Worst Mad Men episode, according to IMDb

As a die-hard “Mad Men” fan, I would argue that there is no “worst episode.” Although, if you're going to rank every episode, there has to be something with the lowest score, even if it's not super low. On IMDb, just like movies or entire television series, you can rate individual episodes on a scale of 1 to 10, and the ratings are then aggregated to a total score based on an average. When calculating all points for each episode, the lowest-rated “Mad Men” episode is “Ladies Room,” just the second episode of the first season, with a 7.5 rating based on 4.3,000 votes.

I'm surprised it's not an episode from one of the later seasons, especially season six, where the repetition of Don Draper's “Dante's Inferno”-like bad habits gets a little boring to watch. What exactly turns viewers off from “The Ladies' Room”? Perhaps it feels disappointing after following up one of the best pilots of all time, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which introduced us to handsome, knowledgeable ad man Don Draper. There is one unforgettable moment after another, from Don gathering consumerism and advertising as a balm for happiness, to the angry ending when he returns home from drinking, smoking and West Village rendezvous with his loving wife and sleeping children. Still, Ladies Room has a lot on its merits — especially for the second episode — so calling it “worst episode” seems too harsh.

“Some TV shows struggle to establish an identity in their first season, but 'Mad Men' knew what it wanted to be in its first episode.” /Film writer Liam Gaughan wisely observes in his ranking of the season, and we can say the same about “Ladies Room”. The episode immediately establishes “Mad Men” as a slow burn of a novel that you need to pay close attention to, interested in exploring the psychological nuts and bolts of its characters. “Ladies Room” isn't as dramatically exciting as some of the later episodes, but the little details we discover are important and will flourish in later episodes.

“Ladies Room” establishes Don's mystery as he avoids questions about his childhood, but mostly establishes that the female characters are just as important to the narrative. Mad Men will be equally concerned with how they navigate a patriarchal world. Peggy must navigate the minefields of her savvy colleagues, their relentless progress slowly chipping away at her naivety. The scenes where Betty goes to psychoanalysis are a little long, but they help to articulate her suburban frustration and jealousy of the freedom and stronger sense of self of the recently divorced Helen. However, this confessional isn't even a safe place for her thoughts and emotions, as the final scene reveals her psychiatrist discussing her sessions with Don over the phone.

One odd element of “Ladies Room” is that it ends with RJD2's contemporary “Beautiful Mine,” which sounds like an electronic lullaby. This could be indicative of how Don often looks at her with childlike innocence, expecting her to be nothing more than a happy housewife. While “Ladies Room” failed me list of the best “Mad Men” episodesit's still very solid, which doesn't deserve the “worst episode” label.