Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
The fifth season of Mad Men feels like a radical departure from previous seasons while still being undoubtedly Mad Men. Don Draper is a dedicated husband who has lost interest in work at a time when the firm needs him more than ever. Roger Sterling for the first time comes to a sort of peace thanks to an LSD trip. Peggy Olsen gets promoted by another firm simply because her career would be in stasis if she were to remain at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Joan Harris finally leaves Greg, realizing he's a poor excuse for a husband and lives life as a single mother.
That's not mentioning the newest principal character, Megan Calvet. In between seasons, she became Megan Draper and got promoted into a copywriting position. Mad Men avoids the easy route by making her both good at her job and largely uninterested in it. She also seems to be good for Don in a way Betty clearly never was. This may sound like a weird complaint, but I almost feel like the show went too hard in the other direction here - making her an impossibly good person so that when Don inevitably cheats on her, there's no one to blame but Don.
It's weird because I think Jessica Pare does a fantastic job as Megan - she certainly feels like a person. But try as I might, I cannot think of one single flaw that Megan possesses. She's certainly the opposite of Betty in most ways. However, usually when you think of a character having no flaws, it's mostly because they don't seem like an actual person, but simply as a plot device. Which isn't a problem here. But Don rushed into this marriage and you wouldn't really expect him to just happen to rush into a perfect woman for him. Let's get past that though because obviously that's what Matt Weiner is going for - Don Draper will be Don Draper no matter who he is with.
I think the arc of Don Draper is most fascinating in this season of all seasons, mostly because he finally goes through an arc. Don has always had a thing for strong woman - I'm not really sure why he married Betty anymore as she is literally the only woman he's had an extended relationship with that doesn't seem ahead of her time. Anyway, you'd expect philanderer Don to have a problem working with Megan, but strangely he seems happiest and most comfortable when she's working.
When Megan realizes she'd rather become an actress - with the help of her parents (which seriously how is she not more fucked up with those two?) - it seemingly devastates Don. That's not what seems to get Don back in his natural state though. It's after Megan asks Don to use his connections to help her land a commercial. Don would rather she do it on her own and be independent. Something is lost when she's relying on him to further her career. I think he loses some respect for her.
Meanwhile, I usually don't talk about Roger Sterling this early in the post as he's more of a side character, but this is definitely the season of Roger Sterling. For seasons, he's been feeling useless and the end of the fourth season made it official with the loss of Lucky Strike. So here's a Roger who's actually trying to work - in his own way by stealing clients off Pete. Pretty much the entire season is a showcase for John Slattery's charms, whether it be his feud with Pete, his LSD trip, or his post-LSD trip where is he as happy and content as he's ever been.
After roughly four years, he finally breaks up with Jane - it was clear that they've been unhappy for a while and the LSD simply enlightened him. Basically, previously I had noticed that every Roger Sterling story bottled down to the same thing - he's increasingly useless at work and getting to an age where he can't behave like he was when he was younger - and now finally we get something new. Hell, that's kind of a theme with this season I suppose - Don has new storylines, Megan's a new wife to Don, and Roger.
Plus, Joan finally escapes her awful, domineering husband. It took him deciding to volunteer for an extra year in Vietnam for her to realize it, but nonetheless it is still a welcome surprise. At work, she's clearly one of the most vital people, making Lane Pryce essentially useless because she performs most of his job duties. At home, with the help of her mother, she is learning how to raise a child in a time when being a single mother was most certainly looked down upon. And I have little doubt when I start season six later, that she will have found herself another man - if not as a husband, at least a potential one. (Foreshadowed by that great scene at the bar between Joan and Don - which if Megan's reaction afterward is any indication, he won't get away with the same shit he did with Betty, but he'll try)
Another thing Joan experiences is that she's made partner because she sleeps with a client to land an account. This is strongly encouraged and manipulated by Pete, who's never seemed more dickish than that episode. Don opposes, but it doesn't matter. I will say that if there's one character who would get over this fast, it's Joan. I'm not even sure it will weigh on her given her attitude as the head of secretaries, but this being Mad Men, it could go either way.
Speaking of Lane, he finds his role in the company in doubt since his main function was to transition companies to be more efficient. Well, this company can't really be more efficient and seems to be mostly skating by from account to account. Joan handles the finances and day-to-day leaving not much for Lane to do. One of the better established traits of Lane is that he loves America - ever since he was threatened with going to India, we've known he wants to stay. Thanks to his move from England, his $50,000 deposit, and his tax troubles, Lane is potentially at risk with leaving. So instead of asking for the money - probably due to pride -he embezzles money out to pay his taxes.
When it's discovered, it's not a surprise that he would rather stop living life than have to uproot and face the humiliation. If there's one weakness to his story, it's that the show kind of piled on him in his last episode. His wife gives him the car and he gets a position in some esteemed club at the exact moment when everything falls to shit for him? I will say that I did however enjoy that the piece of shit car that won't start causes his suicide attempt to fail. Enjoy is perhaps harsh, but there's a cruel sense of humor in that.
Peggy meanwhile remains with Abe Drexler from last season. She gets excited at the prospect of marrying Abe - though probably more due to the societal expectation - but he only asks if he can move in with her. Apparently, that was highly frowned upon back then, because her mother does not respond well. But because she is Peggy Olsen, she does it anyway. I'm interested to see the sixth season version of Peggy Olsen, because her in a new work environment could be one of the most interesting plot developments of her character.
Pete is more Pete than he's ever been. Despite being responsible for most of the accounts at the firm, he still doesn't have enough. He has an affair with his fellow train commuter's wife - who to be fair is one of the most giant pieces of shit Mad Men has ever had and that's saying something. Pete had made something of a comeback from his first season character - mostly because he goes from a spoiled, entitled brat to one who's good at his job. Being good at your job will make people forgive a lot of your sins. Well, this season Matt Weiner seemed to remind the audience why Pete sucks.
This may sound harsh, but this season might have been my favorite season and I can't help but think Betty appearing in only four of them has something to do with it. She gets her own win in the episode when she's there for Sally when she unexpectedly has her first period. But in order to gain the audience sympathy, the writers gave her a cancer scare and made her overweight. First off, I can't imagine her letting herself go like that due to her outsized focus on her appearance. It would have made more sense after she had her kid in my opinion. Secondly, her compulsion to stress eat came literally out of nowhere. She's never had that problem. Mad Men is usually good at setting the groundwork, but they needed something for January Jones to do when she's not dealing with Don so they created this out of thin air. And lastly, the makeup is completely unconvincing to the point of distraction.
But I went into this season - this is my first season that I've written about that I have not seen before - with little expectations. I don't know if I thought Mad Men declined, but subconsciously I must have, because I was surprised at how good this season was. I suppose I just naturally assumed due to the nature of how TV shows usually work. Nonetheless, season five so far is probably my favorite mostly from the new directions several characters take. It's my favorite take on Don, it establishes an interesting new character in Megan, Roger has never been better, Peggy's still Peggy, and Betty is marginalized (which - look her character is good, but there's not really anywhere new to take her character at this point - she'll forever be unhappy and she'll probably never grow)
- Because these posts are so long, I'm never able to expound on the acting so I'll just say it here. Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, Jared Harris, and Vincent Kartheiser are all excellent. I think Kartheiser is perhaps the most underrated of the bunch. (I already mentioned Slattery above)
- Ken Cosgrove is the most normal, well-adjusted person in this show so there's not much interesting things about him. His actions when Sterling Cooper Draper Harris (is that the name now?) land his father-in-law accounts was a notable exception where he made sure Pete was in no way a part of it. I like Aaron Staton's work and I like the character a lot. Who knew, from the first season, he'd be the most likable person on this show or at least the one who you could easily imagine being friends with?
- Harry Crane's de-evolution is nearly complete. I heard his character from seasons 1-4 and 5-7 are completely different and he's gone the full way towards being a lousy person. He's always been clueless, but here he shows no remorse at cheating on his wife. His episode with Paul Kinsey was certainly interesting as he did a good thing for his friend, sending him away from the cult, while still being Harry Crane.
- I hope I will be able to talk about him more in next season's review, but Michael Ginsberg is probably the quickest character to instantly be compelling as a side ad man. The loss of Peggy might be felt in the firm, but both due to the talent and the character, the show will be alright. Good work from Ben Feldman.
- Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce accidentally becomes progressive in hiring a black secretary. That's a pretty smart way of doing that because no way would they do this on their own and Mad Men writers probably still wanted to do that.
- Alexis Bledel - never seen Gilmore Girls - but she's not that impressive here.
Playlist
1. "Zou Bisou Bisou" - Gillian Hills (sung by Megan)
2. "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" - Dusty Springfield
3. "Ebb Tide" - Ken Griffin
4. "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" - Rolf and Liesl
5. "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" - The Crystals
6. "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" - The Beach Boys
7. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - The Beatles (whistled by Don)
8. "September in the Rain" - The Wedgewoods
9. "Tomorrow Never Knows" - The Beatles
10. "Sweeping the Clouds Away" - Maurice Chevalier
11. "The Christmas Waltz" - Doris Day
12. "You Really Got Me" - The Kinks
13. "Butchie's Tune" - The Lovin' Spoonful
14. "You Only Live Twice" - Nancy Sinatra
Season 4
The fifth season of Mad Men feels like a radical departure from previous seasons while still being undoubtedly Mad Men. Don Draper is a dedicated husband who has lost interest in work at a time when the firm needs him more than ever. Roger Sterling for the first time comes to a sort of peace thanks to an LSD trip. Peggy Olsen gets promoted by another firm simply because her career would be in stasis if she were to remain at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Joan Harris finally leaves Greg, realizing he's a poor excuse for a husband and lives life as a single mother.
That's not mentioning the newest principal character, Megan Calvet. In between seasons, she became Megan Draper and got promoted into a copywriting position. Mad Men avoids the easy route by making her both good at her job and largely uninterested in it. She also seems to be good for Don in a way Betty clearly never was. This may sound like a weird complaint, but I almost feel like the show went too hard in the other direction here - making her an impossibly good person so that when Don inevitably cheats on her, there's no one to blame but Don.
It's weird because I think Jessica Pare does a fantastic job as Megan - she certainly feels like a person. But try as I might, I cannot think of one single flaw that Megan possesses. She's certainly the opposite of Betty in most ways. However, usually when you think of a character having no flaws, it's mostly because they don't seem like an actual person, but simply as a plot device. Which isn't a problem here. But Don rushed into this marriage and you wouldn't really expect him to just happen to rush into a perfect woman for him. Let's get past that though because obviously that's what Matt Weiner is going for - Don Draper will be Don Draper no matter who he is with.
I think the arc of Don Draper is most fascinating in this season of all seasons, mostly because he finally goes through an arc. Don has always had a thing for strong woman - I'm not really sure why he married Betty anymore as she is literally the only woman he's had an extended relationship with that doesn't seem ahead of her time. Anyway, you'd expect philanderer Don to have a problem working with Megan, but strangely he seems happiest and most comfortable when she's working.
When Megan realizes she'd rather become an actress - with the help of her parents (which seriously how is she not more fucked up with those two?) - it seemingly devastates Don. That's not what seems to get Don back in his natural state though. It's after Megan asks Don to use his connections to help her land a commercial. Don would rather she do it on her own and be independent. Something is lost when she's relying on him to further her career. I think he loses some respect for her.
Meanwhile, I usually don't talk about Roger Sterling this early in the post as he's more of a side character, but this is definitely the season of Roger Sterling. For seasons, he's been feeling useless and the end of the fourth season made it official with the loss of Lucky Strike. So here's a Roger who's actually trying to work - in his own way by stealing clients off Pete. Pretty much the entire season is a showcase for John Slattery's charms, whether it be his feud with Pete, his LSD trip, or his post-LSD trip where is he as happy and content as he's ever been.
After roughly four years, he finally breaks up with Jane - it was clear that they've been unhappy for a while and the LSD simply enlightened him. Basically, previously I had noticed that every Roger Sterling story bottled down to the same thing - he's increasingly useless at work and getting to an age where he can't behave like he was when he was younger - and now finally we get something new. Hell, that's kind of a theme with this season I suppose - Don has new storylines, Megan's a new wife to Don, and Roger.
Plus, Joan finally escapes her awful, domineering husband. It took him deciding to volunteer for an extra year in Vietnam for her to realize it, but nonetheless it is still a welcome surprise. At work, she's clearly one of the most vital people, making Lane Pryce essentially useless because she performs most of his job duties. At home, with the help of her mother, she is learning how to raise a child in a time when being a single mother was most certainly looked down upon. And I have little doubt when I start season six later, that she will have found herself another man - if not as a husband, at least a potential one. (Foreshadowed by that great scene at the bar between Joan and Don - which if Megan's reaction afterward is any indication, he won't get away with the same shit he did with Betty, but he'll try)
Another thing Joan experiences is that she's made partner because she sleeps with a client to land an account. This is strongly encouraged and manipulated by Pete, who's never seemed more dickish than that episode. Don opposes, but it doesn't matter. I will say that if there's one character who would get over this fast, it's Joan. I'm not even sure it will weigh on her given her attitude as the head of secretaries, but this being Mad Men, it could go either way.
Speaking of Lane, he finds his role in the company in doubt since his main function was to transition companies to be more efficient. Well, this company can't really be more efficient and seems to be mostly skating by from account to account. Joan handles the finances and day-to-day leaving not much for Lane to do. One of the better established traits of Lane is that he loves America - ever since he was threatened with going to India, we've known he wants to stay. Thanks to his move from England, his $50,000 deposit, and his tax troubles, Lane is potentially at risk with leaving. So instead of asking for the money - probably due to pride -he embezzles money out to pay his taxes.
When it's discovered, it's not a surprise that he would rather stop living life than have to uproot and face the humiliation. If there's one weakness to his story, it's that the show kind of piled on him in his last episode. His wife gives him the car and he gets a position in some esteemed club at the exact moment when everything falls to shit for him? I will say that I did however enjoy that the piece of shit car that won't start causes his suicide attempt to fail. Enjoy is perhaps harsh, but there's a cruel sense of humor in that.
Peggy meanwhile remains with Abe Drexler from last season. She gets excited at the prospect of marrying Abe - though probably more due to the societal expectation - but he only asks if he can move in with her. Apparently, that was highly frowned upon back then, because her mother does not respond well. But because she is Peggy Olsen, she does it anyway. I'm interested to see the sixth season version of Peggy Olsen, because her in a new work environment could be one of the most interesting plot developments of her character.
Pete is more Pete than he's ever been. Despite being responsible for most of the accounts at the firm, he still doesn't have enough. He has an affair with his fellow train commuter's wife - who to be fair is one of the most giant pieces of shit Mad Men has ever had and that's saying something. Pete had made something of a comeback from his first season character - mostly because he goes from a spoiled, entitled brat to one who's good at his job. Being good at your job will make people forgive a lot of your sins. Well, this season Matt Weiner seemed to remind the audience why Pete sucks.
This may sound harsh, but this season might have been my favorite season and I can't help but think Betty appearing in only four of them has something to do with it. She gets her own win in the episode when she's there for Sally when she unexpectedly has her first period. But in order to gain the audience sympathy, the writers gave her a cancer scare and made her overweight. First off, I can't imagine her letting herself go like that due to her outsized focus on her appearance. It would have made more sense after she had her kid in my opinion. Secondly, her compulsion to stress eat came literally out of nowhere. She's never had that problem. Mad Men is usually good at setting the groundwork, but they needed something for January Jones to do when she's not dealing with Don so they created this out of thin air. And lastly, the makeup is completely unconvincing to the point of distraction.
But I went into this season - this is my first season that I've written about that I have not seen before - with little expectations. I don't know if I thought Mad Men declined, but subconsciously I must have, because I was surprised at how good this season was. I suppose I just naturally assumed due to the nature of how TV shows usually work. Nonetheless, season five so far is probably my favorite mostly from the new directions several characters take. It's my favorite take on Don, it establishes an interesting new character in Megan, Roger has never been better, Peggy's still Peggy, and Betty is marginalized (which - look her character is good, but there's not really anywhere new to take her character at this point - she'll forever be unhappy and she'll probably never grow)
- Because these posts are so long, I'm never able to expound on the acting so I'll just say it here. Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, Jared Harris, and Vincent Kartheiser are all excellent. I think Kartheiser is perhaps the most underrated of the bunch. (I already mentioned Slattery above)
- Ken Cosgrove is the most normal, well-adjusted person in this show so there's not much interesting things about him. His actions when Sterling Cooper Draper Harris (is that the name now?) land his father-in-law accounts was a notable exception where he made sure Pete was in no way a part of it. I like Aaron Staton's work and I like the character a lot. Who knew, from the first season, he'd be the most likable person on this show or at least the one who you could easily imagine being friends with?
- Harry Crane's de-evolution is nearly complete. I heard his character from seasons 1-4 and 5-7 are completely different and he's gone the full way towards being a lousy person. He's always been clueless, but here he shows no remorse at cheating on his wife. His episode with Paul Kinsey was certainly interesting as he did a good thing for his friend, sending him away from the cult, while still being Harry Crane.
- I hope I will be able to talk about him more in next season's review, but Michael Ginsberg is probably the quickest character to instantly be compelling as a side ad man. The loss of Peggy might be felt in the firm, but both due to the talent and the character, the show will be alright. Good work from Ben Feldman.
- Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce accidentally becomes progressive in hiring a black secretary. That's a pretty smart way of doing that because no way would they do this on their own and Mad Men writers probably still wanted to do that.
- Alexis Bledel - never seen Gilmore Girls - but she's not that impressive here.
Playlist
1. "Zou Bisou Bisou" - Gillian Hills (sung by Megan)
2. "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" - Dusty Springfield
3. "Ebb Tide" - Ken Griffin
4. "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" - Rolf and Liesl
5. "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" - The Crystals
6. "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" - The Beach Boys
7. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - The Beatles (whistled by Don)
8. "September in the Rain" - The Wedgewoods
9. "Tomorrow Never Knows" - The Beatles
10. "Sweeping the Clouds Away" - Maurice Chevalier
11. "The Christmas Waltz" - Doris Day
12. "You Really Got Me" - The Kinks
13. "Butchie's Tune" - The Lovin' Spoonful
14. "You Only Live Twice" - Nancy Sinatra
