Jon Hamm as Don Draper
"Who is Don Draper?"
So season four of AMC's Mad Men
begins, with a one-legged reporter probing the creative mind behind the new Sterling
Cooper Draper Pryce. As viewers know, mysterious ad man Draper (played by Jon
Hamm) - with his gruff, Midwestern demeanor and cache of deep, dark secrets -
is not fond of talking about himself, and, let's be honest, even he might not
know the answer to that particular question. And hell if we know.
Over
the past three seasons of the award-winning drama, which returns this Sunday at 10 pm, the complexity of Draper (born Dick Whitman) has remained constant, and we're not likely to ever
figure him out. But that's part of the fun.
It's now Thanksgiving 1964, and a
lot has changed since the game-changing events at the end of season three.
Sunday's episode finds our anti-hero struggling with the professional,
personal, and social consequences of his split from Betty, who is now living
with her new lover Henry and the three Draper children in the home Don pays
for.
The new Sterling Cooper Draper
Pryce, in the words of an effervescent, somewhat less rape-y Pete Campbell
(Vincent Kartheiser), is a "scrappy upstart" of an ad agency instead of a
Madison Avenue powerhouse, and it seems that most of the team is pleased with
that. Don, however, is having difficulty coming to terms with that as well. He
now has to fight for business and market himself - his work is no longer
enough to prove his worth.
John Slattery as Roger Sterling steals
his scenes with a few great quips as his character, along with young wife Jane,
tries to get Don laid without having to pay for it. This, perhaps, is the most
shocking development - really, when was the last time the seductive Draper
needed help in the sexytimes department? Indeed, things aren't looking up for dapper
Don, and the
juxtaposition between his misery and self-loathing and the happiness of his ex-wife and
co-workers is marked for a show that trades in subtleties.
But not everything is what it seems with the characters of Mad Men. Something tells me creator Matthew Weiner has plenty of surprises in store this season, particularly with the trajectories of Betty, Peggy, and Pete. But that's just a hunch, as this Don-centric premiere shares little about what's in store for anyone but Draper.
Needless to say, there will be plenty to talk about. Join us on July 26 at 12:30 pm for our first-ever Mad Men Monday live-chat, where we'll discuss and dissect what's said - and more that's not said - in Sunday's episode.
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