As I mentioned in my review of Season 1, this series is very addictive, riveting. Evne hypnotizing, perhaps. Whatever it is about it, it works. It captivates you, makes you want to keep watching more. It makes you almost regret to see the episode end, so engrossed you are. Somehow, it makes you care about these flawed characters, and even makes you want to live in those times, to see it for yourself, to have experienced it firsthand. This show feels realistic enough on an everyday level in an office setting to make it feel fairly realistic, and perhaps it is as good a glance as anything that we who were not yet born at the time will be able to get. It might be the closest thing that we'll have to experiencing them.
A huge part of it is simply the times. The sixties, and in this case the early sixties, were a unique time in American history, and indeed in world history. But particularly in American history, since the United States seemed to lead the world in so many ways at the time. World War II was hardly ancient history, although the generation that fought in the war was aging. It was still a time when conformity was the dominant cultural trend, but the nation was beginning to painfully crawl out of that, slowly but surely. Women may have had the right to vote, but as this television series is able to illustrate, they were hardly considered equals. Neither, for that matter, were blacks or other non-whites, and whites were a much larger majority at the time than they are now. As for homosexualiy, it was so taboo at the time, that it was unmentionable. Anyone who engaged in it was automatically seen as a pervert, and engaging in the act was seen as entirely unnatural. That perception has obviously changed over the course of the years and even decades, although you certainly do not have to go all the way back to the early sixties to remember the time when it was still seen strictly through negative views, where people assumed something was wrong with you if you were, in fact, homosexual. I personally remember that being the popular opinion in the eighties and even nineties, and how AIDS was seen as just punishment for the "perverts" who engaged in homosexuality.
What makes this television series more captivating and convincing is that all of this remains largely in the background, and the characters in the series react differently to the news of the day. The characters generally learn of these events from either radios, or from grainy black and white televisions that were symbols of affluence at the time, perhaps, but which look quaint and antiquated by today's standards, of course. These fictional characters are getting the real news in real time. The events that we have come to know the full outcomes to, if we know our history, are happening for them in real time. The outcomes are not predetermined for them, although we have the privilege of seeing everything unfold from the future, knowing full well what will happen. That really helps make this feel much more realistic, rather than an exaggeration of the importance that these seemingly monumental events would have had. It feels like Mad Men got it right in this regard, and probably, that has been no small part of it's overall success.
The main character, Donald Draper, is beginning to feel the weight of the real problems that his own actions have largely created for himself. His marriage is suddenly very troubled, and he has an adversarial relationship with the man that he hired in the last episode of the first series, Duck Philips.
He seems to be going through an identity crisis at points, and when he gets a chance to run away, he pounces on it. There are plenty of temptations to do what got him in trouble with his marriage in the first place, namely cheat on Betty. He struggles to do the right thing, to resist.
In the meantime, we see Betty show more than the simple-minded conformity of what was expected of a housewife. She begins to emerge in a less mindless way, and we see that she is a bit more than the perfect trophy wife that she seems to be in the first season, when we only catch small glimpses of a more troubled side to her.
But in this season, we see a very different side to her. I don't want to give this away, but she shows herself to be far from perfect, although she finally does take a stand, and a very strong one at that, against Don's transgressions.
Maybe for the first time, we begin to see just how much Don really values Betty and the family life that he has built around him, since it is suddenly taken from him. Yet, he is still not above temptation, at some point, seeming willing to run away, as he flirted with towards the end of season one, in order to start a new life entire. But he cannot tear himself away from his family, and feels a need to reconcile with Betty. But this proves far more difficult than he hoped, and his legendary powers of persuasion as an ad man prove not to be so helpful in getting him what he wants this time around.
Huge things are happening with Sterling Cooper, that will affect all of the characters, one way or the other. Duck, once he found that his job status was perhaps not as stable and unquestioned as he had believed it to be, maneuvers behind the scenes, and manages to get his old agency, Putnam, Powell, and Lowe, to buy out Sterling Cooper. Duck has positioned himself to acquire the position of President of Sterling Cooper once this takes place, hoping to get his way more often and easily, and particularly to force Don's hand. The battles between the two men grow very serious.
Peggy has had her baby, but a lot of people doubt her on the manner in which she handled the whole thing. For that matter, the real father of her baby, Pete, is having some struggles with his wife, as they ironically are having difficulty getting pregnant. There seem to be more tensions between the two than existed in the first season, although thing seem to improve between them as the season goes on.
There are a lot of characters, of course, and each of them are dealing with their own, private (or in many cases, not so private) demons. This show makes all of them intriguing, and that is because this show is so well constructed. It keeps you tuned in.
The best thing that I can say about this season of Mad Men, is that it not only kept me intrigued, but makes me anticipate the third season very much! I tend to watch these episodes four to five times a week, generally speaking, and on Netflix, which offers the first four seasons. I know that the series already has run to eight seasons, and so that means I'll have to figure something out to keep it going. But in the meantime, there are still two full seasons to watch, and I'm looking forward to it.
My prediction, if you're like me, is that you'll keep tuning in, as well. This really is an excellent series!
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