Throwback Thursday: Mad Men Season 3 review: I freakin’ love this show

I have literally just finished marathoning the third season of Mad Men, and I have SO many feelings. This season was downright brilliant; it had a faster pace than the previous season and SO many things happened – so many things changed. I don’t think there was an episode or a storyline I hated. I was invested in everyone’s sub-plots and I disliked no one. So basically, this piece is my love letter to season 3 of Mad Men where I profess my utter infatuation with the show.

Favorite GIF-Worthy Moments:

• Greg getting what he deserved:

We all knew Greg was a screw-up at work and at home, but for some reason, Joan didn’t want to believe that. So she kept trying to help him. She told him that it was okay if he wasn’t a surgeon. She helped him with his interview for a psychiatry job. But he kept telling her off saying that she doesn’t know everything – in the worst condescending tone ever. Fed up with his behavior, Joan grabbed a vase and hit Greg on the head. And it was freakin’ epic. I couldn’t stop laughing, but I also couldn’t stop cheering for Joan. That ass totally got what he deserved. He had it coming being a jerk to her all that time.

• A guy walks into an advertising agency..and gets his foot cut off:

Guy Mackendrick walks into an advertising agency called Sterling Cooper. He tells everyone he’s the new financial officer. Meanwhile, the Head of Accounts, Ken Cosgrove, brings in a new account: John Deere’s lawnmower. When a secretary is trying it, she literally drives over his foot and cuts it off. Now, I know this wad a sad scene. A guy’s footwas cut off, for God’s sake. But it was a great comedic scene in the episode. When Mad Men does comedy, it does it pretty well.

• Pete & Trudy’s Charleston dance:

The relationship between Pete and Trudy this season was seriously beautiful. It was nice seeing a healthy relationship on the show for once. Even though he cheated on her, she stayed by his side and believed him. She kept pushing him forward because she knew he could it.

But enough with the drama. The truly beautiful Pete and Trudy scene was at Roger and Jane’s first party as a married couple. They basically rocked the dance floor. No one could compete with them. I LOVED it.

Favorite Don & Co. Moments:

• “I would spend the rest of my life trying to hire you.”

For the first time since the show started, Don told Peggy how high he thinks of her. For the first, he actually acknowledged what she’s worth to him. Every time, during the season, he shouted at her, I wanted to punch him in the face. She looked at him as a mentor, and all he could see was that she was once his secretary. But there he was, sitting across of her telling her that he can’t do it alone. There he was telling her that he’s going to open an agency anyway but he needed her help to do it. I confess, I cried. The scene was so good; it was so strong. Those two don’t have lots of scenes together just the two of them, but when they do, they seriously kick ass. Plus, Elizabeth Moss deserves all the awards.

• “My name is Don Draper, but it used to be Dick Whitman.”

Episode 11 of season 3, “The Gypsy and the Hobo” featured something we’d all been waiting for ever since the show started: the confrontation between Betty and Don about his real identity. After Betty found Don’s box in the previous episode, I kept waiting for her to tell him that she knows. And for a moment, I thought she was gonna go Betty about it and not do it. And then, there it was. She knew everything there is to know about his past. They switched places. She was the one in control now, and he was the on the verge of breaking down. The scene was slow, and that was the most fulfilling part about it. We got to see their every emotion. We got to see him telling her the story – the truth. When he told her about Adam killing himself, I cried as he cried. It was so incredible. Jon Hamm was impeccable; I do not get how he didn’t win an Emmy for that episode. Betty was an ice-queen as usual, but I think it was perfect for that scene. She was in shock. He was not the man she’d always thought he was. I didn’t envy her at all.

• Joan and Don’s “Moment”

I didn’t intend on becoming a shipper while watching this show; I think I have said that before. This is not Gossip Girl, after all. But I couldn’t help squealing like a child during this one scene in “Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency.” I love Joan and Don individually and together, I love them even more. I don’t expect him to hook up; I don’t think I want them to hook up actually. But what they had during that scene is a moment I hope they always have together.

After Guy’s “accident,” Joan called Don, and he came right away to the hospital. They sat next to each other trying to comprehend what had just happened. The leg of their new financial officer had just been amputated.

And then before she left, she kissed Don on the cheek as if telling him goodbye. It was her last day at Sterling Cooper. Those two don’t have many scenes together; they barely get to look awesome together. But in this scene we got to see how much they care about each other and respect each other even if they don’t get the chance to show it.

Those couple of minutes in that episode became my Twitter profile picture for a while. True story.

Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce

It’s no wonder the season finale of the show, “Close the door. Have a Seat” won the show its third Emmy in a row for Best Drama. That episode returned our faith in Don and his gang. They weren’t gonna go down. They weren’t gonna succumb to fate and allow people to play them.

“Fire us,” Don told Pryce as coolly as possible. They left Sterling Cooper and opened to start their own advertising agency. and it had all the great people: Joan, Pete, Peggy, Roger, Cooper, Pryce and yeah yeah Henry. (I want Sal, Paul, and Ken to join them, though.)

That final scene in the episode when they’re all celebrating the fact that they’re no longer a part of Sterling Cooper was heart-wrenching for one reason: Nothing is the same anymore. And I loved it. How Don tried to get Peggy and Pete on his side, and how Roger called Joan for help. It was such an awesome comeback for Joan, by the way.

I look forward to seeing how they manage the new agency! Season 4 is gonna be fun.

Favorite Episodes:

“A Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency,” “The Gypsy and the Hobo,” “Close the door. Have a seat,” and of course, “The Grown-Ups”

I already told you why I loved the first three episodes above, so I’m gonna focus on “The Grown-Ups” episode here.

Once again, Mad Men takes a piece of history, inserts it in the show, and makes one of its best episodes out of it. It was in that episode that we got to see the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was such a heartbreaking moment in the history of not only America but the rest of the world. That man changed lives, and everyone knew it. So when he died, a part of all of them died as well.

It was as if this sense of stability was broken within each one of them. They realized nothing is going to be the same anymore. And I loved that episode because we got to see that in them. They all somehow were altered. It took a President’s assassination for Betty to realize that she didn’t want to be with Don anymore. It was amazing how slow-paced the episode was and yet so incredible. We got to see them react to each incident on itself: the death, the arrest of Oswald, and then his murder. It was such a triumphant episode on  Mad Men’s side.

EMMY Fail: How did Hamm & Hendricks NOT win?

By the way, Christina Hendricks was nominated for an Emmy for the episode “Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency” for which I think she should have won, seriously she was amazing in that episode. Another episode she kicked ass on? “My Old Kentucky Home.” She played the accordion and sang in French for God’s sake. Archie Panjabi won that year though for The Good Wife – which was awesome, honestly but still. Elizabeth Moss, January Jones, John Slattery, and of course Jon Hamm were ALL nominated, too. And to be frank, Hamm should have won, too. Hamm should win for every season; he’s such a great actor and he pulls of every episode perfectly. He transforms from Don to Dick so smoothly and we saw that especially in “The Gypsy and the Hobo” like I said above. It kind of baffles me how the show wins every award out there but the cast is never appreciated the way they should be.

A Few Things I Did Hate Though

• The Firing Of Sal: I want him back. They better bring him back.

• The Lack of Joan Holloway: She left Sterling Cooper to be a housewife so she was barely in the second half of the show. When we did get to see her, however, she was simply awesome.