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The Best Mad Men Recap Reader Comments: ‘The Doorway’

Photo: Michael Yarish/AMC/AMC Copyright 2012

Mad Men is back. Matt Zoller Seitz’s recaps are back. And you, dear reader, are back, dropping nuggets of wit, wisdom, and sarcasm in our comments section. Every week, we’ll collect the most interesting ones in this space. So let’s get on with it — here’s what y’all thought about “The Doorway.”

First of all, you love our recaps, and we love that you love them.

* “I’ve missed these recaps – they’re like Seitz is giving Mad Men long, incredibly tender fellatio.” —Commenter msethestewart

You have a careful eye for detail.

* “So the Jewish doctor was the first person we’ve ever see Don relate to as a friend, right? Everyone has been a romantic interest, work colleague or rival.” —Commenter aquamarinering

* “Did anyone else notice that the young soldier whom Don met in Hawaii was almost a dead ringer for Roger Sterling?” —Commenter fredjack

* “Just throwing this out there, as I haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere, but I was unsure of what to make of the “M2” references. Don gives Dr. Rosen a Leica M2 camera from the closet at SCDP (“this is the best one”); earlier in the episode, Private Dinkins tells Don about the M2 machine gun (“you should see what it can do to a water buffalo… I could paint this place red.”).” —Commenter haveanyseyday

You called us out …

* “You misspoke when you wrote in your recap that Sandy “ditched” her Juilliard enrollment. The point was that Sandy didn’t get into Juilliard but, wanting to get away to NYC, she told Sally she was leaving early to go to school. Betty, knowing the truth, goes chasing after her to try to rescue her.” —Commenter hiloborn

… and really wanted to talk about that weird Betty comment.

* “Was it my imagination, or did Betty go on a freaky tirade about stuffing a sock in Sandy’s mouth so Mr. Francis could rape her? Not one mention of it in this article?” —Commenter Fleabell

You added your own analysis …

* “It seems weird that the episode would give us a point-of-view shot belonging to a doorman who’s not a major character. At first I wondered if that shot was actually from Don’s point-of-view; then I put the thought aside.’ I think the point was that Don was obsessing over this life-and-death moment, to the point where’s he’s been imagining what it would be like to be in a near-death moment himself.” —Commenter ejmg1

* “I loved the call back to the carousel pitch. You could see Don thinking “I can’t believe I’m doing this again and nothing is different”. And we didn’t even know he was sleeping with Mrs. Rosen yet. It can’t be a coincidence that the picture of Megan & Don was upside down.” —Commenter banga

* “I think mothers are going to play into it a lot too. In this episode alone Sandy and Betty talk about the mothers they’ve lost, Roger’s mother dies, Don never had a mother and pukes when Roger’s mother’s love for him is talked about. Plus in the past, Don was always most attracted to Megan when she played the role of mother — the first time he noticed her was when she comforted Sally, he proposed to her after watching her with his kids on vacation and seeing how she handled the spilling of a milkshake. He had the most genuine smile of the series when Trudy brought out the crying baby at the dinner party. Now that Megan is having success as an actress he gets drunk while watching the ultimate mother, Donna Reed. And his affair this time is with a mother missing her son — the most demure woman at the NYE party, and someone who seemed to define herself as a wife/mother.” —Commenter NYCer1

… often in a poetic way.

* “When Don returns from Hawaii, and walks through the door into his office, his office has been completely changed, much like the world has seemingly passed him by.” —Commenter 76Trombones

* “The doorman almost dying, I think, is tied into the whole door theme. He’s opening the door, guiding them through doors, warning them about what’s happening inside or out, welcoming them. What happens when the guide is gone and you have the manage the doors and transitions on your own?” —Commenter Frankly71

You wanted to know: Who the hell is Bob Benson?

* “Nothing about Bob Benson from Accounting upstairs? He was in two scenes… what is going on there? —Commenter AmberRoseFonzen

* “Who is Bob Benson and why is he such a weirdo / Ken Cosgrove hate him so much?” —Commenter mchz

* “That guy Bob is WEIRD, and naturally Ken the SciFi writer is the main one to sense this and want him out of the picture. He is such a creepy sycophant. I wonder if Bob will go postal at some point?” —Commenter shanavelour

You might give Betty a second chance …

* “Betty in the Village was interesting, just because it makes me think — maybe she’s not the worst mother. She’s gone looking for Sandy, she sort of couldn’t resist mothering them any more — somewhere along the way, she may have actually (gasp!) matured?” —Commenter Wonkers

… though some of you haven’t forgotten the old days.

* “Remember when Betty used to smack Sally?” —Commenter lisarowe

And you are just as excited about next week’s episode as we are, despite the hilariously staccato promos.

* “Also, can we talk about how horrendously bad the previews for the next episodes always are?? It’s just a string of words put together like “-You’re going to regret this. -Stop. -What? Wow.” —Commenter skiwi 

Hats off to you, readers!

* “I may have been less than impressed by this episode, but I would just like to applaud the return of Mona as well as her and Jane’s funeral hats. Well done, ladies.” —Commenter pennywise

The Best Mad Men Recap Comments: ‘The Doorway’