Not much happens in the first episode of Mad Men's new season, which premiered last night and will air four more times this week. And yet, as the action jumps forward 14 months, everything seems to be changing. The music has gone from sappy crooners to "Let's Twist Again," and the whole world seems to be gradually transitioning from the conformist '50s to the groovy '60s.
At Don's insurance physical, his doctor tells him he has high blood pressure, and that his chain-smoking and hard-drinking lifestyle could eventually catch up to him. (Of course, part of the solution is a prescription for Phenobarbitol, to help him "relax.") In one of those period-setting punch lines this show does so perfectly, the doctor treats him as if he's practically senescent, saying, "You're 36 years old. . . you need to take this seriously."
Back at the agency, there's a problem with a coffee account, because everyone under 25 is apparently drinking Pepsi instead. (The soda's slogan at the time was "For those who think young," which could be Mad Men's theme for the entire season.) As a result, new head of accounts Duck thinks the agency should have more "kids" on staff to placate their now youth-obsessed clients. (Peggy is just 22, but as a woman she doesn't count.) So a few turtlenecked hipsters are trotted in, while the seriously unhip copywriters in their late 20s look on in envy. And Don, whose entire theory of advertising is based on old-fashioned sentiment, starts reading a book of poetry by Frank O'Hara.
Meanwhile, the office is getting a newfangled Xerox machine, which Joan assures the "girls" will make their lives easier. And there's plenty of gossip about whether Peggy was pregnant (maybe by Don, as her career is flourishing, and that couldn't possibly be because of her talent), since she disappeared for several weeks and came back thin. Pete, whose wife's desire for a baby is reaching a critical level, acts as if he doesn't know he already has one with Peggy. And Joan is waiting for a proposal from the eligible young doctor she's dating. . . but the heat between her and Roger is obviously still there.
Oh, and it's Valentine's Day, and there's romance in the air. . . until all the ladies (and closeted Salvatore, who surprisingly is now married) become far more interested in an interview with Jackie Kennedy on TV. (Does anyone else think her voice was oddly similar to Marilyn Monroe's?) Betty's gift is a night of passion in a hotel with Don -- except that, despite the fact that she looks incredible in period lingerie, for once he doesn't come through in the clinch. Whether it's his new medication, or the fact that he's chafing under his husbandly duties now that he's given up his exotic girlfriends and his late nights in the city, he's clearly lost some of his mojo.
Betty, sexually frustrated and still a tad unstable, is intrigued when she learns that her roommate from her modeling days has become a "party girl," i.e., a hooker. Later, when her car breaks down on a dark, empty street and she doesn't have enough cash to pay the tow-truck driver to install a new fan belt, she naively tries flirting and "bargaining" with the guy. Luckily for her, he doesn't demand more for his six dollars than a smile, and once again she gets away with her childish behavior unscathed.
All in all? This was a great catch-up episode, even if it didn't offer all that much in the plot department. (Apparently, writer-creator Matthew Weiner doesn't like frenetic postmodern storytelling any more than Don Draper does.) But we're getting to know these people and the era they live in even better than before, and that's worth plenty.
Photo: AMC
Previously:
The Future of Mad Men Revealed
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