TV-Mad Men

What a wonderfully written and acted show is Mad Men! And this season has started off strongly...it starts a year after we left them in an amazing season concluding episode. The new agency is coming along...not quite big yet, not quite rich, and showing some fractures in leadership. Especially Don Draper is showing some fractures...he looks good in the office, but he shows worse for the wear outside it, and doesn't seem to be holding together as well as he did when he had his secret intact. Could this be Dick Whitman filling in the cracks of the eroding Don Draper?

One scene that stood out was of Don and his hooker in bed, and Don practically begs her to slap him...Don Draper, a sub? Who woulda thought that? But Dick Whitman well could be...

Don is not holding up his end in the office either...he is acting like the creative director, not a partner, and that comes back to haunt him. And Peggy,as always, is one that pretty much shoves it in his face that people are there because of him...he needs to start realizing that and acting in a manner consistent with that.

This last episode, I call it "The Corruption of Layne," showed Don as a man very fallible, and also as a man who cares so much for certain people in his life. Jon Hamm plays all the parts of Don Draper perfectly...much like Peggy, sometimes we love him and other times we think he is a piece of shit.

And Betty's life is not all roses. The problem with Betty was never Don. She is a mess, and takes it all out on Sally, probably the worst case of emotional abuse by mother to daughter that we have seen on a TV show. Seriously, Sally may just find a kitchen knife one night and let Betty have it! Betty will NEVER be happy with a man...I think she is incapable of it.

Mad Men keeps up its remarkable reputation. It is my favorite drama on TV. If you have not seen it I recommend getting previous seasons on DVD and catch up on its mythos...you will not be sorry.