Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen some large sea changes on Mad Men, so many changes that we seemed due for a break. Last night’s episode, “The Crash” was a break in more ways than one and an unanticipated jaunt through the back alleys of show creator Matthew Weiner’s mind.

The Stalker

We’ve never seen this side of Don Draper before. He’s addicted to Syliva and jonesing for her touch. Don Draper begs in this episode, pleading with Sylvia for another stolen moment while she scolds him for standing outside her door in a pile of spent cigarettes.

A Death in the Family

Of the three Cutler, Gleason, and Chaough partners, we’ve seen Fred Gleason the least, yet his illness served as a behind the scenes catalyst for the CGC/Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce merger and his re-assuring words to Ted as the latter sat by the former’s hospital bed in last week’s episode helped Ted exact some revenge over Don for his shenanigans.

This week, though, Gleason half-inspired another event, this time with his death, which sent Ted reeling and out of the office in a moment where the office needed his mature presence most of all.

Drop Your Pants and Lose Your Mind

While Ted was bowed by the death of his friend and partner, Jim Cutler seemed cool. Either he has built up a tolerance to such loss or he simply didn’t like Gleason.

Regardless of that, though, Cutler’s role in this week’s episode was as an instigator, drug dealer, and pimp of sorts, and Harry Hamlin shined with a mix of dry whimsy and detachment, leading a line of co-workers to a shady seeming Doctor and a butt cheek full of vitamins and a proprietary kicker like some kind of Pied Piper.

The reaction to the shot was a blend of shocking, weird, stupid, stealthily brilliant, insane, lascivious, dance-y, and frenetic, trading out recently over-exposed characters like Pete and Joan for Stan and Ginsberg as the creative department took over the office, screwing, running around, and generally misbehaving over the course of a lost weekend.

Speaking of Ginsberg, I’m a big fan of Ben Feldman’s portrayal of the perpetually shoulder-chipped copywriter, and last night was a shining moment. Honestly, there hasn’t been an episode where Ginsberg hasn’t seemingly felt that he was the lone sane person in a mental ward and his co-workers gifted him with the realization of that fantasy. At points, it seemed like we were watching the world through Ginsberg’s eyes last night, and everyone was simply bizarre.

As for Stan, he revealed a hidden hurt to Peggy while coming on to her as she treated his razor-dart wound, but though Peggy seemed close to giving in, she pulled up at the last moment, citing Gabe but likely meaning Ted, who she had consoled earlier in the episode to Don’s… lets say curiosity but also his likely disappointment.

It looks like Don is finally realizing that Peggy is another one who doesn’t see him as a God-like figure any longer.

The Madness of King Don

Flashbacks and a desperate search for not just a solution to Chevy’s drip-drop process, but a balm for Don’s festering secret hatred for the frivolity of that which he is good at, dotted Don’s drugged out experience as he took center stage in this episode that felt like it was lost in the middle of Terry Gilliam’s Hunter S. Thompson escapade, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Drugs, heartbreak and these residual fears about mortality, identify, and legacy — what a blend, and by episodes end, Don had missed chunks of time, committed to a Chevy pitch that was worthless blather, and failed as a father.

Grandma

So, I basically accepted that this episode had gone fully down the rabbit hole when Ken Cosgrove dropped his limp and did a killer tap number as he mocked his station, but the appearance of Grandma seemed like the final straw.

Honestly, I also believed her when she told Sally Draper — who was stuck at home with her two brothers while Don got high and low at work and Megan went out on the town — that she had raised Don and that he had given her a key.

I was off balance from the rest of the episode and the flashbacks to Don’s whorehouse roots, so for a split second, Grandma, and this out of the furthest corner of left field story thread where Don suddenly had to deal with with previously unseen and slightly shifty elderly nanny — who somehow found his identity — seemed mildly plausible.

Thankfully, though, it was just a red herring, put in place to tease us into thinking that Don’s two long oppositely adrift worlds had somehow gotten onto a collision course. No, Grandma was just a burglar, an opportunity for Betty to act superior (Because EVERYTHING is about Betty Draper. Please remember this.), and perhaps that last nudge that Don needed to realize that he was literally and figuratively face down on the shag carpet of his life.

After the War

This has happened before. Back in season 4, Don Draper realized that he was going too far. In that moment, he decided to change course and he shaped up, finding a moment of bliss with Dr. Fay Miller (before chucking her independent and strong persona for someone who was doe-eyed with a persona that seemed to be a bit more pliable) and a new passion for his work.

Will we see that change again? A crash is usually followed by someone having to cleanup a big mess and Don surely indicated that the embers of a better way had begun to brighten when he was cool and cruel to Sylvia in the elevator, apologized to Sally, and shocked Ted by pulling out of an active role with Chevy, proclaiming that every time they get a car “this place turns into a whorehouse.”

As for all the other characters:

I have to wonder if Stan was even telling Peggy the truth about his brother, or if he was just looking for a sympathy screw, something he later found with Fred Gleason’s hippy trippy daughter to the delight of a leering Jim Cutler.

I have to imagine that this is all turning into a nightmare for Peggy, who finally seemed clear of SCDP and out on her own. So far, Peggy has gritted her teeth, but she seems like she is walking around on upturned staples with a pained, exasperated and trapped look on her face when she is anywhere but in a quiet room with only Ted.

As for Ted, he came back from a grief sabbatical still wounded, but pressed into service as he realized that he was the cat whose absence the mice had exploited. Beyond that, I think Ted is slowly realizing that he bought in to a frat house run on scattershot brilliance and luck. A frathouse that has now co-opted his one partner just as he has lost his other partner.

Again though, who knows if any of this means anything. For all we know, Don Draper could be the one doing a dance number next week, and really, that is part of the brilliance of this episode: it restored the balance of imbalance to the show, causing predictability to run out of oxygen last night.

“The Crash” gets 3 stars out of 5.

Every week, we’ll take a look at the biggest stories in entertainment news, sports, politics, news news, and pop culture, and we’re going to present them to you here on THE WEEKLY WIND-UP PODCAST in about 15 minutes. Good deal right? Yes, your choice for sound clips is filling you in on all the news you need every week with a quick-podcast that you can take with you and listen to anywhere. Enjoy!

This week on the show:

- Time to get rich and buy a lightning resistant walking bubble.

- There’s something in the water.

- Robo-Cop to protect Detroit again.

- Joss Whedon says things, things about Avengers 2

- Zombieland the TV show dies because fans missed the kid who played Zuckerberg… or something.

- Bittersweet Warehouse 13 news

- AND We want to know what you think about last night’s Office series finale. Did you love it or hate it?

As I said back when we looked at Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, JJ Abrams’ Star Trek is not my Star Trek, but like Khan, it is a franchise saving spectacle from the mind of an interloper.

It’s another film that twists the nethers of purists while serving as a gateway drug to the uninitiated.

Sure, the film may not feel like Star Trek, and while its treatment of the Kobayashi Maru has spawned a fair bit of scholarly derision, it’s still — at its heart — a fun film that is filled with splodey, wow inducing action and half-formed impressions of some TOS favorites.

If I was able to take those positives, hold them tight, and forget the negatives like an alternate universe wrinkle that feels like a rake across my tenderest places, I’d probably love this film with all of my heart, but I can’t. I’m trapped in a glass prison of like and half smiling appreciation cause like Spock, I am of two halves: one side a fanboy, the other… eh, not.

Remakes and reboots always make my dueling portions dance a dance of battle, circling each other amongst transplanted dirt and foam rocks while Jim Carey hums a song in the background. The fanboy is fierce, with explosive movements — he is basted in bombast, flavored with outrage. The other side is… eh, not.

That half of me knows that reboots and remakes are a pillar of modern filmdom. They are necessity and a guilty pleasure that doesn’t always inspire guilt.

The fanboy part of me is slow to embrace that logic, preferring to howl into the night about the porcelain visage of a thing that is often misremembered as flawless. He is the protector of these things while the other side of me just wants to chase these memories and mine their dust trail for a hit of something familiar.

Like many of us, he is open to loving these films because they allow us to reminisce and re-capture those moments from the past, even if those moments are run through a colander that sifts out the original stink of charm and originality.

Abrams’ Trek is a fine example of this: Urban and Pine and Quinto have absolutely nothing on the original trinity, but they’re trying to manufacture echos in the quiet, and with the quiet guaranteed to continue due to age and death and the poison of youth injecting itself into the customer base, any sound will do.

The original Trek is a relic, as are we, so why shouldn’t we lower our shields and embrace its cool, yet well-meaning touch?

I don’t heart JJ Abrams Star Trek, but I heart seeing the Enterprise on the big screen again and I heart seeing “Star Trek” on my ticket stub as I sit in a theater and pretend that some things can live forever.

I guess that means that — in this case — the non-fanboy side of me wins, but really, they both serve a purpose within me.

Live long and prosper cinematic time machine, live long and prosper keepsake box.

———-

With all of that said, here are 5 clips from JJ Abrams’ Star Trek.

Kirk doesn’t believe in no win scenarios… or an embargo against the free love of green chicks.

Catchphrase!

Bones is half the man he was in Star Trek: The Motion Picture due to his shocking lack of a big swinging amulet, but at least he knows his role.

Scotty catchphrase!

Spock Prime lays down some smooth jazz, pleasing my warring halves and anyone with a pulse and right mind.

We knew that changes would come when Don and Ted merged SCDP and CGC, but while this week’s episode did show off some of those anticipated growing pains and redundancies, we also got a chance to pivot back to Don’s consuming love affair with his neighbor Sylvia.

The Treehouse.

Like a shoebox filled with valuable trinkets and forbidden treasures tucked securely into a treehouse, Don hides Sylvia away in a hotel room after she fights with her husband.

This relationship has always been about Don’s need to control a sexual conquest, but he takes it to an extreme level, dominating Sylvia and ordering her to follow an explicit set of orders designed to strip her of all independence, reducing her to little more than a pleasure bot.

Anything you can do… 

Back at the office after an afternoon dalliance with Sylvia, Don walks in on Ted’s margarine rap-session 40 minutes after it had started, irritating Draper’s new partner who doesn’t approve of Don’s loose grasp on the clock.

As I said last week, we’re just getting to know Ted Chaough, and this week showed a bit more about the no-nonsense way that he does business.

When Draper comes into his office with two glasses full of “peace offering”, you can tell that Chaough isn’t super comfortable with an early afternoon cocktail — little does he know that Draper’s true intent is to drink him under the table and leave him in the bullpen, passed out in front of the creative team and Peggy.

A Place Above the Clouds.

This was an episode filled with intoxicating highs and gut churning lows for Don Draper, whose behavior with Ted Chaough drew a strong rebuke from Peggy.

Thanks to Pete’s unexpected houseguest (his dementia afflicted mother), though, Draper and Chaough got a chance to bond as Ted volunteered to fly Don out to see the head of Mohawk Air.

There, in the sky, Ted took control back, shaking Draper to his core as they flew through a rainstorm.

It was a humbling moment of defeat for Draper, but nothing compared to what was coming when he came back down to earth.

The End of the Affair.

He told her to stay there, took her only distraction, and expected obedience. Don Draper expected Sylvia to remain still, frozen in crystalline, waiting for his return, yet as he flew through the sky – a slave to Ted Chaough’s whims – Sylvia was dreaming of a world without Don Draper, a world where her life simply returned to normal.

“That means you missed me” Draper said in disbelief, shocked that Sylvia could be the one to walk away first. From a friend to a lover to a toy, he had minimized her power in his own mind, forgetting that she was also escaping from something, a something that she actually wanted to return too.

Sylvia didn’t want to feel ashamed anymore, and though there was obviously a part of her that loved the danger and both Don’s embrace and his hold on her, she surely had to wonder how far this addiction would go and how destructive it could get.

The Elevator.

The elevator in Don, Megan, Sylvia, and Arnold’s building has been — oddly enough — a hugely important set piece this season and last night, it rose to prominence once more. In the beginning of the episode, that is where Don stands, intrusively listening to Sylvia and Arnold’s fight, and by the end of the episode, it is the setting for the heartbreakingly quite last seconds of Don and Sylvia’s relationship.

Stray Observations:

- We finally saw a purpose for Bob, aka Bob the Gallant, who helped get Joan to the hospital. James Wolk is being wasted with these — almost hilarious — blink-and-you-miss-them appearances, but maybe this is the start of something relevant for his character.

-We didn’t get much Roger this week — possibly because John Slattery directed this episode — but the devilish glee behind his smile upon firing Bert Peterson once more was priceless.

- The closing shot with Don looking off into the distance, numb, while Megan shed tears over the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy was a master stroke and it spoke to the present state of Don and Megan’s marriage. That chipper music was a bit of an odd choice, though, but it’s always best to trust whatever the very best chefs put on your plate.

Overall:

Another solid episode, though not as impactful as the last two. I’ll give this one 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Every week, we’ll take a look at the biggest stories in entertainment news, sports, politics, news news, and pop culture, and we’re going to present them to you here on THE WEEKLY WIND-UP PODCAST in about 15 minutes. Good deal right? Yes, your choice for sound clips is filling you in on all the news you need every week with a quick-podcast that you can take with you and listen to anywhere. Enjoy!

This week on the show:

• A Venezuelan prison/day spa
• Hot invisible women
• A Flying car
• Tim Tebow
• Soccer News
• Tom Cruise is going to make a movie, and you can’t stop him.
• Marvel Phase 3, Iron Man reactions, and the fierce contract negotiations between Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel
• Guardians of the Galaxy may add a Doctor
• Another American Idol departure that we’re barely caring about and this weekend’s movie options!

I’m usually not a fan of issue movies. These films take impossibly complex issues and try to condense them down into bite-size portions, usually abandoning the true horrors of these situations in favor of unrealistic heroism, resolution, and a laundry list of cinematic tropes that cheapen the overall project and push people away from further investigation.

With Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond, though, I can’t say that I feel the same way, even though it is primarily an issue movie.

Based in the world of conflict diamonds, Blood Diamond tells its story by way of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a morally conflicted big time hustler and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), an imprisoned diamond mine worker who is desperate to find his family.

It’s that pursuit that takes center stage over the politics and evil of the diamond trade, and it is that which makes this more than an issue film.

Vandy’s personal story of torture, loss, and salvation sticks with us because of the performances on screen and the knowledge that this kind of horror was and is commonplace.

Zwick rams that home with his unrelenting portrayal of war lords, child soldiers, maiming, and warfare. Yes, this is a drama, and certain liberties are taken, but for the most part, it seems like Zwick respects his audience’s intelligence and doesn’t try to do much in the way of sugar coating or juicing.

This isn’t a documentary and it certainly isn’t a perfect film, but there is a peek into a criminal underground and conflict state that was and is appalling, and that peek makes me want to know more.

Maybe you hate the idea of films serving as a springboard to such things, or activist filmmaking, but in my view, the arts have a responsibility to be provocative when they take on projects that mimic real life, and that is exactly what this film does.

Here are some of the top clips from Blood Diamond.

Stephen Collins explains the world’s poor track record with regard to Africa

I thought Jennifer Connelly’s performance left a bit to be desired, but here she explains one of her core beliefs to Danny, a belief that I hope is true.

More chatter between Connelly and DiCaprio.

More notes on the awful history of violence and war in Africa.

Captain Poison brainwashes a group of child soldiers.

Danny lays dying.

Logic and history dictates that the thing after a thing that is amazing usually fails to equal or surpass its predecessor, but here we are in the afterglow of a true game changer for Mad Men, just a week after the skillfully composed and impactful episode, “The Flood”.

Something More

We’ve discussed this before: the reach for something more. It is Don Draper’s defining affliction, but this week, it seems to be spreading to Roger, Pete, Ted Chaough, and others.

Why else would Roger Sterling play in the weeds, sniffing out leads in the first class lounge? A man on the outside, he’s been put out to pasture since Lucky Strike walked out the door. Pete Campbell and Draper are the new Sterling and Cooper, but Roger isn’t ready to embrace that existence.

Pete, on the other hand, is. He wants to make his mark, wants to claim the big prize. He’s the man who is going to push SCDP to the next cloud — the man who is going to lead the company to a public offering. Then he’ll get Trudie back, then he’ll have the “all” that he’s been pursuing since the last “all” that he had his grip on.

Ted Chaough is a bit of a mystery to us. Seeming like some kind of smarmy villain/pebble in Don’s shoe until Peggy joined forces with him. He’s a “nice” guy who Peggy thinks is strong (and apparently kissable, and won’t that be interesting as we move forward), and in these last few episodes, we’ve seen a bit of a window into the way that Cutler Gleason and Chaough handle their business — a way that isn’t dissimilar from how SCDP does things.

Like SCDP, CGC is small and they want to be bigger. Alfa Romeo has been resigned and they are pursuing Chevy with gusto despite the long odds. They have to, because of their own appetites and because of a suddenly unsure future. Indeed, Ted Chaough is being propelled by a sudden marriage of desperation and hunger.

The Cowboy

“Every agency on Madison Avenue is defined by the moment they got their car.”

Don Draper said these words last season when he was rallying the troops toward a singular goal: capturing Jaguar.

Worse yet, and unbeknownst to Don, Pete’s poor luck with adultery has once again tripped him up, resulting in him getting caught at a brothel by his father-in-law (who was also patronizing the establishment), thus putting SCDP’s relationship with Vick Chemical in jeopardy.

Overall, it’s a moment that is nearly as bleak as the one that followed Lucky Strike’s exit and it’s extra painful in light of the seemingly collapsed dream that was Campbell’s plan to go public, but Don doesn’t seem to be driven by fear or desperation. In fact, Don seems energized, saying that he has “never felt better”. Following that, Don takes Megan home and re-claims a bit of the passion and upper-hand in his relationship with her.

Back at the office, though, Pete is livid and Joan is hurt, chiding Don for not putting up with Rennet after all she gave to get the account. She’s tired of following Don’s whims, cursing the sun while living in the shadows. She didn’t want her honor avenged and when he assures her that he’ll win Chevy, she yells at him, saying that “for once” she’d like to hear him “say we”, and that she is tired of watching from “the sidelines” while he decides “what’s best” for their lives.

nIt’s hard to tell, though, if Don even cares about Joan or Pete’s reaction to the Jaguar loss. SCDP’s car is gone, but Roger has delivered an opportunity with Chevrolet, and that is all that matters — the chase and this fight for Chevy that he is determined to win.

It’s important to note the immense confidence that powers Don Draper. He is a cowboy who moves independent of others because he can do so. He can do so, because often, Don Draper is victorious and that is attractive. People will follow a winner even if they do so begrudgingly and in conflict with their own supposedly heroic narrative, because lets face it, while everyone wants to be the cowboy and the savior, most just fall in line behind the ones who reach that rarified air.

Pete is a perfect example of that. Yes, he yells that Don is Tarzan, swinging from vine to vine, but how often does he fall and how often does Pete fall while mixing bad decisions and cautious ones?

Unlike Pete, who calculates every move save for the ones that are made by his libido, logic and history dictate that Don Draper isn’t going to suddenly be afraid of the ground, change his way, or worry about paying service to something beyond his own needs.

In a bar, with Ted Chaough, Don finds a suddenly kindred spirit and a way to satisfy those needs. Once hated, Don stitches himself to Ted’s side to get what he wants.

Sure, SCDP and CGC will merge, effecting the lives of dozens of people, but to hell with them. To hell with the partners who aren’t in the room too and to hell with Pete, Joan, and all the others who delude themselves into thinking that they deserve a seat at the table with the great Don Draper or a say in his actions.

In the end, Don Draper is victorious once more and the world is remade with him atop it.

We shouldn’t be surprised, but we should also realize that Draper is fated to die reaching and that someday soon, Chevy and this new mega-agency won’t be enough to satisfy Draper’s unquenchable thirst. There is something romantic in that, but also something tragic.

“For Immediate Release” gets 4 stars from me.

Every week, we’ll take a look at the biggest stories in entertainment news, sports, politics, news news, and pop culture, and we’re going to present them to you here on THE WEEKLY WIND-UP PODCAST in about 15 minutes. Good deal right? Yes, your choice for sound clips is filling you in on all the news you need every week with a quick-podcast that you can take with you and listen to anywhere. Enjoy!

This week on the show:

We talk with the winner of Hark’s Scholarship Essay Contest, talk about Jason Collins – pro sports’ first openly gay active professional athlete –, the NBA Playoffs, two new possible additions to the Avengers cast, more familiar characters migrating back to Marvel’s control, and a Human Torch casting rumor that has a lot of people talking.

All that, and a look at this weekend’s movie options on The Weekly Wind-Up.

Other Links Mentioned in this Podcast:

Hark’s Big Damn Summer Movie Preview Podcast

Hark Hearts: Get Smart

The Summer Blockbuster Season is upon us and our Jason Tabrys and special guest Jeremy R. Hudson have teamed up to bring you a half hour of insight and silliness to get you prepared in an all new podcast.

Here’s a list of movies mentioned on the show with their release dates:

Iron Man 3 — May 3rd

Star Trek Into Darkness — May 17th

This is The End — June 12th

Man of Steel — June 14th

Pac Rim — July 12th

The Wolverine — July 26th

Elysium — August 9th

Kick Ass 2 — August 16th

This morning Hark announced Stephanie Shaia, of Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., as the winner of the $1,000 Hark Scholarship Essay contest. Shaia’s essay beat out over 600 other applicant’s essays for the top prize, which was judged and given out by an independent panel of media experts.

Stephanie Shaia was diagnosed with Malignant Multiple Sclerosis at the tender age of 16. She literally went from playing softball every day to being paralyzed for hours at a time, too weak to move. And then, when it seemed things couldn’t get much worse her muscles would spasm violently, causing grand mal seizure-like convulsions. Softball had no longer ceased to exist.

In fact, her doctor had told her, “You will never again walk unassisted.”

Yet, she has managed to overcome this disease and end up on her feet, unassisted.

Twice . . . to read more about Shaia’s incredible story, click here.