Welcome to Mad Cap: a daily rundown of every episode of the acclaimed AMC series Mad Men. During this time, I will be compiling my thoughts and highlights as we travel through every moment and season of the Emmy-award winning drama that has come to define modern TV. The goal is to be a refresher on every moment for Don Draper and his band of advertisement executives leading up to the final season. Stay for all of the shocking moments and the brilliant acting performances, and make sure to chime in with your thoughts and criticisms on why the show means something to you.
Season 6, Episodes 8
"The Crash"
"Every time we get a car, this
place turns into a whore house."
- Don Draper (Jon Hamm)
Plot:
Following a car crash that kills one of the clients, Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton) has to do his best to recover despite feeling like he is their toy. Don Draper (Jon Hamm) begins to suffer from sickness as a deadline with Chevy approaches. He takes a serum that causes a slew of memories about his childhood to return, including how he lost his virginity in a whorehouse. The rest of the staff goofs around and gets injured. One tries to hit on Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss), but she rejects him. Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka) and Bobby Draper (Jared Gilmore) are left at home one day and a black woman claiming to be Don's mother shows up. Don desperately tries to get the Chevy deal done, but fails miserably. When he discovers that the black woman stole stuff from their house, he passes out from stress. When Sally expresses concern for believing what the woman said, Don tries to take the blame.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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| Jon Hamm |
MVP:
Don Draper (Jon Hamm)
It could just be how the season has progressed, but Don is getting worn out this season. He is working his butt off, and for what? The Chevy client isn't working out and his relationship with Sylvia (Linda Cardellini) isn't panning out. Somebody robs his kids. His life is a mess. Add in a compelling back story on how he lost his virginity and you get one of the more compelling episodes to focus on Don this season. If the season doesn't end with him getting a heart attack, then it will have been a sham. It has been hinted at and with the way his life is going, things seem to warrant that overwhelming slap in the face.
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| Kiernan Shipka and Jared Gilmore |
Best Scene
In the one redeeming factor of Don's life in this episode, he takes the blame for his children's misfortune. They had to deal with a strange black woman. For the most part, it could be a little misleading, as her charisma lead her to possibly be a logical surrogate for Don's mother. It was bizarre that she was black, but until Sally catches on, things could go horribly wrong. Still, in the final phone call of the episode in which Sally confesses to not knowing a lot about her father, things become abundantly clear. How much do we as the audience actually know about Don? We're still getting back story all of these years later. He grew up in a whorehouse? Wow. Sally has become the surrogate for the audience in all of the right ways in one of the most touching, simplistic moments in the episode.
UP NEXT: "The Better Half"
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