S4E10 – Hands and Knees

Mad Men Men

Fittingly enough, we're on our hands and knees begging you to give Mad Men Men a chance. Just don't hit us over the head for it. That's right, this week we're talking about Season 4 Episode 10 of Mad Men, titled "Hands and Knees." As usual, we recap the episode, give our analysis, and reference the director/writer/actors' commentaries as well as Mad Men Carousel by Matt Zoller Seitz.

In case this is your first time digging into our podcast, we recap Mad Men from the perspective of a first-time watcher, someone who only watched the show once while it was airing, and a superfan who watches excessively instead of having a functional social life.

Discussion Points:

• Thematically, is "Hands and Knees" a little clunky?
• How does the late/great Lynn Shelton do as director with this episode?
• What do you make of Don and Pete's changing dynamic since Season 1?
• Why do you think Betty bails Don out with the government guys?
• What can we glean about Lane after such a strained storyline concerning his father and estranged family?
• If this episode is all about secrets, then how can we relay that to each storyline?
• What is Joan's perspective on Roger at this point, and what might be going through her mind in the clinic scene?
• What makes this episode so bold in terms of the actors' performances?

Extra credits:

Matthew Weiner created Mad Men, which aired on AMC from 2007 to 2015. Lynn Shelton directed “Hands and Knees” and Matthew Weiner co-wrote the script with Jonathan Abrahams. The show stars Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Robert Morse, and many more. Our intro music is “Mad Men Men” by Tom Davidson, which is an original remix of the show’s opening theme “A Beautiful Mine” by RJD2. Podcast illustration is by Jon Negroni. Our podcast hosts include Jon Negroni (Podcast Editor of InBetweenDrafts), Will Ashton (cohost of the Cinemaholics podcast), and Michael Overhulse (a guy who’s addicted to working at startups).

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