The episode was written by series creator Matthew Weiner and writers Janet Leahy and Lisa Albert.

Following the death of Anna Draper, Don has taken a self-reflective turn, writing his thoughts into a journal in an attempt to steady his mind.

He also begins the process of cutting back on his drinking, though it is difficult with the copious alcohol use in the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce offices.

He referred to the Joan subplot as "colorful and tense" but wrote, "the ultimate resolution of the plot blunted potential charges of didacticism.

It was agonizing watching Joan struggle to deal with Joey's swinishness with cutting remarks that barely scratched his thick skin.

"[3] James Poniewozik of TIME magazine said the use of voice-over "undercuts one of Mad Men’s greatest strengths, which is its use of irony and understatement to show how characters' words and actions often belie their real thoughts and meaning."

Poniewozik also noted: "As we get farther into what we usually think of in pop-culture terms as 'the ’60s,' it gets harder even for a show as brilliant as Mad Men to avoid overfamiliar takes", singling out the scene where Don watches Vietnam War news reports.

[4] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said, "'The Summer Man' is an episode I expect I'm going to need to revisit a time or 20 before I decide how I ultimately feel about some of its stylistic departures from the Mad Men norm", referring to the use of voice-over and the camera effect of Don's pulling away from the office when he isn't drinking.