Watching (Mad) Men: S6 E1&2 Recap

Spoiler Alert: This blog is published after Mad Men airs on Showcase in Australia, Monday at 5.15pm EST. Do not read on unless you have watched this week's episode which is also available for download Tuesday mornings on iTunes.

This Week On Mad Men: Season Six drops in on a POV of an NDE —it's the Drapers' doorman, mid cardiac arrest— and death is always on its mind. 1967 is ending, joints are passed, everyone has sideburns, Abe looks like Frank Zappa, Fat Betty braves beatniks/tetanus in the bombed-out East Village, Linda Cardellini catches swingin' Dick's wandering cock, and Ken smacks down tryhard office noob Bob Benson, but the more things change, the more TV's best show just stares at the grim spectre. Roger's mum dies, then his shoe-shiner; a Hawaiian hotel pitch looks like suicide porn; Lane's odour still lingers in the office; and drunk Don demands his doorman describe beyond the pale: “did you hear the ocean?”

Woooah... Black Betty bambalam

How Big Is Thy Weiner: The only-Matt-Weiner-can-do-this-on-TV moment slowly pulls in for a close-up on the back of Don's flammable hair, the sound of waves —or Korean War military aircraft— buzzing in his ears.

Arcane & Able: Megan rings in '68 by having the neighbours over for fondue: cheese, then chocolate!

A face even a mother wants to punch

Pete Campbell's Punchable-Weasel-Face Watch: Ribbing Don about his work ethic —“then you take a nap!”— PC is smirkin' and backslappin'.

Sterling One-Liner Of The Week: Don pukes in the umbrella stand at Roger's mother's funeral: “He was just saying what everybody else was thinking.”

Screening every Monday night, 5.20pm and 8.30pm, on Showcase