on their head. Simply put, things got weird. And, not surprisingly, the weirdness begins with Michael Ginsburg.

Michael Ginsburg has always been a different character, someone that I myself described in this very space as “a bit odd” just last week. But even with that in mind, his complete loss of all sanity in this episode is jarring. The new computer that sits in what used to be Sterling Cooper & Partners’ creative room is the source of his crazy. He can’t stand the hum it makes. It follows him everywhere. He thinks it’s out to get him, it’s even turning people homosexual.  He cuts off his nipple and gives it to Peggy. He calls it “the valve.” He’s all better without it, even calm enough to get on the gurney when the medics come and wheel him away.

In a show that develops its characters so well that we feel like we know them, to see one of them go off the rails can only be described as uncomfortable. But Ginsburg’s transformation is a continuation of last episode’s theme: technology and the change it brings. While it may not turn people homosexual or send data waves through a young ad man’s body, Ginsburg’s reaction to the new presence of technology is reflective of everybody else’s, just on a grander scheme. While it may not be nipple-cutting worthy, a technological threat is undoubtedly afoot. 

Outside of Looneyville, Don gets a call from Stephanie, the niece of the late Anna Draper. Don lights up when he hears from her because she’s the only real family he has, the last link to a world that seems quite distant from Madison Avenue. But Stephanie’s call is not a happy one. She is pregnant and alone, leading a rugged existence in Oakland, California. Don directs her to Megan’s house and says he will be there soon. She thanks him. She calls him Dick.

As Megan and Stephanie get to know each other in the valley, Don tries to get his work done in time for a flight. But there’s one problem: Lou Avery. He’s in a foul mood after Stan and the creative department found his passion project, a laughable comic strip called “Scout’s Honor” in the printer. They mock him and he heals his wounds by making them stay late. When Don finishes the assignment and tries to cut out early he’s greeted by something that was once foreign to him at SC&P: a ‘no’. “I’m going to tuck you in tonight,” says an obviously threatened Avery. Don cancels his plans and gets back to work, a man defeated once again. A little while later Lou says he can take the work Monday and heads home- one last twist of the knife.

Meanwhile, it’s obvious the Megan and Stephanie situation isn’t going to work. Not only are they polar opposites in terms of image (Stephanie a vagabond hippy, Megan a goody-two-shoes starlet), but their relationships to Don vary extremely. Megan is jealous of Stephanie’s familiarity to her husband. Megan has fought so long and so hard to break down Don’s walls and the fact that Stephanie has been behind them, that she knows his secrets and what he’s like, is too much for Mrs. Draper to handle. So, with a nice check in hand, Stephanie leaves Megan’s place while her ‘uncle’ is still in the Big Apple.

Don arrives in California to find a Stephanie-less home. “I’m sorry this is the reason but I’m glad I get to see you,” Megan says. Don’s “Me too” is mumbled and made of plastic. That night at a party with Megan’s young Hollywood friends, its obvious Don doesn’t belong. He’s not the hang by the pool and do drugs type. Not really, anyway. Megan even dances intimately with some guy friend of hers, looking desperately for some kind of response from the man she married. The last time someone made moves like that on Mrs. Draper in front of Don, our beloved ad man filled him with oysters and made him climb some stairs. This time he does nothing.

Thankfully, Harry shows up to the party and him and Don head to somewhere more comfortable: the bar. There Harry and his former boss reminisce on their relationship with Harry showing some love for the man he could understandably despise. “I’m going to make sure you’re still important,” he says. Then he drops some big news: Lou and Jim, a pair we had long suspected were in cahoots, were in the middle of trying to woo a huge cigarette account, an account so big it could make Don’s once-intimidating buyout figure very much do-able.

When Don returns from the bar, Megan has a surprise for him: a threesome with her friend Amy. Don’s not crazy about the idea but eventually obliges (this is Don Draper we’re talking about). The threesome scene is fairly surprising, a scene that will no doubt dominate conversations about the episode just because of shock value alone. But what is usually seen as a very exciting event is quite sad here. The move is a desperate one by Megan, a last-ditch effort to breathe new life into a relationship that may have died long ago. But based on the awkward morning that follows, those efforts were in vain.  

In this very weird episode, one thing gets back to normal: Don the ad man returns. Back in the city, he walks into Jim and Lou’s meeting with Phillip Morris (a meeting he clearly and pointedly wasn’t invited to) and makes his case for their business. It’s a power play that takes the guts Don had been hiding this season, the type of guts that built Don up and tore Don down. To see him bold once again (standing confidently outside a hotel, top hat perfectly tilted once again) is exciting. That is the Don Draper we know.

The final two episodes of this season will no doubt feature more of this chess game and they will no doubt be exciting, but, as “The Runaways” clearly shows, to guess anything more than that would be silly.

Sidenotes:

– A great side story in this episode takes place in the Francis household. Betty and Henry clash over her role as a woman when it comes to public politics and this leads to some strong resistance from Betty. She put up with Don’s disrespectful, manly attitude too long to let Henry show it around the house. In a parallel development, Sally too is experiencing some burgeoning feminism, calling out her mom for her reliance on men in a particularly riveting exchange. This was a well done storyline and one to watch going forward.

- Does this crazy turn knock Ginsburg off the map for the rest of the series? Hopefully not.

- More “Scout’s Honor” please.

- “You know who had a ridiculous dream and everyone laughed at him?” “..you?”

– As always, Bob Benson doesn’t make an appearance and Lou unfortunately does. Everyone hates you, Lou.