AMC’s Mad Men’s latest episode powerfully deals with the beginnings of the wider cultural implications of the young president’s death, writes Mike D’Virgilio

I love Mad Men. I was born in the year of the show’s initial season, 1960, so it fascinates me to see the world I was born into and grew up in portrayed with such exquisite detail. Plus the writing, story, characters and acting are equally exquisite.

It’s hard to imagine a world where information and media didn’t surround us 24/7 like the ether, and literally assault us every waking moment. Back in those supposedly Neanderthal days, there were three TV networks we watched in scratchy black and white on little boxes. That was the high technology of the day that had blown past the outdated entertainment and news medium of radio.

My how things have changed. This excellent episode of Mad Men so well captured the initial stirrings of what we experience today, and how we as a nation would live through traumatic events in the decades that followed.

If you are a fan, here are two blogs that go into great detail about the episodes:

Mad Men Reaches Its Appointment in Samarra

Let’s talk ‘Mad Men’: ‘The Grown-Ups’

If you don’t watch the show, it’s worth watching this episode just to see how a previous generation dealt with national tragedy in the coming of age of a new broadcast medium. I don’t believe you can watch the episode online yet, but here is a recap.