Jared Harris is one of the best actors of his generation, and he’s appeared in big-time hits like Lincoln, The Last Of The Mohicans, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, and Mad Men. He’s also appeared in some stinkers, notably the cinematic equivalent of acid to the eyes: Morbius. But why? He recently answered that question, and it’s a reason all of us can relate to. Stars really are just like us! v6h3r

Harris, who went to drama school and worked in New York theater before he started working on screens, is what you might call an “actor’s actor.” He is a student of the craft. He approaches every role differently, like he’s starting from scratch. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, as evidenced in a recent profile for iNews.

The talented actor shared an anecdote about an audition he went on in the ’90s, for well-known sitcom actor Danny DeVito. He’d had some success at this point in films like Mohicans and as an alcoholic Irishman in Far and Away. He even played Andy Warhol in I Shot Andy Warhol….

He related that DeVito told him he had “no idea who was going to walk in the room” because Harris was “so different in everything.” DeVito told the young Harris good luck, because he was “gonna need it.” Why? DeVito explained that a “successful actor is a recognizable actor and you’re trying to start from scratch every single time.”

Depending on your point of view, this could be either good or bad, but it does illustrate one very clear point: the man cares about the craft and he takes it seriously. Which makes it all the more hilarious that he took that role in Morbius.

In case you’re one of the uninitiated, Morbius was one of those Sony Marvel movies, meaning not one of the good ones. It starred Jared Leto as the titular character, a biochemist who accidentally turns himself into a vampire-type when he creates a cure for a rare blood disease. It flopped marvelously and was ridiculed endlessly. Harris played Dr. Emil Nicholas, who served as a sort of mentor/father figure to Morbius. This was no Oscar winning role by any means. He explained his choice:

“I have got a mortgage to pay, you know. Sometimes you say yes to things because you need to make money.” Did he enjoy it? “I have observed that those types of films do well if you have a sense of humour. You can’t treat it as though it’s Shakespeare. So yeah, that movie could have done with a more mischievous sense of humour.”

That’s the words of a man who knows where his paycheck comes from. Art is great and we can be purists but when it’s time to pay the mortgage, you take what you can get.

If you offer up the word “reboot” or “remake” to the average filmgoer, they’ll likely reply with an uninvolved sneer and mumblings about how originality is dead.

But here’s the thing about remakes: they’re not inherently creatively bankrupt, and can be the crux for some genuinely fantastic movies. The trick is to remake material that didn’t live up to its potential in the original release.

Unfortunately, among those who don’t understand this are the people in charge of getting things remade, and so that’s why we’re getting a Max television series based on the Harry Potter books. This, even though the film series has soared about as immaculately as any cinematic franchise could have.

It’s for this reason that Jared Harris — the son of Richard Harris, who portrayed Hogwarts heaster Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films — isn’t convinced that this Wizarding World enterprise will be worth anyone’s time. Per Entertainment Weekly:

I don’t understand. The films were fantastic — leave them alone.

To the show’s credit, it has quite a bit of creative firepower behind it already: sca Gardiner, who wrote 17 episodes of television juggernaut Succession, is serving as the showrunner, while Max darling Mark Mylod (of Succession, Game of Thrones, and The Last of Us fame), will executive produce alongside Gardiner and also direct many an episode.

Still, is there really enough material from the books left out by the movies to justify telling this story once again? Will the core of the story be presented in the same manner as the films, which were already very accurate to the source material? Whatever the answers, the question remains: why tell this story again?

Still, one needs to wonder if there’s enough material from the books left out by the movies to justify telling this story over again, and if there is, will it coalesce with the thematic heft of the Harry Potter story? Further still, will the tried-and-true core of that story even be the core this time around? Whether it is or not, the question remains: why tell this story again?

The answer, of course, is that studios don’t understand IP beyond shiny wrapping paper that made a lot of money back in the day, and given the success of the Harry Potter films, a green light was inevitable. It is the task of Gardiner and company, then, to take this big pile of magical redundancy and turn it into something that justifies its existence in the wake of its cinematic ancestors. Here’s hoping they’re stocking up on Felix Felicis potions in the lead-up to the show’s projected release date of 2026, because they’ve got quite the task ahead of them.

Mad Men star Jared Harris is poised to venture further back in time than 1960s New York. Variety reports the actor – who also appeared in Fringe and Lincoln – has inked a deal to star in Robert Zemeckis’ yet-to-be-titled espionage thriller. It’s a deal that marks a reunion with his Curious Case of Benjamin Button co-star Brad Pitt, with Marion Cotillard rounding out the remainder of the core cast. Working from a script penned by Stephen Knight, Zemeckis’ next feature takes place in 1942 North Africa where, in the throes of World War II, a spy falls madly in love with a French sleeper agent – Cotillard, we assume – before later finding out that she harbors a dark secret: she’s a nazi. News of Harris boarding the project arrives just in time, too, with production set to commence in Europe early next week. First hatched by Graham King, it’s understood that Zemeckis’ war-time period drama will be produced by Steve Starkey, while Knight, Jack Rapke, Patrick McCormick and Denis O’Sullivan will leverage executive producing duties. Fresh off the relatively successful The Walk, Zemeckis’ decision to enter the spy genre marks a considerable change of pace, though he’s added an actor who is no stranger to espionage thrillers, given that Harris recently starred opposite Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. Jared Harris can currently be seen in Syfy’s critically acclaimed genre piece The Expanse. Robert Zemeckis’ yet-to-be-titled espionage thriller has placed the crosshairs on a November 23 release.

Guy Ritchie reunites with stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law for a sequel to the highly popular Sherlock Holmes from 2009. The sequel, titled A Game of Shadows follows Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson as they battle their most diabolical enemy yet, Professor Moriarty. Ritchie manages to do what most franchises can’t, which is make a sequel that triumphs over the original film. A Game of Shadows is a funnier, more action-packed film than the previous because of Downey Jr.’s and Law’s tight-knit chemistry and Ritchie’s ability to advance the stories of Holmes without losing that initial charm. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) has gotten a lot stranger since we last ran into him. He’s mostly a loner now, but he does try and squeeze in time for his best pal and sidekick Dr. Watson (Jude Law). Watson is getting married and Holmes is slowly drifting into insanity, which makes for the perfect occasion for the two to reunite and stop another criminal mastermind. Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) is Holmes’ most clever and calculated enemy yet, which means Holmes and Watson must pair up with Madam Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace) to hopefully bring Moriarty down. Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows is basically a rehash of the original film, but with a bigger budget and a more over-the-top sense of humor. Director Guy Ritchie keeps Holmes and Watson the center of attention, with Downey Jr. and Law continuing to express their excellent chemistry. The bickering back and forth between the two is the highlight of the film, with the action and general easy going mood helping the film move along. The removal of Rachel McAdams for Noomi Rapace is about the only thing that felt like a downgrade, not because one actress is better than the other, but because McAdams had a more natural chemistry with Downey Jr. But what Ritchie messes up in one department he makes up for in another with the casting of Jared Harris as the villain. Harris’ Moriarty is one of the more popular villains from Holmes’ past and Harris does the character justice, providing enough intricate detail and precision to the role, allowing for a character that actually just might be able to beat Holmes/Watson. Ritchie also employs more use of those super slow-motion cameras from the first film, which helps kick up the action. Most of the gunfire seems more organized this time around, with rarely a dull moment. The problem I had with the first Holmes film was that it took too many stops to try and weed out the good dialogue versus the bad dialogue. Some lines didn’t feel any need to be present in the film, yet Ritchie sort of just let them slide. The first film plays out a lot slower and lot less focused than A Game of Shadows, which does feel a bit sillier, but a lot more fun. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a good example of how to take what works and make it better. The sequel is bigger, full of more familiar faces and a lot more entertaining. Some of the sequences are a lot more over-the-top and hokey than the original film, but it essentially makes for a more enjoyable film that never has time to slow down or get too serious.

The 1080p video encode is faithful and pristine. This is another shining example of how to properly transfer a film that consists of mostly dark colors, with a fair amount of grain and filtering. A Game of Shadows never appears too soft or lacking of distinct detail. Colors are rich and vibrant and skin tones and textures aren’t altered or waxed. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is a beat-for-beat experience that captures every little detail. There’s an open space of activity that gets filled with explosions, gunfire and general effects. Dialogue is loud and centered on the front channels. Here’s a list of special features:

• Maximum Movie Mode (HD)
• A Game of Shadows Movie App
• Focus Points (HD)
• DVD Copy
• UltraViolet Digital Copy

The film is bigger, funnier and a lot quicker than its predecessor and the Blu-Ray disc is another winner from Warner Bros. There’s not a ton of special features, but WB’s trademark Maximum Movie Mode makes up for the lack of other content. It’s a very in-depth feature that allows you to watch the film and learn a lot about the filmmaking process along the way. I suggest a viewing of it after you’ve seen the film in its regular form. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is everything you’d want a Sherlock Holmes sequel to be. Guy Ritchie does what most director’s fail to do and that is bring back the characters we’ve all grown to love and give them a new story that feels worthy of being told and not something made simply for the cash.

This week on AMC’s hit show Mad Men, the penultimate episode of the show’s fifth season, we saw our season’s first big change. While last week saw Peggy Olson leaving Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, marking perhaps the loss of our first major character, there are still doors left open for her to return. This week, however, sees the exit of a character who shall sadly be making no return. At the company, the lies and the lack of communication all fold in on themselves and someone has to take the fall for it. This week’s episode is surprisingly pared down as we are left solely with the series’ main characters: Don, Roger, Joan, Pete, Megan, Sally and Lane, with a couple of the ing performers nipping in their every so often. It takes it right down to the bear minimum to create a far more intimate and emotional installment, leading to a devastating conclusion which, as always for Mad Men, is quiet, subtle and suitably low key. This is a chilling episode. Framed by falling snow and tetchy temperaments, a metaphorical winter has arrived at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce where associates can only come to realise business has not picked up and is just as stagnant as usual, where the attempts to do right are corrupted by the worst of deeds and where loyalty suddenly doesn’t mean much anymore. There is a very melancholy nature to the proceedings and we get very little humour. Even Roger can’t seem to make one humoured remark. We open in very humble territories. Don is getting a haircut only to be interrupted by someone from a fellow agency, complimenting him on the success of claiming the Jaguar . Don rebukes him with pessimistic views on how working with Jaguar could become an annoyance, which are silenced when the man brings up how great they thought Pete Campbell was. In a breakfast diner across the city, Lane meets with a business head offering him a job as a fiscal consultant for an unnamed firm, which he accepts.

Meanwhile, across the city, Betty and the rest of the Francis clan are preparing for a skiing weekend, which Sally refuses to go on. Instead, she remains in the city, adamant to stay at her father’s until Monday. This comes as a surprise to Megan, who is totally uninformed on this matter, annoyed at Don for having not told her. But Don’s day at the office couldn’t permit him to allow family calls, Cooper comes to him with the cheque that Lane forged a few episodes back to cover his taxes. Cooper knows nothing and assumes that Don forwent the decision to give out Christmas bonuses and went behind everyone’s back to help Lane out. Don knows this isn’t the case as he didn’t sign it, and he brings Lane into his office only to fire him. He goes onto tell him that he has the whole weekend to elaborate a lie and come Monday morning he must resign. Feeling positively withdrawn and blown back by Don’s decision, Lane goes home drunk, having to face his wife with the possibility of moving back to England and the embarrassment of telling her that he has lied and is in trouble. She has a more celebratory attitude in mind however, she plans to go to dinner but first she insists on showing off the new car that she bought. Her reasoning: Lane never spends enough on himself or treats himself. Lane’s betrayal puts the fire in Don’s belly. He goes to Roger and opines about the company remaining second rate, as he puts it: “I don’t want Jaguar, I want Chevy”. He wants bigger companies and with that he asks Roger to set up a meeting with Ed Baxter’s company Dow Chemicals, Baxter being the man who previously told Don that no one would touch SCDP because of the Lucky Strike rebuke in the New York Times. But now Don is back and presumably has found his ambition again. Of course, this causes a problem for Ken Cosgrove, as Baxter is his father in law and he doesn’t enjoy doing business with him. When they get the meeting with Dow, Roger talks to Ken, who lays down his own set of conditions: Ken is on the and Pete doesn’t go to the meeting or any other meetings (whatever that means). Could this have more effect the further along we go? Possibly, but not during this episode.

Before the weekend is out Sally discusses with Glen Bishop the possibility of meeting up on the Monday, considering both her father and Megan will be out. Megan has an audition, while Don has the meeting with Dow. The two of them meet up and head across town to the museum, however Sally suddenly feels sick and runs off to the bathroom where she discovers that she has had her first period. Stunned and sickened she runs back home to her mother, leaving Glen to go back to the Draper’s apartment alone and pick up his bag. Upon his arrival he is met by Megan who invites him in and offers to take him to the station when his train arrives. In the meeting with Dow, Don impresses with a speech about how he wants to reach for 100% with a company, he strives for the best and that’s what he gets. It’s clear that he has ambition to provide the best service possible and this is again another sign of Don getting back that drive that many had thought he lost. This however comes at a price. After returning from the meeting and a few drinks, Roger and Don return to the office to find it empty, with the partners sitting in the creative room after having sent everyone home. They break the new to Roger and Don: Lane hung himself in his office. With what could be guilt washing over Don, he goes into Lane’s office and cuts him down. On the office floor they find a resignation letter addressed to the partners, no explanation as to why the suicide but we all know why. He couldn’t lie anymore. In the final moments of this episode, Don returns home to be met by Glen. Don insists on driving the boy home and in a quiet moment together, Glen turns to Don and asks the oblique question: “Why does everything turn out crappy?” Who knows? We are in dark times with Mad Men recently, and we have one episode remaining? Where do we go from here? Come back next week for our review of the season finale of Mad Men.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Season 5’s The Suitcase. During the last season of Mad Men we got the show’s finest episode ever, The Suitcase. It played out as a two hander between Peggy and Don on the night of Sonny Liston and Mohammad Ali ‘Phantom Punch’ fight. It was terrific, featuring brilliant dialogue, acting, direction, the lot. It was the pinnacle of the show thus far. Thinking nothing would ever top that, Season 5’s fifth episode, directed by Roger Sterling himself, John Slattery, goes a long way to be on a par with that very episode. Signal 30 is poignant, savage and brilliantly hilarious. It is perhaps the funniest episode of the entire series and it is not surprising given that it’s directed by the master wit behind the character of Roger Sterling. The episode gave us some great lines and one of the most satisfying scenes in television since watching Gus Fring have his face blown off at the end of the last season of Breaking Bad. The episode also gives a lot more attention to the character of Ken Cosgrove who has been largely ignored I think for the past two seasons, mainly because his character was quite dull. This episode reinvigorates the character and Matt Weiner gives him the attention he’s been needing for the past two years. Sadly, January Jones is again noticeably absent from the show but for the purpose of this story I’m so sure how necessary she would have been. We know Jones’ pregnancy affected her availability on the show but to turn up for one episode and then be kind of swept under the rug may have ed for some more thoughtful scheduling. That aside, last night’s episode was terrific.

It starts with Lane and his wife going to an ex-pat British pub to watch the 1966 World Cup Football Final where England beat . In a spring of patriotism over dinner, Lane’s friend, who happens to work for the car company Jaguar, offers up a potential business proposition for Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. This brings Lane some much needed importance in the company, outside of just being a simple financial advisor. He now has an under his belt. The other partners are thrilled, only Pete shows some disdain for the idea. Nervous with how to deal with potential business partners, Lane seeks advice from Roger with how to smooth talk a client in order to seal a deal, with a few pointers he goes out to dinner but doesn’t make that much of an impression. Knowing that he can’t do much more, he sends Roger, Don and Pete out to make sure that SCDP get the deal. In other office affairs, Don is trying to get out of a dinner date at the Campbell household with the Cosgroves. Don never did much like to fraternise with any other associate of the company other than Roger, but Trudy and Megan’s insistence make sure that he attends despite his best efforts. While there, Ken’s ion for writing and the fact he has a dual career under a pseudonym is revealed to the dinner guests as well as unfortunate mishap in the kitchen with Don running to the rescue. The dinner is one of the show’s calmer moments and as usual it is about Don. Pete has grown up and he has a happy life at home with his baby and his wife. Is this something Don wants to recreate with Megan? Perhaps, but as usual, not all is happy in suburbia. Pete is attending night classes to learn how to drive where he falls in lust with a younger classmate, nothing comes of it but Pete for some reason feels the need to dip his toes in the water and “experiment”.

This all comes to a head in the final scenes, where a dinner with the Jaguar VP, Edwin Baker goes slightly awry when they head off to an upmarket whore house. Pete, Roger and Baker have their fun while Don remains sober and turns down advances, sticking fiercely loyal to his marriage. Pete, however, at the end deeply regrets it, receiving the cold shoulder from Don who sees his advances on women to be stupid. He has everything he wants but is willing to blow it all for nothing. For an audience, this is great because Pete has always been a deeply loathsome character, a point that all the writers concede and love writing for him. But nothing could prepare my delight for the scene that takes place the morning after the party. Unfortunately, Baker’s wife upon his return home found, as Jared Harris so beautifully puts it, “chewing gum in his pubis” and thus they have lost the . He solely blames Pete for them cavorting to the whore house and challenges him to a good, old fashioned, fisticuffs fight. Pete roundly gets his arse kicked by the British gent and it is just so brutally satisfying. For Lane, it is a true realization of the monster he has created, he mentored Pete to a point of the mentor becoming the mentored. Lane’s position in the company has been bested by Pete Campbell and jealousy overcomes him. This episode brilliantly has the outpouring of tension that had been built up over previous seasons and this gives us one of Mad Men‘s finest episodes, up there with The Suitcase. Slattery is not just a terrific actor but proves himself a great director of timing and comedy. Signal 30 is an exquisite piece of television.

Warner Bros will be bringing the Guy Ritchie sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows to Blu-Ray in June. The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Jared Harris. After the first Sherlock Holmes made a great deal of money, even with Avatar for competition, Warner Bros. quickly started to put together a sequel, something that must look the same as the previous film, but somehow amp up the destruction and mayhem. Also, Sherlock Homes would need an enemy that could risk the possibility of defeating him. A Game of Shadows is a rightful sequel by definition. It takes what worked in the first film and repeats it with the stakes a little higher. I actually didn’t care for the first film, yet I enjoyed the second one. The first was a little dry and slow for my tastes, while the sequel plays out more like an action-heavy comedy. Sure, it’s a bit mindless and dumb, but that’s all I want out of a Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey Jr. Our very own Kristal Cooper had this to say about the film in her review.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is little more than elementary, my dear moviegoer and for those with a clue about what to look for in a good popcorn movie, that won’t prove to be quite enough.

The film will be presented in a Blu-Ray/DVD/UltraViolet Digital Copy combo pack. The following features have been confirmed:

• Maximum Movie Mode with Director Guy Ritchie
• Seven behind-the-scenes featurettes

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows will be available to own on June 12th, 2012.

One of the big Holiday blockbusters, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, is amping up its marketing campaign with a new, bigger, louder and funnier trailer. The sequel to the 2009 blockbuster Sherlock Holmes sees Robert Downey Jr. as the legendary London detective and Jude Law as his best friend Watson, continuing what’s been called their 19th Century Bromance. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows picks up not long after the end of the original film. Holmes has been tracking a series of crimes that he relates to a rising master-criminal, Moriarty (Jared Harris, a shadowy presence from the first film.) Along for the ride is a gypsy fortune teller named Sim (Noomi Rapace, the original Girl With A Dragon Tattoo) whose connection to Moriarty makes her a target for murder. Among the highlights of the new Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows trailer is a brief glimpse of Rachel McAdams, who will be returning  in the role of con-artist Irene Adler in what has been described as a minor cameo. Some internet chatter has Adler being murdered early in Game of Shadows, although that’s not confirmed. The new Game of Shadows trailer is faster paced than the first and indicates that this Sherlock will be every bit as bombastic as the original with giant explosions, massive fireballs and the general destruction of old London town. Not merely London however, you may not be able to tell from the trailer but Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is set to take Holmes and Watson across Europe with undoubtedly destructive stops in and Switzerland. Sadly, not seen in this trailer is Stephen Fry in the role of  Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older and smarter brother. Fry is a delicious choice to play opposite Robert Downey Jr. able to out-ego and pomp even Downey’s brilliantly egocentric Holmes. Mycroft Holmes will without doubt be one of the great pleasures of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Once again directed by Guy Ritchie, Sherlock Holmes returns to theaters in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows on December 16th. Sorry, this video is currently unavailable.

New photos from the much anticipated sequel to Guy Ritchie‘s 2009 adaption of Sherlock Holmes have been released. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law will reprise their roles as Holmes and Watson, the world’s most well-known detective duo and they will be ed by rising star Noomi Rapace. The film will see the Holmes and Watson investigating the murder of the Prince of Austria as they face Holmes’ most dangerous nemesis, Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris), one of literature’s greatest villains. Stephen Fry will also appear as Holmes’ brother, Mycroft. Check out the rest of the photos below, courtesy of Latino Review. You can also watch the film’s trailer here. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows hits theatres on December 16th.

I really enjoyed the first Sherlock Holmes film, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the ingenious detective and directed by Guy Ritchie. Today we have a new still from the sequel and some more details of the plot, courtesy of Hero Complex. We’ve known for a long time that the villain would be Professor Moriarty, who will be played by Mad Men’s Jared Harris, and that there is an unnamed role for Noomi Rapace. Now there is a little more light in this area. Rapace will play a gypsy called Sim, who could end up being the replacement love interest for Rachel McAdams character. The plot encomes:

Holmes continuing his pursuit of Professor Moriarty, who, if the investigator’s instincts are correct, might be the world’s first supervillain. Watson, meanwhile, is still trying to be a good partner to his love, Mary Morstan, while keeping Sherlock alive.

There were some other interesting tidbits given from the actors on the set. Downey Jr. said:

Unlike last time, where Holmes kept getting Watson into trouble, this time Watson is getting Holmes out of trouble, and they’re both in deeper trouble than I think the audience could have imagined we could go…. All manner of nastiness has just occurred.

Jude Law hints at the difference in the sequel and the level of action involved in the film itself.

We have no intention of going back and patronizing people by re-covering the same ground. I think one of the most exciting things in this one is the fear level. We get pretty kicked around. Just look at the state of us.

I am genuinely looking forward to the sequel as the first Sherlock Holmes is one of the only Guy Ritchie films I can stand watching and Downey Jr. was gold in the main role. The sequel is due for release on the 16th of December.

This week everything changes. As I noted in my last recap, the death of Don’s elderly secretary Miss Blankenship could be the great harbinger of doom that is going to note a huge and obviously dark turn in the Mad Men universe. Of course this happens albeit on a very low key basis, and as with Weiner he always puts one twist in before slapping the true plot revelation on top of that one to really side swipe us. This week sees the reappearance of American Airlines and North American Aviation, the roped in by Pete Campbell in the first season who have details about Don and the rest of the employees they need to corroborate and put back through. With this suspicions arise, Don signs papers with all old identification on it and two FBI agents turn up at the Francis household and question Betty about Don. According to her, Don has requested security checks (a result of him not reading and only g the legal papers) on her as well as him, mostly discussing whether or not they are Communists as a result of the dodgy information. Thus Don and his identity are at risk. The war in Vietnam and the ‘Red Alert’ taking place in America comes right to the fore in the this episode. This is again not immediately flagged up but the questioning by the Department of Defense about a person’s identity is very similar to what did actually happen with Senator McCarthy and the House of Un-American Activities Committee. Politics has always been a large part of Mad Men, with the plot and the state of the nation often colliding towards the end of a season. In the last season it was the assassination of JFK which provided the intense backdrop for the season finale, the season before that it was the Cuban Missile Crisis. And it oddly all fits together. Don becomes increasingly worried and turns to Pete Campbell, the only one in the agency who knows his secret, to try and deal with the North American Aviation issue. Pete Campbell’s baby is arriving but he juggles this with news that he needs to handle the Draper issue. This will inevitably lead to SCDP dropping the with North American Aviation in order to stop anymore suspicious intervention. This puts Pete in a delicate position as the Airline , worth around $4 million, is one he was responsible for bringing in. Thus he is tempted by a rival company to move. Meanwhile there is more melodrama between families. Lane once again proves to be one of the more intriguing characters in the show, as his father turns up announcing to him that he must return to England to sort out his affairs. In the meantime Lane tries to show his father around New York, but makes a bold step when introducing him to his new girlfriend, who is black. Some nice scenes which just underpins how little we know about these characters but how interesting they are underneath. Again the racial tension is clearly there, and there is a rather violent outburst when Lane, like Don, submits to his father in a scuffle, being demanded that he must call his father ‘Sir’ and accepts he needs to return to the UK. Joan also announces this week that she is pregnant to Roger. He doesn’t know how to react, feeling he should take a more dominant stance but with no idea how to handle it, Joan assures him she will sort it. One of the more interesting elements of the original season was that in the old office, it was the women who ran the place and stopped it from going out of control, while the men sat around and drank. Joan was the binding force in the company which stopped everything from running riot and here that responsibility is returned to her. She convinces him to have it terminated, this being her third. Which due to previous relationships we assume that they are Roger’s fault. In the abortion clinic there is beautiful scene in which Joan talks to a woman whose daughter is getting a termination at 17. Here she lies that her own daughter of 15 (who is non-existent) is under going an operation, which immediately tells us she is referring to her past when we assume she had her first abortion.

Meanwhile Roger has to juggle the pressure of Joan’s abortion with some unfortunate news from our friend Lee Garner Jr. In a business meeting Garner informs Roger that Lucky Strike are ending their contract with Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, who forms a large proportion of the business for SCDP. Balancing the whole business on the edge, despite him giving Roger 30 days to try and sort something. But in a very stupid move, Roger informs nobody. As a result of all the suspicion surrounding him, Don’s health begins to rapidly deteriorate and suffers a near heart attack in the office. He then opens up to new lover, Dr Miller about his past life where he its the secrecy is slowly killing him. Which begs the question how long do we have before we witness the end of Don Draper? The drama in this episode is cranked up to 11, and is all the more successful because of it, the ending only leaves worse things to come, as Lane leaves for England and two s dead in the water, the company’s future is hanging in the balance.