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'Mad Men' return shrouded in secrecy By John Crook © Zap2it The last time we saw Don Draper (Jon Hamm) nearly a year and a half ago, he had somewhat impulsively gotten engaged to his beautiful French Canadian secretary, Megan (Jessica Pare), who seemed to be the antithesis of his ex-wife, Betty (January Jones): warm, optimistic, empathetic and deeply engaged with his two children, instead of chilly, bitter, self-absorbed and no one's candidate for mother of the year. So as "Mad Men" finally returns to AMC for its fifth season in a special two- hour premiere on Sunday, March 25, we'll see Don starting his happily- ever-after with this new life mate, right? Oh, get serious. This is "Mad Men," people. Series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner, who is notoriously averse to letting any spoilers about his show leak out, won't even confirm that Don and Megan are still together when the plot resumes after a confirmed but unspecified time jump. In fact, Weiner impishly has hinted that Don may be back with Betty, whose second marriage to political adviser Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley) already was showing "Mad Men" returns for its fi fth season Sunday on AMC. signs of strain in the fourth season. This leaves Hamm, one of show business's nice guys who really would like to help a reporter out but doesn't want to tick off the boss, picking his words very carefully when asked whether Don and Megan are together as we rejoin these characters. "Well, we certainly set that up at the end of last season," he ventures. "On the surface at least, Megan is very dissimilar to Betty, and you could say that is Don trying to find a person in his life who represents positivity and promise rather than a person who feels stuck in the past and reminds him of how old he is." That resonates with a powerful chord in the fourth season, an explosive series of episodes in which Don — ever-unflappable, on- top-of-it Don — struggled mightily to hold himself together in the wake of his marriage's collapse and what seemed to be the very imminent implosion of his fledgling agency. "That was a season about Don really going to extremes," Hamm says. "Anytime a relationship ends it's difficult on everybody involved. Don's way of handling it was obviously not the healthiest, but he worked his way through it the only way he knows how. "Early in that season, O Express nspection just il Change I Plus a FREE Prices vary by model. Plus tax & fees. Coupon must be presented at write up and cannot be combined with other offers. Expires 3/31/12. $2995 . 2200 BYPASS RD. • ELKHART, IN 46514 574.522.4475www.GurleyLeepHonda.com the marketing research expert, Dr. Miller (Cara Buono), said something like, 'Don't worry, guys like you are usually married again within the year.' Don was kind of taken aback by that and a little insulted, and she said, 'Sorry, I didn't realize some people don't like to think of themselves as a statistic' — but she turned out to be right. So last season was kind of a character study in what not to do, in a way." As for that time jump, Hamm isn't throwing out any specific numbers, but he hints that the action may just be picking up roughly 17 months later, 2 The Goshen News • Saturday, March 24-Friday, March 30 about the same amount of time "Mad Men" has been on hiatus. That's partly because the main characters include Don's daughter, Sally (Kiernan Shipka, now 12), whose age is pretty difficult to cheat. "We try to keep the show rooted in very real time because we're not 'The Simpsons,' " the actor says. "Our characters move through time and get older instead of living in a kind of nebulous, constant state of fourth grade. ... (Kiernan is) an incredibly talented young actress and plays the character very well, and of course we try to make Don's relationship with his oldest child as real as we can. "I think that child is going through a lot of things in the world and rapidly becoming an adolescent in a time when becoming an adolescent was very confusing and oddly infused with a lot of freedom and power that wasn't available in generations past, in the sense that there's a lot of the music and the marketing and advertising was starting to be geared toward younger people. Sally is right smack-dab in the middle of that demographic. Certainly there is a dynamic between father and daughter, especially when Don has been as much of an absentee as he has been." Catch the Craze & Save! Save on Rentals • Breakfast Get Free Glass Cleaner Save on a Quilt Find these great savings plus more on Coupon Craze! In The Goshen News every Monday, Online everyday! Nobody covers your hometown better 114 S. Main St., Goshen 574-533-2151 www.goshennews.com Employment Ad Today! Over 3,500 resumes are posted on monster.com in The Goshen News readership areas. 574-533-2151 ext. 398 goshennews.com / Place Your Nobody Knows Our Hometown Better!

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