It is pretty rare to have a TV series gradually get better with time. If anything, the opposite usually occurs. But Mad Men bucks that trend and produces a fifth season that is clearly the strongest of the show's run to this point. Why? Because it has now found the formula for a near-perfect balance of inside and outside the ad office.
This is a tricky balance with Mad Men. Spend too much time in-agency and the show becomes insular. But branch out too much and it starts straying from its "core values". Here in S5, show creator Matthew Weiner is firing on all cylinders.
On the business side of things, Don (Jon Hamm) and the rest of the partners--Pete (Vincent Kartheiser), Roger (John Slattery), Bert (Robert Morse), and Lane (Jared Harris)--must decide what company they want to be: a middling (if well-run and generally money-making) organization, or one that takes risks for a chance at the big meetings (like, say, with a major car company). Such decisions not only lead to animosity (including one out-and-out fistfight!), but also can't be shaken by the characters in their personal lives. Don struggles to relate to new wife Megan (Jessica Pare), Lane is driven by his upright British sensibility (in contrast to the laissez faire all around him), and Pete encounters some very Don-like infidelity scenarios he must navigate.
Through all the messiness at the top of the org, the creative department suffers too. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) is seemingly shoved aside in favor of new energetic hire Michael Ginsberg (Ben Feldman), while Harry (Rich Sommer) still cannot get a full grasp on his role.
Outside of SCDP, major plot lines abound as well:
-Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) and husband Greg (Sam Page) try to get things straightened out relative to his Army service.
-Betty Francis (January Jones) continues a descent into selfishness and the unwinding of what was thought to be a better Don-less existence.
-Sally (Kiernan Shipka) takes a huge step forward, featuring prominently in numerous episodes and embodying the key role of "true innocent"--a character all viewers can root for.
-Even old friend Paul Kinsey (Micheal Gladis) re-surfaces for a brief-but-crucial appearance!
A--perhaps the--major theme of S5: youth versus authority. Has Don (and similar-aged peers) lost his edge in the ad game? Is he willing to cede control to a younger generation that seems to be the new marketing demographic? This comprises much of the excellent character drama that Mad Men has become known for.
Overall, I consider S5 the clear best season of the show to this point. It deftly balances the ad-office formula alongside venturing "out into the 1960s world" more than it ever has. Plus, the characters now have so much backstory as to almost be "part of the family"--and thus worthy of viewer investment in their various fates.
This is a tricky balance with Mad Men. Spend too much time in-agency and the show becomes insular. But branch out too much and it starts straying from its "core values". Here in S5, show creator Matthew Weiner is firing on all cylinders.
On the business side of things, Don (Jon Hamm) and the rest of the partners--Pete (Vincent Kartheiser), Roger (John Slattery), Bert (Robert Morse), and Lane (Jared Harris)--must decide what company they want to be: a middling (if well-run and generally money-making) organization, or one that takes risks for a chance at the big meetings (like, say, with a major car company). Such decisions not only lead to animosity (including one out-and-out fistfight!), but also can't be shaken by the characters in their personal lives. Don struggles to relate to new wife Megan (Jessica Pare), Lane is driven by his upright British sensibility (in contrast to the laissez faire all around him), and Pete encounters some very Don-like infidelity scenarios he must navigate.
Through all the messiness at the top of the org, the creative department suffers too. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) is seemingly shoved aside in favor of new energetic hire Michael Ginsberg (Ben Feldman), while Harry (Rich Sommer) still cannot get a full grasp on his role.
Outside of SCDP, major plot lines abound as well:
-Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) and husband Greg (Sam Page) try to get things straightened out relative to his Army service.
-Betty Francis (January Jones) continues a descent into selfishness and the unwinding of what was thought to be a better Don-less existence.
-Sally (Kiernan Shipka) takes a huge step forward, featuring prominently in numerous episodes and embodying the key role of "true innocent"--a character all viewers can root for.
-Even old friend Paul Kinsey (Micheal Gladis) re-surfaces for a brief-but-crucial appearance!
A--perhaps the--major theme of S5: youth versus authority. Has Don (and similar-aged peers) lost his edge in the ad game? Is he willing to cede control to a younger generation that seems to be the new marketing demographic? This comprises much of the excellent character drama that Mad Men has become known for.
Overall, I consider S5 the clear best season of the show to this point. It deftly balances the ad-office formula alongside venturing "out into the 1960s world" more than it ever has. Plus, the characters now have so much backstory as to almost be "part of the family"--and thus worthy of viewer investment in their various fates.