Mad Men premiered Sunday, and I’d give it a solid B+. It set the scene for the season, and we all know that you have to be patient with Mad Men. I will say that after watching the first three seasons on DVD it’s going to be hard to watch the show with commercials (although limited this week). And not to mention that Mrs. and I used to plow through two or three episodes at a time, and now we have to wait a whole week to watch the next episode. The horror!
The premiere started with a question, which is really “the” question, “Who is Don Draper?” And Roger followed that up later by asking Don, “Who knows who you are?” Well we know he’s really Dick Whitman, but maybe this isn’t about identity, but more about who Don really is, as in what kind of man is he and what are his motivations. That’s where the focus seems like it will be this season.
I liked how the reporter interviewing Don had fought in Korea and lost his leg, contrasting with Don who obviously lied his way out of Korea and the war. The person Don could have been interviewing the person that Don became (interesting). And boy that seemed to make Don uncomfortable. I also enjoyed Roger referring to the reporter as “Peg leg Pete” . . . ah Roger. Mrs. also pointed out that the nickname included both Pete and Peggy's name, but I’m inclined to think there’s probably no meaning behind this.
There were lots of changes thrown at us in episode 1. A new office, a new secretary for Don, a new hairstyle for Peggy, a new guy named Joey. And then there was the new apartment for Don, and of course a new boyfriend for Peggy (I assume Duck’s gone). And also, Mrs. and I did not understand the “John/Marcia” thing that Peggy and the new guy were doing. We looked it up and it was some 50's comedy routine, so yeah, that went over our head.
So Don can finally live the bachelor life and freely hit the town with the ladies (not that he didn’t anyway before) and what does he do? He hires a prostitute of course. The son of a prostitute hiring one to smack him around . . . well, that’s interesting. Obviously Don has some underlying issues with women. Is he trying to recreate his marriage? Without Betty does he need someone to treat him like crap and slap him around? And of course Betty’s still pushing Don around by living in the house with her new husband. But in reality is it just that Betty’s still not sure she made the right decision leaving Don? Is she not ready to give up on her former life? Did it turn out the grass wasn’t greener after all? Or as Don said to Henry “everyone thinks this is temporary.”
Henry’s mom called Betty a silly woman, and it’s about time someone vocalized it. But personally I hope they give Betty a little more character this season. She seems one dimensional. Before it seemed her coldness was being used as a way to make us sympathize with Don, despite the fact that he was a cheater and a liar. But I’d to see something to make Betty sympathetic as well (obviously a cheating husband didn’t do it).
And finally, even though Don’s trying to get Betty and Henry out of the house, he’s having a hard time just throwing them out. But he finally asserted some authority and threw someone out. Unfortunately it was the client. Not a good idea for the startup company. Although I can't say that I wouldn't like to do something similar at work some days.
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