MARK DAVISON

Mad Men Series 4, Episode 8 – The Summer Man: A Review

1st November 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Don Draper may be an advertising genius, but he's a terrible writer if his journal is anything to go by. I don't think anybody will be rushing to publish his memoirs as a novelty book just in time for the Christmas market (incidentally, I wonder if he was inspired to keep a journal by discovering Roger’s efforts in last week’s episode?). There may have been a few character details sprinkled...

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Mad Men Season 4, Episode 7 – The Suitcase: A Review

22nd October 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

So, best episode of Mad Men ever? I might have already asked that before in one of these recaps, but as the series seems to be getting better and better I may well have a new favourite.
That's not to say that the episode was completely flawless, for one the big Liston-Clay boxing match was mainly an opportunity for a lot of casual racism - which may be historically accurate, but can on occasions...

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Mad Men Season 4, Episode 6 – Waldorf Stories: A Review

15th October 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Move over Joan, there’s a new Queen Bee at SCDP and she goes by the name Miss Blankenship, icon of disaffected and incompetent secretarial staff everywhere. I’m not sure which of her moments I liked the best – her greeting new applicant Danny (AKA Jonathan out of Buffy The Vampire Slayer) with ‘I don’t work for you’ was hilarious, as was her discussion with Don over his lost award statue...

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Mad Men Season 4, Episode 5 – The Chrysanthemum and The Sword: A Review

8th October 2010 | 1 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Betty Francis is history's greatest monster!

Maybe that's going a bit far, but I think we can all agree that she's a ghastly human being, what with her perma-scowl, her passive aggressiveness and the not-so passive aggressive child abuse. Of course Sally isn’t the easiest of kids to handle, particularly not in this week’s episode where she occupied herself with an impromptu hair cut... and masturbating (which is making me shudder...

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Mad Men Season 4, Episode 4 – The Rejected: A Review

30th September 2010 | 2 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Did you get pears? I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves asking that very same question at some point in our lives. Or maybe it was just an example of Mad Men at its most deliberately obscure - I’m not sure if it was a brilliant moment, or just a cynical attempt at faux-profundity. But enough about that for now, we’ve got a whole episode to get through first.

The episode began...

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Mad Men Season Four, Episode 3 – The Good News: A Review

24th September 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

In many ways this week's episode showcased everything that's great about Mad Men – the muted sadness that gradually unveils itself over the slow moving plots, the ever-shifting character motivations and sympathies, moments of farce and laddish humour, and of course the shallow pleasures of seeing devastatingly attractive cast members in varying degrees of undress (this week it was Don stripping down to his underwear, perhaps somewhat gratuitously, in order...

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Mad Men Season Four, Episode Two – Christmas Comes But Once A Year: A Review

17th September 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

With Thanksgiving out of the way, Christmas is looming on the horizon for the staff of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (hereafter referred to as SCDP) and, predictably the booze is flowing freely. This being despite the intervention of Lane, whose fretting about the cost of the misuse of office supplies has lead to a downgrading the Christmas party, and the arrival of Freddy Rumsen, now sixteen months sober, and considerably...

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Mad Men Season Four, Episode One – Public Relations: A Review

10th September 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

And we're back, much sooner than expected thanks to those kind folks at BBC 4 who decided to bring the screening of this season forward by a few months.

Having recapped the last season for this site, I thought I'd do the same again for this one. Of course if there's one thing the internet isn't short on it's articles about Mad Men, but having enjoyed being able to pick apart...

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Mad Men Series 3, Episode 13 – Shut the Door, Have a Seat: A Review

15th April 2010 | 1 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Well, that’s your lot, series three has come to an end. But what an end! Despite some dips in quality during its run (compared to the first couple of series at least), the series went out with a bang.

The episode was definitely Mad Men at its most purposeful and streamlined, as instead of getting the usual relaxed mix of glacially paced subplots, everything was based around Don. And it seems...

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