海角大神

The shroud of secrecy that series creator Matthew Weiner places over every new installment 鈥� and especially the new seasons 鈥� of has actually become an integral part of the show鈥檚 appeal. Audiences head toward the now-standard two-hour season premiere with little more to go on than a perplexing arrangement of clips and sound bites from the previous season, leaving viewers to assume that even though the characters of TV鈥檚 best program continue their inexorable march through time, perhaps nothing has really changed.

And that鈥檚 what really set this series apart from all the others: Seeing for Don, Megan, Sally, Betty and the entirety of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is kind of difficult. There鈥檚 a curiosity, sure, but it isn鈥檛 easy to watch as the magnificent Don Draper loses the magic that once made him the toast of Madison Avenue, or as Roger Sterling dabbles in LSD to combat the ennui that鈥檚 absorbed him even more than he鈥檚 absorbed in himself. And although it鈥檚 funny, no one wants to be reminded of getting older by watching as Pete Campbell relinquishes his hairline with less fuss than Harry Crane surrendered his office in .

As we pull back and look upon it all, it seems that Mad Men is leading the audience down a path of death and despair. But after watching the spectacular season 6 premiere, 鈥楾he Doorway, Part I & II,鈥� it seems that the series which left its audience with the (thankfully) unfulfilled expectation that was a suicide waiting to happen, isn鈥檛 just pointing toward the end; it鈥檚 pointing toward the way out.

Last season saw Don on the precipice of becoming , after the idyllic fantasy of his marriage to Megan shifted into something that was no longer entirely under his control and therefore, not entirely fulfilling. The audience was left with Don poised to acknowledge a part of himself he鈥檇 through the permissive lucidity of a fever-dream, while Jon Hamm鈥檚 brilliant and subtle performance illustrated how easily the actor playing the character 鈥� and then the actual character 鈥� could shift between identities. With an understated raise of his brow, Hamm illustrated how easily Dick Whitman became Don Draper, and how Don Draper can leave behind the man who spent much of season 5 on 鈥溾�� to become the man who, as we see in the season premiere, is sleeping with his neighbor鈥檚 wife.

Season 6 offers a handful of pleasures early on. There鈥檚 the thrill of finding out Roger Sterling and Pete Campbell have sideburns! Stan Rizzo and Michael Ginsberg have incredible facial hair! Burt Peterson is back! SCDP has an upstairs! Betty Francis is wandering around the Village and has dyed her hair!聽 But more importantly, it鈥檚 still all about Don Draper and his relationship to the unalterable passage of time 鈥� which is noted by the realization that his wristwatch has stopped as he鈥檚 reading 鈥楾he Inferno鈥� on a heavenly beach during the 鈥渧acation鈥� he and Megan enjoy courtesy of Sheraton.

鈥淢idway in our life鈥檚 journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood,鈥� Don reads in voiceover after the season begins from the POV of a man watching while a doctor performs life-saving chest compressions on him.

Naturally, that points to death, but even as Don and everyone else is seemingly 鈥� Weiner seems to be taking issue with the assessment that season 5 (and to an extent, the show鈥檚 future) was obsessed with death 鈥� 鈥楾he Doorway, Part I & II鈥� manages to be both completely obsessed with death (e.g., Bobby Draper wants to check out a violin case because it reminds him of a coffin) and able to joke about the audience鈥檚 preconceptions about the series鈥� so-called obsession all at the same time.

The premiere feels like the antithesis to 鈥樷�� from the get-go, as Don chats with the clearly troubled PFC Dinkins and agrees to give his bride-to-be away, despite having just met him. From then on, Don is rapt with the notion that his time in Hawaii wasn鈥檛 just a vacation; it was an experience that even he struggles to put into words. This puts the character in a sort of malaise that acts as the connective tissue throughout the rest of the episode. Even then, Don is met with a multitude of signals that either reminds him of , or the past he鈥檚 tried so hard to conceal.

The two points come to a head at the funeral of Roger Sterling鈥檚 mother, as Don, experiencing someone鈥檚 death yet again, is forced to listen while an elderly woman eulogizes Roger鈥檚 mother and explains how she adored her son, and how life was full because of him. All of this (and his uncanny ability to find a libation at any social event) causes Don鈥檚 emotions 鈥� presumably about his absent maternal figure 鈥� to literally explode from within, forcing him to vomit into a handsome umbrella stand.

But it is Roger鈥檚 monologues in therapy that paint the fullest picture of Mad Men season 6 and just what鈥檚 going on with him and Don. Like Sandy, the formerly Julliard-bound violinist who regales the Francis family with Chopin鈥檚 鈥楴octurne in E Flat Major, Op. 9 No. 2,鈥� these characters are just running away from . They aren鈥檛 looking toward the end; they鈥檙e just looking for the doorway out.

Kevin Yeoman blogs at .