(And if it did, there’s a special irony given how Pete himself took advantage of that German au pair from season three, and Peggy in season one, and…) But hold your pity, folks, because just as Pete gets good and down on himself, here comes Bob with a stiff drink and an overly familiar tone. It’s not even clear anything untoward took place-Bob later hints that Manolo doesn’t swing that way. And you’re a sour little man… You’ve always been unlovable.” Pete’s misguided attempt to defend his mother’s honor against what he believes to be the predatory nurse Manolo (procured on the special recommendation of one Bob Benson) elicits a brutal verbal slap. We’ve all wanted to smack him at one time or another (and some, like the late Lane Pryce, actually have), but even he didn’t seem to deserve the truth-disguised-as-dementia soothsaying of his mother, who declares, “You were a sour little boy. Who can forget the shadow passing over Bob Benson’s face, or Sally’s on the other side of that door? But we get ahead of ourselves. It also features some of the show’s strongest acting moments to date.
Serial episode 11 genius series#
In a series of exquisitely crafted pairings, we witness characters who plead, cajole, and beg, granting and denying favors, coupling in unexpected but revelatory ways. If not quite on par with “The Suitcase,” the hands-down winner of Best Episode Ever, the show still equals, in quality and shock value, the late-stage installments from earlier seasons. “Favors” did what Mad Men does best, hitting pay dirt after a methodical season-long buildup. If we worried earlier this season that Mad Men had outlived its usefulness-that maybe the wellspring of Matt Weiner’s genius for this particular story was tapped out and Don Draper’s heyday had bypassed us-we recant.