I admit it: I was a latecomer to the Mad Men game. I didn’t enter the world of classy pencil skirts, scotch for breakfast, and casual adultery until late last summer. Flipping through Netflix on a lazy day, I happened to see that it was on instant streaming. I asked my mom if she wanted to watch an episode. “I don’t know,” I said, “I just feel like it’s one of those things we’re supposed to be watching.”

So we settled down in front of the television and watched an episode. And another. And another. Before long, I was addicted. Every time I turned it on I was plunged into a bygone era of smoking on airplanes, offhanded misogyny, and, of course, tremendous cultural upheaval. I loved it. Six months later and I’m eagerly awaiting its return for season five – which, by the way, is Sunday, March 25 on AMC.

For all of the Mad Men virgins, the show follows Don Draper, a sixties ad man whose main function in the show is to do whatever he pleases with minimal consequences. There’s also his protégée Peggy, who’s trying to make her mark in the male-dominated world of advertising; Joan, the quintessential sexy secretary; the likeably slimy Pete Campbell; and a whole host of other characters. In all honesty, not a whole lot happens most of the time. They sell ads, they lose accounts, they have sex in semi-public places, they drink enough to make a normal human pass out before their lunch breaks. It’s fantastic. 

It’s not all sex and alcohol, of course. The show is also rife with historical in-jokes (“I know you stole those papers! It’s not like there’s a machine that just makes copies of things!”), and touches on some of the defining events of the era. We see a nation in shock after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and the tensions between the country’s fifties-era family values and the more liberal atmosphere of the late sixties and seventies. It’s a fascinating, if romanticized, look at one of the most turbulent times in recent history.

In the first episode, just after the opening credits, italicized white words appear on a black screen. “MAD MEN:” they say, “A term coined in the late 1950’s to describe the advertising executives of Madison Avenue.” The screen pauses this way for a moment, then three more words appear below: “They coined it.” 

In the end, that’s the allure of the show – not the glamorous lifestyles, the accurate historical portraiture, or the talented actors. It’s a bunch of people acting however they want and looking good doing it. And really, what more can you ask for?