

‘Mad Men’ season premier review: Everything old is new
The new season of “Mad Men” premiered last night and I was very disappointed. I seriously felt like I was watching some mid-season show about a bunch of people I don’t know.
Last season left of with the newly-formed Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. They were running their ad agency out of a hotel room. Don (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones) were talking divorce. And other characters were doing their things. Then Season 4 happens. The new agency is thriving in a full office. Don and Betty are divorced. Betty is remarried. And half the characters who were doing their own thing aren’t even around now. I mean where the hell is Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton)? And who is that new guy working with Peggy (Elisabeth Moss)? It’s all very frustrating.
There were some things that remain the same, thankfully. I mean Don is still an a-hole. Sterling and Cooper still act like Don ruins everything. Peggy is still a wimp. Little Sally Draper is still a lisping bad seed. And Betty Draper is still one of the worst mothers on television. So I guess there’s still hope for this new season of “Mad Men.”
The show has never been heavily plot driven, so there wasn’t a lot going on last night. Don had a date with a new woman (played aptly by “True Blood” Season 3’s Anna Camp). Betty clashed with her new husband’s family. Peggy’s love interest is still around, but “she’s wearing the pants” (my only period reference, I promise). Don pays a prostitute to slap him. Don screws up an interview and makes the company look bad. He throws some clients out. He calls for a new interview to make the company look better.
It’s not the show that has made me mad. I’m just upset they jumped so far ahead. And didn’t explain anything. I don’t even know what year it is now. I’m guessing from the decor and fashion, it’s late 1965 (just before 1966). But maybe I’m wrong. Who knows. I just thought it was a poor season premier.
I’m sure within two weeks I will be back on board with this normally-amazing show. But for now, I’m mad. A mad man. Sorry, I had to do it.
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