AMC — it’s the network to beat these days. Just ask the creators of “The Walking Dead” whose recent finale took in a record-breaking 9 million viewers. But as much as we don’t want to see the walkers go, it’s time to put the zombie season behind us and get back to the show that put AMC on the map in the first place: “Mad Men.”After a 17-month hiatus (due to contract negotiations and scheduling conflicts) the ad agency that is Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is back and ready for a whole new year. We last left Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and company at the end of 1965, but the two-hour premier tomorrow night skips ahead six months to May 1966 — the dawn of the Civil Rights movement. Times they are a changin’, we can see that, but the question is: How do the times affect our beloved characters?
Now in its fifth season, “Mad Men” has established quite a basis for its characters. At the end of season four, though, those characters were given another layer of depth, and then some. We may not like what we see anymore, and it will be season five’s job to manage a balance between what we fell in love with over the years with where these characters are headed in the future. Here’s where we left off:
Don — Last we left our favorite playboy he had proposed to his twenty-something secretary, Megan, to fill a lonely void that took over his life in season four. Megan is half Don’s age and twice as spunky as Don’s ex-wife Betty (January Jones). She brings life to the table, and as a twenty-something in the ’60s, I’m sure she’s not done having fun in her life despite the proposal. Perhaps we’ll see that fun personality transfer over to Don and loosen him up a bit — that is if the two are even still together. Knowing Don, he simply could have called the whole thing off.
Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) — The young gun who’s always looking to climb the ladder at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce had just announced that he and his wife Trudy would be having a baby last season. This year I’m sure we’ll see how that new responsibility affects his work life — both his drive for clients and especially his relationship with copywriter Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), with whom he once had an affair with and got pregnant, leading her to give the baby up for adoption.
Peggy — At the conclusion of last season, Peggy took a big step forward by single-handily saving Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce from a serious drought in cash flow — after the agency’s biggest client Lucky Strike took their business elsewhere — when she signed a panty-hose account. A big deal for sure, but unfortunately Don’s engagement announcement over-shadowed her news. In this season, it seems Peggy could have a new understudy in Megan, relinquishing her role as sole female copywriter and giving Peggy a run for her money just as she’s finally felt what success feels like.
Joan (Christina Hendricks) — Bombshell secretary, or newly appointed Director of Agency Operations at the agency, Joan was in the midst of deciding whether to keep her pregnancy, knowing well-enough that it wasn’t her husband Greg’s baby — as he is serving overseas. The baby, as we know, is from her go-to-guy Roger Sterling (John Slattery), with whom she had always had a long-term affair with before she was married, but happened to make another return to once her hubby was bound for Vietnam. Last we saw she was leaving the abortion clinic, having decided to not ‘take care of it’ as she told Roger.
Will she have a baby in season five? And what will that do to her career at Sterling Draper Cooper Pryce? After all, it is the ’60s, and not many women held both a career and a family life back then. The big question is, will she tell Greg that it’s not his?
Betty — Don’s ex-wife was last seen firing her children’s long-time nanny Carla, and packing up her family’s things — along with newbie husband Henry — to move into a new house for a fresh start to things. Daughter Sally had been acting out quite a bit, and we’ll see if the move did anything to help, or whether son Bobby will follow in her sister’s footsteps. The question with Betty is, despite her new house and husband, will she truly be better off, or will she still be the same cruel, woman we’ve all come to have a love-hate relationship with?
Only time will tell, and luckily we don’t have to wait much longer to find out. The good news is under the new contract negotiations signed by creator Matthew Weiner another two seasons were agreed upon, so at least we know we have a few more years of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce antics to come. Until then, let’s enjoy 1966 while it’s (finally) here.
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