Don Draper looks into the void in final season premiere
“Mad Men” is one of the smoothest shows on television. The AMC drama, focused on the 1960s advertising business, stars Jon Hamm as the confident alpha male Don Draper, and the series shares his sense of confidence. While many other dramas eventually show signs of weariness, uncertainty, and missteps, “Mad Men” doesn’t let its cracks show.
However, this effortlessness doesn’t mean that it’s all empty glamor. Beneath the perfectly cut suits and excellent period details lies one of the most thematically rich shows out there, and though it may not be obvious on an episode-by-episode basis, it has subtly been crafting excellent, naturalistic character arcs. Each character carries the weight of six seasons of deft characterization, groundwork that elevates the show’s slower installments, such as the season seven premiere.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Over the course of Season 6, “Mad Men” deconstructed Don Draper, removing every carefully constructed lie he had about himself until he was left on a forced leave of absence and disconnected from nearly everyone in his life.
The season seven premiere “Time Zones” builds directly on where season six left off, showing Don as he stands several months later: stalled out. He’s living bicoastal, splitting time between “work” in New York and “work” in Los Angeles, which also involves spending time with his wife Megan. Though they’re still on good terms, the heat has mostly left the relationship, and Don’s “work” is ultimately shown to be nothing more than funneling ideas through Freddy Rumsen.
Clearly, Don still has some degree of creative mojo, but his constant reference to work just draws attention to the hole in the center of his life. Don has built his life around the persona of hypercompetent businessman, and now that he’s finally lost his job, he’s rudderless.
He’s not on the redemptive path yet — “Mad Men” is too interested by the lies we tell to ourselves to let him off that easy — but he’s keeping himself from sinking deeper. He resists an incredibly easy opportunity for adultery and leaves his alcohol unopened on the coffee table, and confesses his regrets about how early his marriage is dying. The ending of the episode, as Don sits morosely by the ledge, brings to mind the free fall of the opening credits, but he’s not ready to think about jumping yet. Don has set up camp by the edge, and this final season will prove whether he climbs back or finally hits rock bottom.
If Don’s arc has been a move to the bottom in order to find himself, Peggy’s has shown her moving to the top through finding herself. However, her career and personal life have been frustrated all through season six, and “Time Zones” finds her disrespected and creatively frustrated at work and alone at home. Unlike Don, Peggy isn’t paying penance, and hopefully she’ll be able to finally get what she deserves.
Joan is continuing her rise to account woman through sheer ingenuity, wrangling an account into staying with SC&P. Roger is living out some sort of hedonistic new-age love fantasy, futilely grasping at some sort of transcendence that matches his LSD trip. Pete, perpetually dissatisfied, seems to have found satisfaction in sunny LA, but he has 13 episodes left to go — it’s practically guaranteed that Pete’s journey to any sort of maturity and contentment has a way to go.
“Time Zones” wasn’t flashy, but it did an excellent, understated job at showing where Don and Peggy are in their lives and setting them up for their final journey. Just because “Mad Men” doesn’t seem to be working hard doesn’t mean that it isn’t. With a steady hand, “Mad Men” has begun signaling the end for its characters.