Mad Men blog

Paul Kinsey... Dear Lord, Paul Kinsey...

I was originally planning to open with an extended apologia as to my absence -- the OAH/NCPH seriously messed up my blogging regimen -- but I just had to open with the biggest development on Mad Men in the last week: the return of struggling copywriter Paul Kinsey, who was passed over at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in favor of Peggy Olson, as a flabby, flailing Hare Krishna.

Of all the characters who were put on a bus after seasons 2 and 3, he's nearly had the worst luck -- Ken Cosgrove is back with the main cast and finding outside success as a sci-fi writer; Freddy Rumsen, though absent this season, at least managed to sober himself up; only Midge, Don's mistress cum heroin addict, and the hyperalcoholic Duck Philips have fallen further. (Closeted Sal Romano remains a very big question mark. We last saw him in season 3 after being fired from Sterling Cooper calling his wife from a pay phone before he went cruising for sex in Central Park.)

Kinsey