Mad Men Season 4

If you want a drama that takes its characters as seriously as its plot, Mad Men Season 4 is available on and right now. A compact run that never overstays its welcome. With 1,533 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Jon Hamm sets the tone, and the rest of the cast matches it scene for scene. Put it on tonight and see for yourself.

There is a reason Mad Men Season 4 keeps coming up in conversation. The writing in Mad Men Season 4 treats its characters as people first, plot devices second. Season four takes place between November 1964 and October 1965. It is set at the new and considerably more modern advertising agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. The main narrative of the fourth season is driven by Don Draper's identity crisis. Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was aired in 2010. What elevates Mad Men Season 4 is a refusal to let any character off the hook too easily. It rarely drops the ball, and when it does, it recovers fast.

Viewers drawn to character-driven storytelling will find plenty to sit with in Mad Men Season 4. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single week. Jon Hamm carries the material with a performance that rewards close attention. Worth starting sooner rather than later.