Ranking the Episodes of Mad Men Season 5
DARK, DEPRESSING, HOPELESS... but hey, enough about me.
Throughout this rewatch, I have hammered home that Season 5 comes with equal excitement and dread. It takes some of the biggest swings of any Mad Men season and the only way to leave it is feeling devastated.
Don Draper’s return to a careless and selfish life doesn’t encourage you to accept hopelessness, but it does warn you that there are people who will not thrive in the presence of hope.
Because of this, they will reject when others feel it.
What stood out to me the most is that each episode has a home run scene, usually banter between two characters. The episode I ranked last on this list has one of my favorite back-and-forths on the show where Peggy negotiates with Roger by taking all of the money in his wallet.
As I’ve said in past rankings, do not look at any of these episodes as “bad.” I’m ranking them based on what worked for me versus what didn’t. It’s the greatest show of all time. Every episode is a must-see for that reason.
For this ranking, “A Little Kiss Part 1 & 2” count as one episode. That means there are only 12 episodes to rank rather than the usual 13.
12. Season 5, Episode 4 - “Mystery Date”
What’s odd about ranking “Mystery Date” last is that it is among the show’s most memorable episodes. There was no part of the nightmarish, hallucinatory fever dream about a real-life murder that I had forgotten. Does being memorable make it good? Don’s dream murder is a bizarre sequence that feels cheap by the episode’s end and Peggy’s sleepover with Dawn leaves the viewer wanting more from their story. Dawn becoming mostly sidelined for the rest of the season is an additional sting. Sally’s fearful fascination with the Chicago nurse murders is handled well.
11. Season 5, Episode 2 - “Tea Leaves”
An episode of unease. “Tea Leaves” is always teetering on the edge with the potential for so much to eventually happen. It is an emotional preparation for Betty’s fate in 1970.
10. Season 5, Episode 6 - “Far Away Places”
Again, this is one of the show’s most memorable episodes. Don looking gobsmacked as his wife downs a disgusting, perfume-flavored sherbet, has the same meme potential as him alone in the theater with that cigarette. That said, it takes some big storytelling swings that don’t always work. I found the non-linear style effective but a bit grating on this rewatch.
9. Season 5, Episode 9 - “Dark Shadows”
Named after a cult classic 60s soap opera, Mad Men doesn’t get much more soap opera-y than this. I see it as an inverse of “Tea Leaves” with one episode centered around the potential death of Betty’s new life and the other spent digging up her old one. The interesting dynamic between Betty and Megan is not explored further, which makes the episode even more interesting on its own.
8. Season 5, Episode 13 - “The Phantom”
Mad Men is often a show about living in the aftermath of things. Season 3 was never going to end with Kennedy’s assassination; the characters had to survive that day and then the season would end in its wake. “The Phantom” is an unending aftermath, an acceptance that this particular cloud may never clear. Devastating is the only way it can be described.
7. Season 5, Episode 7 - “At the Codfish Ball”
Sally is given another episode to shine after Kiernan Shipka’s stellar work in Season 4. “At the Codfish Ball” takes equal time to devastate and give focus to each guest at the ball. In the end, these characters will forget their pains but Sally will carry the weight of a childhood where the adults failed her for the rest of her life.
6. Season 5, Episode 12 - “Commissions and Fees”
I’ve got to stop using the word “devastating,” but how else can I describe the death of Lane Pryce? The suicide is such an emotional story that his ghost will haunt the remaining two seasons without ever physically being there. It would have been so easy to have Lane appear again in a flashback or vision, but the writers knew we would still see Lane walking those halls. The viewer supplies a phantom from their own pain.
5. Season 5, Episode 11 - “The Other Woman”
Something I think Season 5 is the most effective at doing is handling Peggy. It does this by not really handling her at all. She is constantly pushed aside and excluded from storylines. You’re expecting another “Suitcase” moment from her and never get it. It becomes frustrating to both the viewer and the character! Once she finally does quit, it feels like everyone can breathe again. We expected to be devastated, certainly, but there is also happiness there.
Happiness because Peggy isn’t being pushed to the side.
4. Season 5, Episode 10 - “Christmas Waltz”
Over seven seasons, you’ll never stop seeing character interactions that leave you wanting more. Don and Joan’s office escape is among the best. Their chemistry is extraordinary and the episode has an added layer once you finish the show and see that their friendship will not last. Again, brief happiness among the devastation.
3. Season 5, Episode 8 “Lady Lazarus”
The creative team must have been cheering like it was the Moon Landing when they got the rights to use The Beatles. It’s not easy to balance so many storylines and have them connect thematically to each other but “Lady Lazarus” makes it seem effortless. It times of hardship there is always the opportunity for rebirth.
2. Season 5, Episodes 1 & 2 - “A Little Kiss”
Mad Men, at this point endorsed by the President of the United States and eagerly anticipated after a longer-than-usual hiatus, had its big cultural moment at the start of Season 5. This is far and away the show’s most accessible episode, which leaves anyone who watches it wanting to live in a mid-century modern apartment and dance to French nonsense. It also uses this opportunity to make commentary on the most pressing issues of the 60s, Civil Rights, something the majority of white characters of Mad Men have looked away from.
1. Season 5, Episode 5 - “Signal 30”
Second only to “The Suitcase” as the show’s best. We’ve waited five seasons to see Pete Campbell be beaten senseless both physically and mentally. “Signal 30” delivers that and more. An ultimate” earned” episode. Everything in Pete’s life led to a fist in his face and he carries its sting forever.
So far my season rankings are:
4 > 1 > 3 > 5 > 2
There will be no subscriber post this Sunday and Season 6’s breakdown will begin NEXT FRIDAY! I can’t believe there are only two seasons left.