Mad Men: For Immediate Release (the shortest recap ever)

Over at Slate, Seth Stevenson writes:

I liked the overall energy, the jazzy vibe of the episode. I think we all enjoy Mad Men more when Don is on his game and crushing life. We’ve got a whopper of a new account to pursue. A merger that might spice up the office with new personalities—including Harry Hamlin!

You see, they agree with me. They rain hate on Don all the time, claim he is over and done with and that they're eager for the moment he's finally gone but they're bored when the show does what they want it to and love it when Don and his big, swinging swagger is back.

What did I think? I thought, it's only rock and roll but we like it. That's an inside joke only hard core stones fans will get. After the boys cranked out that little ditty, it was greeted by general praise. But Mick Taylor said he thought the song was a failure. He said the problem was that they were too busy trying to make a classic Rolling Stones record. That's the problem with this episode. It's too busy trying to be a classic Mad Men episode. And that's a problem because they are looking backwards and trying to repeat themselves.

I hope they sharpen up soon, but so far, this season is ... well, it's like the song, which is to say,  like the Rolling Stones in 1974, it's still a hell of a lot better than anything else but it suggests that the glory days is over.