Mad Men: Series Premiere

Mad Men is back. The 7th and last season of the show premiered with ‘Time Zones’ on Sunday the 13th and immediately reflected the somewhat fading interest and cultural immediacy of the show: the season premiere drew about 2.3 million viewers. In comparison, 3.37 million viewers watched the series finale last year.

Disappointing, really. Last year’s finale ‘In Care Of’ left us in a definitely intriguing position: Don, attempting to face his past, his children by his side; the decline and fall of Pete Campbell; Ted, escaping from his feelings for Peggy and going to California; and, finally, Peggy: powerful, rising to the top, finally at Don’s office.

And thus we arrive at the year of 1969. Richard Nixon became the 37th president of the USA, the Beatles released Abbey Road, and the freedom and love spirit of the 1960s was coming to an end. The times they are truly a’changing.

Matthew Weiner, the creator of the show, clearly thinks among similar lines: the first moments of Time Zones show the familiar face of good ol’ Freddy Rumsen. He says: ‘are you ready? Because I want you to pay attention. This is the beginning of something.’ It turns out to be a pitch for the ad of Accutron Watches – and Freddy is pitching it to Peggy, looking as smart and important as ever.

Yet appearances are deceiving. Don’s office is now inhabited by Lou Avery, and he seems to be one of the most uninspiring creative directors ever. He refuses to hear any of Peggy’s suggestions and states that he is immune to her charms. Yeauch.

Don, however, is still on indefinite paid leave from his job, and is travelling to LA to see his wife. He takes a record 6 minutes – that feel like eternity – to appear on screen, and when he does, he is shaving in an airplane bathroom. And then, gliding along a moving sidewalk to the sound of I’m A Man, he is finally ready for his close-up. Meeting Megan at the airport, the Drapers look like a dashing movie couple.

Megan seems to be pursuing a promising career of an actress; she is living alone in a wooden house near a valley (into which Don almost immediately brings a gigantic TV set. Not quite the hippy, are you, Don). Their marital status is obscure; is Megan estranged? Are they still together? She definitely doesn’t look comfortable with the idea of sex. Instead, she makes coq au vin.

The series premiere reflected the somewhat fading interest and cultural immediacy of the show

Pete, on the other hand, seems to be making more use of what L.A. has to offer; he has become even more unbearable with a cheeky healthy neurotic glow on his face.

Back in New York, Roger is found naked, sharing a room with multiple naked people in what seems to be a drug-induced free love orgy. His daughter Margaret arranges a meeting with him to manifest forgiveness; she has found salvation and peace. When asked by Roger whether she’s going to church, she answers: ‘not in a way that you’d understand’.

In contrast, Ken Cosgrove doesn’t seem to be doing as well. One-eyed Ken has taken a habit of shouting at people – even Joan. Drowning in work and feeling underappreciated, he tells Joan to cancel his meeting with the new marketing director of Butler Footwear, one of their most important clients. Joan, displaying a good sense of business, goes to that meeting instead only to find that Butler Footwear are thinking of getting rid of SDP’s help and instead moving an ad agency to the company. Joan manages to persuade Wade, the marketing director, to delay his recommendations for the company until he gets to meet Ken.

Sadly, that goes unappreciated: Ken violently tells Joan off for messing in his business.

The episode ends with Peggy, coming home (she is now trying to be a landlord) and collapsing on the floor, looking upwards as if to find salvation. Don is examining a bottle in his apartment and then goes out to freeze in the balcony. A truly slow episode, carefully displaying its cards and leaving more questions than giving answers.

‘Time Zones’ is an episode of deceiving appearances and the search for redemption; Don finally realizes that he has been a terrible husband and confesses it to a woman he’s met on a plane; yet instead of behaving typically, he lies to her – as he did to Megan – about having to go back to work. Peggy, still heartbroken after the affair with Ted, is trying to keep it together in the office and only in the privacy of her own home shows true emotion. Both Don and Peggy, key characters of the show, seem to have fallen from grace.

Will the 7th season display redemption or continuing decline? We have to wait and see.