In the Flesh: Mad Men s3e13 'Shut the Door, Have a Seat'

My old friend the TV critic Sean T. Collins once said that one mark of genius in writing is when a sudden reversal feels shocking in the moment and inevitable in hindsight. That’s ‘Shut the Door, Have a Seat’ in a nutshell, an episode that takes a season’s worth of bickering, friction, and economic maneuvering and snaps it all instantly into a new context with a single brilliant line. “Fire us.” Lane’s professional discontent with being volleyed between branches of Putnam Powell and Lowe, Don’s terse contract negotiations, the spats and grudges between various members of the Sterling Cooper team, it’s all a springboard for one of the most delightful heists in television. The core group of the newly formed Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce guts the old agency ahead of its sale and walks out the door with the lion’s share of its business, going so far as to clean out its supply closets. 

The episode is as crisply edited and quick as a Billy Wilder movie, tapping more directly into its roots in his work than anything since its earliest episodes. New people join the conspiracy at a rapid clip. The physical process of the heist itself unfolds smoothly as its membership grows. It’s a lot of visually busy scenes made clean and easily intelligible by costuming and set dressing, contrasting colors and smart blocking. The material about the final dissolution of Don and Betty’s marriage helps to keep things from feeling too frenetic, moving us to dark and gloomy rooms and sweatily intimate close-ups. The thematic symmetry is pleasing, too, Don being pushed into a fresh start in both halves of his bifurcated life. 

But beyond all this technical and creative expertise, the real success of ‘Shut the Door, Have a Seat’ is in the performances of its stars and the chemistry between them. This kind of ambitious restructuring of a show would be completely impossible without such sharp, clear characters so expertly positioned in relation to each other. Don’s rapprochement with Peggy, Pete’s plan to jump ship ahead of the sale and merger, the subtle and badly needed win of Joan’s return, none of these things land without one of the greatest casts of all time working at the height of their game. Jared Harris as Lane turns a bit player into a compliant, beleaguered man experiencing his first moment of unbridled recklessness with such believable aplomb that it feels like we’ve been watching him for three seasons rather than one. That’s how you know it’s the real thing.