Don Draper (Jon Hamm) may have returned home at the end of season
two, but judging from the opening scene of season three—a theatrical
reenactment of Draper imagining his conception and birth—he’s no less
troubled. And, as we learn when he and darling Sal (Bryan Batt) take a
business trip together, Draper still can’t resist temptation,
especially when it lands in his lap. Apparently, neither can Sal. Sulky
Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) provides the usual whiny levity, as
the tension between the cocky American ad execs and their cool British
counterparts simmers. Gender roles are set up as this season’s theme:
pregnant Betty (January Jones) awkwardly joking that her daughter is a
“little lesbian” because she likes to play with tools; Sal’s sexual
encounter and the introduction of Mr. Hooker, a British male secretary,
who coined this year’s catch phrase, “This place is a gynocracy.” All
this, wrapped up in a gorgeous palette of nighttime greens, warm ambers
and sky-blue stewardess uniforms. CTV isn’t running the series
concurrently with the American broadcast like they did for season two,
so you need fancy-pants digital cable, or you can buy the episode on
iTunes.
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2009.
I don’t want to spoil this episode for anyone, but Sal is definitely going to get some great stories this season. He’s finally allowing himself to ‘give in to the gayness’, as it were, and I’m thrilled that he finally got himself a love scene, however brief (considering this show is non-HBO/Showcase).