SPOILERS BELOW FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAS AIRED TO DATE
You know, it takes a certain amount of dedication to write these reviews every week. One, I have to watch the show, which is fine because I’d do that anyway, only I have to make sure I watch it pretty soon after it airs or anything I write will be stale. Two, I have to pay enough attention during the viewing so that I actually have something to write about when I sit down at the computer. When the episode is really good, like last week’s, the review is more likely to “write itself”. It doesn’t work that way, unfortunately, when the episode is a total mess like this week’s clunker “The Fog”. This descent into narrative madness was one of the worst episodes of Mad Men yet produced.
A statement like that carries with it the requisite caveat that, yes, the worst episode of Mad Men is still better than the best episode of CSI: Miami, and I appreciate that the most wonderful shows are going to occasionally swing and miss. But how did the producers not realize this was all going to go so wrong? They can’t even blame it on the disjointedness that sometimes plagues episodes with multiple writers, because Kater Gordon is the lone credited scribe on this one. I can’t make sense of it.
Before getting into what didn’t work, let me highlight a few things that did:
1. Pete Campbell’s outrage over being packaged with Peggy in their tandem meeting with Duck Phillips. “If you want to woo me, you’ll have to buy me my own lunch.”
2. Peggy’s directness when Don turns down her request for a raise, then moans, “What do you want me to say?” “I don’t believe I could have been more clear,” she responds. “You have everything and so much of it.” Then, outside his office, she lets Pete twist in the wind over how much information she shared with Don.
3. Pete trying to convince Hollis to tell him why he chose to buy an RCA television, and Hollis doing everything he can to avoid giving an answer that will commit him in any way. And for that matter, why would one ethnic group prefer a certain model of television over another anyway?
4. Betty rising from the bed in response to the sounds of crying Baby Eugene, and slowly walking toward the door while the music becomes suspenseful. Then she stops, and the music develops into the same theme heard previously throughout the episode. She’s not going to kill the baby; she’s just going to feed him.
5. Don bringing the kids to see Betty and the baby at the hospital. Not in the hospital, mind you; they apparently have to stand outside and wave.
6. Everyone’s general disinterest in the baby once he’s born. He doesn’t seem to be loved. What an intriguing development.
There were other nice moments I’ve since forgotten about, but on the whole, the rest of the episode was a failure. And part of the reason it was a failure is because it was all over the place, like they tried to pack three episodes into one. First we’re dealing with Sally’s and Betty’s grief. Then Betty is having the baby while Don has a trite conversation with a prison guard in the solarium. Then the baby is born, but Don has to deal with a penny-pinching British CFO who doesn’t understand creative types. Finally Don brings Betty home where the kids (and Frances) are waiting, delighted to see her. Remember how Sally was grief-stricken over Grandpa Gene? Apparently Don’s statement that “It’s not Grandpa Gene’s room; it’s the baby’s room,” set her straight enough to enjoy a midnight snack, though I imagine most kids would have been kind of upset with that answer.
The “fog” of the title applies specifically to Betty’s lack of awareness as things happen around her during Eugene’s birth. And through the episode, various characters are invited to wake up before it’s too late. Pryce sees financial ruin if the firm doesn’t start using less paper. Sterling and Cooper berate Campbell for not being aware that Admiral wouldn’t want to produce “colored” televisions. Duck tries to coax Peggy to leave Sterling-Cooper by labeling her a “free-wheeling career gal” who will never be appreciated where she is. And Don’s waiting room partner, the prison guard, declares that he will turn over a new leaf and be a better man, insisting that Don acknowledge his promise. “I heard you,” Don says.
But that’s just the kind of scene that didn’t work. It was too much. Don knows he’s an unfaithful bastard. He doesn’t need another man to berate himself with cliches to experience a moment of self-awareness. Don is the most aware person on the show! Likewise with Sally’s teacher. Having her call the house to apologize for being insensitive in the wake of Gene’s death is an unnecessary flashing red sign where the initial scene in the classroom provided more than enough seeds for whatever that plot is going to become — does anyone think there’s any chance Don won’t have an affair with the teacher? Don declining to tell Betty who was on the phone could be chalked up to not wanting her to become upset again about her dad, especially when she’s already in a highly emotional state (going into labor and all), but the cheating is mundane at this point.
But nothing fell with a harder thud in “The Fog” than the terrible, terrible, shockingly pointless dream sequence taking place in the Drapers’ kitchen and beyond. From the moment Betty arrived at the hospital to the moment the baby was born, we were treated to some of the most heavy-handed writing this side of a Paul Haggis movie. Maybe there are some mothers out there that will have a different perspective on it — yes, clearly it was different for women in the sixties — but I stand by my claim that it was a disaster.
Rating: 
Look, I think I’m a pretty perceptive guy, and I like to give my favorite shows the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I missed some crucial, overarching theme that brought the episode together in a revelatory, satisfying way. But I don’t think so. Not this time. Only some good stuff from Peggy and Pete — as well as a cameo by Yeardley Smith — kept the episode from being a total loss.
