Mad Men Season 7 (Episode 5): The Runaways

Why Mad Men Episode 5 (Season 7) Worked:

• Don's barging in on the tobacco pitch meeting at the end of the episode. Ballsy.  That's the Don we love.
• Stan getting high in the office.  He was taking a semi-hidden puff at his desk, right? Did you catch it?
• The mini-skirts.  Can't get any shorter.
• Don's management advice to Lou. Lou's reply to Don: I'm not taking management advice from Don Draper.
• Ginsberg spying on Cutler and Lou in the computer room.  Shades of Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."
• Henry's outburst at Betty. Finally, he has an interesting scene. But who knew he was such a male chauvinist pig?

Why Mad Men Episode 5 (Season 7) Didn't Work:

• Ginsburg's nervous breakdown.  Poorly played. Over-acted. Didn't ring true. Enough with his obsession with the computer.
• Stephanie the pregnant niece. Hard to know what that was about. And hard to get emotionally involved in her story.
• Megan's party. Eh.
• Sally's nose. Eh.
• Don's threesome with Megan and her friend. The most cringe-worthy threesome since "House of Cards." And those awkward morning after moments.

Overall Grade for Mad Men Episode 5 (Season 7):  C.  Another mediocre episode.  Only Don's scene at the end with the tobacco executives saved it and gave viewers something to look forward to next week. His relationship with Megan is going in reverse, and even worse, it's boring.  The only upbeat part of the episode is that hopefully Ginsberg become institutionalized and never sets foot again in an ad agency -- or on "Mad Men."