Mad Men: Season 4 (2010)

Mad Men's fourth season was possibly the best yet. Every episode was a perfectly grafted gem, with Don Draper thankfully at the forefront. It was a shame that Betty was relegated to supporting player, and didn't even feature in several episodes, but since she divorced Don at the end of season 3 and married Henry, she's been a bit miserable. You'd think she'd be happy! So I didn't mind seeing less of her. It also meant that the delightful Peggy got more screen time. 

Don got to loosen up on season 4, he also had a bit of a breakdown and a drinking binge that wasn't pleasant to watch, but which was necessary to pull him through to the end of the season's revelations about what and who he wants out of life. The episodes with Dick Whitman's ex-wife and her death were heartbreakingly played by Jon Hamm. One of the best episodes involved Peggy and Don together pretty much for the full 45 minutes, and ended with Don asleep on Peggy's lap. Their relationship is what Mad Men is all about, touching, frosty, jealous, sweet... is this relationship Don's best because he's not sleeping with Peggy?

Peggy's explorations with her lesbian friend, her getting naked to prove a point with a boorish artist, and her final episode bitch with Joan were highlights, and showed how Elisabeth Moss and the writers have grown Peggy in statutre and confidence across the series. Alongside Peggy, Pete continues to be a bit weird, Roger's lascivious, and Lane veers from sharing prostitutes with Don to dating a black bunny girl waitress. Everyone's storylines were fun and engrossing, but none matched those of Peggy and Don. The comedy/shock highlight of the season, to rival the infamous lawnmower-slices-off-foot bit in season 3, involved the death of Don's elderly receptionist (an 'Ugly Betty' move from Joan to stop Don sleeping with his secretary... foiled when he becomes engaged to the next one!) and the office's hilarious reactions and subtle carrying away of the body as a client meeting carried on in the windowed office next to it. And now Mad Men will  be moving to Sky :( Looks like I'll have to wait for the DVD box set...