The Good News (Mad Men)

It was written by Jonathan Abrahams and series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner, and directed by Jennifer Getzinger.

In the episode, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) makes a trip to California to visit an old friend, where he receives bad news.

Don decides to extend his visit, and the next morning, he angrily confronts Patty about the secrecy and says he will pay for any possible treatment.

Despite her desire to be taken to the hospital, Greg pressures Joan into letting him stitch the wound, saying that for him, this is like filing papers for her (she corrects him to point out that she has people do that for her).

"[2] After sending out advance copies of the season premiere to the media, Matthew Weiner was angered by what he considered spoilers in subsequent reviews.

[3] James Poniewozik, in his television blog for Time magazine, called AMC and Weiner's handling of the matter "insane".

The channel released a promotional clip from the third episode containing a major plot detail, so in Poniewozik's opinion, they were contradicting the spoiler policy they were trying to force on others.

[4][5] In an interview with TV Guide given prior to the screening of "The Good News", actress Christina Hendricks revealed that her character Joan would figure more prominently in the fourth season than she had in the third.

Hendricks saw Joan as someone who experienced "a lot of conflict at home", but still managed to put on a cheerful exterior at work, and be a stabilizing force in the often tumultuous workplace.

[10] Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for The New Republic, was even more scathing in his criticism, calling "The Good News" "The show's first truly bad episode."

Though he did enjoy some parts of Don and Lane's night out, he found this also ultimately awkward, while he believed Christina Hendricks was not given enough screen time and good dialogue to fully play out the drama of her situation.

[12] James Poniewozik of TIME magazine acknowledged the fact that viewers had previously been divided on the episodes of the show that have taken place in California.

He also enjoyed the "comic balance to the tragedy of the Anna announcement" provided by the night out in New York, as well as Joan's husband's "first non-loathsome scene".