Entertainment

‘MEN’ WORKING

DON Draper you’re so Dapper! What a babe!

OK, that’s the closest I hope to ever come to poetry. But Don Draper of the Sterling Cooper Ad Agency, the coolest man in a skinny Italian suit to hit TV since circa 1963, inspires bad poetry — and more — in us rabid fans.

PHOTOS: ‘Mad Men’ Season 3

Yes, girls (and boys), “Mad Men finally — after a too-long hiatus — returns this Sunday, immediately taking us back four decades with the sights, the sounds, the ads that defined the post-war era, just seconds before the whole slick, three-martini-lunch/corporate way of life came to a crashing halt. Was it worth the wait? Are you kidding me? Does London Fog make raincoats?

The premiere, with its very (did I mention “very?”) shocking opening sequence, begins with Draper (Jon Hamm) at the stove, having fully-awake nightmares about his birth while gorgeous wife Betty (January Jones) lies uneasily in their bed upstairs. It’s not a scene you will soon forget. At least I won’t. Think “Carnivale” meets the birth of Moses.

But unlike other episodes that delve deeply into the bizarre past of the man who refashioned himself as Don Draper, this one goes no further in that direction and brings us immediately up-to-speed at Sterling Cooper, one year after we left them last season.

Heads are rolling and knees are quivering now that the Brits have taken over the agency and have sent in the, er, firing squad. All the guys are scared, especially Peter Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) and Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton) after their boss is canned.

The only one who doesn’t frighten easily or bat an eyelash (unless it’s to seduce), no matter what happens, is Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), who puts the new Brit boss’s male secretary in his place and out of the way. Damn, she’s good.

But it isn’t until Don and Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt) fly out of town to schmooze the London Fog account that things tip dangerously off-kilter — in a scene that is so seat-of-their-pants dangerous for them that you’ll squirm and pray for it to end.

I’m also happy to report that the writing, if possible, is better than ever, with lines that have stayed with me as do great ad slogans. For example Joan, flashing her huge rocks (I’m talking about her engagement ring!), says about one office male, “He’s repellent. He reminds me of a doorman!”

Or how about Don Draper’s take on cheating: “I’ve been married a long time. You get plenty of chances.”

And I know about 65,000,000 women who’d love to take even one of those chances with you, Don Draper-you’re-so-Dapper!

Mad Men

Sunday night at 10 on AMC