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"Last week, we talked about the theory that Megan Draper&amp;#x27;s arc will end in murder, a la Sharon Tate. Another popular train of thought on Mad Men says that Don Draper might be our chiseled main character, but what the story is really about is the rise of Peggy, and the rise of the show&amp;#x27;s women at large. I supported that one long before I came around to accepting that Megan&amp;#x27;s probably going to get got. And it seems to me that Mad Men is making it more clear than ever: The women are where our attention should be focused in the final season. It can&amp;#x27;t be accidental, this synchronized wheel-spinning all the men are engaged in while the women make stuff happen. Most of the guys at the office are engaged in utterly uninteresting bickering. (Though that gloomy masturbation joke was cute, Ginsberg.) And while Don is taking pregnant pauses in conversation, furrowing his brow like a chocolate Lab watching TV, Joan has already solved three problems and gotten a promotion. Ya know? The boys are boring me. The girls are where the action is. So: I say we just talk about them until the suits recapture our interest. Joan Joan&amp;#x27;s worst day at work turned into her best day at work, thanks to a casual drop-by by Harry Hamlin (sorry, I&amp;#x27;m never going to learn that character&amp;#x27;s name; he&amp;#x27;s just Harry Hamlin to me). Sure, it was a little lazy, the way they got her there, but Joan&amp;#x27;s put in enough time to luck into a promotion. And ironically, this is way more important than her making partner&amp;amp;#8212;it gives her a chance to contribute concretely, to turn a kind of power everyone secretly rolled their eyes at into real clout. Sally Poor Sally Draper, destined to be the keeper of all Don&amp;#x27;s sad little secrets. I&amp;#x27;m kind of surprised she didn&amp;#x27;t hit him up for more than train fare (the only thing better than a pair of Pocahontas boots is two pairs of Pocahontas boots). But what I love about this first season-seven glimpse of Sally is that we are seeing her, for the first time, recognize that she&amp;#x27;s a lot like her dad. She can be cold. She&amp;#x27;s impulsive, but trusts her instincts even after they get her into trouble. She&amp;#x27;s not interested in appeasing anyone. Which is what makes an &amp;quot;I love you&amp;quot; from her to Don all the more jarringly adorable. Peggy So Peggy is somewhere between Ebenezer Scrooge and Katherine Heigl right now. That flowers mix-up felt right out of a klutzy-gal rom-com, but the aftermath was pure grouch. I think I&amp;#x27;ve got about one more half-episode left in me for dealing with Peggy being twisted up over Ted&amp;amp;#8212;to me, it just doesn&amp;#x27;t ring true to her character. But I&amp;#x27;m willing to go along with it if she breaks the spell by one-upping him at work&amp;amp;#8212;for her, there could be no greater breakup revenge. Dawn Perhaps the strongest indicator of all of Mad Men&amp;#x27;s female-triumph vibes: we&amp;#x27;re spending real time with Dawn and Shirley, two formerly minor characters, this season. Dawn really won my heart last night&amp;amp;#8212;she&amp;#x27;s so kind to Don, and I wanted to slap Lou around on her behalf. (What a jackass he&amp;#x27;s shaping up to be, huh?) I don&amp;#x27;t know what her move into Joan&amp;#x27;s office means, but I&amp;#x27;m excited to find out. Shirley I like to think somewhere on the cutting-room floor is footage of Shirley getting a strong drink with her fiance after that day at work. The rightful recipient of the red roses was on the receiving end of Peggy&amp;#x27;s bad, bitter mood. On the bright side, I&amp;#x27;m pretty sure she wore the shortest dress ever to grace the halls of SCP. Absent for this episode: Megan and Betty It seems pretty clear Megan isn&amp;#x27;t coming back to New York City for the time being, which further solidifies her need to be killed off. Curious moment of the week: Shirley/Dawn, Dawn/Shirley Did anyone else notice that in their scene in the break room, they called each other by their own names? In other words, Dawn called Shirley &amp;quot;Dawn,&amp;quot; and Shirley called Dawn &amp;quot;Shirley.&amp;quot; At first I thought I dreamt it, but by the third repetition I realized it was intentional. My best guess: It&amp;#x27;s an inside joke between the two women, about the white folks mixing them up in the office. Random lady of the week: Bonnie Whiteside (Jessy Schram) Pete doesn&amp;#x27;t pay attention to a damn word that comes out of his realtor fling&amp;#x27;s mouth, but I do. And I got shivers up my spine when she said: &amp;quot;An act of God, Pete. That&amp;#x27;s how you know things are really against you.&amp;quot; Token male moment of the week: Don&amp;#x27;s day off Don, I was totally with you for the not showering, Little Rascals-watching, Ritz cracker-bingeing portion of the day. But you&amp;#x27;ve got to kill the roach, Don. Is that a joke? Get up and kill the frigging roach. Life is worth living."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2014/04/mad-men-recap-season-7-episode>