Last night’s second episode of the AMC series “Mad Men” was worst than the first. It attempted to take us, “Sopranos” style, deeper into the life of advertising uber-exec “Don Draper”, he of the wife, kids, and artsy mistress. We also were fed more office sexism, and the period skepticism of psychiatry. None of the themes really hit home, and perhaps the show lacked substance because creepy exec climber “Pete” was absent due to his honeymoon (hardly worth mentioning except as a set up for a couple bawdy jokes told by his Madison Ave. co-workers).
Expository sequences still have to move the audience along, and this effort dragged. Important scenes where copywriter “Paul” shepherd’s secretary “Peggy”, and where “Ken” falls victim to some aerosol horseplay, both fell flat and inconclusive. TV viewers need a plot point to latch onto every ten minutes or so- “The Sopranos” often accomplished this through violence- “Mad Men” isn’t sultry enough to accomplish it via sex. The gold standard for hot ad industry couples on the tube is Dick Sargent and Elizabeth Montgomery- this show has a long way to go. If the third time isn’t the charm, AMC’s self-described slick offering will be little more than false advertising.
http://media.amctv.com/originals/madmen/
BCB
