Welcome to Mad Men's seventh and final season, everybody. But it's not the time to start mourning yet, because as we know, this year is only giving us 7 episodes of the final 14 episode season, with the remaining half to be shelved and aired next year. Why are they doing this? I really don't know- it seems senseless to me, except that AMC probably wants to hang on to its crown jewel a little bit longer, since with the exception of this and Breaking Bad, the rest of their original programming has not exactly turned the network into the new HBO. But anyway, tonight is the start of a mini-season at least, and things are much the same as ever, with Don still in existential crisis mode as he attempts to work out this new "bi-coastal" relationship with Megan.
A relationship which certainly seems doomed if this hour tonight tells us anything. It's January 1969, Nixon's being inaugurated, and Don is still on paid leave from SC&P, flying to California to spend some quality time with his too hip wife. Megan still seems to be Matt Weiner's darling, but then again, she does represent the younger generation as we first see her picking Don up from the airport in one of those tiny little skirt dresses that were so popular in the late 60's and early 70's. She's getting a pilot on NBC, has a new excitable agent and a remote house in hills. Don isn't used to any of this of course, although he puts on what's (for him) a fairly welcoming attitude, buying her a new TV (which she hates) and making something of an attempt to re-connect with her. Megan is uncomfortable with the distance though, and just when they seem to be settled in, Don has to book it back to New York. While on the plane he meets a passenger woman (Neve Campbell!!!) whose husband died recently and who cozies up to him almost immediately, essentially offering herself as a place holder while he's apart from his wife. For once, Don doesn't go for it, although he wants to, and admits out loud that he's a terrible husband and Megan knows it, wondering how long this arrangement between them will actually last. My guess is conveniently until the end of this half season. What do you guys think?
Elsewhere in the Mad Men universe, we meet up with Peggy, who's coping with the new advertising boss Lou Avery at the office. The guy's a tool who won't listen to any of her ideas, which is unfortunate because her ideas about a new watch happen to be really good tonight, having come from the newly freelancing Freddy, who we find out later is being paid by Don to sell his ideas back to Peggy ala Cyrano de Bergerac. Yeah, you knew Freddy was not that good. Peggy also runs into Ted, in town briefly to spew some awkward vibes all over the office before jetting back to California, and gets into a fight with the neighbors, who keep bothering her to fix their plumbing (is Peggy the landlord? I didn't quite get why it's her responsibility to fix the building problems all of a sudden). And then there's Joan, tasked with new responsibilities of her own by an overwhelmed and busy (and still eyepatched) Ken, and whose job tonight is to cater to a marketing guy from Butler Footwear. Out of her depth at first, she gets a crash course in marketing from some university professor and manages to convince the guy at the last minute to stick with SC&P, so yay! Go Joan.
A mostly place-setter episode tonight, that sets up all of our characters and shows us parallel final scenes of Don and Peggy (always on similar paths) collapsing in tears in the case of the latter, and sitting out on a freezing balcony in what's perhaps a mental collapse of his own. As always the fashion and aesthetic of Mad Men remains one of my favorite parts of the show, as 1969 should be entering some of the most wacky years in fashion of the 21st century. Bet that's fun for the costume designers. I'll be back next week and for the next 6 weeks for this truncated mini-season, but it's always great to have one of my all time favorite shows back on the air, and after a solid premiere I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next in the lives of our soul-searching, unfulfilled but always fascinating cast of characters.
Other tidbits:
-Roger, Roger, Roger. Our couple of scenes with him show us he's traveling on the fringes of the counterculture now, participating in orgies and god knows what else on a regular basis. His lunch date with his daughter, who wants to forgive him for all of his transgressions (and seems to be on some new age trip of her own) bothers him, but he doesn't look like he's coming out of this wild world anytime soon.
-Pete's intro tonight was hilarious, as he strolls in to a California diner to meet Don for lunch and greets him with an unctuous smile and big hug, his ensemble complete with plaid pants and a sweater tied around the neck like a sailor. Good old Pete love his new West Coast life and warns Don away from his hottie real estate agent, but Vincent Kartheiser seems to be becoming more and more comic relief on the show, amusingly enough.
-No Betty or Sally tonight, but I'm sure they're saving them for some good stuff later. I'm especially interested in how Sally and Don are getting along these days, after their season ending moment last year seemed to signal a new understanding between them. Then again, you never really know what's actual progress on Mad Men and what's more of a step backwards.
