THIS SECTION IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION as I am planning to go back to Season 1 and start reviewing from scratch. Keeping up the rest of the site has kept me too busy to update the reviews but they are coming soon!

SPOILER ALERT!

Ok you have been sufficiently warned. Welcome to the reviews section. Every week I will post the latest of my Mad Men reviews. Every season, every episode. So bookmark this page and remember to keep checking back for your latest Mad Men  reviews fix.

So what am I likely to look for? What will I be talking about?

Well this isn’t going to be a problem, as Mad Men is stuffed full of incredible characters, compelling storylines and interesting themes. Lets not forget it won Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series 4 years in a row! Let’s have a preview of some of the main themes that will likely come up.

1) American Culture

This is the canvas on which the stories are painted. Set in New York in the 60s, the world of Mad Men seems to be a world constantly in transition. The politics of gender and race run strongly through the series, as the role of women in the workplace gradually begins to change (in large part to characters like Peggy, making her way in a male dominated world of advertising). The civil rights movement and assassination of Martin Luther King Jr have their impact on the advertising business, and not every character is welcoming of such change. All which makes for great drama.

2) American Counterculture

With every culture, we have the counterculture, and when was it ever more prominent than the 60s. We see characters experiment with drugs and sex, reshaping identities according to new possibilities laid out before them. The status quo is ever more threatened by the hippies, the beat poets, the new drugs and new music. Can the top Ad Men survive this decade still at the top of the game, when the game appears to be everchanging?

3) Happy Families

American culture and counterculture offer the characters many differing templates on how to live. What is of value? What makes one happy? How should I live? For most professionals at this time, there was little choice but to be a happy settled family man. We see the characters conforming to certain lifestyles, often presenting a happy face over a troubled heart. We see Betty, struggling to keep up the high standards expected as a wife and mother, and Don ever more alone as he is surrounded by his family, searching for happiness through adultery.

4) Smoking

These people smoke a whole hell of a lot!

Well that’s just a taste of what I will discuss in my Mad Men reviews. As well as every cigarette, every romantic tryst, every death, every laugh (there are a few in there) and I’ll be sure to give a little nod towards the fashions and style that make this show so pleasurable to watch (honestly these costume designers must get a few Emmys every here).

PS. Did I remember to warn you – THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

And with that, here is the latest Mad Men reviews:

Mad Men Season 6 Episodes