Ah, it's back: Mad Men, the dazzling yet understated 1960s period drama about Donald Draper (Jon Hamm) and his world of advertising men — and women.
"Who is Don Draper?" asks a reporter at the episode's start. Ironic for the audience, who know Don isn't who he says he is, yet completely adequate for the mood at the beginning of this season. Don's divorce last season, coupled with the dissolution of Sterling Cooper, left the handsome advertising genius questioning all that defined him. This season looks like it will be about identity, and what happens when these characters are stripped of the traditional roles that made them who they were. Who is Don without his family, without an established agency to back his every move?
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2010.