It wasn’t her -- it was me. I’d grown tired of a new manner of speaking on Twitter of which Retta was merely a popular example. Particularly when talking about an episode of Sunday television, it seemed, everyone I followed on Twitter spoke in a language that I just couldn’t get into; a patois of oblique references (so as to prevent spoilers) and gleeful, headlong description of whatever was happening in front of them. If you weren’t watching live, as I generally was not, you were missing all the fun, not merely because you didn’t get the reference, but because the reference was the entire substance of a sort of half-joke.

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The reason that's my guess is because unlike other movies and TV shows about politics, "Veep" -- whose season finale just aired -- portrays politicians, staffers, lobbyists and reporters not as the heroic idealists and brilliant Machiavellis that politicos desperately want to see looking back at them from the mirror. Instead, "Veep" shows Washington for what it is: not merely Hollywood for trolls, but a place where painfully average and often untalented drones follow their star-fucking ambitions only to be caught in a soul-sapping system that devours whatever last remaining shreds of humanity they still possessed.

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Of course, each season finale has been like a little death for viewers, and discussions have already begun about the seventh season. Will Dick/Don redeem himself or least move on from the Inferno to Purgatorio? Will the company and show go bicoastal? Will Peggy ever make a wise dating choice? Here are some possibilities:

1. It’s 2014. A late-middle-aged Sally, played by Susan Sarandon, stands in the doorway of what is obviously a home office. The camera pans the room, ending with a manuscript on the desk. The cover says "Mad Men: A Memoir," by Sally Draper Bishop.

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We’ve all been where Sally was on “The Quality of Mercy,” last week’s episode of Mad Men, but not all of us have Glen. When she jumps up and yells for him to help her from the other room, where he’s gone with the pretty blonde, we’re thinking, or I was thinking, “He’s hooking up, he’s going to be pissed, he’s not going to come through.” Or: he’s going to want Sally – that’s what’s going to happen – she’s going to have to repay him. But what does Glen show us? That’s he’s the only virtuous man – the only non-man child – on the show. And possibly on the earth.

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The favors (literal and figurative) were flying, of course, with too many satisfying scenes to count: Three-way flirting between Peggy, Pete and Ted? Mrs. Campbell telling Peggy about her sex life? Don actually sticking his neck out for someone other than himself? Of course, whenever Don starts looking heroic, you know there's real trouble ahead. Still, any episode in which Peggy, Pete, Ted and Don all show us their vulnerable sides is a rare and beautiful thing indeed.

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"The poor dope. He always wanted a pool." Those opening lines of "Sunset Boulevard" fit the spirit of the sixth season of "Mad Men" to a T. Delusions and vanities have been laid bare; shallow desires and hungry egos have taken a back seat to existential reckoning; the triumph of paternalism and capitalist grandiosity have been supplanted by an angry uprising.

But near-drowning aside, Don is less struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis than aging starlet Norma Desmond, gracelessly discovering that his best years have passed him by. First he watches the Democratic National Convention riots on TV, but only manages to demonstrate on the phone to Megan that he identifies with The Man more than with the hippies on the street. Like Peggy's comments about Avon's ad campaign, he is "unintentionally old-fashioned." "Can you imagine a policeman cracking your skull?" Megan asks, making it clear where her sympathies lie. "It would change your whole life." Why does that sound like foreshadowing? And speaking of which, the next thing she says to Don is, "Go for a swim. It always makes you feel better." Not always, Megan. Don, though, just tells Megan to go to sleep, see also: Power down that pretty little head of yours, just like I have, and you'll be less tormented by these awful times.

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As an example of what that may mean, Weiner goes on to describe a scene in one of the opening chapters of Herman Melville's monumental "Moby-Dick," in which its narrator, Ishmael, stands facing an obscure painting hanging on the wall of the Spouter Inn, on his way to join the Pequod.

Following several failed attempts to make sense of the seemingly disparate parts of the painting – which, among others, includes what appears to be a stormy beach, mastheads and a whale – Ishmael settles. Arriving at what he calls "a final theory of my own," one "partly based upon the aggregated opinions of many aged persons with whom I conversed upon the subject," Melville's narrator describes the painting as representing

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In Sunday's episode, Draper appeared wearing a white T-shirt with a red star and white panties while ominous sirens blared in the background. The look was identical to what Tate wore in a 1967 Esquire magazine photo shoot, above. A Twitter user claiming to be the daughter of the photographer shared the photo with "Mad Men" costume designer Janie Bryant, who confirmed that Tate "inspired" the look.

Since then, theories tying Tate and Draper -- who, though not 8.5 months pregnant, has suffered a miscarriage -- have been popping up on Reddit and elsewhere, speculating that the scene foreshadows Draper's death.

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First came news that two previously cable-only channels, TBS and TNT, "are about to become the first national entertainment networks in the industry to stream on-air content live across multiple platforms," likely positioning the stations to eventually (though not yet) sell their content direct to consumers on an à la carte online basis, rather than only through traditional cable TV packages. Then yesterday came word that CNN and BuzzFeed are partnering to create a YouTube channel, allowing anyone with an Internet connection -- but not necessarily a costly cable subscription -- to view the new content.

The action this (and other similar news in the television world) should prompt, of course, is cutting your cable TV cord -- or at least considering it.

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It's funny how Don and Betty's interaction goes from faintly intriguing to faintly repellent in a matter of seconds. "You'll get eaten alive out here," Don tells her, sounding extra sleazy. "You know mosquitoes ignore me," Betty answers, possibly referring to his tendency to ignore her. "In those shorts?" he asks, and then it's on. Don's pouring Betty booze, reminding us that these two go together like a pair of lying, cheating, remorseless drunks, a moment of mirroring that's echoed throughout the episode. When Don talks about teenagers in revolt, it's clearer than ever that Don and Betty are united in their old-school ways, two conventional mainstream beauty queens who never understood all the fuss about ideals and moral high ground.

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So naturally it must be just like "Girls"! Except it isn't. At all.

Hannah Horvath, the hero of "Girls," is younger than Frances and far more confident in her art. Although Hannah's family won't help her pay the bills, she seems to, as of late, magically have enough money to pay the bills every month. Frances, with a few more years of disillusionment under her belt, faces down far more serious challenges than does Hannah -- which isn't a criticism of "Girls."

But none of those differences have stopped the easy comparisons. Turns out there really is a more pernicious and lazy cultural reference than comparing anything in the 1960s to Don Draper's life, or equating anything quirky and indie with "Portlandia." Please, let's come to an understanding: Culture writers of America, we will believe you know about "Girls" even if you don't compare everything about young people in cities to Lena Dunham.

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The theatrical protest, organized by Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, wasn't the first time activists have employed a bit of razzle dazzle to draw attention to an issue and get people talking.

Below, a roundup of five protests that show how, sometimes, a little flare can make a big difference.

Mad, Mad Women

As noted above, the North Carolina group made a splash on Tuesday, wearing dapper vintage outfits to make their point that access to birth control is basic health care. The Republican-controlled judicial committee went on to approve the measure, which now heads for a full vote in the General Assembly, but the Mad Women caused a social media stir and brought national attention to a bill that may have otherwise flown under the radar, as Laura Basset reported for the Huffington Post:

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First, there's the dialogue. As longtime viewers, it's easy to get bogged down by the symbolic significance of every scene, and get distracted by Don's downward spiral into damnation, so much so that we can't see the trees for the forest. Maybe we tend to take the crackling, unpredictable dialogue of "Mad Men" for granted; this episode it was too good to ignore.

Second, there are the satisfying scenes. The best TV writers figure out ways to serve up some really tasty payoffs for viewers. On "The Wire," even against a dystopian backdrop, you had these great moments of connection between McNulty and Bunk, or Omar and his boyfriend, among others. On "Six Feet Under," Claire and Nate and Rachel may have been struggling or sinking into a funk, but they'd always have ways of gaining leverage on the people bringing them down. For all of its gloom and doom, "Mad Men" still offers some of the most satisfying payoffs of any drama on television.

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We begin with Bert and Pete scheming with Joan to take the company public, and Pete even has the gall to hit on Joan. (She says no, loud and clear, and then tells him, "I hope Clara reminded you tomorrow's Mother's Day." I love how she has become the moral center of the office – or at least the center of restraint and discretion.) Meanwhile, Roger ditches his inherited shoeshine kit (which signals his reckoning with death) to rush off to the airport to romance not his stewardess lover, but an executive from Chevy. Instead of mourning his eventual demise, Roger is thinking about his legacy – which we can see from the fact that he takes three copies of his autobiography out of his travel bag, but leaves the last one in. This idea of making your mark before you die is scattered throughout the episode, along with lots of talk of death (Roger says, of Jaguar, "This could be fatal"; Ted finds out his art director is dying of pancreatic cancer; Rosen says he has a heart and a kid who needs a heart and both are dead.) Everyone in this episode is looking for salvation, redemption, delivery from history's dustbin – but are they kidding themselves? Is their bravery in the face of absurd obstacles just another way of running away from the specter of death? Is their passion for work meaningful, or is it just a distraction that keeps them from facing the truth about themselves?

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But if you're really short on time, you should check out these amusing Facebook recaps, via HappyPlace.com.

Here are a few from season 6:

Head over to HappyPlace.com for more.

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Hamm also plugged his upcoming movie with "Daily Show" correspondent Aasif Mandvi, "Million Dollar Arm," set in India, which serves as a convenient backdrop for their upcoming marriage.

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