Jarring, sad, painful, "The Other Woman" was the best episode of the season by far, but also the most sickening. It deftly called into question the whole idea of ownership, and whether, like a curvy car, a sexy female employee is merely a commodity to be bought and sold for the right price.

Let's face it, kids, there's something about that Aqua Velva Man. Old Don Draper is back, and he's in rare form, snapping his fedora and romancing the Joan! How satisfying can an episode get?

Okay, bubelas. "Dark Shadows," the latest episode, certainly had a dark (and shadowy!) streak, in that it was all about competition, and the effects of jealousy. It was about working to get your mojo back, but still needing to poison the well of others who threaten you, even though you may have gotten "everything."

Last week's jaunty episode, "At the Codfish Ball," got its name from a Shirley Temple movie in which the pint-sized star struts her stuff. Whereas this week's opus, "Lady Lazarus," refers to a Sylvia Plath poem about suicide and the Holocaust. Hello, Mad Men!

Like the Heinz pitch that saved the day ("Some things never change,"), this episode was all about mothers and children, having multiple dinners, second childhoods, and dreams for the future. Unlike the sentimental beans campaign, however, which reenacts the same scene while tracing humanity in its march from brown goo to the moon, this particular dinner story results in disappointment, disillusionment, and the fury and sadness of being lied to --all very adult themes.