The show's premiere, appropriately named 'Time Zones,' was perfect for drawing the comparisons and differences between the East and West coast and our cast of characters strung in between. It's a few months from where we left off after Don was suspended from work, Megan has moved to California along with Ted and Pete Campbell. (PETE! More in a minute on that...) From the time Megan so stylishly steps out of her convertible to pick up her decidedly-the-same handsome husband, my brain switched off and I no longer wanted to pay attention to his side.
You know who I did want to take notice of? PETE CAMPBELL! Oooooh, Pete, how I've missed you so! He came back with flying colors, (speaking of color - that tan! That sweater!). We follow Megan and Don's short-lived trip together as they try and squeeze in a normal husband/wife visit, except it's anything but. (How 'bout Megan's agent? I loved him. "I will not!" (Except, can we talk about Megan's "fixing your teeth" comment from her agent? Eesh.)
Megan is seemingly at home in her newly decorated, newly acquired apartment with a view of the canyon. With coyotes howling in the background, I couldn't help but imagine what will happen later this year for the cast out in LA. It being 1969, I'm assuming they're going to cover the Charles Manson/Sharon Tate murders, conveniently located within close proximity of where I'm imagining Megan is living.
One glaringly uncomfortable blip in Megan and Don's storyline was the fact that Don has Megan convinced that he still has a job. And later, during the meeting with Freddy Rumsen, we learn that Don still truly believes he has his job because he's still getting paid. Don takes the red eye back to New York "to work" and is conveniently sitting next to a charmingly disturbed widow played by Neve Campbell. The two share a dramatic and emotionally bonding experience on this overnight flight, yet he turns down a chance at another fling. Has he changed? Absolutely not. And you know what? I couldn't be less interested.
Back in New York, our East Coasters aren't doing all that well either. Roger, (oh, Roger, I've missed you too) wakes up in a pool of naked bodies after a night of enlightenment. ("I feel like we really got somewhere last night.") Sharing a bed with whomever is welcome and throwing himself down the rabbit hole has his daughter taking notice. Over brunch we see her "forgiving" her father for his transgressions. We get the feeling that she's joined some sort of new age group, (cult?) and provides yet another example of the general storytelling/smattering of what it was like in the year of 1969.
Peggy, nowhere near where I thought she'd be this season, is catering to a new stand-in boss. She's pushed herself into exhaustion and is finding herself overworked and alone, feeling like no one else wants to push themselves to do good work like she does. Seeing her breakdown in her empty apartment in one of the last scenes was truly heartbreaking, if not obvious. I think we're all just waiting for Peggy to take that next step into something truly scary: being okay with normalcy.
And in other news, Joan is still struggling with that last foothold before she really believes she's a part of the upper epsilon at, (what's this agency called again?). And Ken, poor Ken, is starting to sound more and more like the old, disgruntled Pete Campbell, (but with one less eyeball). I'm looking forward to seeing what the Francis family has been up to. What kid is playing Bobby now? And though a few months have passed in the storyline, Sally is what, 27 at this point?
While the premiere of Season 7 did not blow me away, it was nice to meet up with everyone again and see where they've gone. As the 60's draw closer to an end and certain moments have yet to be lived, (Manson! Woodstock! MAN ON THE MOON!), this episode merely served as a jumping off point for what I hope will continue this season: Don Draper being dragged away by wild coyotes.
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