Spoilers. Love is in the air; mixing with cigarette smoke. We catch up with the advertising executives of Madison Avenue (the "mad men") 15 months after the season 1 finale, just in time for Valentine's Day 1962...A lot has changed in that time: Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) disappeared for three months (to secretly have a baby, but her colleagues joke she went on crash-diet); Harry (Rich Sommer) rekindled his marriage, and his wife is pregnant; Pete's (Vincent Kartheiser) marriage to Trudy (Alison Brie) is still uneasy and childless; closet homosexual Salvator (Bryan Batt) has married a woman; Roger (John Slattery) isn't having a workplace affair with Joan (Christina Hendricks), as she's moved onto a hunky doctor; and Don (Jon Hamm) is trying to make his marriage to Betty (January Jones) work, but is now battling sexual impotence...
One thing that hasn't changed is the measured pace and mesmeric performances; Mad Men is so subtle it can mine a surprising variety of emotions from the tiniest of moments. Wistful glances, careful pauses, dialogue where meaning lurks between the lines -- the show gently unspools and draws you into its beautifully-realized world. This is one of very few TV shows set in modern history that doesn't feel artificial. The details are wonderful; the cast intoxicating.
"For Those Who Think Young" nudges ideas of a societal change on the horizon, as the series marches towards the '60s revolution -- when the whisky-drinking men that inhabit corporations like Sterling Cooper will find themselves middle-aged and behind the times as the Pepsi-drinking youth come to dominate the agenda. The opening salvo was probably JFK beating Nixon to office in last season's finale. How fitting that Don's impotence arrives on the cusp of the sexual revolution, too -- but he's actually more enlightened about the need for change, in some ways, having promoted Peggy from milquetoast secretary to valued copywriter. And, of course, he changed his own identity from Dick Whitman to Don Draper, so change is in his blood.Here, a medical examination for Don makes him consider his age: a piffling 36 years, but over-the-hill compared to the likes of Pete, snaping at his heels. And then Duck (Mark Moses) pushes the issue of hiring fresh, young copywriters. It will be awhile before the '60s start a-swingin', and youngsters takeover from the numbed folk who fought a war to give them that freedom -- but will Don have a place in this brave new world, or will he get left behind? Isn't the ultimate arc of Mad Men for the underclasses (mainly women like homebody Betty) to triumph against the establishment? In that respect, Peggy is the vanguard, and the arrival of a new-fangled xerox machine in the ofice (to be treated as a novelty) is the kind of cutting-edge technology that will eventually enable woman to channel their energy into more important business matters.
Interesting development for Peggy's character, too. She clearly considers herself part of the copywriting team, on equal-pegging with the men, and seems rather dismissive of the lowly secretarial duties she used to perform -- making her replacement Lois (Crista Flanagan) cry after an innocent remark. She also seems to have a nice, professional rapport wth Don -- who must have helped smuggle her away to have her baby in secret, surely. It should be fun to see exactly what happened to Peggy's child, and whether she'll be tempted to give up her working life to be a full-time mother -- which is what most women of this era did.
One of the best moments involves Betty's car breakdown. Having learned that an old college friend has become a high-class hooker, Betty falteringly tries to use her own sexuality on a mechanic she can't pay. The tension is palpable throughout the scene, with the mechanic unsure if he's being offered sexual favours in return for the new fan-belt Betty requires. It seems that Betty just needed to feel some control, however dangerous the situation could have become if a less amiable mechanic had arrived, but it was perhaps also a way to confirm men find her sexually attractive -- seeing as a Valentine's night romp with Don in sexy lingerie goes limp. Literally.Overall, a confident start to the series, but it'll take a few weeks to truly become an immersive experience. Mad Men's such a valium compared to most other TV shows that it takes a bit of adjustment before your mind can settle into its precise, restrained, minimalist approach to drama. But there's already another mystery to mull over with Don: why is he reading beatnik poetry "Meditations In An Emergency"? And to whom does he send his copy to, marked "made me think of you"?
10 February 2009
BBC Four, 10pm
Writer: Matthew Weiner
Director: Tim Hunter
Cast: Jon Hamm (Don Draper), Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olson), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Cambell), January Jones (Betty Draper), John Slattery (Roger Sterling), Christina Hendricks (Joan Holloway), Bryan Batt (Salvatore Romano), Michael J. X. Gladis (Paul Kinsey), Aaron Staton (Ken Cosgrove), Rich Sommer (Harry Crane), Crista Flanagan (Lois Sadler), Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper), Aaron Hart (Robert Draper), Mark Moses (Herman "Duck" Phillips), Joel Murray (Fred Rumsen), Alison Brie (Trudy Campbell), Gabriel Mann (Arthur), Scott MacArthur (Jim), Sarah Drew (Kitty Romano), Jennifer Siebel (Juanita), Gerald Downey (Greg Harris), David Bowe (Doctor Adams), John Thaddeus (Driver), Julie McNiven (Hildy), Mark Kelly (Dale), Deborah Lacey (Carla), Michael C. Alexander (Delivery Man), Edin Gali (Kurt), Jeff Grace (Jones), Norma Micheals (Older Woman), Frank Novak (Curtis), Denise Crosby (Gertie), Patrick Cavanaugh (Smitty), Seamus Dever (Hat Guy) & Tess Alexandra Parker (Nurse)
