Mad Men Season 4 [Blu-ray]

**** Very slight spoiler alert*****

I think there are only a few definitive TV shows that absolutely must be watched. Top of my list is and possibly always will be, is the Sopranos. The Wire is another. Dexter creeps in there. Curb Your Enthusiasm.... you get the idea.

Mad Men is my number two. It moved up from number four on my list to number two after this season.

Being a business professional myself, I found this season even better than the last because whilst they are all about the business of advertising, this season deals with what can happen in professional service industries when those who service clients break away to form their own businesses and rely upon the clients they had at their old place to follow them.

Without giving too much away (you know this if you watched season 3 anyway), Sterling, Cooper and Draper along with a lot of others leave Sterling Cooper at the end of season 3 after it is taken over by Mccann. Incidentally- and this is one of the joys about this series- they use real companies both when talking about competing advertising agencies and with the products/ companies they have as clients, so it feels like you are watching some historical business piece rather than a total work of fiction. I always wonder how they get permission, especially when they are being less than glowing about some of their rivals. The Conrad Hilton episodes surely could not have been done if he was still alive!

This season follows the trials and tribulations of the new fledgling business, including showing the personal financial risk those involved are exposed to when things do not go entirely to plan. Even though it is set in the late 60s, with the changing fashion and attitudes as the decade ends and heads towards the 70's it is very realistic and relevant even by today's standards on the business side of things.

It also continues to follow the personal lives of all the main cast members, including of course Donald Draper and there is quite a twist regarding what he ends up doing on a relationship level.

Overall, whilst some have said they thought this season lost something by being moved out of the old office, I thought it gained a lot and was by far the best of the seasons and I simply cannot wait until season 5 to see where this goes.

Who knows, one day it may even supplant The Sopranos at number one on my list. Maybe.....

I accept that Mad Men has become a high class soap. Probably it always was, but in series one, it hinted at drama of a different level. However, the distinctions between soap and drama are often far from clear (Tennessee Williams, Faulkner, Edward Albee all share a taste for melodramatic situations and family squabbles, for example). Directors like Douglas Sirk used soap situations to make beautifully shot films and explore social issues. Mad Men 4, soap or not, continues to be excellent television, still beautifully scripted, always compelling viewing.

The first couple of episodes start slowly, but once the series gets into its stride, charting Don's loss of timing as a business and creative ad man and with the women he chases, it exerts its previous dramatic grip. Don, separated, goes into partial decline, until saved by Peggy, the character with whom he is most closely aligned - spiritually. The magazine articles like to focus on Don (and Joan), but the Peggy character is really at the heart of Mad Men - her intelligence, her attention to her work, her strength and the way she deals with her problems. If I may offer some film comparisons: A Star is Born, the aging male pop star in decline, the young female one in the ascent. Another analogy to consider is the relationship in Saturday Night Fever. A well dressed talented man, with a troubled personal life and a feisty girl on the up in Manhattan. He wants her as a lover, but in the end they shake hands and become friends. Are these too the trajectories of Don and Peggy - a fine romance or a moving friendship?

As in previous Mad Men series, the secondary characters all get their own stories in different episodes. Pete, Roger, Joan, Lane - superbly acted, excellently scripted. There is also much fun and drama to be had from Don's many and varied secretaries.

Series 4 takes us into the mid sixties, with the clothes, sets, music all changing. Beatnik parties and Simon and Garfunkel. Where Mad Men is ultimately going after this series I don't know, but I hope the show goes out in a blaze of glory, dying young, like a 60's pop star, because I never want to see Don in big lapels and a kipper tie, drunk, the wrong side of middle-aged and not cool anymore, slavering over women half his age. Jeez, I've got my own life if I want that!

Mad Men 4 - it's still 'must watch' television.

Like most I enjoyed Seasons 1 and 2 which lived up to all the hype and focused around the lives of Don and Betty Draper, how many women Don could have affairs with, how many cigarettes and drink can each person consume and of course the advertising business of Sterling Cooper. Whilst Season 3 left me thinking here goes Don again sleeping his way around and constantly arguing with Betty, season 4 has restored my belief this is one of the best series to come to TV for some time. Season 4 focuses a lot more on the advertising business of the 1960's. Whilst explaining more of the characters (especially Drapers history), there is more a story that flows through the episodes than previous seasons. All in all Season 4 is in my opinion, the best yet !