In seasons four and five of "Mad Men," Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss) and the rest of the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce crew made huge strides in their lives — Draper's new marriage, Olson's promotions, the clean slate that was the SCDP ad agency.
They seemed to be overcoming the conflicts central to their characters since the start of the show. Season six sees all of that go to shit. It brings to the surface the demons that lay dormant in the past two seasons and sets up an endgame for the show's overall storyline.
I have friends and family who stopped watching the show this season because it felt like the characters were regressing. Ultimately, that's the whole point of the season.
Don's tenuous marriage to Megan (Jessica Pare) starts to crack as he starts an affair with Sylvia (Linda Cardellini). Peggy and Joan (Christina Hendricks) continue to face sexism at the office despite both having achieved positions of stature in their respective offices. Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka) continues to learn that adults have dark sides, too, and toward the end of the season becomes unpleasantly aware of her father's. By the finale, every character has reached a point where the victories they thought they had achieved — a real marriage, equality in the workplace, preserved innocence — are proven false and superficial.
We get more elaboration on Don's upbringing in a whore house. Weiner & Co. don't go so far as to excuse his womanizing ways with a traumatic childhood, but it does play a larger role in setting his character on a new path.
The season follows the events of late 1967 through 1968, featuring the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Those events set the tone of the season. It's darkness, bleakness, hopelessness, all the way to the bottom.
Reviewing season six feels like something of a fool's errand. More than any other season of the show, it's a piece of the larger puzzle. The almost masochistic, ducks-in-a-row fall of each character is startling to watch. If it weren't for my experience with the show already, I could certainly get the impression that the show was without triumph or humor.
Season seven, which will be split across 2014 and 2015, will hopefully provide catharsis for the events of season six.
The extras on the DVD collection are, as always, top-notch. Commentaries and featurettes give in-depth glimpses into the production of the show.