Roger's advice to Lane was a terrific scene on multiple levels, not the least of which was a) Reminding the audience that Roger actually knows what the fuck he's doing in this ad business, even if he's not doing very much of it anymore, and b) Revealing to the audience that there's a certain calculation behind his…

Great, revealing quote from Don: "Saturday night in the suburbs? That's when you really want to blow your brains out." He would know.

PETE CAMPBELL WALRUS WATCH: Overt reminder tonight (via Trudy) of Chekhov's shotgun still sitting in Pete's office, in an hour defined by Pete's ongoing emasculation and ending with the most foreboding version of Beethoven's Ninth ever recorded. In one episode, Pete:

Honestly, for such an infamously talky, "subtle" show that's content to let entire episodes pass with no overt ACTION, the last two weeks have both climaxed in violently gripping scenes that left me floored – and for completely different reasons. As thoroughly stunned as I was during Don's dreamy choke-out in "Mystery…

If only Pete (or Peggy?) hadn't spilled the beans to Roger, there's no way anyone would have ever connected the dots between Ken Cosgrove and "Ben Hargrove."

They're going to have to install a new ventilation system in Lane's office for his excess testosterone. Joan had to open the door to avoid suffocation.

That may be true, but – and this is saying a lot – I don't think Don has ever been as big a motherfucking boss as he was tonight in the penthouse whorehouse. (Cue Roger: "Even in this place you're doing better than us.") I don't worship at the feet of Draper, but he's so goddamn cool in that scene, he's not even…

Laughing too hard during the final scroll, did they reserve a guest-starring nod for Pete Campbell's Incredible Shrinking Penis? Possibly credited as "Grimy Little Pimp"?

I'm watching the replay, and there's a scene where Richmond's campaign assistant literally drags a paraplegic Richmond of his hospital bed, tubes and all, and drops him on the floor. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that's not good for his rehabilitation.

What homicidal killer wouldn't spill his guts over a candy-bar bribe?

Good observation, Ebelsair. By Mad Men standards, this episode was not subtle. But it certainly was not transparent, either. It's a credit to smart, obsessive threads like this one that anyone could begin to think of such a dense, layered show as "obvious," when many of the payoffs even in a less-subtle-than-usual…

You get an 'F' on reading comprehension, Blade Runner.

Kitty Romano or GTFO.

His father, maybe. How old is Ginsburg? The timeline of the show (now well into 1966) is 21 years out from the end of WWII. Based on Don's summary of his resumé, Ginsburg's been in advertising for several years, but I'd be surprised if he was older than 28 or 29. So he would have been a very young child during the…

I don't think it was cheap. This show and others have used dream sequences before, and I think this one was to good effect to demonstrate how deeply fucked up Don is despite what appears to be a good situation with Megan.

No, definitely not. I initially took it as real, and I'd feel a lot stupider about it in retrospect if a lot of other people on Twitter hadn't fallen for it, too. It should have been obvious, but if you weren't paying very close attention to the earlier dream scenes it wasn't at all.

I tend to agree, To Say Nothing of the Dog, but the swelling, ominous background music suggests otherwise.

Well there you go.

Not only did he not discuss going back to Vietnam with her, he didn't tell her he was signing up for the Army in the first place. She's had to live with his prolonged absence and make her own way with the baby with no input whatsoever into his choices. And her only choices as a result are a) Stand by a man who has…

I strongly agree with all of this – not handled clumsily, shed a different light on Don's character, it is within his capabilities to kill (or at least seriously assault) a person – but I don't think the dream signified nothing. Besides the suggestion that Don may be a threat to erupt in literal violence, it's a…