'Mad Men' review

(Credit: AMC)

Picking up a year and a half after we last left Draper and company, season 2 of "Mad Men" finds the show slinking progressively into the darkest corners of modern life in the not-so-modern world. Welcome to 1962: JFK is in office, secretary Joan Holloway has a steady date, Kinsey has a well-groomed beard and everyone at Sterling Cooper has quit smoking (okay, just kidding).

Who’s that? Jon Hamm earns the Metromix Most Dashing Man on Television Award as the mysterious Don Draper, a brilliant ad exec whose success at work is inversely proportioned to his faltering psychological state. Among the loves of his life: wife Betty (January Jones), client Rachel (Maggie Siff), beatnik-in-training Midge (Rosemarie DeWitt) and, of course, any amber-colored liquor he can lay his dashing hands on.

Buzzed about: Critics swooned for season 1, hailing it as the best show since "The Sopranos" (unintentionally faint praise, as "Mad Men" premiered only a month and a half after "The Sopranos" cut to black). Luckily, "Mad Men" lives up to the hype with writing so sharp it would make even the impossible-to-please Draper happy—or at least less mopey for a while.

The hype factor: Newcomers to the show might not get what all the Emmy-nominated hoopla is about. But trust us: This is that rare TV show that knows the smaller the moment, the bigger the impact. Also, those conical bras the ladies wear are wicked hot.

The verdict: While the current TV landscape is bursting with the overwrought ("Lost"), the mediocre ("The Cleaner") and the just plain annoying ("Scrubs"), "Mad Men" is a smoky, carcinogen-laced breath of fresh air.

“Mad Men” airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.

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