Mad Men – The Wheel
Mad Men, predictably, has several poignant Thanksgiving episodes, though the holiday itself is usually presented as an afterthought of sorts. You might expect to see a perfect Normal Rockwell Thanksgiving from Betty Draper at some point in all her 50s housewife glory, but Mad Men so rarely gives you what you expect. I’ve chosen The Wheel for this roundup because, while Thanksgiving is really just a specter, the episode and the fact that Don narrowly misses out on the holiday with his family packs an emotional wallop. Sort of like big family holidays themselves are apt to do. As Don says, “Nostalgia… it’s delicate, but potent.”
