Stephen Black is in many ways the most heroic character in the book, something I'm sure will be borne out in the miniseries. I do miss his touchingly clumsy romance with the widowed shopkeeper Mrs. Brandy, but understand why it was cut for space.

As one who has read and re-read the books, I think the pacing works nicely. Much of what's missing from the books is the singular
narrative voice and delightful footnotes, but on screen the accelerate
tempo works makes sense. One quibble is that events
seemed compressed in terms of time, not just plot. The first…

I think much of Mad Men's success was finding the balance between sentimental and cynical, and the finale was a fine example. I've heard a lot of carping that by dreaming up the Coke ad, Don was cynically exploiting his hard-earned spiritual growth. That he was cashing in on his pain by turning it into product. But I…