'Mad Men' Season 5, Episodes 1 & 2 Recap - 'A Little Kiss'

Season five of "Mad Men" finally premiered, and there's plenty to talk about, but first a question: is anyone else still humming "Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo?" Catchy little number.

It was just one of many fantastic (and at times uncomfortable) moments of the big premiere, the episode we've been waiting on for more than a year. It's good to see that the show hasn't missed a beat.

What it has missed, though, is a whole lot of time between where we left off and where we're picking up. Any wondering about whether Don's marriage would actually happen is quickly answered: yes it did, and he and Megan are now living in the apartment together, going to work together, and occasionally having the kids over for the weekend. Don seems actually somewhat content with his life, but there's trouble in paradise.

Megan decides to throw a surprise birthday part for Don (though his "real" birthday, as Dick Whitman, was six months ago), which Peggy wisely warns against: "Men hate surprises." We as viewers know he'll hate it too, but Megan seems either ignorant of her new husband's disposition, or else so hell bent on just throwing a party and having a good time, that she charges ahead.

The result is a wonderful mess of awkward: Roger and Jane spoil the surprise by showing up late and standing at the front door, Don has to put on a smile and deal with people he would clearly rather not deal with, and Peggy mouths off in a fit of passive-aggression that rivals even the sourest of teenagers. Oh, and then there's Megan's dance.

The great thing about a two-hour episode, and the general moseying pace of "Mad Men" overall, is that when you have Megan sing "Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo" to Don in a room full of onlookers, you can include the entire song. That's plenty of time for Jessica Paré to slink around and give her oversexed but unabashed performance, much to the ogling of Roger and the open-mouthed disbelief of Peggy, Harry et al. There's even some extra feedback from the microphone. It's fantastic.

But it is one of the moments in this episode that really captures the theme (or one of them) of this show: the times, they are a-changin'. Megan is young and vibrant, dressed in the kind of quintessential 1960's clothing that's really starting to take over on this show, and she's a woman comfortable with and confident in her sexuality. It's all very mod (and it's about as different from Betty as you can get). Don, in contrast, is a relic. And while every other man in the room drools over Megan, he remains unimpressed. He smiles, but it hides his embarrassment, and the fact that he's getting old, and the fact that this isn't the kind of thing he finds sexy.

No, he leans more toward the sadomasochistic father-figure stuff, as later (after the inevitable fight), Megan strips down to her underwear and starts cleaning up the mess by hand, telling Don that he can't touch her, that he doesn't deserve her. It's exactly the blend of deprication and empowerment that the psychological mess that is Don Dick Draper Whitman goes nuts over. Hence the dirty carpet sex.

But Don isn't the only one feeling old and facing realities. Pete finds himself dissatisfied with his home life and Trudy while simultaneously being dissatisfied with the lack of respect at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce for his work. He and Roger continue to square off, especially as Roger continues to not do much of anything that resembles work, and a squabble over Pete's comically awful office and a switch with Roger almost has them at each other's throats.

Speaking of Roger, he seems mostly unfazed by work problems but has all but completely lost interest in Jane. Obviously, that could have something to do with Joan.

Joan, meanwhile, has already had the baby and could not be less interested in motherhood. Between the lack of sleep and the bickering with her mother, Joan is about at her wit's end. And when she shows up to the office with the kid, she leaves him with pretty much anyone while she speaks with Lane to get her job back.

Lane becomes even more of a sad sack, as his financial troubles mount and he does everything he can to attempt to cheat on his wife. When he finds a wallet in the back of a cab, he attempts to contact the owner, only to find himself talking to Delores, who has a provocative picture in the wallet. He's a bumbling mess, and to see his hopes dashed when the guy shoes up instead of Delores is a bit painful.

Equally indicative of the aging and accompanying fear of our characters are the bits of civil rights talk that get thrown in. The episode opens with protesters outside of rival ad agency Y & R throwing makeshift water ballons out their window at them. When they're busted for it, SCDP (mostly just Roger and Don) decide to put an ad in the Times saying that SCDP is "an equal opportunity employer" and that their "windows don't open" to make a dig at Y & R.

The result of the ad is, as Roger ever so delicately puts it, is a "lobby full of negroes." Hey, remember, this is the guy who wore blackface a couple of seasons ago. The befuddlement and discomfort of the old white guys in charge is palpable, and a bit delicious: Lane has trouble telling the men that they're "free to go," and collects resumes from the remaining women for a secreterial position that none of them will actually get.

Like most mentions of the civil rights movement thus far on the show, it's fleeting and not more than a few minutes are spent on it. And that's how it should be on this show at this point: we're seeing things through the eyes of these Mad Men who probably give as little thought to civil rights, or less, than the show has.

The only character that remains in touch, though still dissatisfied, is Peggy. Her pitch to Heinz is a wonderful scene, complete with the ad talk that we love and some more of the so-good-it-must-be-fattening tension between Don and Peggy when he refuses to back her up.

All that, and we still got some great stuff out of Harry and Roger in terms of laughs. All in all, a pretty great start to season five. Welcome back, you miserable bunch of rigid, change-averse ad executives gradually losing control of everything you had. We missed you.