Mad Men

Bleak and desperate? Possibly (the song [Peggy Lee's haunting cover of the classic Leiber-Stoller song "Is That All There Is?"] is just a sad song). But here's the surprise: Severance makes the opposite case.

The TV epic that will be remembered for its depiction of the implosion of the postwar American dream in the 1960s.

The first of Mad Men’s final seven episodes is as fine as a silky fur, give or take a hilariously hideous period mustache and some too-on-the-nose lines and symbolism.

It's fair to say that circumstances are once again forcing Don Draper (Jon Hamm) to ponder what he has and who he is. The beauty of the show, and of Hamm's performance, is the craft with which they convey that crisis through silence and visual cues.... What also holds true is that Mad Men remains a gorgeous show, one that is capable of sustaining an almost trance-like state.

The final season premiere grips and fascinates with equal measure because we're so eager to see what becomes of our hero.

Hamm--never a showboater like some of those guys who keep winning Emmys--does some of the finest acting he’s ever done in the series. It’s subtle and sublime. The rest of the cast is in top form.

I could watch Roger (ever-dapper John Slattery) fire people all day long (Sunday’s surprise firing is an epic one), but Don’s cryptic conversations with strangers can feel staid and scholarly.... And then--herein lies the addictive nature of the show--the action pauses for just a moment, the acting thrums with tension, and you feel satisfied that you have been a good student.

It’s a dark, sometimes brooding hour, but that’s pretty typical for Mad Men, which emphasizes its characters and their development (or lack thereof) over plot. With its emphasis on mortality, Sunday’s episode is a fitting start to the Mad Men swan song.

Severance gets the second half of Season 7 off to a brisk start.

Weiner anchors every episode around Don but lets the planets that orbit him change from episode to episode. Don’t worry. The season premiere isn’t all Ken Cosgrove. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and Joan (Christina Hendricks) get an interesting subplot that proves that Mad Men is not done discussing the changing role of women in the business world and the way they’re treated differently than their male peers.

It makes for a slow but haunting last beginning. The final overture is well-orchestrated by Weiner.

While it’s difficult to divine too much about what’s next from this chapter, Mad Men appears to have reached a hospitable place--one that allows the writers to steadfastly focus on the characters--after sometimes being flummoxed by the program’s attempts to incorporate more wrenching events associated with the ’60s into its narrative.

The restless undertone that has permeated the show from the beginning does not abate as we start the final round of adventures and presumably get some idea where everyone will go after the cameras are turned off.

As galvanizing hours of television go, this isn’t Mad Men with a bang. It’s more like beginning a closing 100 meter dash somewhere in between a slow trot and a false start. But surely things will pick up.

As always, this episode of Mad Men had entertaining moments.... Weiner wants you to realize that, over time, a wiseguy like Roger inevitably becomes insufferable. The problem is, removing such fun from Mad Men only makes the overall experience of watching Mad Men more joyless.

I'm still in the crotchety minority that believes there's always been a little less to Mad Men than meets the eye. Though what meets the eye is frequently fabulous. This first episode's marked by some interesting guest casting--I do love how Mad Men uses once-familiar faces and makes it seem as if they'd always existed in this world--and a callback to a guest from an earlier season.

Mad Men is fading away as beautifully--even indifferently--as one would expect.