Mad Men - Season Four concludes

Last night was the final episode of season four of Mad Men--perhaps the best season yet of this acclaimed series on AMC.

Stay tuned to this space this week for some thoughts on season four, and the finale. In the meantime, take time to savor some of the following terrific writing, and favorite quotes, from Mad Men. This show started in seasons one and two with more attention paid to what went unsaid but has now evolved into one of the best written shows in recent television history.

(SPOILER ALERT--If you have not yet watched this season, there are quotes below which will give away some of the story lines.)

“It wasn’t a lie. It was ineptitude with insufficient cover.”
- Don Draper

“We’re going to the movies.” Don Draper
“Do you think we should?” Lane Price
“Does Howdy Doody have a wooden dick?” Draper

“Why is it that whenever a man takes you to lunch around here, you’re the dessert?”
- Peggy Olson

“Christ on a cracker, where do you get off!?”
- Pete Campbell

“You’ve crossed the line from lubricated to morose…good night.”
- Joan Holloway to Roger Sterling

“Sometimes when people get what they want they realize how limited their goals were.”
- Joan

“Young people don’t know anything…especially that they’re young.”
- Don

“I would have my secretary do it, but she’s dead.”
- Don

“It’s a business full of sadists and masochists and you know which one you are.”
- Mrs. Blankenship to Peggy Olson

“Men are like vegetable soup…and women are the pot. They heat them up, they hold them, they contain them.”
- Joan

“She was born in 1898 in a barn and she died on the 37th floor of a skyscraper. She was an astronaut.”
- Bert Cooper on Ida Blankenship

“You know the rules. I don’t make plans and I don’t make breakfast.”
- Midge Daniels to Don

“Jesus! I’ve been living the last 20 years like I’m on shore leave. What the hell is that about?”
- Roger

“I guess what I’m saying is at some point, we’ve all parked in the wrong garage.”
- Roger

“Well, I gotta go learn a bunch of people’s names before I fire them.”
- Roger

“You had a tantrum on a full page in the New York Times.”
- Pete Campbell to Don

Trudy Campbell: “Have you been drinking?”
Pete Campbell: “The whole country is drinking!”

“I love you. I’m giving up my life to be with you, aren’t I?”
- Pete

“You are the finest piece of ass I ever had and I don’t care who knows it. I am so glad I got to roam those hillsides.”
- Roger to Joan

“Hopefully, if you follow my lead, you can avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made here…like him.”
- Joan