The characters on last night's episode of Mad Men were shocked by the assassination of JFK; viewers in 2009 knew it was coming but are chattering about how it was portrayed "We've probably all seen those grainy bits of footage--or excerpts from them--quite a few times in our lives," writes The Watcher. "To produce a shocked, horrified reaction to an event that has been part of the fabric of history for so long is indeed a tall order for any television show." Televisionary writes about the ways each character in the episode learns the news by watching it on TV: "There's a massive sense that television, as a medium, as a means of connection, has truly arrived." What's Alan Watching?, on the other hand, didn't like the episode for that reason: "[I]f it was necessary, it wasn't very satisfying to watch--watching a TV show about characters glued to their TV sets feels particularly slothful."

“I appreciated the commitment to staying close to the characters as they experienced the shock and its aftershocks,” writes The A.V. Club. “We’ve come to know these people well over three seasons, but we’ve never seen them collectively given something so massive they can only shut down.” “I'm so impressed by this episode,” writes BuzzSugar. “[I]n the future, this will be the episode that you remember when you think of this season.” Well—unless next week’s season finale tops it.