I've been a huge MM fan since it first aired. I have not missed a single minute of the show and usually watch each episode at least 3 times. One thing I love about the show is that it is believable.  The characters and script are so well-written.  However, I felt the bloody, gorey lawn mower scene from "Guy Walks Into an Ad Agency" last night was just too far-fetched.  An out of control riding lawn mower in a Madison Ave high rise severing limbs and spraying blood?  C'MON!!  The scene made my stomach turn.  I suddenly felt like I was watching some bad horror flick.  It was not believable at all.  Anyone else feel this way??

It was a flashback to what I did not like about the Sopranos.  I guess Weiner will go to the Well of “shocking random violence” as he did so often with the Sopranos.  That's too bad.

Don and Joan yuckking it up in the hospital was also unpleasant – the phrase “too soon” for jokes couldn’t apply more with fresh blood on your dress.  I did not find her remarks believable.

Yes, but the lawnmower was a symbol for America... John Deere? A brand as American as apple pie. And with this symbolic machine, the British hotshot was de-throned...or de-footed.

Maybe there was violence aspect that didn't need to be there, but I don't think the John Deere was there by accident.

Interesting take, A Marilyn--I like the way you think!!  Yes, his British collegues made it clear that Guy's days of being a hotshot account man were over.  "He won't be able to golf again."  "We will need to rethink our strategy."

I rather enjoyed Roger's take on it: "Somewhere in this business, it's already happened!"

It also says much about a world that existed prior to the constant threat of litigation.  There really was a time when the issue of liability, workplace safety and worker compensation didn't exist.  Even if a company was woefully negligent in serving free-flowing liquor at the office, operating heavy machinery that not only posed safety hazards with spinning blades, but noxious fumes (remember Joan coughing?) and ultimately being responsible for an employee's literal loss of limb, all they needed to do was dust themselves off, make a few jokes and fire the guy for no longer being able to play golf.  All of these things seem utterly inconceivable today, which I think was the whole point of the ghastly scene.

As to the lawnmower chewing limbs, remember that safety guards and such weren't even thought of yet. I know a friend of a friend who's nickname is "Nine Toes". Can you guess why?

I have to admit, when the SC crew is supposed to be on their best behavior around the Brits, drunken carpet mowing is a bit of a lapse. But come on, who couldn't hear a John Deere coming at them in an office and get out of the way?

Loved this episode

the Lawn mower thing was totally unexpected But it was a boost to a show I was losing interest in

I could not beleive it

I was freaking out because it was obvious someone was going to get it and for a minute I thought it was going to be Joan.

I never watched the Sopranos again after that guy's head ended up in the bowling ball bag.

Yeah Jack, it was clear someone was going to get it, and I wouldn't want to see Joan lose any of those great parts of hers - not even a foot.  I was hoping Kinsey would get his face run over.

What was more baffling about the lawn mower being twenty-odd floors up was how Ken got it there.  Did he tell Hollace to scoot over in the elevator, or is there an enormous freight elevator at the back of the building, or what?

"A man walks into an ad agency and gets his foot ran over by a lawn mower"
hil-air-ious!
when you mix alcohol and heavy machinary anything can happen!
it was a great departure from the normal tone of the show which can sometimes take itself a little too serious.
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We don't drink at work anymore; we don't drink and drive anymore. We are aware of dangers and liability. The show has been shocking us with reminders of the way things were every week. A drunk secretary severs a man's foot while driving a lawn tractor drunk during an office party and nobody seems to even put two and two together. They are talking about an accident. This was great! Roger said that it has to have happened before - but how many times did it happen again before someone figured out it didn't have to happen. That's what I love about the show.

I didn't even realize what happened at first. It was shocking and surprising for me. But effective because it's not what you expect from this show. But it was a good commentary on the difference between now and then as far as liability and office safety go.

The line about him not being able to play golf anymore and basically being useless to them without a foot was pretty funny. Again, though, not something they could get away with today... dismissing someone because of a handicap.

Sterling, in his typical dry style, could have said, "Well, women may have climbed a rung or two on the social ladder by entering the workplace, but they still haven't improved their driving!"

(The boys chuckle in unison)

Interesting views.

The Sopranos and Mad Men are intense shows for a reason.  They can run the full range, going from really funny to dead seious, or in this case, a bloody massacre, in a second.

People are getting drunk everywhere and Cosgrove has Don's secretary on his lap...personally I found that more hard to believe.

That Brit was a douche.  He came in and said the same line of garbage to everybody...'you're an impressive young man/woman.  I know all about you.'

Am I saying he had it coming like Big Pussy or Adrianna?  Yup yup.  Just be glad it happened, guys.  Don would've ended up doing worse to him probably had he been his boss and had to listen to that annoying phony all the time.

"Don would've ended up doing worse to him probably had he been his boss and had to listen to that annoying phony all the time."
As opposed to Lane and his little toadie? Both are insufferable little prigs, IMO. I did feel a little for him though, the way the jerks from the home office handed him his "promotion". What goes around, comes around.

Yes what goes around comes around, for sure.  And sure Lane is a puke but he has acted like a total "sissy mary', LOL,in front of Don.  "I don't know why I'm so emotional today"...such a puss.

This guy coming in was gonna act like the king of all shizz with his curiculum vitae high ideas...

Now maybe they'll put don in charge.

@crackbillionaire:  What do I call you for short?  Crack seems somehow not right.  Anyway, a few years ago I saw a website with Christmas office party pictures from the 40's, 50's, and 60's.  Lots and lots of alcohol and inappropriate touching.  Apparently some people were actually like that.  I always thought the photocopying your ass thing was an urban legend, but maybe not.

Don will stay in charge of creative.  His ownership share in SC is too small for him to assert control, and I think Cooper sees that although Don understands the subtleties of how advertising "works" on the human mind, he is a bit too mercurial to run the whole show.  60's or not - I don't think having an affair with a major client will put someone on the fast track to top management.  Both Cooper and Sterling believe much of the firm's success is tied to Don's work in creative - that's why they gave him the 12 1/2 percent share as an incentive to stay and help the firm continue growing.

For all his hand-wringing, Lane does come across as more of a business manager, obsessed as he is with watching costs and bringing in revenue.  If I remember right, he was initially opposed to Don's suggestion of intervening in the whole "Paxti" fiasco because he didn't want to chance loosing the revenue it would mean.  Once Don mentions the Cooper connection, it is suddenly Lane's idea to meet with Bert and the doofus's father in the interest of disclosure.  I think Lane reconsidered after reflecting on Don's comments that doofus's father had numerous connections to Cooper and realized on which side his crumpet was buttered. 

Being transferred to India would have come as somewhat of a shock to him and hardly would have been perceived as a reward for a job well done at SC.  My guess is he probably pissed off someone at the home office somewhere along the way.

"I rather enjoyed Roger's take on it: "Somewhere in this business, it's already happened."

I'v been reflecting on this comment for the past week now. It seemed too specific to have been off the cuff. I wonder if there is a story/urban legend like this floating around in advertising circles, and the writers got wind of it? Could it actually have happened?

Hmm that would be interesting and rather sad.  I did find that scene to be particularly shocking and I was also afraid it was going to be Joan (thankfully it was not!).  I suppose the blood was to highlight the severity of incidents caused by extreme employee stupidity.  That British guy did kind of have it coming to him though.  But the way the situation was handled by just dropping the guy and forgetting about the circumstances that lead to the accident was pretty crazy to witness in comparison to what would happen today.

I'm sure the secretary was given a stern talking to, and possibly her paycheck docked for the cost of new carpeting, and scratches to the mower.

Oh dear.  It is so incredibly difficult to imagine a complete lack of litigation...

I also thought the incident was a bit too much (at least at first) but mainly for its uncharacteristically inelegant way of "solving" the problem of what to do with the character of the up-and-coming English boy wonder.

I think Marilyn A is spot on in her reading of the party as an obvious metaphor for America as a nation of well-meaning if not likable children - drunk, out-of-control, and ultimately a threat to those around them. More to the point, I thought the image of having someone literally wiping the blood off the walls as Roger quips "Somewhere in this business, it's already happened!" was an obvious metaphor for the industry itself as being a bloody rat race.

Good stuff, this.

Hello all it's been a long time since I posted on here. One thing that I think has kind of been missed in the lawn mower discussion is that the writers were leaving some easter eggs leading up to this scene. Of course there is the prank phone call the guys get Lois to make, but then there is the scene where everyone is in Pete's office and they are talking about Lois getting sucked into the Xerox machine. The writers have been setting a foundation of stupid office stunts by Lois for awhile, so its not that difficult to believe that she would get drunk and take someone's foot of with a lawn mower.