The return of Mad Men

Who watched Mad Men last night? Were you as excited as I was by its return?

Since I mainlined the first six seasons not too long ago, this will be my first foray into watching it as it airs. I wonder what my end reaction is going to be about the entire season (or first half anyway since it's getting divided in two) with having to wait a week in between episodes instead of drinking it all down in one gulp.

While the symbolism seems knock you over the head heavy once you're looking for it, I'm still so in love with how smart this show is. Everything ties into each other, nothing is left to chance, almost everything has some kind of meaning. The fun is trying to find what it is.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the as low as you can go feeling permeating most of the characters is equivalent to that moment before the climax of the story where it seems like all is lost, right before the big payoff happens. It's that juxtaposition of dragging the viewer as far away from release as possible and then slingshotting them up to the climax. It's called that for a reason, after all, and the best way to make that as effective as possible is to make the difference as marked as you can. I want to believe Don can find a way to be happy, though it certainly won't be with Megan. At some point, Peggy needs that too, because right now, they are both utterly alone. At least in the past, Peggy's had her work to help make up for her sucky personal life, but with Lou as her boss, she doesn't even have that anymore.

But everybody's alone. When Roger gets back after his disastrous brunch, he's got two people in his bed who curl up on their side and don't even touch him. Ken feels like he's on his own (which he most likely was before recruiting Joan's help). Joan does everything she can to survive, just like she's always done, but it's still her against the establishment and expectation. Megan's mostly alone in LA since Don is living bi-coastal. Even Pete's alone, but at least he's happy about it all.

The question becomes...who will figure out how to change enough with the world around them to survive? And how ironic is it that Pete is the first who seems to have done so?

Fave moment: Discovering it was Don's pitch, not Freddy's. It seems obvious in hindsight. The whole speech reeked of Don and the fact that Peggy was so surprised to hear it from him should've been a huge tip-off.

Least fave: Peggy's attitude with Stan when she calls him a hack for not caring. It's not out of character at all for either of them, and I'm glad he just walked out on her rather than engaging a pointless battle, but it still made my Peggy/Stan heart wish for better. Peggy needs to open her eyes and see what a find she has in her friend and stop treating him like crap. He came to her rescue when she couldn't be in the same space with Ted. She relies on him. Now she has to stop acting like Don and appreciate it.

What did you think?