“Mad Men”

“A term coined in the late 1950’s to describe the advertising executives of Madison Avenue.

They coined it.”

I am, for obvious reasons, not nostalgic about olden times where men were men and women were women. When smoking wasn’t considered stupid, but cool and trendy. When things were clear-cut and everyone knew which side of the world was good and which side was bad…

No, I can’t say I feel much nostalgia about those days of our history, but I am however quite interested in the intrigues and daily drama of the era, and that’s where ‘Mad Men’ comes into the picture. This show takes place in New York in 1960’s and depicts the people and events in the advertising bureau ‘Sterling Cooper’. Affairs! Crooked business! A mysterious past that’s come back to haunt the main character! Women’s rights! And most of all; smoking and drinking - two activities that everyone partakes in all the time in this series.

Because you have to understand one thing about ‘Mad Men’: It doesn’t play by the same rules as normal dramas, which are often filled with lacklustre and gossip-worthy events. You’ll find those things in this series too, but where other series shocks you with the unfolding events, ‘Mad Men’ lets them play out with subtlety and class. A quick look or the offering of a cigarette may be enough to resolve or start a harrowing conflict that may not appear to be more than the smallest of argument if you don’t interpret the actor’s actions closely enough. Heck, this show is so subtle that I’m certain that I missed at least half of the things that transpired during this thirteen episode long first season, and I really tried the best I could. It’s fun, but it’s also quite demanding.

The cast of this show is nothing short of fantastic. There’s not a bad actor among them, in fact, I’d venture that the entire cast is so talented that every single one of them could’ve been the leads. As it is, the main character, wonderboy ‘Donald Draper’, was by far my favourite, but that’s just because he got the better part of the attention.

Ironically enough, the most common argument against this series is that it’s “too slow”, but I’d argue that those people just don’t pay close enough attention to fully appreciate ‘Mad Men’. I did, and while I also thought that the first couple of episodes could’ve had more content, I’d also say that the last five episodes were something of the best I’ve seen on Television since ‘Deadwood’ or ‘Dexter’. My favourite episode was probably nr. 11, ‘Nixon vs. Kennedy’, which put national events in juxtaposition to Draper’s past in a near-to-genius manner.

So if you’re up for something quite heavy but ultimately fantastic, then I’d certainly recommend you watch ‘Mad Men’. It’s quite funny too, but not in a lough-out-loud way that so many shows seems to think is the only way to entertain their audience.

Also, Donald Draper (played by ‘Jon Hamm’, who incidentally got a Golden Globe for ‘Best Lead Actor’ for his performance on ‘Mad Men’) should definitely be cast as ‘Superman’ at some point. He would make an awesome Clark Kent.

9.0/10 (weak)