Well, here we are. After an agonizing seventeen months off the air, Don Draper and his fellow advertising companions of Madison Avenue are set to return to our screens the end of this month as Mad Men enters its fifth season. For a show notorious for its dense plotting and ruthlessly addictive storyline, the wait has been agonizing to say the least. After slow but steady word of mouth building on BBC Four the new season has been bought up by Sky and being marketed to much larger audience more aware of the show’s presence since it suddenly burst onto the TV radar back at 2007. For those who have yet to dip into its stylised world of intrigue and glamour they have quite some catching up to do.
Mad Men takes place primarily in New York City at the outset of the 1960’s as the country enters what was to be arguably its most turbulent decade. The action centres on the fictional advertising agency Sterling Cooper and its head executive Donald Draper (Jon Hamm), a walking enigma of man who appears to optimise the smooth, fast talking family man with both hands wrapped firmly around the American Dream. But Don is hiding some devastating secrets and his supposedly pristine life is not the Eden it appears. In fact it isn’t for anybody; seemingly all of Draper’s family, co-workers and acquaintances are hiding something from one another (and in some cases themselves as well) and in the world of advertising where a single image substitute’s reality, their infidelities, debauchery and outright deceptions mark them out against a world which is rapidly changing around them and shedding their preset ideals. To recap recent events very quickly, Don has just managed turned the tide of his bitter divorce to Betty (January Jones), his alcoholism and the agencies failing fortunes. He also takes the surprisingly brash decision to propose to his secretary Megan (Jessica Pare) who seems to be the light at the end of the tunnel. But tough times still lie ahead for the agency, the war in Vietnam is escalating and one of Don’s spurned lovers ominously warns him, ‘You only like the beginning of things.’
The world portrayed in the show initially feels like something out of a science fiction drama given the startling contrasts to today’s attitude to social mores. The civil rights movement was just taking off and chauvinism was a firm fixture in the office place. It’s an environment where the men in charge have carte blanche to harass and insult the women that work alongside them. One of the dark joys of the show is seeing these narrow-minded views slowly torpedoed one by one as history changing events foreshadow major plot points; for example Don and his striking yet distant wife Betty facing major revelations about their marriage whilst the Cuban Missile Crisis threatens to engulf them and all around. None of the characters have a chance to be complacent; the world is moving too fast around them. However if the world doesn’t catch up with them first, their frighteningly extravagant lifestyles will. The naivety of the time period also means that all of the major characters smoke and drink to an almost comical degree; the air never seems to be free of smoke whilst a baby shower with flowing martinis provokes laughs and gasps aplenty. Thankfully the substance abuse is not easily dismissed and is shown to have a steadily detrimental effect upon these men who find that they are not as invulnerable as they think.
Draper is a fascinating character; a man who struggles to keep barriers between the lives and worlds he inhabits and is drawn to self-destructive behaviour like a moth to flame. With a main character with so many reasons to potentially dislike them, you better have an extremely charismatic leading man. Thank heavens then for Jon Hamm in what is destined to become an iconic performance; he will have to work very hard to emerge from Drapper’s shadow. His features convey the look of a traditional film or television star of the period yet he lays it with hint of both danger and vulnerability that is utterly compulsive. It’s a role that requires extreme confidence, notably in scenes where Drapper simply dominates sales pitches and board room meetings and Hamm grabs it with both hands and makes it a tour-de-force.
Of course very great T.V. drama needs support for its lead to bounce off of and Mad Men is bursting at the seams with fascinating characters. Listing them all would go on for a considerably long time but I would like to focus on two supporting characters, one of whom arguably stands next to Don as the show’s co-lead. First up is Peter Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), Don’s astonishingly ambitious and (initially) spineless understudy with a huge sense of entitlement and the need to prove to both his own distant family and his new needy wife and her parents. Both baby-faced and predatory in equal measure, Kartheiser is a joy to behold in the role. He masterfully flits between Pete’s bitter resentment and his comically naive grasp of shifting office politics. It’s in these scenes that we’re reminded that for all of the intense dramatics, the show walks a fine line of humour both subtle and broad. One of Pete’s permanent series storylines is established in the opening episode where he embarks on a fool hardy one night stand with new secretary Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss), who enters Sterling Cooper at the bottom rung and rapidly becomes a vital part of Don’s inner sanctum, both professional and personal. Moss’ performance is simply stunning throughout the series. She conveys the rift between traditional values and bright new ideals without ever falling into cliché or being preachy as we follow her journey and watch her character change and not necessarily for the best. Her initial ‘fish out of water’ scenes are amusing but the dramatics are where the true fireworks fly. The scenes where she butts heads with Pete and later Don are astonishing, most noticeably in the season four episode ‘The Suitcase’ where they gradually reveal themselves to one another over a hectic night and change their relationship permanently. It’s a staggeringly well written episode with both performers at the top of their game.
Mad Men is shined to within an inch of its life. The majority of scenes are filmed in interior Californian studios doubling for New York (presumably primarily for budgetary reasons) though they convince seamlessly whilst also reflecting the claustrophobic underlying theme of many of the storylines. Costume design and soundtrack choices are also impeccable firmly establishing the show as evidence for contemporary American television drama being on a par with feature film production. Mad Men has certainly built up enough hype to rival most major blockbusters and anticipation for the new season is at fever pitch. Personally I cannot recall another show where each season has been better than the one that preceded it so my fingers are crossed that Season Five can deliver the goods. I’ll certainly be waiting, suit cleanly pressed and tumbler of whiskey firmly in hand.
Mad Men Season Five Starts on Sky Atlantic on March 27th