This season, I think, held together as a single piece better than past seasons. I mean, I think Mad Men has had surprisingly few missteps in four years, but there’s kind of a history of devoting a lot of screen time to characters and stories that don’t have any real resolution or significance to the overall arc. The aforementioned Paul Kinsey springs to mind. Or Sally’s teacher. As much as I love the way Matthew Weiner will take a background character and give them depth and importance, it leaves a weird flow to the season when all is said and done. It’s good storytelling, but in retrospect it makes for weird story structure. This season had its share of red herring – Bethany and the nurse both come to mind, but they had a limited amount of screen time and served very specific purposes. (Primarily to demonstrate how people outside of his immediate group reacted to the changes in Don.) This season felt like a 13-hour movie.
