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Season 2 finale of ‘Mad Men,’ Sunday on AMC[24 October 2008] By Verne GayNewsday (MCT) THE SHOW: “Mad Men” WHEN/WHERE: Sunday at 10 p.m. EDT on AMC REASON TO WATCH: Second-season finale. WHAT IT’S ABOUT: The backdrop is the Cuban Missile Crisis - Oct. 22-28, 1962 - as it spreads confusion and panic in New York and the offices of Sterling Cooper, about to be purchased by a British ad firm. In the foreground, many personal and business issues arise, from the buyout to Don’s (Jon Hamm) disappearance to Betty Draper’s (January Jones) choice about her collapsed marriage to Peggy’s (Elizabeth Moss) spiritual crisis and on and on. As usual, Roger (John Slattery) reduces global affairs to a personal level: “Kennedy’s daring ‘em to bomb us, right when I got a second chance.” But the missile crisis does have a way of concentrating everyone’s thinking, and some resolutions are made. Will Duck Phillips (Mark Moses) become king rat of the new merged firm? What will Don think of Betty’s big news? Will Peggy confront Pete (Vincent Kartheiser)? BOTTOM LINE: So much praise has been heaped on “Mad Men” - much by me - that another positive endnote on this second season seems like just another cherry on a mountain of them. So be it: This season, almost miraculously, has improved upon the Emmy-winning first, and this finale upon last year’s memorable closer, when the Drapers prepared for Thanksgiving, and Don pitched the Kodak account. Both episodes are companions because they winnow the “truth” from the grand overarching deception of these lives. As Don learned last week (from his former “wife”), “the only thing keeping you from being happy is the belief that you’re alone.” By Sunday, he has absorbed these words fully. “Mad Men” fans will notice that “Meditations in an Emergency” - the finale’s title as well as the Frank O’Hara book Don saw someone reading last season - feels like a series finale. (There will be a third season, even though creator Matthew Weiner still had no deal by deadline.) But as mere season finales go, this one is magnificent. TV’s best show just gets better and better. 
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Mad Men Costume Party in Chicago Halloween NIght
There will be a big Mad Men costume party in Chicago on Halloween NIght, Friday October 31st. Here is the website address for the party. Please pass it on to your fellow Mad Men fans in or around the Chicago area. This party will be a blast, there is no admission other than it will be strictly limited to 21 and over dressed in the appropriate Mad Men era clothing. The name of the party is Ghosts of Election Past and will be staged as the party on Election NIght, 1960 that Cooper and Sterling went off to and left the kids to play at the office. There will be live period music as well as attendees will be encouraged to lip sync their favorite Rat Pack Crooner or Torch Singer. The club already looks period, - ( it was used to film the latest Bon Jovi video where they stop at a retro nightclub) and we are having period Nixon/Lodge posters printed for the walls and I have a feeling that the kids from the office will show up later and cover them with Kennedy posters. There will be prizes for the best Mad Men character outfits. For an example of the type of prizes , lets just say that the best Peggy Olson character will be awarded her very own ” Invigorator” to take home. The parking lot immediately in front of the club will be reserved for 1957 - 1963 vintage cars so if you need to check on your Brycreem before you enter the club, you can check out your reflection in all that chrome. Just don’t lean on Don’s new 62 Coupe DeVille. Here is the website: www.imfxn.com/madmen The spinning cigarette pack on the website is actually the invitation. over 500 candy cigarette boxes were made for the party but they are all gone but there are another 500+ ordered to come by Tuesday, again if you know any big Mad Men fans in the Chicagoland area let them know. This party is in no way done in associated with AMC or Lionsgate. Every year I host a very big Dead Rock Star party at this club on Halloween and after hearing my wife and her friends saying that they would love to do a MadMen themed dress up party, I thought that it sounded like a great idea and I asked the club owners what they thought of the change of plans this year and what do you know, the owners are big MadMen fans and were excited about the idea. Even I was a little skeptical of the idea at first but I have since discovered just how widespread and intense the MM fan base has already become. Just one last comment. The website should be updated with more info by noon on the 24th. thx. - Frederick Rumson
Comment by Freddy Munsen from Chicago — October 25, 2008 @ 10:50 pm