DVDs in Review

Mad Men Season Two

Title: Mad Men Season Two (2008)

Release date: June 13 2009

Certificate: 15

Format: Reviewed on DVD, available on Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £29.99

Rating: 5/5

The first season of 'Mad Men' was a revelation - created by Matthew Weiner (one of the key figures behind 'The Sopranos'), it took all the might of a quality drama, combined it with jet black comedy and placed it in a fascinating timeframe - the early 60s. The beginning of the end of the American Dream.

Mad Men are advertising men from Madison Avenue, New York - the most ruthless and possibly the most creative. The focal point of the show is equally ruthless and creative - Don Draper (Jon Hamm). Draper, like Tony Soprano, is a fractured being with a turbulent, secretive past and current indiscretions.

To make a man in a suit so shadowy, unconventional and quite possibly deadly is compelling. By the end of the first season we discovered that Don was definitely not who he said he was and that his wife Betty (January Jones) was tiring of being the stereotypical housewife. Both are heading for some sort of implosion or explosion.

Meanwhile at the office, the slimiest new arrival (Pete Campbell - Vincent Kartheiser) is violently trying to climb the ranks. His marriage is a sham to look good on paper, he's been sleeping with Draper's secretary Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and he knows Don's secret. Is he in line to take over?

'Mad Men' gives little away. Everything comes through via character instead of direct action. The office in 'Mad Men' is more like a giant playhouse for teetering dominos. Waiting for something to happen is the best part.

The show also portrays women at a time when independence is on the way. Here the wives are quietly rebelling, the secretaries can flip their bosses under their thumbs and one assistant is even shaping up to become an ad exec herself.

Possibly more impressive than this encapsulation of society is how the show uses key points in history to propel the drama. JFK, Nixon, the thought that smoking could be bad for you and plenty more social debates are assessed in this clever drama that somehow ties the changing face of America right back to this band of mysterious professionals.

These men can sell anything, and as 'Mad Men' shows, they'll sell everything to get ahead of the competition. This season picks up in 1962 (two years after the first) - a fascinating era of Bob Dylan and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Fans of 'Revolutionary Road' (the book or film) will lap this up, as will 'Sopranos' followers. There isn't much violence or action, but men in suits have seldom been as mockingly brutal. If you're after quality drama that makes you think, check this out. It may even be the most promising thing on TV. The DVD from Lions Gate Entertainment has plenty of extras that look into the era on screen.