SPOILERS BELOW FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAS AIRED TO DATE
I don’t think it’s possible to watch Ken Cosgrove burst into the office on a riding lawnmower without knowing that sooner or later, the lawnmower is going to cause havoc. And naturally that’s exactly what happens in the third act of “Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency”, though I have to admit, I never expected it to cut someone’s foot off.
This was the episode where the masterplot of the season really started to take shape. This is going to be a season about expectations: dreaming big, counting your chickens, taking chances, the grass is always greener, and be careful what you wish for. It will be a season about the loss of Camelot, and in larger terms the loss of one’s identity. Much of that was on display in this episode, right from the symbolic announcement that the Fourth of July has been canceled.
Let’s start with Roger, who has been left out in the cold since selling the company to the Brits (and left off the new organizational chart). What does he even do anymore? It’s not clear. But upon hearing that their British overlords are coming to check up on them, Bert sends Roger and Don to his barber for a shave. There’s something kind of emasculating about having another man remove one’s facial hair, but it doesn’t compare with Roger getting a manicure (which he seems to enjoy). The question for Roger is whether or not he can be satisfied just being rich without being relevant.
Lane, on the other hand, is defined more by his skills than his humanity. He’s done such a great job getting Sterling-Cooper’s books in order that the bosses are sending him to the office in Bombay, which he is encouraged to think of as a “reward and a challenge”. “I feel like I’ve just attended my own funeral,” he tells Don later. “And I didn’t like the eulogy.” It’s a bitter comeuppance for Lane, who sparred with Don over the price of the little things that make workers happy only to be treated the same way by his superiors.
Joan has come to be defined in two ways: as the efficient timekeeper of the Sterling-Cooper offices and as the wife of a successful doctor. Now it turns out her husband isn’t remotely successful, and she’s quit her job at Sterling-Cooper in anticipation of her husband’s never-received promotion. The scene between Joan and Greg after he comes home drunk is the high point of the episode. The performances in that scene are fantastic, and felt as real as anything on television this past year. It’s certainly hard to feel sorry for Greg — I can’t get past the fact that he’s a rapist — but it’s always good to see Joan out of the office. Christina Hendricks does a marvelous job keeping Joan in control even when she appears to be losing control.
And of course if Sally is to be believed, then Baby Gene’s identity is in question too. Sally — for reasons that seem hard to swallow — believes her baby brother is actually the reincarnated spirit of her recently deceased grandfather!
Only Bert and Don seem to be at peace with the constant string of unexpected developments. Bert, who sums up the turmoil at Sterling-Cooper by stating flatly, “We took their money. Now we have to do what they say,” seems as though he’d be more than content to spend the rest of his days shoeless in his office looking at Japanese art. And though Don allows himself to dream of a life in London, he eventually comes back to earth and explains his reserve to Conrad Hilton (aka “Connie”) by citing a metaphor about a hungry snake that suffocates on its food. Don wants the food, but he’s smart enough not to ask for too much at once. Contrast that with Peggy, who wants not only the “man’s job” but also the “man’s pay” to go with it. Contrast that with the civil rights battles about to heat up. Don wants the good stuff, but he’s ultimately passive. He’ll let things happen to him.
He thrives on that. Remember that Don is a man who is contemptuous of familiarity. That’s why he’s always cheating on his wife. That’s why he sneaks off to Palm Springs with a complete stranger. And he sums up this philosophy when talking to Sally about Baby Gene: “We don’t know who he is yet or who he’s going to be. And that is a wonderful thing.” Don would like to think that we don’t know who he is going to be a year or month or day from this time. And maybe we don’t. Don craves a blank canvas.
Ultimately that desire for “more” seems to be at the heart of this season. Peggy wants more money. Pete wants more responsibility (or respect). Don wants more surprises. Joan wants more life as a happy housewife. And next to this we see a desire to return to the way things used to be: Roger wants to be in charge again. Betty wants a life free of the duties of adulthood. Guy Mackendrick wants his foot back (presumably). Not everyone is troubled, of course. Harry, for example, is taking on more and more prominence at the agency, and John Hooker has just become the new office manager now that Joan is gone. But on the whole, it’s not a satisfied lot.
Speaking of Guy, I enjoyed him. He seemed phony for sure, but also seemed like a genuinely decent fellow underneath. A little too big for his britches perhaps. I must say that the joke about Guy never playing golf again struck me as too obvious by half. Where was the rimshot? The rest of the episode, however, killed. From Peggy’s greeting to the British delegation (“I was just writing copy.”), to the bosses telling Lane that his best attribute is that he always does as he’s told, to the janitor squeegeeing Guy’s blood off the office window, this was a hilarious episode from beginning to end.
Rating: 
I don’t find it at all surprising that a budding feminist like Sally wouldn’t want a Barbie. Nor is it surprising that she’d scream when the Barbie mysteriously reappeared. It might as well be Gloria Steinem’s nightmare.
