An Endlessly-Looping Clip of Mad Men‘s “Lawnmower Scene” is Now Online, Thank God

By Rachael Maddux  |  September 21, 2009 | 6:35pm
TV Reviews Mad Men
An Endlessly-Looping Clip of Mad Men‘s “Lawnmower Scene” is Now Online, Thank God

While the cast and crew of Mad Men were busy racking up the Emmy awards last night, its loyal viewers were being rewarded for skipping out on the Academy’s dog-and-pony show with an episode full of just the things that have made the series one of the most acclaimed in television history: Awkward hotel magnates, baby ghosts and lawnmower carnage.

That all sounds a bit more Lynchian than Weinerian, but in a way last night’s episode was full of just the kind of curveballs the show has thrown at us every so often during its 2.25 seasons thus far—just when things are feeling a little dark and sad, something happens that’s so dark and sad it’s actually totally delightful. (See also: Roger Sterling’s heart practically exploding while gettin’ it on with a totally awkward girl one-third his age. Or Roger Sterling performing in blackface for his secretary-turned-childbride. Dang, Roger. So dark, sad and delightful. I never realized.)

Anyway, after a string of episodes focusing on a deteriorating Grandpa Gene and Betty Draper’s totally horrifying childbirth experience last week, we were in bad need of some tragic silliness. Like, say, some smooth-faced young gun from Sterling Cooper’s London-based parent company getting his foot plowed off by a John Deer lawnmower caroming around the office with a drunk secretary at the wheel.

Yeah, sorry, Auto-Tuned Jimmy Fallon. You don’t got nothin’ on that.

Last night, after I saw the scene (“the scene”? The Scene?), all I wanted to do was see it again. I actually stayed up and watched AMC’s rebroadcast of the episode at 11 just so I could, and the whole time I was like, “Come on, Internet! Mama needs an animated gif! Don’t lemme down!” And course, the Internet being the Internet, it came through.

madmenlawnmower.gif

I’m not sure who made this, but to that person (and to Digg, where I found it)—thank you, thank you, a million times thank you. You made one of my two dreams of today come true. (The other dream involves the rain stopping in Atlanta, so if you could work on that also, it would be great.)

The more I watch the clip, the more ridiculous it seems (and it already seemed incredibly ridiculous) but also the more I watch it, the more I cannot stop watching it. Currently, Kinsey’s hand-flail and the subsequent hand-shaped white spot on his shirt is my favorite part, but I’m also quite keen of what’s basically a non-reaction on the part of the fellow at far left. Oh God. I love it.

I realize, though, that this is likely just silly enough to really irk some folks. So, did you love it, too? Or was this one moment enough to chuck the phrase “jump the shark” for something more like “wreck the tractor”? Let’s discuss.

(Oh, also, hello. I’m going to be chiming in right here each week on the latest episode of Mad Men—which, if it gets any better than last night, is sure to be up for some of those gold ladies again next year.)

 
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