The writing, by Weiner, direction by Scott Hornbacher and performances are, of course, top notch.

Evaluated merely as one episode competing against all the previous episodes in the series, this one is pretty spectacular.... Mad Men is back, looking as vibrant as ever.

To watch any engrossing drama is to feel for fictional people the way we feel for real-life friends. Even when they piss us off, we wish them the best.

The contrast between the laid-back romanticism of the West Coast and the formality of New York is palpable in scene after scene.

You will find things still generally a mess come Sunday, but now there is at least the possibility of light.

That the episode feels somewhat uneventful only belies the intriguing, subtle shifts that have taken place since last season.

In the past, the slower season premieres crackled with energy. You could feel the tension. Traveling through Time Zones, you experience something of a power failure.

it is my Gone with the Wind; it is my Citizen Kane! the best thing to ever happen to TV and it will be missed. The perfect character study set against the backdrop of the most exciting era. Every part is nuanced and so well written, even the lessor roles are completely fleshed out in a way that keeps you pondering what you just witnessed for days on end. The pinnacle achievement in this magnificent second golden age of TV viewing.

Now that I've seen the final episode of Mad Men, I feel secure in ranking it as one of the greatest television dramas of all times. The wonderful writing, the compelling characters, the sense of time and place that characterize the universe Matt Weiner created never let me down during the eight years I watched this show. If you haven't seen it, you should.

This series has been one of the best I've ever seen, up through the end of season 5. But in season 6 it went off the rails, or became afraid of its own trajectory and retreated. Don **** was set up to vault into totally unknown territory at the end of season 5, but season 6 did not follow through, and suddenly the whole theme of the show the whole thing about Don's identity has become irrelevant. It is so strange. I'm not sure why the writers retreated, but instead of launching into where the story has brought them, the writers have backtracked and backpedalled and most of the show in season 6 and season 7 is nothing more than repeating things that have happened before in the series. This has been a real let down and is kind of shocking. Just pretend the series ends at the end of season 5, and it will seem like a really excellent series, and you can imagine what happened following season 5 rather than watch the sad truth. As of my writing this there are three episodes left, so maybe something amazing is going to happen, but I tend do doubt it.

Being a great fan of Mad Men, I was disappointed by the first part of Season 7. The title of each episode could be “Everybody against Don ****”. For reasons I cannot understand, Don suddenly turned into the most despised character and spends each episode being humiliated by his former friends and colleagues. Besides, some of his decisions hardly make any sense, such as going back to his agency, despite the demeaning rules set by his associates. He could have sold his share in the agency and got a better job elsewhere. Then there is Peggy’s behavior and her turning into a bigger **** each season. Even if Don did not do anything to harm her and her new boss Lou is a total ****, she welcomes back Don saying “Nobody mussed you”. Where was that coming from? Joan is also turning into an aloof **** Richard is lost in LSD and everybody else just hates Don for no fathomable reason. Finally, the reasons why Don and Megan marriage is still going on are impossible to understand. Also, the actress playing Sally **** is now almost fully grown up and when she speaks, she gives me the creeps with her deep, masculine voice. Big disappointment.

Mad Men really feels like a show that's run a season too long. It started feeling that way towards the in season 6 and, sadly, season 7 follows suit as it limps out of the gate. Whatever connections I felt with these characters from seasons 1-4 have slowly been whittled away by seasons 5 and 6. Now in Season 7, I can't bring myself to really care about them anymore. Don is the same old Don. Peggy is the same old Peggy. Sterling is the same old Sterling, now with 100% more LSD instead of booze. Pete has changed for the (somewhat) better but at the cost of everyone else at SC&P, who have all become jerks. Like LamontRaymond said in his review of the pilot, it just feels like we've been here before... Over and over and over again. The suspense and drama of the character interactions ran their course a long time ago. Meanwhile, the promo videos show Pete talking to someone on the phone about breaking away and starting yet another agency? We've seen that plot line once already...