Mad Men

“I’ve learned to believe people when they say it’s over. They don’t want to say it, so it’s usually the truth." You don’t drink a bottle of twelve year old whiskey down in one. And the same applies to admen, gradual dosage. You need to make time for them. Pour yourself a quality drink meant strictly for sipping, light a cigarette (You say you don’t smoke? I’m setting the atmosphere here!) and let yourself be sucked into the series which mostly involves a couple of characters in an interior with a drink and a cigarette burning in their hand talking about stuff. Seven seasons as a study into the American Dream, walking hand in hand with an American smile and the dark side of consumerism towards that Dream ("Happiness is just a moment before you want more happiness."). And what is amazing in view of the chosen style, topics and purposeful non-pandering to the viewer, it is never under any circumstances pretentious. And shouldn’t you be more interested in whether Don Draper (one of the most complex and most unbalanced characters currently on quality TV) and the rest manage to live up to the rumors about this thoroughly satirical and best written, acted and in all ways best serial ever? But does it really matter, if this is unarguably the most stylish of serials? And just at the moment when you grow comfortable with the style (which isn’t a matter of just one or two episodes, more like one or two seasons, also due to the fact that season one is a bit shaky and not as sophisticated as the rest of the serial), it is more than likely that you will find a positive answer to the above questions. A frequent criticism (and rightly so) is that all the parts “in the office" are powerful enough to pull this movie along, while the parts “at home with the family" are rather “up and down". Luckily, even at the weakest moments it can lean on the incredibly sturdy characters (not just Don, but also Pete, Peggy, Roger...). Mad Men never slip into the waters of the commonplace or a feeling of filler just to make up the minutes; and when signs of this begin to show during season three, they resolve it with a “big bang". There is a risk that all of this style and great atmosphere might turn you into an alcoholic, hedonist and you might run up some debts, because in view of the number of episodes, you’ll need a whole lot of cigarettes and quality spirits for your evening viewing... Crates of it. A problem area was dividing up the final season over two years since at the end of the first half that moves characters forward by catharsis, the second half serves just as a superfluous epilog for some of them which in the last few episodes reprehensibly relies on the fan base rather than an adequate ending. But I’m not saying that the ending isn’t perfect. Because it is. PS: It has one fundamental flaw; it’s in color and no black and white. That would make this season even more stylish (tried and tested using my own eyes). | S1: 4/5 | S2: 4/5 | S3: 4/5 | S4: 5/5 | S5: 5/5 | S6: 4/5 | S7: 4/5 | (27/01/2014) (less) (more)

Season one: It took a while, but Mad Men got to me in the end. I normally reject these office series right away (I have some bad experiences with them), but this one held me in front of the screen and in the end I grew fond of it. It’s really well written and the acting is great. January Jones is scrumptious and in my opinion the as yet unknown Jon Hamm really shines out. His Draper is captivating and the flashbacks are some of the high points of the series. And you get to learn something about advertising too. And that could come in handy one day. Season two: More powerful every minute. Where Draper’s story was the main attraction of season one, other characters that were more in the background before are joining in. Betty’s story is gaining speed and is very compelling, the same as what’s going on around Peggy. The Marylin Monroe lookalike Joan, who is simply enchanting, is becoming more significant. Also excellent was the inclusion of real events and their effect on the staff of Sterling Cooper. A brilliant idea. Season three: It could have the alternative title half-life and that isn’t usually necessary. If you watch the episodes like me, to the end of the credits, maybe you’ve noticed that the last thing we see is the words - AMC: Story matters here, and that’s the most important thing. A series that beats one competitor after the other just with its story doesn’t need shocking twists and cliffhangers. Simply good honest work. Not only did this season surpass both of the forerunners, it also closes one chapter in a way almost never seen these days. As for the actors, there’s nothing to criticize, but I’d like to single out Abigail Spencer as the teacher of my dreams. Season four: The mad advertisers from New York are hit by changes. Not only at the beginning of the season, but at the end too. The last episode was seriously surprising, but isn’t the best of the season. Season four brought two episodes that were so dazzling that they blotted out everything else. I’m talking about the episode where Don and Peggy are given some room to themselves and it’s a wonderful demonstration of their acting skills, good to excellent writing and a magic that only the Mad Men can boast. The second episode I want to mention is almost film noire style, interspersed with excerpts from Draper’s diary. A very refreshing insight into the thoughts of a character who is famed for not opening herself to others. I’m a little worried that season five might lose that aura, but if I trust anybody to do their work right, its the guys from AMC. Season five: After a long pause, the Mad Men have returned with fairly slow tempo and the first double-episode was “just" good. But the tension build-up works excellently and the nearer we get to the end, the better it is. All of the characters are moved to greater depression and Draper is showing signs of tiredness. Satisfaction and happiness are even more fleeting here than in real life (and that’s saying something). The endeavor to land Jaguar, the situation with Peggy and the finale are the high points of the series. I can’t wait for the coming episodes. Season six: Going Down? This time, most of the staff of SCDP had a good year in terms of stories (just Roger was a little in the background) and the new old friends and the merger made for some interesting moments. But all the same, the powerhouse is still the main character. All the years that the Mad Men have occupied my life, I might easily think that there is nothing more to be told. We already know everything about the characters. Nothing can surprise us. Even so, it’s these familiar characters who draw our attention with their stories and the time that is going by changes them as much as us. The care that the screenwriters devote to this, the twists that they gradually construct and the endings that grab you by the heart. Draper overdid it this season, but it wasn’t his fault. He was trying to start a new life, but he should really have tried to fix the old one. People are fragile, easily excitable and he loomed over them (esp. in season one) like God. Unerring and eternal. Bad decisions caught up with him in season three and he’s still paying for them. That makes the point of departure of the final season even more intriguing. It really needs balls, don’t you think? To admit that your work is based on lies and is superfluous because if a product is actually high quality... it sells itself. The final season has the atmosphere of a sort of melancholic farewell, although very inconspicuous at the beginning. All characters are appropriately looked after and the finale is powerful, although still pleasantly ordinary and realistic. I was really glad to spend my time with these people and I’m gonna miss them. I say farewell with a smile. We’ll meet again soon in season one. (04/11/2009) (less) (more)

“The Universe is indifferent.” Review of the first season. Reeking of cigarette smoke, Mad Men is a return to the final years of an era when men were still the masters and no one questioned that. A private life belonged to the men, not to the women with their clearly defined role of obedient housewife. Sometimes they bring a bit of it to work, standing in for the bar here, the bedroom there. There is no escape from making money. Work is logically the common denominator of all problems. Regardless of how many lives you live as a working man, you are allowed to go in only one direction – forward. Women paradoxically represented a more important part of male existence back then than they do today. Marriage meant normality and subordination to ubiquitous rules. If they did not manage to adapt to its requirements at the cost of their own identity, adult loners were automatically eliminated by the system. Unapproved extra-marital activities evoke fear. What do others do when they aren’t being watched? ___ Mad Men defies being categorised among dramatic series. At least the real drama doesn’t happen in the long reverberating, often static shots with little in the way of musical backing, but under their surface. As if social conventions did not allow anyone to truly express themselves. What is their true face, what are they aiming for, what do they want? The unreadability naturally creates tension and all kinds of speculation. Every character is a latent psychopath. Don’s inability to take action, a sort of being stuck in one place, is depicted not only in the stock symbol of a red light at an intersection, but also by the outcome of his secret meeting with his brother, when he pulls out of his briefcase only “passive” money instead of the expected gun. The protective outer layers – the fake smiles of housewives like those in soap operas, clothes that fit perfectly and a self-confident demeanour – are peeled away only very slowly. ___ With knowledge of the historical context, i.e. the radicalisation of society in the second half of the 1960s, it is easy to ascertain that the stiffness of the ruling class is receding too slowly. Something has got to give. No matter how obvious it is that something is in the air, nothing happens. The pace isn’t as stultifying as the everyday activities that the characters perform with robotic obedience, but compared to action-packed American series, it is slow enough to draw attention to itself. Other than the occasionally aggressive drawing of attention to period details, the immersive non-action is disrupted mainly by flashbacks, which are detrimental to the patiently built atmosphere and are apparently supposed to add a certain epic scale to the series. Mad Men’s strength consists in its interior intimacy and ability to nicely squeeze out a diverse range of symptoms of what weas ailing American society at the time (and even still today). 80% ___ The second season maintains the high standard and zen-like narrative pace corresponding to the protagonist’s emotional state. Changes do not come suddenly, but are slowly built up over multiple episodes. In accordance with the imperceptible style, the fundamental transformation of society is often indicated by a minute subtle detail, a moment to which the narrative does not return later. Every single one of the actors, on whose faces the camera lingers longer than is usual in a drama series, performs superbly. Thanks also to the diligent depiction of the culture in which they live, it is clear why they make decisions that a liberal intellectual living in the 21st century cannot agree with. Mad Men draws the viewer in slowly, but once it wins you over and you have spent a few hours straight with it, you will then have to get reaccustomed to a world in which sexism and smoking are no longer a natural part of life. (02/08/2013) (less) (more)