Mad Men Severance Review
The advertising guru’s TV return sets up the show’s final storyl and avoids the “boring” label many episodes had earlier in the season.
Mad Men returned with to TV with “Severance,” one of seven remaining episodes after AMC split season seven in two part.
In the previous episode, the owners approved a 51 percent sale of the ad agency to a competitor. “Severance” starts a few months after the sale.
The episode bounced around showing a few different plot lines. Joan and Peggy got both barrels of 60s style sexism against women while pitching an idea. Peggy’s ideas were dismissed while Joan heard a lot of comments about her appearance.
Ken Cosgrove, who was barely in the first part of the season, was let go. Earlier in the series, Cosgrove had a passion for writing until Sterling and Cooper put an end to it. I always liked Cosgrove. The character brought a bit of quirk with the best moment coming from his drug fueled tap-dancing routine.
Draper’s storyline was a bit odd. Divorced from his second wife and a freshly minted millionaire, Don spent most of his time trying to reconnect with women from earlier seasons. He focuses on a waitress who looks similar to an affluent “Macys” style department store.
The major complaint from the first half of season 7 was how god-awfully slow some of the episodes were. The season began picking up just as they were finishing the seven episode run. A concern I had with Mad Men returning was restarting the momentum.
“Severance” set up the show’s final plot lines and could have easily been one of the more boring episodes. But it was entertaining and a decent entry to the show’s ethos.
