Mad Men was powerful.
Holy shit. I'm very impressed. Mad Men is one of those shows that everyone says is good so in the back of your mind it's always “If I got nothing to watch, I'll try it.” Try it.
I've seen a lot of crazy shows, the Breaking Bads, Sopranos, Mr. Robots, and Dexters, they all have one thing in common. High stakes, murder, anxiousness, etc.
Mad Men doesn't have these. I don't know how, but I am IMMERSED in the 1960s advertising agencies that have subconsciously convinced my ancestors to drink Coke. Immersed. The show pulls me in consistently, not from the “wild” moments, but from the wholesome ones.
Scenes where Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, has a great bonding moment with his daughter, or he gives the character you're rooting for appreciation. Just a lot of nice stuff.
All of these characters and life-like storylines come together to bring you an authentic look at the 1960s as well as class structure of the country at the time. All Mad Men knows is honesty.
Mad Men, which is named after a self deprecating name for Advertisers (Ad Men = Mad Men), is entirely about Don Draper's home and work environment, how he affects them, and how they affect him.
Constantly we are thrown into his world but not his mind, throughout the show we are disagreeing with Don, even IF we understand his motivations, so you need to have a few favorite characters or else you'll go crazy from Don being a jackass.
Luckily for the viewer, there are a LOT of characters to become your favorite. My personal favorites early on were Peggy Olsen (Played by Elizabeth Moss) and Harry Crane (Played by some cute tubby bastard).
I do need to say this again, the show gets you by being wholesome. I'm watching this show getting proud of people who would probably be one foot in the grave by now, 66 years after the pilot takes place. Peggy Olsen, if real, could be my fuckin’ Grandma and I'm sitting here feeling like my own daughter graduated from Harvard.
Overall, the show is smart and thorough, every character is extremely defined, even when a character's choices surprise you, it's never something that would make you think “Ah Don Draper wouldn't do that.” They're very good at developing characters around decisions that haven't been made yet. It's clever as fuck and the finale had me genuinely choked up, JUST from a piece of dialogue.
10/10. Holy shit.
-Bryan
