“Who is Don Draper?” These are the first words of season four, spoken by an Advertising Age reporter about the face of the “scrappy upstart” agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. It’s an echo of oh-so-many such questions since the show began. Last season started off with the ultimate “Who is Don Draper” in a dirty-joke flashback, when we found out how Dick Whitman got his real name. This premiere yields no flashbacks at all (phew) but instead shoves the story forward. Now it’s November 1964, just about a year after Don was asked, “And who are you supposed to be?” while trick-or-treating. The gangs-all-here feel makes for a satisfying sort of reunion show, but in many ways, it’s also a show about role-playing: How Don’s most challenging creative account is his constant performance and spin — the brand management of himself. Seeing that his old answer to “Who is Don Draper” has become obsolete, Don, and the show, are refreshing and rebranding. Welcome to the reboot.
The last, very busy episodes of season three ejected the British, offed JFK, launched the SCDP, and detonated the Drapers’ marriage. The overriding vibe, with its fizzy cocktail-music soundtrack, is mostly bouncy and upbeat: it picks up where the fan-bait wish-fulfillment of last season’s finale left off. (All that JFK-assassinating, Rome-burning, gay-bashing dread has been pushed back into the shadows for now). There’s a bright new logo on the clean glass doors of the new, smaller office. There’s less dark wood, no conference table, and a few fresh faces too. Peggy’s lost the bangs, Joan’s running a tight ship, Pete’s conniving, vests are proliferating, and the secretarial pool is wearing more teal and mustard yellow than we saw all last season. Thankfully, Roger’s wiseacre rimshot act is still killing everyone. (“So cheap they couldn’t even afford a whole reporter!”)
Full story: Mad Men Season Premiere Recap: Stage Fright — Vulture