Notes from a Field Trip

I have too many thoughts about last night's Mad Men to be coherent. So I'm going listy with the top 6.

1. Attaboy, Roger. That's the Roger I know and love, the one who seems entirely too laid back, but strikes out at just the right moment. I loved him standing up for Don, for forcing the meeting that wouldn't have happened if he hadn't made Don wait, for lashing out at Cutler (who I hate almost as much as I hate Lou).

2. My love for Stan grows with each episode. This time, it was two tiny gestures that did me in. First, holding his hand out to Peggy to help her stand and go face Lou. Second, trying to save Don's feelings by referencing Lou's forgotten meeting. He has grown so much.

3. Don made long strides in this episode, though it doesn't look like it by acquiescing to such demeaning stipulations. But he deliberately takes the hard choice every single time - he doesn't ignore Megan's career but goes to help her, he doesn't take the offer but goes to Roger, he doesn't sleep with the blonde but instead stays straight in his marriage even if it feels like it's over. I loved that he accepted the stipulations with barely a glance at the paper and a soft-spoken "Okay." Because if there's one thing Don knows, it's how to start over. Whether this one sticks or not, however, remains to be seen.

4. Betty's childishness and bitchiness strike hard when she seems to be acting so differently throughout the whole episode, by being the mom Bobby wants her to be - talking to him about his obsessions, being the daring mom who is willing to try the milk - and then reverting to form when Bobby reminds her all too clearly that her children have an entirely different view on her than she does on herself. And that she doesn't like that version. Forcing Bobby to eat the candy feels like an awkward metaphor for her whole life - even if you don't like what you've traded for, you eat it and smile because that's what you do.

5. Poor Bobby. He seems like such a good kid, and Betty's messing him up. :(

6. Get your head out of your ass, Peggy, and start acting like a grown-up without taking it out on the people around you.