Here we go again: Another season of Mad Men is upon us, and with it brings all the suspicions, concerns, grudges, loose ends, new beginnings and general effluvia lingering since last year's big finale. Naturally, everyone's got questions as to how these matters might resolve themselves -- not to mention as to what new matters might arise -- so let's get a few of those out of the way in anticipation of Sunday's season premiere. And bring your own if you've got 'em. (And of course you've got them.)
1. How will Don's past come back to haunt him this year?
So now Pete, Bert and Betty (and maybe Peggy, who certainly knows something) all have the inside story on Don's identity theft, establishing all the more leverage to control this once unleveragable titan of persona. After a season streaked with flashbacks, it's hard to believe Matt Weiner and Co. will give up Don's ghosts so easily. Nevertheless, it's getting to the point where they'll no longer work as plot devices; either let it out and get it over with, or leave it for the final season. Knowing is tension enough.
2. What happened to Paul, Ken, and the rest of the gang left behind at McCann's Sterling Cooper?
A Mad Men without Lois isn't Mad Men at all. At least this is probably something we'll get resolved in the premiere.
3. What's going to happen with the National Jai Alai Association?
In episode four last season, Pete notoriously roped in the "fatted calf" known as Horace Cook Jr., the shipping magnate's son who brought his dream of a national jai alai league -- not to mention a multimillion-dollar ad budget -- to Sterling Cooper. His NJAA was one of the clients Pete poached en route to the new agency, and "HoHo"'s words to Don linger into season four: "If jai alai fails, it will be your fault." No pressure! How long will it be before we see Don launching another pelota into Bert Cooper's replacement ant farm?
4. Is Peggy still taking nooners with Duck Phillips?
Last we saw Peggy and Duck, one of their hotel trysts was rudely interrupted by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Peggy has since moved on to the new agency and won't be stepping out to join Duck at Gray any time soon. But might she still be up for that undressing-by-teeth and "go-around(s) like you've never had"? Or is Peggy's life in Manhattan availing her to a whole new array of animal-named paramours?
We've seen Sally commit theft, assault and not just a little general rebellion against her family. The only thing between her and the ultimate crime was Don, who betrayed his Ep. 1 promise to always come home when he got bounced from 42 Bullet Park Road. Now that Henry Francis is the chief provider for Betty and her three kids (not to mention his own, older brood), it's going to take a lot more than a Barbie doll to mollify the tiny terror. I give her until maybe Ep. 9, when baby Gene coos "Da da" to Henry for the first time -- prompting Sally to rip the brakes out of his car under cover of night, just like Grandpa taught her.
6. Who will get the next divorce?
Now that the matter of Betty and Don is settled, who's next to bust up? Greg surprised Joan with his enlistment as a surgeon in the Army -- and will no doubt be shipped off to "Nam. Roger tossed a typically drunken Jane on their bed after Margaret's fraught wedding -- and then called Joan. Margaret had a bad feeling about her wedding all along -- and Roger hates Brooks. Pete remains wracked with guilt over his secret fatherhood and au pair diddling -- and Trudy is almost more of a mother to him than a spouse. Lane's wife despises New York -- and he's certainly not going anywhere now. We are not wanting for options here.
7. How will Beatlemania influence the story?
The Mad Men regulars are nothing if not old-fashioned. Paul may be a beatnik who nearly torpedoed the Madison Square Garden account (before Lane did it himself), but at heart he's a fiercely proud Princeton Tiger Tones alumnus. Pete dances the Charleston like a pro. The extent of Harry's interest in contemporary music is to have an auditioning actress seductively do the Twist -- and this for a "Bye Bye Birdie" knockoff that pleases everyone but the client (and Peggy, and who even knows what she likes). Which is all a windy way of saying that Sterling Cooper's second British Invasion is going to catch more than a few people off-guard. Surely Lane's expertise -- and his faith -- will be tested.
8. Is Don really done with Connie Hilton?
After putting Don through the faith-based, paternal wringer, Hilton severed ties with Sterling Cooper upon its sale to McCann. In the same episode, Don declined Hilton Hotels as a client he'd take to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. I could happily live with a Hilton-free Mad Men, and assuming Don won't have a contract at SCDP, I presume that's the way it's going to stay, but stranger things have happened. I'd take 10 Connie Hiltons over one sad, throat-cutting closet-dweller like Lee Garner Jr.
9. Now will Freddy Rumsen make his triumphant, zipper-playing return?
I waited all season for a wisecracking, sobered-up Freddy to make his way back to the office. He wasn't even at last season's Sterling Cooper 40th anniversary party! Now, with the start-up needing all the pants-peeing joie de vivre it can get, it might be time for Roger and Don to end Freddy's exile and welcome him back into the fold. Unless he's dead, in which case we deserve an obituary.
What did I leave out?