TV Geek Out 162: Mad Men, "The Good News"

The good news is ... Lane is more fun than a barrel of drunken monkeys when he's had a few! Joan can still have babies even though she's had a couple of "procedures"! And that's about it. "The Good News" was yet another example of how bleak, and funny, Mad Men's fourth season is. The episode contrasted and balanced its emotionally devastating scenes: Don telling Anna he had to go (instead of telling her she didn't have much time left) and Joan's breakdown were countered by Don and Lane's cathartic New Year's night out and Greg's surprisingly healing jokes. Focusing on three of the show's most stoic, even repressed, characters underscored just how much their old ways are doing them disservices -- and what a fresh start the new year offers them. Grab yer Texas belt buckle and begin 1965 with the TV Geek Out Geeks here.