I want to go to there

Mad Men is back and it’s about time. For the past year TV has been shockingly bad (hole in the wall being the obvious exception) and disappointingly we look again to America to provide us with some relief from this banal drought. With its sophisticated authenticity its hard not to be seduced by the lure of Mad Man however underneath this external beauty lies a deeper and darker past life, consumed with isolation and deception. It tells the tale of Sterling Cooper, an advertising agency in the early 1960's in Madison Avenue. From watching the first series its most noticeable quirk is that not much happens, with slowly developed story lines and dialogue to match but it’s within this control where the genius lies. Don Draper (the name alone oozing with charm) is a stupidly handsome top honcho played by Jon Hamm and with a seemingly ideal existence living the suburbia dream it seems he couldn’t want for anything more, however the picture postcard family only fuels his temptation to sleep around and connections are drawn to establish a screwed up man, barely coping to understand and explore his own emotions.

Mad Men is clearly the most innovative drama to be produced for many years and has rightfully received numerous Emmy’s and Golden Globes which makes its opening rating this year on BBC Four of 200,000 seem all the more bizarre. At the heart of it lies Peggy, a character with flaws like everyone else yet because of her quirky behavior that you can never quite put your finger on she redeems herself as the most redeemable character, a woman who despite fighting the inherent sexism rises above her secretarial role and expectations to become one of the boys, out of her depth? Hardly! Although we shouldn’t like them we do, a reluctant admiration which is most evident with Joan, the femme fatal with a questionable moral compass but a definitive confidence which we all crave, her refusal to quieten a bitterly sharp tongue.

Ultimately Mad Men causes watchers to remember such an era wit a nostalgic hue due to its stylised nature causing us to question why we don’t still live like that. However scratch deeper and dangerous questions are seen which need to be asked, which. Behind the dresses and picket fences lies a deeply established shovanism which was generally accepted by men and women alike however through Betty's anxiety we soon realise that for the women, suburbia was an inescapable prison and the role of housewife had his own hellish effect behind closed doors.

hx