Warning! Spoilers!
The consensus of people from whom I’ve heard say they don’t like Mad Men is that not enough happens. Well, yes. To be sure, it’s a character study, and in my opinion, one of the best on TV. This tension-driven, dialogue-based show returned this past Sunday in a two-hour premiere that continued old themes and introduced new ones.
“What did you see when you died?” Don asks of his doorman who collapses while Meghan and him are leaving the building. The show opens through the eyes of the collapsed doorman, and quickly moves to Don and Meghan in Hawaii. Is this the paradise we move on to when we pass on? Don seems to want to know—is this all there is to life? What lies beyond this world? Don doesn’t even speak until about twenty minutes into the episode. We only hear an internal narration of the first few lines of Dante’s Inferno. Is Don beginning his own journey? Needing to travel into the depths of hell in order to get to his own paradise? While on the surface Don is a brooding, intelligent ad man, he’s in the midst of a serious identity crisis. Don is cheating again, an escape from his marriage and his role as husband. The ad that Don presents for the Hawaiian hotel about the man shedding his skin and going on into the ocean? You guessed it, it’s about him. Don Draper isn’t the skin Dick Whitman wants anymore. But he can’t quite figure out who he wants to be. And what is with the lighter? The past is haunting him more than ever.
Roger isn’t exactly in a great position either. His mother dies, and while he feels nothing for her, he breaks down when the man who shines his shoes passes away. Roger’s scenes with his therapist cut into his psyche, something we haven’t seen a lot of before with Roger. Perhaps a change after doing LSD last season? Perhaps he’s simply having a mid-life crisis, but he’s definitely deeper and a more emotional character than before.
Moving on to the women of the show… Peggy is doing well in her new job, and doesn’t seem to have changed much. She’s basically Don, only a woman, and not quite as haunted by her past. She’s still a workaholic, but seems content in that position. Betty is still heavy, and her and Sally still butt heads at every corner. Betty has a compassionate moment though. A fluke, or a new side to the cold-hearted monster we’ve seen in the past? In addition, Betty’s signature blonde hair is gone at the end of the episode! Shocking, and personally hated. Joan isn’t in the episode much, but she’s still as hot as always, and admired by Roger. Hopefully she’ll sneak in a little more in the next episode.
Johnson is now president, and we’ve entered in a new era of beards, sideburns and mustaches, in addition to a focus on Vietnam, and marijuana. Also, we get a look into a kind of youth subculture that has emerged in New York City. The show is back with just as much subtlety, and introspective contemplation as before. Will Don continue to see his dead brother Adam? Will he continue on the path of existentialism that seems to be driving him to escape from his marriage? Will Dick or Don prevail? We shall see.