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So now that those philistines have shuffled off let's talk Mad Men. Season Four is so good, right? After episode two I really thought Don was pathetic and loathsome. Episode three reminded me that there is still a human soul inside that handsome shell. The show is pretty good at getting us to love/hate Don Draper and just love Dick Whitman. Don as Dick (instead of just being a dick) is so damn likable...all the Draper charm without all the brooding baggage. All of this vulnerability is revealed in the sweet relationship with his "ex-wife" Anna.

Of course the fun part of Episode Three was the booze-fueled antics of Don and the usually reserved Lane Pryce (played by Jared Harris) . There was a great little moment when Don and Lane are at dinner (right after watching Godzilla bombed out of their minds!) when Lane compares Don to a guy he knew in school, a guy they all instinctively followed around who later died in motorcycle accident. It immediately reminded me of the opening scene of Lawrence of Arabia in which the title character is killed when he crashes his motorcycle. Of course in the movie T.E. Lawrence was played by Peter O'Toole, the bosom drinking companion of Jared Harris's own father Richard Harris (the first Dumbledore for those of you who have a hard time watching the classics). I don't know if this was intentional or not but I really like imagining Jon Hamm as O'Toole and Jared Harris as Richard Harris. There has never been two finer drinking buddies, and I see this episode as an homage to their legendary friendship.

In this post I will be discussing elements of Mad Men's Season 4 opener. So if you are not yet caught up with our collective cultural zeitgeist you should probably move on.

Now that we have lost those troglodytes let's talk about this latest episode, shall we?

The episode opens with a journalist from Advertising Age asking Don the question that defines the series, "Who is Don Draper?". Of course he doesn't actually give an answer, because if there ever really was an answer to that question Don would probably be the last to know.

I will gloss over all the other great stuff that happens during the episode (the new office, a staged ham fight, Thanksgiving Dinner from hell, and Don's downward spiral into Slap Sex!) so we can talk about the ending. Don confronts Betty and Henry Francis about the house and his future with the kids. Things get tense but you get the feeling that Don is holding back a bit. Once back at the office (did you see those couches in Reception!), Don pitches his "daring" bikini ad campaign to the stuff-shirt prudes from Jantzens. When they don't buy into his idea Don attacks them with both barrels. He throws them out of the office with all the rage that he meant to direct at Betty and Henry. The episode ends with another interview, this time it is a reporter from the Wall Street Journal that wants to know who exactly is the real Don Draper. Don goes into full Public Relations mode and feeds the reporter exactly what he wants.

Then, as always happens on Mad Men, the song during the closing credits not only encapsulates the episode but gives us a possible glimpse into the future. It also gives us a possible to answer to that big question, 'Who is Don Draper?". It is the The Nashville Teens' version of Tobacco Road:

I was born in a trunk.

Mama died and my daddy got drunk.

Left me here to die alone

in the middle of Tobacco Road.

Growin' up rusty shack,

all I had was hangin' on my back.

Only you know how I loathe

this place called Tobacco Road.

But it's home, the only life I ever known.

Only you know how I loathe Tobacco Road.

Gonna leave, get a job

with the help and the grace from above.

Save some money, get rich and old,

bring it back to Tobacco Road.

But it's home, the only life I ever known.

Only you know how I loathe Tobacco Road.

Bring that dynamite and a crane,

blow it up, start all over again.

Build a town, be proud to show.

Gives the name Tobacco Road

Considering we also learn this episode that with the loss of the Jai Alai account Lucky Strike now represents 70% of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's business, Tobacco Road perhaps portends that Don will "bring that dynamite and a crane" to the company he just started. The act of smoking a cigarette is a perfect metaphor for Don Draper...nothing looks cooler than self-destruction.

Mad Men continues to be the absolute best drama on television. Nothing else even comes close. Sure the acting is superb, the art direction is out of this world, and the whole notion of exploring modern life by going back to a "simpler time" is pure genius...but what really stands out for me is the patience and restraint this show continues to exude.

Case in point is episode 6 of season 3, which premiered on Sunday. There was an instance where the story, in the hands of lesser TV producers, would have taken the most obvious turn. There are a few spoilers ahead, so if you aren't caught up ye be warned.

So the British owners of Sterling Cooper are in for a visit, and after a major shake up of upper management (love it when the show centers on the office machinations), they throw an office party for the staff to mark the transition, and to send off Joan Holloway Harris on her last day on the job. The usual drinking and grab ass ensues (much like the election episode). The frivolity culminates in a scene where a John Deere lawnmower is being driven through the office by a secretary, who loses control and runs over one of the Brit's feet. Blood splatters everywhere and the tractor ends up taking out a frosted glass wall. It is a very visceral scene that within the context of a normally quiet show shocks the shit out of you. It reminded me of the episode when Betty pulls out the old shotgun and shoots the neighbor's bird, leaving you to exclaim "Where the hell did that come from!"

So after this very un-Mad Men like moment we have an amazing scene in the hospital waiting room where Don Draper and Joan are talking about the accident. Both have had quiet a day. Don has been passed up for a promotion, and Joan's husband has been passed up for his residency at the hospital. For a brief second you think they might take solace in their shared misery and duck into the janitor's closet for a quickie and a smoke. Afterall this is Don and Joan, the two hottest pieces of ass on the show! Our baser instincts would love to see them go at it! But no...the producers instead give us a tender moment that is based in mututal affection, not simmering sexual tension. As Joan leaves (possibly forever) she gives Don a kiss on the cheek. There is no sex, yet somehow we are just as satisfied. OK, maybe not just as satisfied...but that restraint shows Mad Men's true genius. It is about patience and leaving us wanting more. The slow smolder burns hotter than the flash in the pan, and no other show does it better.