Don Draper Is Not Tony Soprano

I was never a big fan of the dream episodes on The Sopranos. It was always, like, oh look, Tony's talking to a fish because something something the ghost of Big Pussy aren't dreams weird?! It felt forced. But then last night's Mad Men dream episode was uh, how should I put this, A BIT ON THE NOSE. Not only was that whole hook up just painfully obvious as some kind of stress anxiety about Don's sexual desires conflicting with the otherwise normative peacefulness and contentment that he's found in his new marriage, and I know we all know that, OK, I am not pretending like I am pointing out the obvious but really thinking like I said something special, the stress was on the word "painful" back there, but his Fever Metaphor was even chronologically cohesive! Is that a thing? Who dreams so fluidly and with such memory retention? Don Fucking Draper, that's who. But, so, when Don dream choked that lady and lazily shoved her under his dream bed, speaking of The Sopranos, how The Sopranos was that?! (You know that Matthew Weiner used to write for The Sopranos, right? Matthew Weiner used to write for The Sopranos.) I enjoyed last night's episode, but having Don fake murder someone does seem like kind of a Movie School 101 exercise in raising the stakes. "We can't make him into an actual murderer, but so let's kiss right up on it." He just isn't Tony Soprano, and I resent attempts to make him be more like Tony Soprano. He's Don Draper. That should seriously be enough. Yes, they both have that lovable monsters thing going on, but that's where it ends. No more choking, Don. Gabagool. That being said, it was still a very good episode. The stuff with Joan no duh. Sally's on pills now? Careful Sally! You're wearing a real pill-popper's outfit too. Eek! Sally! Oh also that scene with Peggy and Roger: yes. This show is good, it's weird that no one ever talks about how it's good.