Not that Mad about Mad Men—Season Five: I LOVED Mad Men from the beginning. It was set in an era in which I worked for a large corporation and remember those times well. There was not a segment of Mad Men I missed. Just in case I had forgotten something I reviewed the prior episodes.

Having said that and respecting ALL the actors' craft (I love them all) the new episode left me cold. I simply do not know what it is trying to do. It seemed like it was a line up of great actors in search of a story. It was not coming through to me. Don Draper's hook up with his secretary left me head scratching. She is a younger woman who is so adept handling his children but clueless about the private nature of the man and throws him a surprise 40th birthday party -- oh yes we all love those turning of decades celebrations so much -- dances seductively in front of his co-workers in their own home and she thinks he will be thrilled at that? It stumped me. It was good to see the inclusion of the black experience in America but the rest of it seemed pointless.

I am a faithful viewer so I will go on no matter what but from first view of this new season I wonder if the writers can ever duplicate that which it was before.