A Little Kiss
The office prepares for Don's surprise party while also dealing with the Heinz Beans account recently brought into the agency.
The relationship between Megan and Don turns bitter after she performs a sensuous dance during the party, while Peggy and Pete both suffer through professional conflict with their co-workers.
"A Little Kiss" was the first Mad Men episode to air in 17 months following heated contract negotiations between AMC and Matthew Weiner.
Christopher Stanley (Henry Francis), Jessica Paré (Megan Draper), and Jay R. Ferguson (Stan Rizzo) were all added as main cast members beginning with the premiere.
It was also the highest-rated episode, with 3.54 million viewers, a substantial jump over the fourth-season average owing in large part to the lengthy time between seasons.
On Memorial Day weekend in 1966, on the street below the Young & Rubicam office, African American protesters are picketing in support of equal-opportunity employment.
At his new apartment, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) cooks breakfast for Sally (Kiernan Shipka), Bobby (Mason Vale Cotton) and Gene.
The next day, Megan, who now works under Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) in creative, is planning a big surprise party for his birthday.
Roger Sterling (John Slattery) shows Don and Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) a newspaper article shaming Y&R for the water-bomb stunt.
At the office the next morning, Don and Megan enter the reception area to find a large group of African-American women and men.
[11] In an unusual departure for the series, the opening scene of the season premiere was largely a re-creation of a true event that occurred at the Young & Rubicam advertising agency.
[12] The incident was notable for water bombs thrown from the executive floor, which housed the Young & Rubicam advertising agency.
[13] On the day of the real event, Young & Rubicam office manager Frank Coppola apologized to the women for the incident, saying that "we have 1,600 people in this building and I can't control all of them.
After the head researcher for Mad Men, Allison Hill, found the original article, she handed it to Weiner, who was "blown away".
[13] The New York Times reporter, John Kifner, does not remember the event, mentioning that he did "a lot of poverty and racial stuff.
The current chief executive of Young & Rubicam, David Sable, did not know whether the original employees were fired, but found their actions "completely repulsive and not in line with the values of our company".
[6] Alexandra Kaptik of The Wall Street Journal said "One of the most talked-about scenes...was Megan Draper's sultry performance..."[15] Slate's Haglund described the song as "The centerpiece of the Mad Men season 5 premiere".
[16] Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone described the scene as "a highlight of the two-hour episode", stating that "Megan sings...for her husband, who can barely suppress his embarrassment and discomfort.
"[17] Bill Keveney of USA Today said "Paré...had fans buzzing...with her character's sexy rendition..."[18] Patrick Kevin Day of the Los Angeles Times stated that the scene "...has people talking", describing it as follows: "Pare...serenades her husband...with the sexy, slinky number "Zou Bisou Bisou" while wearing a barely there miniskirt.
The...performance made the unflappable Don Draper blush and his co-workers' jaws hit the floor..."[20] Lauren Moraski of CBS News said "Probably one of the best scenes...took place when the new Mrs. Don Draper (Jessica Paré as Megan) sang an awkward-turned-sultry version of the French '60s pop song "Zou Bisou Bisou"..."[21] Erin Carlson of The Hollywood Reporter described Paré's performance as "bizarre, come-hither burlesque", noting that she "...stunned partygoers who openly ogled her while the ad exec (Jon Hamm) squirmed with polite embarrassment.
USA Today writer Robert Bianco gave it four out of four stars, praising the high level of achievement in the writing and directing as well as the cast led by the "shockingly under-Emmyed Jon Hamm, playing a man who is his own deeply flawed invention and letting us see the effort and pain behind the charade.
But there's not a weak performer on view Sunday, from the preternaturally assured Kiernan Shipka as Sally to old pro Robert Morse as Bert.
"[26] TV Guide critic Matt Roush opined that "the civil rights movement provides ironic bookends for the episode, reflecting how insular the universe is for these smug but deeply flawed purveyors of the American dream, none more memorable and maddening than Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the alpha hunk who appears to have it all.
But some things never change in the world of Mad Men: the high quality of acting, writing, production design and detail.
"[28] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said that "the premiere suggests that the only other show that belongs with it in the discussion for the best drama on television is the same one we were talking about last season.
Club rated this episode an A− and commented on the series' take on the 1960s, saying: "The '60s are both incredibly important to the show and something almost incidental to what makes it work so well.
"[33] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times, however, was one of the very few reviewers to give the season premiere a low score: "A show that became a hit because it seemed so original has been so co-opted that it now looks like a cliché.
"[37] Time writer James Poniewozik wrote a cooler review saying that, "I'm glad to have Mad Men back, but "A Little Kiss" was not a great episode.
"[38] Chuck Barney of the Contra Costa Times said the premiere was off to a "methodical start" that reintroduced us to the "enigmatic characters" but that "Eventually, it gains traction, weaving threads of heartfelt poignancy with doses of dark humor.
"[39] David Weigard of the San Francisco Chronicle called the premiere a "stunner" and compared the character of Don Draper to legendary American characters like Jake Barnes, Charles Foster Kane, Tony Soprano, Huck Finn, Natty Bumppo, Elmer Gantry and "most of all, to F. Scott Fitzgerald's creation of Jimmy Gatz, who assumed an entirely new identity as Jay Gatsby in 1925.
