CEOs/ MAD MEN

“Who is Don Draper?”

The fourth season opener of “Mad Men” premiered Sunday night and opened with a reporter asking Don (Jon Hamm), “Who is Don Draper?” Ironically, or perhaps not so much irony as brilliance on director Matthew Weiner’s part, it’s the question that has been on fans’ minds since season one.

“Mad Men,” the critically-acclaimed AMC TV show about the lives of high-powered advertising executives in Manhattan in the ‘60s, is back for its fourth season, which is looking to be its best yet. Alert: spoilers ahead for those who have yet to watch the season three finale (what are you waiting for?).

The show begins one year after the season three finale, which means it’s one year after President Kennedy was shot, one year after Betty (January Jones) demanded a divorce from Don and one year after Don, Bert Cooper (Robert Morse), Roger Sterling (John Slattery) and Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) severed ties with Putnum Powell and Lowe and decided to create a new agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

Everything is new: Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, Peggy’s haircut and fiancé, Betty’s life as a divorced and remarried woman and Don’s life as a 40-something single man in the ‘60s. There is a strong sense of revitalization in all of the characters.

The episode opened with Don being interviewed for the magazine “Advertising Age.” The interview was awkward, short and, as usual, Don was in control. The reporter could sense that Don isn’t going to slump down in his chair, order a gimlet and start gushing stories upon stories of his days as an ad man. Roger Sterling, silver fox of the show, and Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), who arguably looks more chipper and energetic than ever before, walk up as the reporter leaves Don. They notice the reporter has a wooden leg, he says its from his days in the Navy, as he hobbles off and Roger, in true form, captures the scene with, “A wooden leg, they couldn’t even afford a whole reporter.”

Don is pitied by the whole office for his sad single life, which includes coming home to a dark apartment and shining his shoes in front of a television set. It’s weird for the viewer to see this Don Draper, as it is a contrasting image who he was before – someone who had zero problems picking up a girl for the night or initiating a full blown affair. Don is learning that being divorced isn’t attractive in the ’60s.

Betty, on the other hand, has molded perfectly into her role as a politician’s wife. She is married to Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley), an adviser to the governor, and is learning that she’s still not happy (shocker, people). Henry isn’t happy either (also a shocker) as he’s realized that life with Betty is crazy and she’s possibly the world’s worst mother. With this new marriage comes a new concept for Betty – the mother-in-law. As Don’s parents were both dead, Betty never had to deal with a protective mother-in-law who hated her. Not anymore.

Henry’s mother clearly disapproves of his choice in to marry Betty and live with her three small children in the house of her previous marriage. Henry reasons with Betty that it is time for them to move out of the house where her and Don built a family together. She refuses, to spare the kids further upheaval.

The viewer feels torn in this divorce debacle – why is it that after all the bad things Don did to Betty and their family, one still feels bad for him? My heart sinks every time the camera focuses on Don’s face. Pain, and arguably superiority, are the only emotions this man wears on his sleeve.

Roger, convinced that the cure to Don’s life problems is sex from a twenty-something blonde, sets Don up on a date with his young wife’s friend Bethany. Bethany has a flawless face and aspires to be an actress. One can’t decide whether her naivety intrigues Don or if he’s just waiting for the cab ride home. In the cab, none of Don’s usual lines are working and he begins to remind one of a teenage boy on a first date – nervous and jittery. She leaves him hanging and tells him, “I’m breaking a lot of my rules, seeing a divorced man.” Funny how no one had a problem seeing a hot married man, but now that he’s a hot divorced man, it’s just not OK.

As great as this episode was, I’m left wanting more. I want to know more about Henry, as the viewer’s only encounter with him last season was when he met Betty, saw her a few more times and then was in a meeting with a lawyer discussing how Betty could divorce Don. I want to know more about Pete and Peggy’s new, cordial relationship and if the topic, “Remember that one time I had your baby?” ever came up. I’m left with questions and an insatiable thirst for this new season.

The episode ends with Don sitting down with another reporter, this time from the Wall Street Journal. He is much less modest and short with this reporter, perhaps because of the reality check he got this episode.

“I could die of boredom or I could holster up my guns,” he said. “So I walked into Lane Pryce’s office and I said, ‘Fire us.’ Within a year, we’d taken over two floors of the Time-Life Building.”

If this season opener has proved anything, however, its that this season will be full of Don holstering up his guns.

“Mad Men” airs at 10 p.m. every Sunday on AMC.