TV Review

Mad Men (2009)
By Ken Tucker

The third-season premiere of Mad Men is chock-full of revelations about familiar characters and fresh details about newly introduced ones, as well as the sort of specifics and symbolism that creator Matthew Weiner layers into every episode like a top Top Chef. As with so much about Mad Men, some of it is overheated but never half-baked, and the opening hour rises like a nearly flawless soufflé of sex and salesmanship.

The episode begins several months after last season ended, with a daringly moving flashback by Jon Hamm's Don, as he imagines how he came into the world, an illegitimate child who we know from previous seasons was named Dick, but now we learn why. Since we last saw him, Don appears to have become a happy homebody, making warm milk for his pregnant wife, Betty (January Jones), and cuddling with her as she murmurs, ''I just want everything to be perfect.''

It's a feeling echoed by, of all people, the delightfully weaselly Pete Campbell, who gets a promotion that he's lusted after...but that comes with strings attached. (No one does bitter petulance better than actor Vincent Kartheiser.)

The opening hour is full of witty office scenes, including a marvelous business meeting with an unhappy client, London Fog raincoats, and an extraordinary firing of one employee who takes out his rage by making a scene in the secretarial pool. (The splashes there have to be mopped up by the Esther Williams of Mad Men, that Tex Avery dream-girl, Christina Hendricks' Joan.) New business strategies (firings, job shifts) get implemented by the ad agency's new owners, embodied by Fringe's Jared Harris, who is dry, conniving, and quietly contemptuous of his American counterparts. Hoo boy, is this Brit going to be a jolly good villain to secretly root for!

The subplot that's bound to get the most attention, though, involves our big, sad Sal (Bryan Batt), who has repressed his homosexuality in a manner typical of the 1960s: He got married and stayed miserable. In the premiere, however, Sal seems on the verge of joyous release while on a business trip with Don, but — well, I can't give it away. Let's talk afterward, shall we?

The recurring theme of the premiere is isolation and thwarted pleasure. Sometimes these sentiments are hammered home too hard, as when Don says melodramatically, ''I keep going to a lot of places and ending up where I've already been.'' But most of the time, Mad Men's depiction of quiet desperation is impeccable. Sal quotes Balzac to an unimpressed client: ''Our greatest fears lie in anticipation.'' This glib crib from the French novelist can be turned inside out to describe Mad Men's viewers. Our greatest pleasure lies in anticipation of what is to come this season. A–

http://www.ew.com/ew/arti...85,00.html

Run 'Mad Men' up the flagpole and salute its icy genius
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

If there's one thing we can all learn from Madison Avenue, it's the danger of over-selling.

Mad Men has already won every TV award known to man, including basic cable's first series Emmy, and is a strong favorite to take the Emmy again next month — which is the kind of success that breeds both expectations and backlash. So be warned. There is a brilliance to Mad Men ( out of four), but it's a chilly brilliance. And even in August, chill doesn't appeal to everyone.

Like the early '60s time period it's set in, Mad Men embraces the linked virtues of cool and restraint, an artistic choice that tends to limit its popular appeal. It doesn't have the violent jolts of The Sopranos, the epic sweep and grandeur of Lost or the crowd-pleasing romantic heroism of The West Wing.

Its beauty lies in the way it re-creates a now-lost world, then twists that world so it reflects our own.

That may never be more true than in Sunday's superb season premiere, written by creator Matthew Weiner, because we all know the late-stage Camelot universe the characters occupy is about to shatter. For now, they still move through a cultural fog that obscures the sexual and racial tensions lurking around each corner. But they also have a secret, and it's one Mad Men is perfectly set to reveal: The fog never really existed. They saw it because they wanted to.

Don't panic — Sunday's excellent return contains far more than just atmosphere. The show gets off to a running start, with each of the major characters forced to confront some personal or professional shift, some of which you've seen coming, and some you haven't.

The tone is set by Don —Jon Hamm, who so adroitly conveys the series' overall message about the illusion of self-created appearances. Don has the seemingly ideal life, yet as the show's eerie first scene attests, he continues to see one life while living another.

Those lives are about to get even more complicated. Pregnancy may have made his wife (January Jones) recommit to their marriage, but it hasn't made her any less restless. And the purchase of his ad firm by a British company has thrown the workplace into a very relatable state of chaos, sending him to Baltimore with Sal (Bryan Batt) to hold on to a crucial account.

What happens to all involved, you should discover for yourself, and it is well worth discovering.

There is always meaning to Mad Men's madness and passion under its control, along with an uncommon level of style, flair and wit. On a TV shelf crowded with cookie-cutter products, Mad Men is an original.

You don't have to buy it, but you should at least try it out.

http://www.usatoday.com/l...titialskip

I'm so late on this boat. I KNOW I would love it.

I'm ordering season 1 on netflix stat!

I'm so late on this boat. I KNOW I would love it.

I'm ordering season 1 on netflix stat!

You'd love it for the fashion alone.

This might very well replace Buffy The Vampire Slayer as my favorite TV show ever!

I'm so late on this boat. I KNOW I would love it.

I'm ordering season 1 on netflix stat!

CarrieMpls said:

Umm, this is supposed to be you

CarrieMpls said:

Umm, this is supposed to be you

btw, christina hendricks has lost a lot of weight, does that mean they're stuffing her up this season

from the new season's premiere party





[Edited 8/15/09 13:33pm]

Maybe there will be a rumor about Joan going to a fat farm just like Peggy at the beginning of last season.

This promo makes me WET I had to hunt down the song - still can't believe that's Seal Can't wait for Sunday night



[Edited 8/16/09 4:38am]

CalhounSq said:

That promo is compiled from season two clips, no? Still hot.

I'm in the middle of a season two marathon right now before the premiere tonight.

I so wanted the closet case to get some.

I so wanted the closet case to get some.

sextonseven said:

No idea - I recognize some but not all of them. The song makes it for me, NICE...