Greatest Season in TV Series History Pt. 3

Note: This is Part 3 of this write-up. Click on the links below to read Part 1 and Part 2.

PART 1 | PART 2

Don Draper, you broke up with this pretty chick?! How dare you!

Best Moments of Season Four

Funny Moments

•    Any Miss Blankenship Moment. Miss Blankenship was just comedy gold. She calls people with their wrong names (she called Lane Pryce as Pryce Lane). Because of her old age, she is clumsy most of the time. When Don told Miss Blankenship to cancel his meeting with Faye, Miss Blankenship called Faye and asked her to come inside Don’s room in order for him to say to her that their meeting is canceled. It was the stupidest meeting cancellation of all-time. Whenever Ms. Blankenship informs Don that someone is coming inside his room, it is always funny. This is because the person has already entered the room.

•    When the partners were contemplating on their chances to get Honda, Bert Cooper said that they would know if they received a gift. Don asked Miss Blankenship if there was a package for him and in an “oh wait! Yes, there was” tone, she said there was a gift. She brings it in. Pete, out of excitement, tried to get the package from Ms. Blankenship’s hands. Instead of letting Pete get the gift, Ms. Blankenship refused and pulled it away from him. She exclaimed, “it says Don on it.”

Miss Blankenship's Funny Death

•    Miss Blankenship’s Death. I tried to narrate it but I realized that it is funnier to watch the whole scene as there were several simultaneous actions in place.

•    Danny (the short guy) raised his hand to ask a question about the company’s future after the Lucky Strike news was delivered to them. Because he was short, his hand was not noticed.

•    Duck tried to poop on Don’s chair for revenge. Peggy tells him that it was Roger’s chair. I know this is shallow but Duck’s fart was funny. That and the fact that he is supposed to be mature enough to understand that pranks like that are stupid and childish.

•    Pete seeing Peggy and the newly pregnant Trudy together as they come out from the CR. It was awkwardly funny because Pete impregnated both of them.

•    In “Crysanthemum and the Sword,” the Japanese from Honda met Joan for the first time. Seeing how large her breasts are, they remarked in Japanese (via subtitles) “How does she not fall over?”

•    When the partners of SCDP met the Japanese, they gave them a present. As part of their culture, Mr. Saito refused to receive the gift. It was funny how Pete forced the Japanese to accept and open the gift. Because of the cultural differences (Japanese do not open gifts right away), it felt awkwardly funny when Pete even had to say what’s inside the present.

•    Santa Roger. ‘Nuff said!

•    Personal Funny Moment: When Sally cut her hair, her sitter and her brother reacted wildly. I was like, “What the eff just happened?!” I had to replay the scene three times to see the remarkable change on Sally. I never got it. Instead, I ended up thinking that she had her menstruation.

Best Lines

Don, you made the birthday girl cry!

From “The Suitcase:”
Don Draper: I give you money, you give me ideas!
Peggy Olson: You never said ‘thank you!’
Don Draper: That’s what the money is for! You are young. You will get your recognition. Honestly, it’s absolutely ridiculous to be two years into your career and counting your ideas. Everything to you is an opportunity. And, you should be thanking me everyday when you wake up just like Jesus.”

Oh, Don… you are such a douchebag.

From “Crysanthemum and the Sword:”
Roger Sterling (referring to their Japanese clients): I have to warn you, they won’t know if it’s over until you drop the big one…twice.

From “The Summer Man:”
Don Draper: “People tell you who they are, but we ignore it, because we want them to be who we want them to be.”

From “Beautiful Girls:”
Bert Cooper (on Ms. Blankenship’s Obituary): She was born in 1898 in a barn. She died in a 37th floor of a skyscraper. She’s an astronaut.

From “The Rejected:”
Allison: I would appreciate it if you could write me a recommendation.
Don: Absolutely. Or probably, it would be better if you type whatever you want then I'll sign it.

From “Waldorf Stories:”
Don: Roger, do you have the pleasure of meeting Ted Chaough.
Roger: Is that how you say it? C-H-A-O-U-G-H? Hey, writers! How many extra vowels is that?

From “The Chinese Wall:”
Bert Cooper (to Roger Sterling): Lee Garner Jr. never took you seriously because you never took yourself seriously.

From “Tomorrowland:”
Betty: I wanted a fresh start, OK? I’m entitled to that
Henry: There is no fresh start! Lives carry on.

From “Tomorrowland:”
(The break-up scene)
Faye: What is going on?
Don: Something happened and I’d like to talk to you about it face to face. Meet me for coffee.
Faye: OK… Hmmm… You know what, I’m not gonna have some conversation and have to sit through coffee afterwards. Just get to it.
Don: Well…I…I met somebody.
(Faye starts to cry)
Don: …and we’re engaged.

Are you kidding me?!

Faye: Are you kidding me?!
Don: (murmuring) I know. I know. It’s a surprise. It was for me too.
Faye: Jesus! Who is she?!
Don: What’s the difference? I fell in love. I didn’t mean for this to happen, and you’ve been very, very important to me.
Faye:  So, you’re not going to put an ad on the New York Times saying you never liked me?
Don: Faye…
Faye: Well, I hope you’re very happy. And, I hope she knows that you only like the beginnings of things.

Top Break-Up Moments
For a dark and depressing season, “Mad Men” Season 4 featured several break-ups. Shown below are the top break-up moments of the year.

Honorable Mention: Mark-Peggy Break-Up. After Peggy had Mark waiting for hours in their dinner date for her birthday (because she was too busy working), Mark gave up and broke up with Peggy over the phone. Instead of feeling bad for Peggy, I actually cheered. I was happy that Peggy’s douchebag boyfriend is gone for good.

5) Roger-Joan Breakup. Technically, it’s not a break-up because they both have their husband/wife. However, it was sad to see their awesome chemistry as a couple end.

4) Carla-Betty Breakup. The first non-romantic breakup in this list. Carla is the guardian of Don and Betty’s kids since they were babies. She is the closest mother figure for Sally (because Betty is a horrible mother). It was depressing to see this happen because other than the fact that Betty made this irrational decision, it was also a huge blow for Sally who will move to a new place, lose her bestfriend and will now be losing the only person who understands her the most.

3) Faye Miller-Unknown Boyfriend Breakup. The second over-the-phone breakup in this list (why the hell can’t they just break up face-to-face?!) I put it this high because of Faye Miller’s remarkable line, “Go shit in the ocean!”

2) SCDP-Lucky Strike Breakup. In an already intense episode (“The Chinese Wall”) , the sudden announcement of Lee Garner Jr. that they will be leaving SCDP just made the episode a glass full of depression. No wonder Roger Sterling laughed at the events sarcastically because he knew they were effed up.

1) Don-Faye Breakup. I think I have expounded too much on this already.

Holy Shit Moments
Last season, “Mad Men” had one of its biggest holy shit moments during the freak accident by the lawnmower. This season, there were some moments that could hold a candle to that incident.

One Big Fart!

5) Duck trying to crap on Don’s chair. Way to start this list with something about shit. Duck trying to poop to have revenge was just way too low for him. He is an old man and that is the best he could think of?! (OK, he is drunk but still…) Either way, the idea of revenge has always been silly.

4) Lane Pryce getting caned by his father. This disturbing scene should have been higher because adults should never be treated like children. However, I did not like how they executed the scene (there seemed to be a delay after he hit Lane)

3) Sally’s Masturbation Scene. For those who still do not know, Sally is Don’s ten year old daughter.

2) Miss Blankenship’s Death. Who saw this one coming? I absolutely did not. With the dark humor they used in featuring Miss Blankenship’s death, I found it hard to have the right emotions – I was sad but I was resisting my urge to laugh.

1) Don’s Proposal to Megan. It was enough to make me cringe for the remainder of the episode. It made me felt the same experience that I had when LeBron announced that he is choosing Miami earlier this year. It was a mixture of shock, disappointment and helplessness. Bill Simmons said it best in his podcast. He reacted to this by pausing it and screaming “NOOOOOO!!!! Why?! Why?!”

You know you are a “Mad Men” Fan if…

(Yup, let’s end this long write-up with a fun segment)

•    You mix Mountain Dew and vodka
•    You use “Don Draper” as a term or an adjective (i.e., “He just did a Don Draper in there!”)
•    You answer a difficult “Mad Men” test (where it asks for you to fill in the blanks of dialogues) and you score more than twenty out of 25. (I scored 23/25)

•    You wished that you can drink/smoke/sleep at any time in the office.
•    You listened to one of the show’s soundtracks (I took it a step further by getting addicted to “Satisfaction” and “Do you want to know a Secret”)
•    You have re-watched a “Mad Men” episode and fell in love with it more than your first viewing.
•    You tweet about your reaction to the show.
•    You like slow-paced TV shows.
•    You make up fake betting lines on when Don Draper is going to cheat on Megan.