Mad Men: The Season Premiere

I'm a huge fan of Mad Men, the AMC series about a bunch of hard-drinking, chain-smoking, and soul-searching men and women who work for an ad agency in the 1960's. It's hands down the best show on TV right now, and if you haven't seen it, check it out on ON Demand - they're playing all of season one.

Last night's season two premiere met all my expectations. As the season opens, Don Draper seems to be stuck in some mid-life crisis, now that two years have passed, and he's 36 years old, still in the same job and living the same life. His doctor tells him he needs to slow down, not drink as much, and bring the smoking down to one pack a day. As he eats his breakfast in a dingy bar with a shot of Scotch, he notices the man next to him reading a book called: Meditations in an Emergency. Don is intrigued by the book. He asks the guy reading about the book, but after the guy takes one look at Don in his suit and tie, he writes him off as just another soul-less corporate guy. He tells him he probably wouldn't like it. Later in the show, you see Don reading it in his office. If anybody needs to meditate, it is indeed Don Draper.

We also see him take his beautiful, but emotionally broken wife, Betty out for a romantic Valentine's evening at a fancy hotel. He wisks her away to a hotel room, and they make love, but in the middle of it, Don has some performance issues. This brings up a lot of questions. Has Don lost all intimacy with his wife? Was it just the one time, or is this a recurring problem? Is Don in love with another woman? It was a sad moment. Betty blamed it on the drinking and that they hadn't eaten anything, but you could tell it was heartbreaking for her. She loves Don, but she knows he is unfaithful to her. All she wants is Don's undivided attention and love. However, Don is so lost as a person that he doesn't know what he wants. It always seems as if he knows he should really love Betty, but he can't, and he doesn't know why or how.

At the end of the episode, you see Don in a trenchcoat and hat, smoking a cigarette while walking the dog late at night. He looks as if he just stepped out of a film noir - a mystery man treading through suburbia on a cold winter's night. You see him mail something; it was the book he had been reading. He had written a little message in the inside cover, "This book made me think of you." Who could he be sending it to? Rachel? Midge? Or, is it a new mistress - somebody we haven't met yet?