The attention to detail is excellent. The acting is great. The story lines are phenomenal. My only regret is that it took me eleven years to get around to watching it.

Playing the game of media needs a devoted attention that follows him; an ad man who has surrendered to the Ashram at Pondicherry. A university student speaks about comedy in religious knowledge like the Pakistan surrender of the conquered parts of Kashmir which is counter productive if Pakistan has lost the war. Referundum to Kashmir is a mistake because the complex issues there are not worth shooting over about but coming to a deeper understanding but we are not yet there is the mistake from the Indian army before and after the official war. Avoiding a war with neighbors is a duty that should be done rather than not and even 'Salman Rushdie' who supports a claim for India to reunite with it's emblem of unified India openly talks at interviews about the matter. Mad men the television show which aired and became wealthy by viewers is the basis for the argument that here peacefully is being conducted.

I binge wathed the whole series again. To my mind, this is the best show I've ever seen on TV. On a surface level, the performances are even more modulated and complex than I remembered. Originally, I thought January Jones' part was weak, but watching her performance a second time, it caught my heart up in a way that was so unexpected. She's a beautiful, smart woman stuck in a time and place that just crushes her as a human being. Her irritability, her passive, yet angry personna, her depression, her dropping out of life, all of these qualities are reminiscent of my mother's life. It's a difficult, yet mesmerizing performance to watch, only because you know there's nothing you can do to save her.Another commenter wrote that the show is all about the subtext. I agree. The paused conversations, often delivered in a flat, unemotional tone, only give the viewer deeper access to what is "really" going on. The device of using an ad agency, where people's hopes and dreams are compacted into 60 second commercials, is the arcing metaphor for what life is capable of giving us, yet of how little we actually ask of it. All of the characters change and grow. And they are all pursued, till the end by their own demons as well as their own angels. The dialogue speaks volumes. It is poetic, strange, slightly off kilter. I musn't forget funny. Just as an example. In the second to last episode, Joan tries cocaine, and as soon as she sniffs it she says, "I feel like someone has just given me some very good news." Bravo to the writers, actors and of course to Mr. Weiner. This is a masterpiece that deserves repeated viewings.

*This review also contains mild spoilers for an episode of the X- files*I wonder how this show is so popular and has such rave reviews. I watched all 7 seasons of the show to see what the hype was all about and, I must say that the Pilot remains the best episode of the entire series. The Pilot had the right amount of drama, characterization and mystery. The show never got any better from there on.Character development - Where exactly is the character development that everyone talks of? Do any of the characters have any progression at all? In fact, this show should have gone with the adage "People don't change". That works far better as a theme for this show. Let's begin with the main character - Don Draper has the same severely constipated look starting from Season 1 to Season 7 and he remains the same emotionless philandering man he was in the Pilot throughout the series. Also, when a man cheats on his wife with almost every woman he lays his eyes on, it is impossible to care about that man or anyone involved with such a man. Is one supposed to feel disgust for him and sympathy for those around him? Or is it the other way round? Also, there can really be no progression for a character like this because such compulsive need/behavior seems to really have no cure(?) and it stems from deeper issues of abuse faced by him as a child and young adult(?) or lack of resolution for past issues(?). On a superficial level, Draper is a "family man" (as in has a beautiful wife and 2 kids and provides for them - here, I am not discussing his virtue or lack thereof), he is also a very successful and powerful adman (so powerful within the organization that he can go AWOL for weeks and no one cares). But Draper shut himself off emotionally a long time ago. He never heals or tries to heal - maybe because the impressionable age is long gone or maybe because he never wants to open those gates to the world or maybe he is OK with how things are right now. Maybe this show should have explored more themes like this on a meta level. Side note : Draper's compulsive need for sleeping around reminds me of the "The X files" episode "Hungry" where the antagonist has a compulsive need to eat and sucks peoples' brains out to quell his insatiable hunger. Not the same compulsion but then, I did feel like my brains were being sucked out while watching this drab show...Before I go off on another tangent, his wife Betty remains as miserable and childish as ever (this even after she remarries a fairly stable man very different from Don). Her 8-9 year old daughter (Sally) is far more mature when compared to her. In fact, Sally is my favorite character in the entire series, also the only character to have had any progression or development in the entire series. I am sure it felt that way as she was the only one at an impressionable age on the show. However it was awesome seeing her develop from a child to a wonderful, level-headed young woman. Kiernan Shipka was amazing in this role.Peggy is interesting to some extent but ultimately, there is nothing much for her to do. Same with Joan and Pete. Megan had a good arc for a bit. Way too much time is spent on Roger Sterling. Plot development - Ever changing management, office politics, ad campaigns for major players along with important events from the era peppered in - Boring with a capital "B". The show tried to do some socially relevant plots (that are timeless) - feminism, challenges of a working woman, ever-evolving interpretations of love and marriage, pursuit of happiness, loneliness etc. but they were all half-baked plots that never went anywhere. Believe me, I did try and root for Peggy and Joan and even Trudy throughout the series, but their plots never went anywhere beyond the basic. The biggest problem with this show is it tries to juggle with too much - it has a million characters, a million plot points, a million issues, thereby not doing justice to any character or plot or issue. It superficially glosses over everything and therefore, fails to connect.People applaud the costumes, sets etc. and I have no complaints about that. Performances from most of the supporting cast was fine, although I cannot say the same about the lead. How Jon Hamm won an Emmy for this role, I will never understand.