TVSquad

(S01E09)

"I didn't think you had it in you. And I mean that." - Roger, trying to "compliment" Pete on an ad campaign

Last week I told you that I thought that one of the themes of this show is freedom, and I think in the opening scene of this week's episode solidifies that a little bit more. It's a shot of the neighbors prized birds flying off from the coop, though they return when he has food in his hand. I get that feeling that all the characters are looking for that freedom, or at least a change. Betty wants to go back to modeling, Don might want a new job, and Pete wants Peggy. Maybe. Kinda.

This week's episode was also directed by Freak and Greeks creator/producer/writer Paul Feig, and that makes me perk up a bit. I'm curious to see what he does with a show like Mad Men.

(S01E03) At first I thought I had found the one thing I didn't like about this show: the ads. Not the ads discussed in the show, I'm talking about the commercials that run during the show. There aren't a lot of commercial breaks, just two or three, but they are rather long, and they have these trivia facts flashed on the screen before the ads.

(S01E02) "I can't tell you about my childhood. It will ruin the first part of my novel." - Don Draper

Is it possible to fall in love with a TV show? I don't mean a show that you really like and respect and put on your TiVo season pass, I mean a show you actually want to date and kiss and walk hand in hand with on the beach? Mad Men is that show for me. I'm even in love with the credits, a montage of black and white graphical images of buildings and people and subtle, sly music.

I also like how this show is set in 1960. It's firmly set in the attitudes of the 1950s but there are more than enough hints that the "60s" that we all know is coming fast. And these people are trying to prepare for it (some a lot more than others, of course).