Joan literally wears the pants around here: Mad Men ep 13

Oh, fuck. That’s it? The season’s over?

What a fucking awesome episode. So Betty’s off to Reno with her Old to break up with D-Drape and Begin Her New Life. I would recommend John Ascuaga’s Nugget, where midweek Tower rooms start at just $49! Anyway, Betty continues her quest for Mother of the Year by leaving her other 2 kids with the maid while she jets off to Nevada to get a D-I-V-O-R-C-E. “Yes, New Bobby, as a matter of fact, it IS your fault.” Those kids are going to be so fucked up. They’ll have their own series when they start tripping balls and killing the pigs in 1968.

Connie Hilton is back for what is hopefully his last hurrah, to tell Don that Ster-Coop is being sold. Now can we please end this faux-father plot? We all get the hamhanded symbolism, but it never really rang true. Connie and the Flashbacks can all go bother some other show. That would be awesome if the mule-kicking-the-head flashback just popped up in “According to Jim” without any explanation or context.

The main part of this episode, of course, was the FUCKING AWESOME A-Team Assembling the Crack Squad sequence, in which Don and Roger and Bert recruit all the top talent for the new firm. Oh, and Pete. What a tool. If he didn’t have Clearasil, he’d be selling Bibles out of the trunk of an Oldsmobile in Kansas. Anyway, BEST SCENE maybe this whole season: all the guys in the closed semi-dark office, and in walks MOTHERFUCKING JOAN and she’s all “That’s right, bitches. I’m here to whip this sorry shit into some fucking shape” and OF COURSE she knows where everything is and then Don kicks in the door of the Fart Department (what was up with that, anyway) like he’s fucking Serpico and now they are going to rule advertising like some badass Advertising Super Friends and every week we’ll have a Carousel pitch and a guy can at least hope, right?

I’m kinda psyched that Lane Pryce is coming along. He’s got the potential to be more than the pinky-up Masterpiece Theatre guy that he was earlier. Lane totally knows that he has to bust out to make a fresh start. He’s gonna end up dumping that stick-up-her-ass wife and maybe become an Ascot Gay with a place on Fire Island.

Anyway, it’s all set up for next season now. I’m expecting the scene where some doofus from the old Sterling Cooper is giving some hackneyed pitch and the door flies open and Don walks in and goes “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” and everybody passes out from excitement.

When does Friday Night Lights start?