By Amy Amatangelo, TV Gal ®
I’m still mad about Mad Men. No show pulls you in to its evocative world quite the way Mad Men does. At the end of the episode, I always feel a bit transported to another place and time. And no show quite devastates me the way Mad Men does. I’m still recovering from the way Joan was made partner last season.
But by now you’ve probably heard how we, as TV critics, are not supposed to tell you, well anything really, about the sixth season premiere of Mad Men (tonight at 9 p.m. on AMC). My friend Mo Ryan wrote a great piece about it this week.
I have never been a critic to spoil big surprises for the viewers. I want you to have the almost same experience I have when you watch an episode. But if executive producer Matthew Weiner doesn’t want me to talk about new characters or new relationships, it’s impossible to review the premiere properly. I mean there’s only so many words I can devote to the state of Pete’s sideburns (they’re not good people, they’re not good).
Instead I thought I would give you six points to ruminate on while you watch the premiere.
- Mad Men gives good guest stars. There might not be an “Oh my God! Rory Gilmore’s on Mad Men” moment but there are plenty of surprising guest star turns that positively delighted me. One person looked so different that I had a very delayed reaction to figuring out who it was.
- After you watch Sunday night’s premiere, email me and let me know what clued you in to what year it is. I’m wondering if we will all pick up on the same thing. This revelatory type of storytelling of merely hinting at the month and year is quite effective. It truly gives the viewer the sense that we are dropping in on the characters’ lives versus they are telling a story to us.
- I’m so glad Peggy is still on the show and that her departure from the firm didn’t go the way of Sal Romano. I know it’s probably true to life that Sal would disappear from their lives but I still miss him on the show. Maybe this will be the season we finally get to see how Sal is doing. We’ve been able to check back in on so many other characters.
- Betty, who really didn’t get her fair amount of screen time last season, gets one of her more intriguing storylines in tonight’s premiere. We see see her acting much more like a concerned and protective mother than we ever have.
- Mortality looms over the premiere. This has always been a recurrent theme on the series. Now it practically takes over in an absolutely not subtle way.
- I fear Don’s story arc is getting repetitive. I’ll be curious to hear if you feel the same way.
After you watch tonight’s premiere, email me through my contact page or post your comments below and let me know your thoughts.
TV Gal® 
Betty DID act as a concerned parent…just not for her own kid!
And I watched that premier like a hawk trying to see the clue as to the year. Besides the Vietnam references/Johnson being president, I must of missed what you saw. Please reveal!
I picked up on when the first heart transplant was performed – December 1967.
I thought it was so interesting that Betty was acting like a mom but not to her own three children.
Not only was she not acting like a mother to her own children, but what the heck was that talk of rape??? I KNOW times were different but was it ever funny to joke about raping a child, a child sleeping in the next room??
Another side of Betty for sure.
I totally agree with #6 – when we got to that last scene and found him in bed with yet another woman I thought, not aGAIN. Sigh. The intent could be that each time it’s closer and closer to home and so more reckless.. ? Still, tedious and, honestly, losing believability.