Ah, Mad Men…after ‘The Sopranos’ it has to be the greatest
TV series (drama category) of our modern age. At this point I would also like
to take a moment to remember the legendary James Gandolfini. When I heard of
his passing, I thought that maybe they had made a mistake (as with the Monica
Vitti ‘Le Monde’ incident of 1988)
but, alas, it was not to be. The role of Tony Soprano will
rightly stand out as one of the great performances but his other roles must not
be forgotten. He brought edge, menace and humour like few others and will be
sorely missed.
I digress…Mad Men – sex, specs, and awesome suits with a heart
stopping of Canadian Club for good measure. This series really put the emphasis
on the aesthetic, arguably more so than in previous seasons. Which does not
mean to say that the dialogue suffered…au contraire…special mention must go to
the new character, Bob Benson, who successfully managed to maintain an
ambiguous chemistry with both Joan and Pete Campbell which is, by no means, an
easy feat.
The inclusion of the offices of General Motors was a welcome
diversion from the new look office and California pool and pile scenes. The
clothes were, as always, magnificent but, let’s face it, what could Jon Hamm
look bad in? I challenge them to pull out a dodgy pair of bell bottoms to test
this theory for the final series.
My only criticism would be this fashionable notion of lead
actors directing episodes. Whilst it can have brilliant results, I found one of
the episodes directed by Roger Stirling himself, Mr John Slattery, to be a
little flat and uninteresting. Also the series seemed a little short in
comparison, say, to ‘The Good Wife’ which seems bloody never-ending…plus, is it
me or do Lockhart/Gardener win EVERY single bloody case??
Alisha Florick: you have a drink problem. Red wine and tequila are the fourth and fifth characters in this series, along with killer "lawyer fashion" and Kalinda's penchant for leather.
