Mad Men

Who is Bob Benson? The overly enthusiastic accounts guy, played by James Wolk, has replaced Don Draper as the most mysterious character on Mad Men this season. In fact, the most recent Bob revelations have us convinced that he may even be the new Don Draper. When Pete has Duck investigate Bob's past, he finds out that he's fabricated it — which obviously makes Pete (and us) recall Don's Dick Whitman/Don Draper switcheroo. This comes after a season of suspicion, including his pass at Pete on last week's episode, and Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olson)'s recent interview when she told us, "If you think we've answered it, I don't know if we have. It may change." Interesting.

When addressing the character a couple weeks ago, show creator Matthew Weiner told The Wrap, "He's definitely a liar. I hope that you caught that." We did! Here are eight possible explanations for the character who seems like he was written for Internet conspiracy theorists. Just keep reading.

This week's Mad Men begins with a bang and ends in the fetal position. With only the finale left to go, tensions are high between pretty much everyone at the ad agency. Don is saving/sabotaging his fellow workers, Peggy and Ted are caught in a precarious position, and most importantly, Pete is getting closer to identifying just who the heck Bob Benson is. Still, this episode left me scratching my head even more about why exactly he's at the company.

Meanwhile, Sally — likely suffering from PTSD after witnessing her father's indiscretion — has taken up an interest in boarding school. The initiation process turns out to be one part hazing, two parts cigarette-smoking, and a dash of Glenn! That's right, Glenn's back and he's kind of all grown up. It's totally weird, to be honest. Get my five maddest moments of "The Quality of Mercy" when you read more.

With only two episodes left in this season of Mad Men, the stakes have officially been raised. "Favors" starts out a little slow, and halfway in, I was wondering if Peggy and Pete having a civil conversation would be the most exciting thing in the whole episode. Boy, was I wrong. Peggy and Pete's strange closeness is just the beginning of an episode full of bizarre, awkward, and downright shocking moments. Pete's having doubts about his mother's male nurse, Peggy's apartment is providing some bloody challenges, and Sally is caught witnessing something no child should ever see. Just another week for Mad Men!

Meanwhile, another incident comes up in regards to the Bob Benson situation. Get all the details after the jump.

East meets West this week on Mad Men when Don and Roger head to California on business. There's some surprising regional tension as they meet with one of their accounts, burned in the past by those patronizing New York City firms. Back on the farm, the new partners are busy attempting to hold down the fort over at SCDPCGC, or shall I now say, Sterling Cooper & Partners. Joan gets a lead on some business, and her ambition goes slightly awry, resulting in a long overdue tussle with Peggy.

We also get more of everyone's favorite new character, the mysterious Bob Benson, and some more traumatizing current events rattle everyone. Check out the maddest moments of this week's episode after the jump.

The ex- files are revisited on this week's Mad Men as Don and Betty find themselves reconnecting on a hot Summer camp retreat. Whether it's because Don has broken the seal on cheating or Betty's sexy new figure is just too hard to pass up, it makes for a déjà vu effect on the episode, especially because we also revisit Joan and Roger's old relationship. Speaking of relationships, Peggy and Abe's dissolves this week, after a very unfortunate knife-on-a-stick incident.

There are some other interesting things happening at the office this week, like the tug-of-war Peggy is feeling between Ted and Don, as well as Bob Benson yet again sticking his nose into the business of others. Ready to go over the maddest moments of the week? Get them after the jump.

This week on Mad Men, Don and the cool kids in creative decide to get a little help from a "complex vitamin super dose" before a weekend of work on the Chevy account. Young-at-heart account exec Jim Cutler brings in his doctor, who proceeds to administer the upper drug into the backsides of the eager staff. The good doctor doesn't even blink twice before giving a dose to Roger Sterling, who discloses his heart condition. Although, we don't get to see what effect the drug has on Roger. I hope we find out next week.

While viewers don't explicitly know what the super dose consists of, we do see its impact. An injured Kenny Cosgrove breaks into a manic tap routine. Stan Rizzo races through the office and comes up with hundreds of "ideas." And Don Draper zooms past doors, talks a mile a minute, and becomes obsessed with coming up with something to say to his mistress, rather than focusing on the Chevy account. At least that's what it seems like he's talking about when he shares his pitch with Peggy: "Let's say I get her face to face. How do I capture her imagination?" So what is this drug that turns everyone into momentary geniuses who actually create sober gibberish? Probably amphetamines — aka speed.

If the Sterling Cooper Draper whatever-they're-called-now staff remind you of the kids in college who got hopped up on Adderall before a big deadline, it might be because they are hopped up on Adderall before a big deadline. Or something similar, at least. "Amphetamine salts combo," the technical term for what is known today as Adderall, was approved by the FDA in 1960. It then went under the name Obetrol. It and similar amphetamines, like dextroamphetamine and benzedrine, were popular at the time as diet pills, study aids, or party drugs. So it seems likely the Mad Men team would call on it increase their alertness and motivation. Other side effects include increased sex drive, which could explain Stan's come-on to Peggy and Wendy Gleason. And we saw quite a few of the negative side effects play out on Don, including fever, sweating, and insomnia.

In the 1960s, amphetamines were also used to stimulate American military men during the Vietnam War. However, they were not popular with many hippies and counterculture figures like The Beatles and Allen Ginsberg, who favored the more mellow drugs marijuana and LSD. Maybe Don Draper isn't all that cool after all.