Episode Review – Mad Men "Out of Town"
The Hit AMC Drama Is Back
Aug 22, 2009 Lisa Ann Schleipfer
The mad men of Sterling Cooper and all the people that surround them, secretaries, wives, lovers, trysts and even the bellhops, are back for a third round of cigarettes and scotches in the afternoon.
The First "Out Of Town" Scenes
We open on our anti-hero, Don Draper, out of place and in the kitchen, musing over a flashback of his adoptive parents. Accept it's not his memory; he is not yet born, let alone abandoned. From the movie-reel in Don's head, we learn his mommy was a whore, his adoptive mother suffered from had several stillbirths and her husband.... Well, he's living up to the dark and violent past that is Don's childhood. Explains a lot, huh?
And as if Don realizes his audience has gotten a sneak peek into his perfectly twisted psyche, he quickly recovers, takes his pregnant wife some scalded milk, hops on a plane and then the obligatory stewardess. Yum. Same old Don.
Mad Men Office Changes
It seems the men and women of Sterling Cooper have been riding the rough waves of the merger, and are still holding their breath. The bulk of the office scenes are spent with the new British lackeys, yet sadly, the "Out of Town" British invasion lacked the presence of Powell (Charles Shaughnessy.)
Ironically, this era-gone-by show feels rather present-day with the angry just-fired Burt, closed door meetings and the most entertaining few rounds of Campbell vs. Cosgrove. (Is it too early for "Go Ken" banners?) Once again, Vincent Kartheiser brings heaps of perfect whine and anger to oppose Aaron Staton's now oddly upbeat Cosgrove-with-a-promotion.
Sal Saves Latest Episode
It is Sal's "Out of Town" storyline that gives the audience its shocking-moment-fix. In a double sucker punch, the viewer gets Sal's intimate face of ecstasy turned face of horror when he sees Don through the window of his hotel room, observing Sal and the bellboy scrambling for their clothes.
It is difficult to decipher what shocks Sal more: that his unknown bellboy fantasy almost came to fruition, or that he was saved by the bell (or fire alarm) and thus still not yet tainted by succumbing to his desires, only to have Don stumbling down the fire escape, and onto Sal's secret.
Mad Men Season 3
Overall, Episode 1 added a bit to the fire built from the previous two seasons of Mad Men, but left many questions from Season 2 unanswered. Did Don learn a life lesson while in the Pacific waves? Is Sterling still with his secretary-turned-girlfriend? What about Joan and her not-so-perfect fiancé? Any more of the meddling Father Gill?
The largest questions, which may be revealed in future Mad Men Season 3 episodes, revolve around Pete Campbell and Peggy Olson. When we left him in "Mediations in an Emergency," he was avalanched by Peggy's news about their baby, and his ending scene involved an empty office and a shotgun. Yet, in "Out of Town," his neurosis and surface actions seem well intact, and Peggy is still happily hiding out in her office.
Perhaps the message of "Out of Town" is that one can never escape from his or her problems, no matter where they go. People, generally, do not change. Sal remains closeted, Don remains promiscuous, and Pete retains his entitled personality. All's well.
Mad Men Season 3 Poster
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