A great season premiere. Love the characters, adore the time period this season is in, and it is just fun to catch up with this world again. Only Breaking Bad surpasses it in quality when it comes to current television. Can't wait for the rest of the season.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The best show on television had yet another incredible season, perhaps its best yet. The most wonderful surprise this year was the continued development of Don Draper as a character. He's the most fascinating character on television, and he took me by surprise this year on a number of occasions. I thoroughly enjoyed each episode this year, with the writing and acting blowing me away, as usual. The season finale did a great job of bringing things full circle, with Don's guilt over Lane and the death by hanging of his brother years ago colliding in a literally haunting way. At the end of the last show, we're left to wonder whether Don is going to continue developing as a person or go back to the way he used to be when he was with Betty. I hope he doesn't go back there, but regardless of what happens in Season 6, I am confident it will be endlessly interesting and enjoyable to watch.… Expand

It's back! After seventeen months, I can get my fix again. Does it still have the wonderful atmosphere of the '60's? YES. Does it still have wonderful characters who you can really feel for? YES. Is the writing and dialogue still top-notch and intelligent? YES. It's awesome to really get back into this world. I love this show so much, and this episode proves that the show is still going strong! Leggo! :)… Expand

I am so happy that Mad Men is back! This was a fantastic episode and though I agree with some other reviewers that it was not the best episode, I still feel it stands strong in the running with some of the best. I cant wait to see what this season brings!

Brilliant as always Mad Men season 5 premiere shows that the show still the best drama on tv, the first to episode set the stone on what it could be one the best seasons yet, after a brilliant season 4 this season seems even better, the rest of the season will be amazing

This is the best show on TV right now, and in my top three shows ever. So any criticism I have comes with the asterisk that I'm putting it up against the best hours of TV ever. With greatness in entertainment I always like to watch it a couple of times and let it simmer for a while before I call it the best ever. With that being said I am having a hard time remembering a better season of this show. "At the Codfish ball", Far Away Places", and "The Other Women" will definitely be in my top 10 episodes ever of this show. "Commission and Fees" and "Christmas Waltz" were superb as well. The only episode that fell a little flat for me, surprisingly enough, was the finale. I felt that it covered no new ground with Don. Who didn't know that Don would have trouble being faithful the minute Megan quite the firm. On the same level the guilt he would feel after Lane's suicide would parallel the guilt he felt after his brothers. Maybe because he's my least favorite character, but I also felt that Pete's arc came up way short. This has always been the character I love to hate, but this year I just hate him. Even Roger, who is probably my favorite character, and who's storyline this year has been brilliant came up short. I could care less what happens between him and Megan's mother. Overall this season was more than worth the wait and as usual I will be counting down the days till Mad Men is back.… Collapse

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Wow, just wow. The best show on tv without exception. Everyone is excellent on it, main characters background characters. Details are incredible. Joan basically prostituting herself for Jaguar, and Lane killing himself at the end of Sunday's episode. It's a wild ride, and when next week's season finale comes, I will be waiting for the blu rays to come out (which I already pre-ordered) and then waiting for season 6.… Expand

The most fascinating thing about Mad Men is that we can't exactly pinpoint why it is so appealing. Every time we think we know what makes Don Draper tick, something shifts. We know he's flawed--and sometimes in major ways--but he makes you admire him in his stoic directness and inate capability. And the panorama of the 60s is a backdrop that makes today's audience peer into less complicated and more complex, post World War 2 times. The Mad Men advertising was as fundamental as the times: it's all about possibilities.… Expand

Far Away Places aka The LSD episode is one of the finest hours of TV I've seen all season. Ranks with The Suitcase as among this series' best. Emmys all around.

the classic is back. man best drama since forever good acting and good everything mad men needs to be on forever and ever and ever until my great crandchildren die

This season is brilliant. I have loved every season of the show for different reasons, but season five finds the owners and employees of SCDP developing in new and interesting ways. Some characters are striving for self improvement, while others seem to aspire to new levels of debauchery. As the 60s was a decade of great change, so the plot and characters of this epic series change. I am grateful for Matthew Weiner, and the creative endeavor he has undertaken with Mad Men. Genius.… Expand

Superb, superb superb !! You just cant fault this show. Both the script and actors are believable and the props / set support this. YOU JUST HAVE TO WATCH

After a two year absence from our screens Mad Men returned and after a slow opening couple of episodes proved itself to be just as good as ever. Now well into the second half of the 1960’s things are starting to change dramatically for the characters we have come to know over the last four seasons yet the writing, acting and directing continue to rival anything else seen on TV. Very few drdrama series are able to keep viewers thinking about the events that unfolded well after the final credits have rolled but Mad Men is certainly one of them, a must watch.… Expand

Season 5 episode 4: "Mystery Date"
As most episodes of Mad Men start off, thereâ

I almost declined to watch this season because the previous one was lackluster but Mad Men somehow managed to un-jump the shark. The characters were static in season IV and some of the plot lines felt forced and trite, but apparently Matthew Weiner used the long hiatus to return the show to proper form. This season is dark, too.