Raw Data: For Immediate Release

These are initial observations for Mad Men episode 6-06 "For Immediate Release" written by showrunner Matthew Weiner and directed by Jennifer Getzing, a longtime script supervisor and director for this show.

• Title refers to the header on a press release, voiceover-ed by Peggy at the episode's conclusion
• Deadwood fans will dig a laudanum reference
• Pete appears to have taken on some of Lane's responsibilities (probably because Don and Roger have zero interest in it), based on Bert's comments about running the business while keeping it lean and his involvement in taking the company public
• Seeing Roger hustle, which happened a bit last year, is great.  The first few seasons Roger was aloof and distant, playing with these things and losing accounts.  In Season Five he was going after accounts again after he realized Pete was trying to push him out.  He even gave Lane some advice on how to act like an account man, revealing just how much Roger knows about the game and that he's not always as drunk as he seems.
• We got a whiff of his fake drinking again when he ordered a water for himself and a double for his whale.
• Also saw that while Roger didn't have any great ideas, it so happened his whale came up with one himself, and it so happened to involve Roger.  Good job Roger!, I mean Mikey!
• Time in the Mad Men world passes at roughly one month per episode.  This episode is obviously May 1968, specifically Mother's Day.  And Peggy says the date again when she Carrie Bradshaws.  In one more month we'll be at the assasination of Bobby, who got a mention from Peggy.  
• Abe supports Gene, though he obviously didn't go "clean" for him.  Peggy supports Bobby, and we saw she still hangs JFK's picture in her apartment.
• At first I thought Herb wanted someone who could plagiaraize off Don, but then, according to Don, he wants to essentially have creative control.
• Trying to think of a more awkward  moment (in history) than between Pete and Trudy's father.  Not coming up with anything.
• If the stairs do symbolize success, then Pete's in for a rough landing this season
• HAHAHAHAHA
• Joan is the only person who can and will speak to Don like that
• Burt won't, but we know he's more about subtle power since he blackmailed Don into signing a contract
• Roger could, but won't
• Pete can't, but does anyway
• When it became clear that SCDP and CGC were going to merge, the only shocking thing was how fast that happened
• The merge is like a late game move on Survivor.   Castaway may be in a steady alliance, but knows they are on the bottom and don't wield much power.  They can hang around and play the string out.  Or they can make a big move.  They may not get far on their move, but the payoff could be huge and they sure aren't going anywhere if they remain static.
• Looking back, this was set up a bit when J. Walter Weatherman, I mean J. Walter Thompson, won the Heinz account, beating them both.
• Joan's actions appear to be the worst kept secret in the office.  Certainly now if it wasn't before. The consequences continue to reverberate throughout SCDP, with bitterness abound.
• Joan at least wanted to enjoy the spoils of probably the worst day of her life, set up well when they explained her 5 percent would be worth over a million dollars, more than she'd ever imagined and more than a single mom in 1968 could hope for.
•  Don appears to have given up on learning French.  Last season, when he was more invested in his marriage, we saw him reading a book on French.  His interest in the language and his wife (more or less) has gone by the wayside.
• If only I could express my disdain in French for those I find so contemptible, and to do so right in front of them.
• Ted observed something about Don to the effect of "this is why everyone hates you (Don)" which is a new take on Don.  Weiner may be taking Don down the Tony Soprano path from what we've seen so far, but this has to be the first time we've seen someone in-universe refer to Don that way.  Until now, he's been pulling rabbits out of hats to make pitches work as well as viewed with some reverence and legend (from how clients speak about him when meeting him).  This is different.
•  On the next episode of AMC's Mad Men....Stan reacts to things.

Do you act, or react?

"For Immediate Release" pushed plot lines like Mad Men rarely does.  It did so on within the episode and on a macro level for the whole season. Roger has his storyline of chasing down GM which fit into his larger storyline of finding his hustle again.  Anytime a pitch for a particular client is involved, it makes for a storyline within the episode, which occupied Don, Ted and Peggy.  The GM pitch then made for what will most likely be one of if not the biggest move of the year, the merger of CGC and SCDP, two companies that have been on the ropes.

There are times when Mad Men is a lot like when Joey Tribbiani teaches soap opera acting, it's about reacting, and watching the characters reactions.  "For Immediate Release" focused more on their actions, a rarity.

Raw Data: The Climb

Thoughts and observations for Game of Thrones episode 3-06 "The Climb". Written for television by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and directed by Alik Sakhararov, oft-director of photography for this show and the Sopranos, as well as director of Season Two's "What is Dead May Never Die"

• Title refers both to the obvious climb over The Wall by the Wildlings, and is namechecked in Littlefinger's end-of-episode monologue, perhaps even referencing his own climb from humble beginnings to becoming Lord of Harrenhal, and through his upcoming marriage, gaining control of the Vale.
• "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."  I thought they only broke the fourth wall on the fake documentary sitcoms an House of Cards... 
• Joffrey has graduated to a whole new level of sadism
• If you thought Jon Snow getting a girlfriend would make him less angsty...sucker!  He manages to make climbing up 700 feet of solid ice into a WB show.  Actually, can we just spin off Jon Snow to a whole separate show on WB, and do crossover episodes as needed?
•  For the amount of time they focus on Jon Snow, it's hard to imagine an end game scenario where he doesn't wind up on the Iron Throne that would justify it all.
• This episode was very much concentrated on the North or activities relating to the North.  Even the King's Landing scenes were entirely focused on procuring the North, specifically Winterfell.  
• Multiple scenes of the Wildings/Snow scaling The Wall
• The Starks and Reeds heading toward The Wall
• Sam and Gilly returning to the Wall
• Robb making his way back north to make peace with Lord Frey
• Roose Bolton is hedging bets.  And speaking of Bolton...
• Is Theon not held prisoner by Bolton's men?  Is it supposed to be ambiguous or we being misled?  They were the ones marching to Winterfell at the end of season two.  Roose specifically talked Robb into it.  And their favored method of torture seem to mirror Bolton's sigil which has been prominently displayed throughout the season.
• The Dowager Countess of Highgarden steals the show again.  Not only does she coin the medieval euphemism for gay person (sword swallower), but says tells Tywin "BFD" and says you shouldn't throw stones if your House is full of incest.  While Tywin won the battle at scene's end, perchance the war between these heavyweights is not done.  And though Tywin won, he was sincerely rattled and may well be living in denial about his children.  Also, "buggery." 
• Meera and Osha debate the finer points of the number of methods to remove skin from small mammals.  How many methods are there?  Bran motions for cloture before debate can escalate too far by telling both girls they are pretty.
• Twice this episode characters chose to forgo wine as it was poured to the table (Bolton, Dowager Countess).  Unsure what this means.
• Robb is obviously not in a good position to order Edmure to marry the Frey daughter so they can make peace with the Freys, without sounding like a hypocrite and Edmure is, incredibly, balking.  Good thing Blackfish is there to tell Edmure "You'll do it, and you'll like it.  In fact, you'll marry all one thousand of the ugly Frey girls if Robb wants you to" in an old man strength sort of way.
• Orell cutting people loose on the Wall, only to have them survive and face him at the top was less awkward than the awkwardness that would follow on Mad Men this evening.
• Someone should tell the red priestess it's rude to have a private conversation in a language no one understands. 

Varys' and Littlefinger's conversation about the tales people tell themselves and each other to comfort or rationalize brought to mind Deadwood for the first of two times for Sunday night shows that evening*.  One, two or perhaps all three seasons of Deadwood focus on the idea of "a lie agreed upon" meaning bits we tell ourselves to be true in order for society to function.  For example, gold is as arbitrary a substance as the next mineral but because we all agree it has value and therefore can be exchanged for goods and services, and is also protected and sought after.  If everyone in the camp of Deadwood simultaneously agreed gold had no value (possible, considering they were outside the United States) the society would collapse. 

Season Three started with two episodes reintroducing all the different threads, followed by three episodes loaded with payoffs.  Episode six, with only four more after this week, is moving pieces into place and getting characters on track for (if previous seasons are any indication) what we would expect is the season's big payoff in episode nine followed by rapidly falling action and some set up for next season in episode ten. 

Hodor!

* The other was in Mad Men