Since I require a public confessional, I’ll just have out with it: I have developed a slight obsession with "Mad Men," which is right in the medias res of its final season on AMC. I did not have even a remote interest in watching this show, however, until I came across a theory about how it ends. Since I have a long-standing interest in American history, the notion that such an audacious ending might be incorporated into a mainstream TV show (where series finales are, more often than not, cop outs) was immediately fascinating to me. Couple that carrot with the relative strength of the historical period upon which the show is focused, and I was all in. In watching I've learned that the dialogue is often superb and that "Mad Men" doesn't rely on modern television contrivances, most notably the bloodlust for increasingly shocking turnabouts. I’m now engaged in a very contemporary struggle: a binge — the attempt to finish through Season 6½ — while maintaining my sanity — so that I can watch the last half-season live. But this may be the only modern struggle in which I intentionally engage. ... READ THE REST
Originally published October 27, 2014
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