The Doorway, Part 1

I have watched every episode from all the previous seasons, and this episode is the worst. Don Draper (Jon Hamm) heads up a great ensemble cast. The writer, and the show's creator, has chosen to take several of these characters – Don, Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss), Roger Sterling (John Slattery), and Betty Draper (January Jones)– and give them each an individual story line showing their travails. In following each individual story line, of each individual character, this episode loses the thrust and cohesion of previous episodes where the interaction between the ensemble gave the episodes their dynamic.

This episode starts off with a scene - a man is being given CPR while Don looks on - which is only laid into context later in the show: and when is does appear, in context, it is shown to be an event that even then is out of the time line - confusing! It appears yet again when a drunken Don badgers the person, who was given CPR, about their near death experience. It seems to be an obtuse way to get to that point, where Don is shown to be a mean drunk.

The script has us cutting in and out of the disparate four main story lines. After a while, I just found this to be annoying. Only Don' story and Betty's story have interest. Roger's was the least interesting. Peggy has a job as a poorly paid artistic director who is trying to follow in the footsteps of her mentor Don. You can decide on whether she can do that. Never the less, the show ended too quickly. This is probably because there is a part 2.