(Sidebar One: Without spending too much time on Randian philosophy, one of its major flaws is that everybody is the John Galt of their own story. Rand’s standards for measuring the intrinsic value of any human being can not actually be applied in any real world situation. And in Mad Men, every single character views the season as being their own story. Nobody cares as much about Don’s secrets as they do about keeping their own.)
(Sidebar Two: Nine months have passed since the beginning of the season, as evidenced by the long shot of the ‘February’ calendar page in the premiere. So, you know, the season’s been just long enough to make a baby. I’ve mentioned Chekhov’s Pistol before, the rule that if a gun is shown in Act One, it must be fired in Act Three. Pete’s shotgun wasn’t the pistol in question, after all. Time itself was the pistol. The calendar was introduced in Act One, and was fired in Act Three.)
