Tuesday evening saw the eagerly awaited return of MAD MEN to British TV screens: set within a 1960s advertising agency, the show is the most stylish, suave, and chauvinistic on the box. With four seasons of slow-burning storyline behind it, the fifth arrives with considerable pressure. It’s nearly two years since Don Draper made Megan his new wife so there was plenty of opportunity for writer Matthew Weiner (HBOs THE SOPRANOS) to develop new story that could have developed. So what did he have for us?
Welcoming us into season 5 is a protest against racism – broken up by an unruly agency throwing water balloons from above – followed by a return to the offices of Stirling Cooper Draper Price, where we reacquaint with all the old faces Pete Campbell, Peggy, Roger Stirling, Lane Price and, of course, Don. Following a brief snapshot of each of the main protagonists, we realise very quickly that nothing has changed…nothing at all and it feels good. There is the same stink of whiskey, vodka and cigarettes oozing from every scene, the same level of simmering sexuality between any number of characters and of course the rock of the show, Don, is still standing tall with an assuredness not becoming of such a complicated man.
So if everything’s the same, why should we keep watching? What’s in these first two episodes to drag us in?
The first part of the season opening double header has a huge amount rammed into its 45 minute running time; Megan throwing a surprise party for Don’s 40th birthday, meetings with Heinz and Mohawk Airlines. and a look at Joan and how she’s getting on with parenthood and a husband at war. What we learn in this first episode is intrinsic to the rest of the season; following Don’s party there is a fall out with Megan which highlights – touched upon throughout its run – issues Don has with commitment and his past. The Heinz meeting sees a new more relaxed Don Draper, his reaction to their snub is not the same as we’ve seen in previous seasons, and nods to a possible serenity. Then there’s Joan, whose finding it difficult to juggle motherhood and has an urge to return to Stirling Cooper Draper Price. Added to this, there’s Pete’s meeting with Mohawk Airlines – which he aces – that is crashed by Roger Stiring, causing tension between Pete and Roger.
Part two is a much calmer episode; following Don and Megan’s fallout and reconciliation, more Pete Campbell shenanigans, and an ending that is classic MAD MEN (they are forced to fill an imaginary ethnic quota following a failed ‘joke’ at the expense of the agency with the water-balloons).
The depth of the characters in MAD MEN is what makes it essential TV; these first two episodes do nothing to dissuade this. Given the huge publicity, both here and across the pond, it may have gained a few new viewers, but for those of you that didn’t tune-in may I suggest you grab a whiskey and a smoke and lose yourself in the 1960s.
MAD MEN screens Tuesdays 9pm on Sky Atlantic
