Mad Men – Season 3

In many ways, this season of the TV critic's crumpet of choice (if that phrase actually works as a phrase) was the least satisfying so far, but in some ways it wasn't. I think a lot of that came down to something that Mad Men displayed even more of this year – inconsistency. By which I mean not the quality, but the decisions about plotting that would leave the final few episodes filled to the brim with dazzling events and the rest of the season a kind of moody and atmospheric, yet disappointly insubstantial casserole (sorry, perhaps I shouldn't write when I'm hungry). This is a problem the first couple of seasons had, but not to such an extreme. Perhaps it's also that now we're so involved and comfortable with the previously alien environment of a 1960s America, we're less engrossed by style and ambience and just want things to actually happen and that once, just once, some shit would blow up (I jest, but it's got to be said the grisly accident halfway through the season did add some much-needed oomph).

The season's biggest problem, yet leading to its greatest triumph, was too much time spent at home with the Drapers. For a while there, the extremely talented supporting cast were completely sidelined in order to make The Don and Betty Show, something made harder to digest (yes, I've eaten something now...) given that these two are rather despicable characters. One makes for a good wife and a terrible mother, whilst the other could actually be a decent father but is a terrible husband. With little hope for redemption in either, the show was becoming so narcissistic that it (almost) became a drag to watch. But at least it was all leading to something...

Secrets were discovered and discussed. New corporate directions were taken. And President Kennedy was shot (the one spoiler you can forgive me for revealing!). In fact, that last one was pretty powerful – I'd heard about the impact that the assassination had had on the American people, being the 9/11 of its day, but I don't think I could feel its effect any more clearly than in a fictional TV show where it so instantly altered the minds and actions of characters I'd known for three years (this is an example I would use to champion modern television's superiority over cinema releases). It was perhaps the entire series' best episode to date. Until the next one.

The finale... wow. Absolutely no spoilers, except to say that EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED! It came at just the right time too, as like I said the show was getting a bit long in the tooth. The finale succeeded by not only being a marvellous setup for some of the radical things to come, but also being a terrific episode in its own right, with every scene charged with raw emotion that felt so sudden yet so easily explained (and this is why I mentioned that Don and Betty's tedious domestic troubles were at least justified in the end). It was also great to see strong scenes from (most of) the often-overlooked ensemble. To be honest, the office politics and working relationships in Mad Men have always intrigued me much more than the characters' personal lives, but this was even more the case in Season 3. The writers were not sparing in their realistic depiction of the harsh fluidity of business that can advance some careers but bring others to ruin. The uneasiness of this year's British takeover (kudos, by the way, to Jared Harris' eternally compromised middle man Lane Pryce – the newcomer most welcome to continue onwards) was fascinating to watch, particularly when it came to such a daring - and entertaining - conclusion in the finale.

It's been said by Matthew Weiner before that he wanted to take this show through the 60s to portray the changing attitudes and philosophies of such a radical era. I've so far enjoyed seeing that happen, although I think I'm justified in saying that this season didn't give us quite as much as we wanted. However, after this brief self-complacent resting period, the setup for future seasons has led to hope that the show will start crapping out excitement by the bucketload. Sorry about that, I wanted to finish with the eating analogy I began with, but it became unnecessarily vulgar. Perhaps soon I'll get to the waste disposal.