WARNING: Spoilers are highlighted with black

Description:

Mad Men is a period drama set in the '60s and it's about some people who work in an advertising agency in New York. It was created by a writer on Sopranos, another popular show which is widely praised for its writing and it's 7 seasons long. The main character is Don Draper and the rest of the reccuring characters are mainly his coworkers, his clients, his family and his love interests.

My General Impression:

I'm a big fan of the sixties art-wise and historically and that played a huge role to how much I ended up enjoying the show. I also loved the dialogues and the banter between the characters and I even liked the coorporate aspect of the show, even though I wasn't sure if it'd be my thing. Most characters are very hateable because of how immoral and they are, especially for today's standards, but in a way that is very interesting to watch. My main complaint is how the show is pretty repetitive and there are arcs that certain characters go through again and again. I also feel like I have to address that there's so much adultery going on, which doesn't affect negatively the quality of the show, it just becomes funny after a point. I don't know if anyone has ever counted the total number of times someone in the cast cheats on their partner, that number would be astronomical. According to imdb, Don alone had 19 mistresses throughout the show.

Main Characters

Don: He's the creative director of the agency. I usually don't like the kind of main characters who are stoic, excellent at what they do and for the lack of a better term "badass" (for example Spike from cowboy bebop or Corto Maltese*) like Don. However he's written to be complex and flawed enough to be interesting and he wasn't always portrayed as this super intelligent plus charismatic guy. I didn't root for him for a second though but as I said, most characters are supposed to be unlikeable. I'm satisfied with his his ending.

Peggy: She gets introduced in the first episode as Don's new secretary and she's my favourite character in the whole show. She's the most grounded character out of everyone and in retrospect I don't think I'd even finish watching season 1 if it weren't for her. Her storyline had to do mostly about being a woman in an openly sexist workplace and her desire to rise through the ranks. I appreciate how her struggle was shown in a somewhat realistic manner and it wasn't another story about how a woman proved herself and everyone started respecting her and that sexism was defeated etc etc.

Pete is a young man of prestigious background who works as an account executive. He's one of the most love-to-hate characters to me, he's self-entitled to the extreme and wants everything to go his way all the time. He didn't deserve his wife Trudy or anyone who gave him the time of day, but there were moments that I did empathize with him. His peak to me was in seasons 5 to 6, some of the greatest moments in the show were with him. I had the time of my life watching him fail and go through intense situations.

Joan is the office manager in the beginning of the show. Peggy and she (the women with the most screentime in the office) didn't get along at first but they developed a strong friendship after many years of working together, in a way that felt authentic. She manages to keep her composure despite every man in the show disrespecting her and I'm glad in the end she got what she wanted.

Sterling: I don't really have anything to note, but it feels weird to not mention him because he's a very important character. He works at the agency too. His arc about his fear of death was really good. He's (guess what) also very hateable, especially in the first two seasons.

Betty: Betty is a stay at home mom and Don's wife (until the end of season 3, in which they get divorced). I'm a Betty apologist. Yes she is a bad mother and a very immature person. But I just can't help feeling bad for her. This is not an excuse for everything but she was product of her time and it's weird how many fans of the series admire Don, who is a bad parent too but can't stand Betty. Everyone got a somewhat good ending expect for her, in the second to last episode she was told that she had less than a year to live... Why her...

* I know a lot of people consider cowboy bebop one of the greatest anime of all time, but I've tried to watch it twice and I just couldn't get through it. It has a great atmosphere and it is visually beautiful but I just couldn't care about anything that was going on! Spike is so boring. I've also only read only one issue of Corto Maltese and I didn't think much of it, but I want to give it another shot because I love sailors and comics with nice inking.

Other Characters I have stuff to write about:

Ken, another employee at the agency had fascinating character development. He started as a cheerful, chill guy and ended up completely cynical, neurotic and even revengful. His job took everything from him! He wrote as a hobby and even had some of his work published! But he was forced to quit doing that. Despite everything he still didn't cheat on his wife though, not even once. Congratulations.

Bob (also an employee) doesn't appear in many scenes but in the ones he is in, he's amazing. Very mysterious and manipulative, but charming and with good intentions at the same time. Like Don if he was friendly and helped others.

Michael, a copywriter who gets introduced in season 5 is probably my favourite character right after Peggy. He's more talented creatively than Don but he lacks basic social skills and that holds him back from getting opportunities. Like Betty he has a tragic ending, his mental health was never great to begin with but it deteriorated so much that he had to be hospitalized and he never returned to the show.