- Network: AMC
- Series Premiere Date: Jul 19, 2007
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Critic Reviews
- Critic score
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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.
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