The Doorway Part 1

a minority view here at amazon--i still love it
i notice that after 280 reviews that this show has an aggregate rating of three stars. i've read some of the reviews and amazon viewers in general seem to be underwhelmed with the show. i have been reading post episode analyses online plus listening to NPR podcasts about Mad Men. this amazon view is not being repeated there nor do i share it. i like the series as much as i ever did.

take a look at the poster shown on this page for the show. that is don draper both coming and going. look at the signs around him and the disjointedness of the art work. it is not an uplifting poster! this season opens at the end of 1967 and then jumps right into 1968 and the country as a whole is coming apart, just like the poster. so it is not just don draper's world which is being torn.

at the end of last season, much was made of the woman coming up to don and asking him "are you alone?". much has been written about whether that meant don was going to return to being a...

Slow and Steady wins the race....
Every season, the show starts off like an empty flower bed, takes roots and then blossoms. This season is no different. I think it's funny when people complain that Don Draper has no character growth. He's f'ing Batman. He's Tony Soprano. He is not supposed to change, you are just supposed to understand him better. Hoping for some growth from Joan and Peggy this season though and for Pete to do something beyond lust and jealousy. Mad for Mad Men!

Rolling through the years
Ever since I started watching Mad Men I have felt the nostalgia of my childhood. The delightful shock seeing the activities that are totally unacceptable now but were part of my everyday life growing up in the 1960s. Pregnant aunts drinking and smoking. Kids like myself bouncing around the backseat of the car seatbelt-less. Eight year olds fetching drinks for adults at neighborhood parties. Grown ups driving drunk. Bosses (Roger) saying all sorts of condescending yet, I must admit, hilarious things to women! All seems so foreign now but so familiar. At once shocking and comforting. I was hooked!
This season corresponds with the beginning of my adolescent years. Late 60's early 70's. I remember this time from a perspective changed from that of a child to that of a young teen. This season is presented from the same changed perspective. Change for women, change for male/female relationships, more drug experimentation etc. These themes parallel my personal experience of going from...

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