Time Zones

It seems like the last episode of Mad Men was years ago, even though it was about 10 months since we last saw Don, Joan, Peggy, Roger, et al. This episode spends considerable time re-establishing the characters and where they find themselves in life. Despite being an avid follower of the series, I admit I was a little lost trying to connect the end of last season to the beginning of this season. And halfway through the episode, I assumed that I had watched a full episode and was surprised I still had 30 minutes to go (translation: moving a bit slow.)

That being said, I am convinced that this episode's sole purpose was to prepare for launch into the final season's good stuff. We see that some time has passed since the season 6 finale and the characters have adjusted to their new lot in life. We don't need to know the specifics of what happened in this gap of time, and I'm certain that the remaining episodes won't bother, as the details are not important.

However, the pace of this episode could have picked up by compressing the "where are they now" scenes to that first half when I thought it was over, and moved into establishing some more interesting plot lines. I'd expect that the next few episodes will be off and running, since there's a lot of ground to cover before the series' end.

Season Seven, meant to be the last season, is a long and winding road, and Don's path to find himself, and it starts here. Almost feels like a first episode of a new season. Then again, with Don and Megan in California, it's setting up the final season, which also makes sense.

One thing that stands out and is a lot of fun: Don and Pete, together in L.A., and we get to see them hang out a bit this time i.e. Don, visiting his wife, doesn't join a band of millionaire gypsies.

But the Neve Campbell special guest shot seems like just that. It's on a plane but somehow feels like The Love Boat.