Halfway through the second pass, I trimmed another two hundred words from the story I’m trying to reduce to approximately 5000 words, getting me to 6700 from the original 9600. I think I can make it, but I foresee the time when I’m going to have to make some tough choices about some little vignettes I really like. The story is sort of a road trip that has some (I think) amusing incidents that aren’t 100% crucial to the outcome. However, I’m going to get to a point where one or more of them is going to have to go. Ah, well, it’s only for one potential market. If the story isn’t accepted, I can put them back in. Still, I think the story is better in its new leaner form, so it hasn’t been a pointless exercise altogether.
I converted my ITW membership to Active today, which means I don’t have to pay any dues. Coolness.
Lots of people speculated that Joan and Roger’s indiscretion in the wake of being robbed on Mad Men would lead to pregnancy, but they dispatched with the storyline quickly, which leads me to wonder what the point was. Is it one of those things that’s going to come back up again later?
Just when it looked like Don was emerging from his tailspin, something new came along to knock him for a loop—the unforeseen side effect of getting a defense contract. At least now he has someone to be with during this hardship: Faye, who freaked out when confronted with a whiny kid but stood by her man when he confessed his lifelong cover story. All of his secrets are coming home to roost, including his relationship with Faye. However, it was Pete who took it on the chin for Don to keep the cover story alive. Roger’s getting pounded, too. First the pregnancy, then the news that Lucky Strike is yanking their business, which accounts for the lion’s share of the firm’s income. He wasn’t kidding about the news almost killing him, based on the way he was popping nitroglycerin after the meeting. Speaking of taking lumps, poor old Lane got his from dear old dad. On any other show, that would have been a lethal blow.
My favorite exchange of the episode:
Lucky Strike guy My grandfather fought in the Civil War
Roger Really. Where did he surrender?
I thought for sure something was going to happen to Don’s tickets for the Beatles, and he’d have to disappoint Sally once again. Her squeal when she got the news was pitch perfect. And then there was the final shot: Megan touching up her lipstick in profile, the epitome of the heart-stoppingly beautiful Beatlemania girl. Was Don looking at her with lust in his heart or did he still resent her for filing the documents that almost led to his ultimate downfall?
Is it just me, or is Tanya the Lindsay Lohan of Rubicon? She was forced to confront her demons with her therapist, and when asked if she wanted help with her problems, she thought long and hard (and we never got to see her answer). Consigned to the basement sorting documents—at least Grant came down to help her out. I liked the reference to Godot—the first thing I ever published in the newspaper was a review of a Theatre New Brunswick production of Waiting for Godot when I was in grade twelve. I was working on a term paper (The 20th century as the age of pessimism) and wrote the play up for that essay. When my English teacher read my notes he said I should write it up for the paper since he was supposed to review it and I’d already done most of the work.
The scene with Donald Bloom and Katherine Rhumer was great. Pulling notes out of his pocket and reading them to her. “Do you understand this message? Because sometimes they can be unclear. But that one was pretty straightforward.” One of the interesting things about the show is the way the big bad villains have been nothing but words on a page and data in a file. Kateb, George, Tanez, Yuri. They’re being killed off one by one and we’ve never seen them. I think we’re going to reach a point, though, where the wants and needs of the four leaf clover club will come into conflict with the impending terrorist attack. And Kale rocks the martial arts moves on Maggie’s ex. “Old man.”
Dexter is back, and is it ever. Everyone…places, including Matsuka, who starts off the episode by being his twisted, perverse self by crouching beside Rita’s corpse and saying, “I imagined her naked many times—never like this. Still, Dexter gets the line of the show. He’s standing at the funeral home (shades of Six Feet Under) watching a grieving family. “So, this is how normal people do it. No Hefty bags.”
The flashback to his first date with Rita was terrific. It gave him the opportunity to say goodbye to Rita and, in a way to Julie Benz. Their first date actually took place while Dexter was stalking another victim, and was cut short when the victim needed killing. The next door neighbor is looking more and more like the prime suspect. If that’s the case, I hope they don’t drag the whodunit out for more than a few episodes. And I’m also glad that Dexter aborted his plans to take it on the run. Although that might have allowed them to take the character in a new direction, it would have played havoc on everyone else in the cast. A good, solid return to an exceptional series. I’ve always maintained that Dexter has many more emotions and is much more human than he gives himself credit for.
