- Network: AMC
- Series Premiere Date: Jul 19, 2007
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Critic Reviews
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The writing, by Weiner, direction by Scott Hornbacher and performances are, of course, top notch.
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This still very much feels like a journey worth taking if only because--in the process--Hamm deftly continues to locate some heroic facet in TV's reigning anti-hero.
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Mad Men can still keep us spellbound.
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Weiner’s ability to capture “human” set Mad Men apart at the first beginning and shows no sign of faltering at the second.
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Evaluated merely as one episode competing against all the previous episodes in the series, this one is pretty spectacular.... Mad Men is back, looking as vibrant as ever.
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It sounds heavy, yet the premiere is as buoyant as it is deep, light as it is layered. It is many things at once, including absolutely fantastic.
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The pace hasn’t quickened. Nor does the storyline congeal. Instead, Sunday’s re-opener builds to a terrifically poignant finish accompanied by music that likewise cries out in pain.
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There’s a confidence in the writing in this episode that’s been missing the last few years, in which it sometimes felt like we were spinning our wheels.
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Sunday’s premiere provides the border and key pieces to the oh-so-attractive world that is Mad Men.
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To watch any engrossing drama is to feel for fictional people the way we feel for real-life friends. Even when they piss us off, we wish them the best.
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It’s a promising reentry. All the major themes, so subtly articulated across the first six seasons, are coming to a head.
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Mad Men is getting better as it goes on.
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The contrast between the laid-back romanticism of the West Coast and the formality of New York is palpable in scene after scene.
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Mad Men has both the greatness of execution and inscrutability of artistic intent, and it won't be until the show actually ends that I'll know which one won out. [21 Apr 2014, p.41]
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The premiere lacks the gravitas of last season’s heavily symbolic opener, but it sets the stage for what promises to be a tumultuous, enticing end run.
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A new day is approaching, and Don seems unprepared for what lies ahead.
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With its signature mixture of tiny details providing texture and easy storytelling flow, Mad Men lures us back into its final season with all the confidence in the world.
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You will find things still generally a mess come Sunday, but now there is at least the possibility of light.
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While prolonging the inevitable, and potentially blunting whatever narrative momentum still exists in a most inelegant and desperate-seeming way, it's no wonder the often dazzling opening episode--titled Time Zones, in a nod to the firm's now-bicoastal focus--is so preoccupied with time.
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In each one [hour] that we do see, there’s a sense of urgency in the face of change, of characters figuring they have maybe one more chance to get themselves where they want to be.
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I appreciate its willingness to be life-sized, if not exactly subtle, in a medium that increasingly demands its drama on steroids. And I applaud its rejection of nostalgia as much as I do its avoidance (so far) of serial killers. It's the fetishizing of the visual, not lack of action, that leaves me impatient.
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While we appear to be in for a depressing ride, fear not: Creator Matthew Weiner still has a few winks and tricks up his sleeve.
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That the episode feels somewhat uneventful only belies the intriguing, subtle shifts that have taken place since last season.
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The start to the bifurcated final season feels more indifferently paced than most--and thanks to the gradual push further into the 1960s, perhaps too groovy and scattered for its own good.
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It’s as watchable as ever, and also as unsatisfying as ever, as it veers toward the helter-skelter.
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The cinematography is striking, as always; the sets and costumes remain as telling as the dialogue--this is when Peter Max was on the cover of Life magazine. But many of the characters are repeating themselves or pedaling in place, and the historic underlay that was once so piquant is now dreary.
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In the past, the slower season premieres crackled with energy. You could feel the tension. Traveling through Time Zones, you experience something of a power failure.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 174 out of 192
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Mixed: 12 out of 192
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Negative: 6 out of 192
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Apr 14, 2014
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Apr 14, 2014
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Apr 13, 2014