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A review by sonofatreus
Mad Men Carousel (Paperback Edition): The Complete Critical Companion by Matt Zoller Seitz
5.0
Mad Men is a great show. Full of deep character work, sharp dialogue, and a long list of knockout performances. It can be tense and serious one minute and wickedly funny the next (sometimes in the same scene). It's set in a 1960s (mostly) ad agency (mostly) in NYC (mostly). It's really about that though. That's all just setting for the characters. It's really about the ways that they live their lives and interact with one another over the course of about 10 years. And, like, say, The Sopranos, it doesn't really have a neat ending. But this review is about the book.
Matt Zoller Seitz and his collaborators put together a great companion to the show. It's structured fairly simply: episode-by-episode essays/reviews, with a timeline (keyed to the show, but also real events), and copious notes (footnotes for first-time viewers and endnotes for repeat watchers). The analysis is sharp, picking up on details that can be hard to keep on one's head after 7 seasons. They highlight the many, many callbacks to previous episodes (and, in the endnotes, instances of foreshadowing) and tie various thematic strands together. As an example, in the essay on the series finale, he mentions episodes from every season, and cites specific examples from S1, S2, S4, and S7. It takes a lot to balance all of that and pull it together effectively, but MZS did it. I didn't necessarily agree with every interpretation offered in the book (in fact, I disagree with his take on the final scene, among others), but he always gives a compelling case. And, like the show, it's never boring, but rich and considered.
Matt Zoller Seitz and his collaborators put together a great companion to the show. It's structured fairly simply: episode-by-episode essays/reviews, with a timeline (keyed to the show, but also real events), and copious notes (footnotes for first-time viewers and endnotes for repeat watchers). The analysis is sharp, picking up on details that can be hard to keep on one's head after 7 seasons. They highlight the many, many callbacks to previous episodes (and, in the endnotes, instances of foreshadowing) and tie various thematic strands together. As an example, in the essay on the series finale, he mentions episodes from every season, and cites specific examples from S1, S2, S4, and S7. It takes a lot to balance all of that and pull it together effectively, but MZS did it. I didn't necessarily agree with every interpretation offered in the book (in fact, I disagree with his take on the final scene, among others), but he always gives a compelling case. And, like the show, it's never boring, but rich and considered.