Mad Men Monday: Episode 3.1 "Out of Town"

For season three of Mad Men, "Change" seems to be the watchword, but I think a better word might be "Upheaval." Change is too positive, it's too nice. Change makes me think of "new" and "forward" and "frontiers" -- it can be a frightening word, but that fear is often tempered by anticipation and promise. The world is changing: that is both an unsettling and an exhilarating thought.

It's the old adage: "Change can be good." But for my money, the change I feel coming for the guys and gals at Sterling Cooper does not look good. The changes coming, the ones that seem to be edging closer the further we move into the 60s, are not full of promise and forward momentum and the dawn of a new age. The changes coming are going to shatter things; the changes coming are going to destroy institutions. Some people say, let those institutions burn, but I'm not willing to jump onto the youth rebellion, or start banging my drum for the impending revolution just yet. What's coming over the horizon is a devolution. Adulthood will be shattered. The Hollywood studios will crumble. Fashion will tumble into oblivion. Don Draper will eventually meet the 1970s and that's too depressing a thought for words.