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“Last year, our agency was being swallowed whole. I realised I had two choices. I could die of boredom... or holster up my guns. So I walked into Lane Pryce’s office and I said, ‘Fire us.’”
The most stylish programme on the box is back – and a rather wonderful four months earlier than expected, at that. Season 3 might not have been the programme’s best on the whole, but it was capped by an absolutely glorious finale. It was a complete game changer and has given Mad Men a new sense of life, purpose and direction that is almost palpable in this episode.
My biggest problem with Season 3 was the focus on Don’s personal life. His marriage to Betty faced a downward spiral, and the revelation of his true identity was the last straw. While January Jones is perfect as Betty, Don has always been at his most interesting at work, and that hasn’t changed now that he’s working at Sterling Cooper Draper Price. The realisation that the very existence of this new firm is based on his personality weighs heavily on Don, but he plays up to it admirably. Jon Hamm is, as ever, astonishing throughout, but especially in the last scene as Don turns on the rock star image with the reporter.
As always, the most interesting scenes in Mad Men are in the office. Don and Roger’s relationship seems to be somewhat repaired, which is good to see as John Slattery has wonderful chemistry with Jon Hamm. He gets some of the best lines of the episode – you can tell the writers love writing for him – my particular favourite being, “A wooden leg. They’re so cheap they can’t even afford a whole reporter.” Elisabeth Moss has always been one of my favourite elements of the show and it was fascinating to see the new Peggy, looking fabulous and sitting on her desk, slamming back whiskey and discussing ideas with her colleagues – a far cry from the earnest, naive secretary of season one. Even if she’s only in this episode briefly, it’s good to see Joan, one of the most intelligent people in at SCDP, finally with her own office.
And yet – as I said in my review of the start of Season 3 – one person in that office has my heart, and with him it shall remain. Pete Campbell finally seems to be learning some sort of people skills, but he’s not always entirely successful. His bond with Peggy is still very much present, but it’s been used to give them a strong working partnership rather than continual angst. Vincent Kartheiser is just so wonderful as this character, delivering every line with Pete’s strange mixture of enthusiasm and opportunism, and he gets arguably the best line of the episode – when discussing hiring actresses for a PR stunt, he declares, “I can use my expense account if I say they’re whores!”
Some of the most interesting and perceptive TV criticism is written about Mad Men – I particularly love the truly amazing Mad Style posts by Tom and Lorenzo of Project RunGay. It really is magnificent to see that one of the most intelligent and compelling TV programmes being made today has continued the form it so beautifully regained at the end of season 3.
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