...Kind of disappointing. Anyone who went into this year expecting the mindblowing opener of Season 3 will be let down, as perhaps was inevitable after pressing the reset button on the entire series. Draper's character did not seem quite as in focus, and while there's little doubt that this is part of the arc of the story we always knew was coming, there's something about the character that seemed not quite as sharply drawn as he begins his decline. Mad Men is not a workplace comedy, it's a tragedy and the main character is going to have to be more eloquent on the way down if the show's going to live up to what the first three seasons have promised.

Speaking of comedy, Roger Sterling was also not at his best. His funniest moments always come because he's used sparingly and as a welcome respite from all the intensity brewing around him. But tonight they had him firing away a zinger a minute, and used like that Sterling is not nearly as funny. Maybe there is some meta-point here that I'm missing. Maybe Mad Men has to become a different show for the second half, but I can't imagine that what we saw was as precisely-fine-tuned as what we've become accustomed to from them lately.

Still...some great scenes, especially with the Francis family. I'm looking forward to a LOT more divorce drama, and I want to watch Draper come apart at the seams in exactly the way he did tonight. But Don Draper has to be under a lot more pressure before he comes undone. I want to believe that this wasn't a bad sign, but I watch two shows like a religion: Mad Men and Big Love. Big Love Season 4 was a total disappointment after the biblical scale of their Season 3. So please Mad Men, don't burn out...otherwise I'll have to go back to reading....