A lot of people left “Crash,” the most recent episode of Mad Men, scratching their heads, wondering what the hell that episode was all about. But like many of Mad Men’s best episodes — and in retrospect, this was one of the series’ best — it takes a while to unpack and process, and nothing is better to help elucidate the subtext than to read other people’s thoughts.

Some weeks, understanding Mad Men takes a lot of effort, but it can be fun meshing others’ ideas with your own, to help get you from “WTF Weiner?” to “Oh, I see what you did there! Niiiiiiiiice.” I do read too much into Mad Men, but unlike last week’s Room 503 piece, most of the theories below come from other sources, and they’re not nearly as oblique. However, I’ll save you the trouble of scouring through the Internet, and collect the best theories from around the web on this week’s episode.

Game of Thrones viewers were introduced to one of two characters this last weekend, a man named Daario Naharis, the captain of a mercenary company, Stormcrows. While I understand that in the book, Daario was a guy with a big blue bushy beard in three prongs, on HBO he looks kind of like a young bodice-ripping Fabio, which makes him more palatable for HBO viewers during the invariable sex scenes. The guy who plays Daario is an actor named Ed Skrein, who you probably have never heard of. Let me tell you a little about Skein: 1) he used to be in a gang, until he was stabbed at age 17, after which he left the criminal life. But more importantly, he’s also a rapper. Is he good? That’s another question. I’ll let you decide after you watch his music video below.

Network television ratings have been down, across the board, for years now. CBS celebrated the year as the number one network on television, and it’s biggest feat was that it was able to maintain the same ratings as last year, while everything else continued to fall. I wouldn’t expect this trend to end anytime soon, at least until the networks figure out how to successfully emulate cable programming, which has seen a steady rise (three of the highest rated shows on television, now, are on cable: The Walking Dead, Duck Dynasty, and Game of Thrones).

What’s most telling, however, is that it’s not just the scripted programming that’s falling. Reality television — once a huge cash cow for the networks — has seen a precipitous fall in the last few years, and leading the way is the once dominant show in all of television, American Idol, which has seen its steady ratings erosion crater this year, as it continued to tinker with its roster of judges (and it looks like none of the existing judges will return next year). See those two women up there in the header? They were this year’s finalist. I could not tell you what their names are.

A few months ago, after ABC canceled Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23, I don’t think we ever properly mourned its passing. Maybe we were too concerned over the fate of Happy Endings (also canceled, and sadly, unlikely to be picked up by the USA Network, at this point) to give it an appropriate send-off. Nevertheless, the loss of one of network television’s few remaining bright spots still stings: it was funny, it was self-referential, and it was endearing.

The good news is, the remaining episodes of the series are still available on ABC.com through June 2nd. The bad news, for fans of the cast, is that while James Van Der Beek had his new series picked up, it’s on CBS (so, don’t expect much, especially as it’s likely a mid-season replacement) and Krysten Ritter’s new series was not picked up by NBC (although, it may be retooled).

All of which is to say, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23 is gone, but it’s not forgotten. To memorialize its passing, let’s take a quick look back at Krysten Ritter’s 25 Brightest and Shiniest Moments, mostly in GIF form. R.I.P. Don’t Trust the B.

With powerhouse programming like Go On (cancelled), Animal Practice (cancelled), Whitney (cancelled), The New Normal (cancelled), Guys with Kids (cancelled), Deception (cancelled), 1600 Penn (cancelled), and Next Caller (never aired), NBC managed to rise the ranks this season and elevate itself out of last place in Nielsen’s 18-49 demographic. Congratulations, NBC! You’re not last! ABC, meanwhile, came in fourth place, by virtue of the fact that it doesn’t own the rights to NFL broadcasts. The big story, I suppose, is that CBS finished in first place in the 18-49 demo for the first time in 21 years, which has less to do with CBS (its ratings were flat year-to-year) and more to do with the fact that people FINALLY stopped watching American Idol, which only managed to lead Fox to a second place finish this season. It’s time to introduce land-mines to the singing competition. (via)

Live Review: The National Played A Huge Show In A Tiny Brooklyn Bar — (UPROXX)

Damon Lindelof finally opens up about Alice Eve’s panties — (Film Drunk)

Enough Already With The Manti Te’o Jokes — (With Leather)

This Is What The PS4 Might Look Like — (Gamma Squad)

Enjoy This Classic Footage Of Biggie’s 21st Birthday Party With Puffy, Lord Finesse, ODB & Mr. Cheeks — (Smoking Section)

Tom Brady’s Pitbull Rumored To Be Running Amok On Children’s Playgrounds — (Kissing Suzy Kolber)

13 Terrific Trios in Film and Television — (Pajiba)

With powerhouse programming like Go On (cancelled), Animal Practice (cancelled), Whitney (cancelled), The New Normal (cancelled), Guys with Kids (cancelled), Deception (cancelled), 1600 Penn (cancelled), and Next Caller (never aired), NBC managed to rise the ranks this season and elevate itself out of last place in Nielsen’s 18-49 demographic. Congratulations, NBC! You’re not last! ABC, meanwhile, came in fourth place, by virtue of the fact that it doesn’t own the rights to NFL broadcasts. The big story, I suppose, is that CBS finished in first place in the 18-49 demo for the first time in 21 years, which has less to do with CBS (its ratings were flat year-to-year) and more to do with the fact that people FINALLY stopped watching American Idol, which only managed to lead Fox to a second place finish this season. It’s time to introduce land-mines to the singing competition. (via)

Live Review: The National Played A Huge Show In A Tiny Brooklyn Bar — (UPROXX)

Damon Lindelof finally opens up about Alice Eve’s panties — (Film Drunk)

Enough Already With The Manti Te’o Jokes — (With Leather)

This Is What The PS4 Might Look Like — (Gamma Squad)

Enjoy This Classic Footage Of Biggie’s 21st Birthday Party With Puffy, Lord Finesse, ODB & Mr. Cheeks — (Smoking Section)

Tom Brady’s Pitbull Rumored To Be Running Amok On Children’s Playgrounds — (Kissing Suzy Kolber)

13 Terrific Trios in Film and Television — (Pajiba)

Post-apocalyptic stories have always been popular, but lately, like with the zombie subgenre (see, e.g., Warm Bodies) writers have been coming up with new and interesting twists that make those stories all the more fascinating and resonant. Drew Magary’s The Postmortal, for instance, is one of my favorite novels in the past few years: Here’s a situation where an apocalypse is triggered by the fact that everyone can theoretically live forever, and if everyone lives forever, well, the Earth’s limited resources are going to run out fast. The catch in Magary’s book is that, though you can avoid cancer, illnesses, and other natural causes that kill you — you can still die from murder, being hit by a bus, etc., and with the ante so high — you’re not losing a 75 year life, you’re losing potentially perpetual life — the conflict is all the more compelling. There are a lot of competing interests in that scenario.

The pendulum is swinging back the other way for Vice President Meyer, who has not only become embroiled in the POTUS’s scandal, but now she’s considered a liar (“Meyer the Liar,” to be exact). It wasn’t a good time, then, to be meeting with her husband at her daughter’s 21st birthday party because the press already knows that her relationship with her ex-husband during the campaign was a lie. That played straight into the night’s narrative, when Meyer was forced to keep up appearances while her husband was “fluffing and f**king her,” revealing that his firm had been donating to her opponent’s campaign during the election. Compound that with a budget deal that Meyer pushed through, which the POTUS abandoned at the last second, and Meyer had a terrible day at the office. Fortunately, it looks like she did end the day by getting laid.

Elsewhere, the highlight of the episode was actually Amy’s date to the 21st birthday party, Ed (Zach Woods), who managed to be funnier in three minutes of Veep than in his entire run as Gabe from The Office, delivering devastating justice to Jonah (and Dan, in the deleted scenes, which are below). Another great episode, even if it was a political set back for the Vice President, who — as Jonah inappropriately suggested — looked damn hot at that party. She is 52, y’all, and has never looked hotter than in Veep.

Let’s jump right into the night’s best lines.