Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Mad Men returns after bar meeting cliffhanger
It’s (finally) back to the ’60s at 8 p.m. today on AMC when Mad Men returns with a two-hour Season 6 premiere.
It has been a while. The last time we saw our intrepid band of advertising pioneers was June 10. And we were left dangling with a cliffhanger.
There was former womanizer Don Draper (Jon Hamm) bellying up to the bar for a drink. As happens with Don, an attractive woman sidles up next to him and asks whether he is alone. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.
Don turns, but there is no answer. Don’s look is blank. Emotionless.
What now? Is he alone? Physically? Emotionally? Psychologically?
The last episode featured several of the main characters in solitary moments.
Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) is listening to music alone on the couch in the aftermath of his affair with Beth (Alexis Bledel).
Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), a rising star at her new ad agency, toasts herself with a glass of champagne.
Roger (John Slattery) is naked and tripping on LSD as he gazes out his hotel window.
Each is alone in his own way.
On the timeline, Season 5 ended in the spring of 1967. What can we expect in the new season?
In an AMC interview, creator Matthew Weiner said, “What I hope people get in the next chapter in these people’s lives is a lot of insight into Don, a new dynamic and also people striving to grow up.”
About his character, Hamm added, “There are two sides to my life — the part that is public and the part that is private. A little bit of what we’ve tried to do [last season] is sort of pull back the curtain. It’s almost like getting toward the end of a great book. You want to know how it ends. This is a novel that doesn’t repeat its beats a lot.”
Fans will recall the biggest shocker last season was when the financially troubled Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) hanged himself in his office in episode 12.
“The very ending of Season 5 was Don dealing with the guilt — the entire office dealing with the guilt — of Lane’s death,” Weiner says. “People were dealing with the fallout of this loss, and emotionally dealing with that ghost. What I wanted to do in the finale was to see Don dealing with that. He certainly didn’t cause Lane’s death, but Don was sort of being haunted by the wreckage he left behind.
“What we really wanted to show was that the chickens were coming home to roost. So when you get to the bar scene where Don has gone in to get a drink, almost as he does in the pilot, I wanted us to feel back on the inside of him psychologically. This beautiful woman comes up to him and asks, ‘Are you alone?’ And when he turns to answer, you don’t get the answer necessarily, but you get to see a Don we haven’t seen in 13 episodes.”
Hamm noted “The company’s never been in better shape, so it’s a weird juxtaposition of the company rising and Don still being in this very emotionally difficult place. Don is feeling the stress of his own personal life with Megan, whose career is taking off as an actress.”
Weiner added, “I not so jokingly said the course of Don and Megan’s marriage over the season was that Don and Megan were soul mates — one person, and that person is Don. So when Megan expressed her own independence, it became troubling.”
So if you think you know what Don’s answer at the bar will be, you may be wrong.
Jessica Pare (Megan) teased, “It’s not what you think is coming. Or it’s not coming in the way you thought it’s coming. Unless you were expecting more great costumes and more big hair.”
There also will be 13 episodes in Season 6, all with big hair. Expect some surprises.
Awards time. If music is your preference, CBS kicks off at 6 p.m. today with the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards live from Las Vegas and co-hosted by Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan.
Joining that duo as performers will be Shelton’s wife, Miranda Lambert; George Strait; Hunter Hayes; The Band Perry; Kelly Clarkson, and others.
Topping all nominations is Eric Church with seven, followed by the 21-year-old Hayes with six.
Among the ladies, Taylor Swift is up for five awards. Hmm. That’s about one nomination for each ex-boyfriend last year.
Foodies rejoice. Chopped All-Stars debuts at 8 p.m. today on the Food Network. The five- part competition for charity begins with Food Network vs. Cooking Channel chefs. The Round 1 winner returns in the May 5 finale, as do the winners of the other three rounds: Mega Chefs, Judges, and Celebrities.
In competition tonight are TV chefs Jeff Mauro, Sunny Anderson, Gabriele Corcos and, my favorite, Nadia G. The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com