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[Y2Kev]

I don't think it was terrible. It was rousing and confusing. The only thing I thought was hokey was Peggy/Stan and maybe Richard walking out so suddenly and so childishly.

But don...I just feel like I have to go poo.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

The season 6 finale to me is still perfection. It could have easily been the series finale.

I think it effectively was, honestly. I know one of the reviews (I think it was TIME) mentioned the show being compared to Breaking Bad quite a bit, and drawing the comparison that last week's episode would be seen as the "real" finale by fans, much like some Breaking Bad viewers considered "Ozymandias" that show's "real" end.

But to me, I really do think if you're going to apply that analogy, you gotta go aaaaaaall the way back to season 6's finale to make it fit right.

Season 7 wasn't bad. There were some great moments in it. But I think this is the least of all the shows' seasons.

 

[BertramCooper]

Season 7 wasn't bad. There were some great moments in it. But I think this is the least of all the shows' seasons.

I think AMC's decision to split the final season did the show no favors. They can call them two half-seasons, but they were quite obviously two truncated standalone seasons.

The show works best with 13-ep seasons, and to change it up at the very end was a really bad move by AMC.

So fuck AMC, as usual.

 

[lobdale]

I can't believe throughout the whole episode I was like when is he leaving this stupid commune? And then Stephanie ditches him. Ugh. Guess I'm not satisfied.

See, I kinda felt this same way through most of the episode, which is the great play here... "ugh no more hippie shit, get on with it."

But then you've got that god-tier turn at the end, it becomes clear this whole season was building toward it. It's actually a really strong corollary for that path of enlightenment. Over the course of the season he methodically loses or sheds every single thing that made That Don Draper who he was... his accounts, his job, his wife, everything in his apartment, his apartment itself, his city, his car, his belongings, his "Anna Draper Fantasy," his secrets to the VA group, most of his cash, at least (though there's surely plenty in banks and back at McCann).

Then at the end, he has his confession to Peggy, over the phone--I've sullied my new identity, I've done nothing good--and here's that one voice, Peggy, saying Come Home, where there never was a "home" before. Nirvana! Spiritual enlightenment, from having shed all things that a self can even be.

And what's his enlightenment? What's the single piece of final ascendent achievement? It's Coca-Cola, the beacon of consumerism, world-wide capitalism, the American Dream.

It's a genuine ending for him, but I wouldn't say it's "cynical" like a lot of people have. It's clever, it's ironic, it's a little sarcastic... and it lets us believe that Don Draper became what he wanted to become.

 

[DarkKyo]

I don't think it was terrible. It was rousing and confusing. The only thing I thought was hokey was Peggy/Stan and maybe Richard walking out so suddenly and so childishly.

But don...I just feel like I have to go poo.

I felt like Don's ending was the most well-executed of them all. He was the most complex character on the show. Anything more specific than what they showed would have been doing him a disservice because there are many paths he could have taken after that moment(and that's the fun of it). Anything more vague would have also been crappy because we at least want enough to draw that Don possibly went on to lead a happier life. I feel like it was just satisfying enough given the character.

I think the only two who got a little shafted content-wise were Peggy and Joan but at least we know things turned out okay for both of them.

Edit: It's also sad to think the only people who got a really terrible ending were Betty and Sally

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

See, I kinda felt this same way through most of the episode, which is the great play here... "ugh no more hippie shit, get on with it."

But then you've got that god-tier turn at the end, it becomes clear this whole season was building toward it. It's actually a really strong corollary for that path of enlightenment. Over the course of the season he methodically loses or sheds every single thing that made That Don Draper who he was... his accounts, his job, his wife, everything in his apartment, his apartment itself, his city, his car, his belongings, his "Anna Draper Fantasy," his secrets to the VA group, most of his cash, at least (though there's surely plenty in banks and back at McCann).

Then at the end, he has his confession to Peggy, over the phone--I've sullied my new identity, I've done nothing good--and here's that one voice, Peggy, saying Come Home, where there never was a "home" before. Nirvana! Spiritual enlightenment, from having shed all things that a self can even be.

And what's his enlightenment? What's the single piece of final ascendent achievement? It's Coca-Cola, the beacon of consumerism, world-wide capitalism, the American Dream.

It's a genuine ending for him, but I wouldn't say it's "cynical" like a lot of people have. It's clever, it's ironic, it's a little sarcastic... and it lets us believe that Don became what he wanted to become.

Really excellent summary.

 

[Sadsic]

i really liked that monologue from the man talking about love near the end of the episode so i sampled it in this:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40086894/I Remember Melville.mp3

 

[half a moon]

The finale sums up my problem with the whole series. Some cool Don moments, but not enough mystery and emotion. Every other character is just there. It doesn't matter how you write them. You take breaking bad and lost and it's the opposite.

 

[Pryce]

The finale sums up my problem with the whole series. Some cool Don moments, but not enough mystery and emotion. Every other character is just there. It doesn't matter how you write them. You take breaking bad and lost and it's the opposite.

What?

Also, Mad Men was never like LOST or Breaking Bad. It never tried to be.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

What?

Also, Mad Men was never like LOST or Breaking Bad. It never tried to be.

Of course it is.

Don's in purgatory, which is why he can see ghosts of the recently deceased. And then of course he's destined to get out of purgatory and become DB Cooper (hence all the plane imagery, and the title of the episode "The Jet Set." DB Cooper is an obvious stand-in for Jesus coming down from the heavens, only to be "not found" by people.

I swear, you have to spell out the most obvious stuff for some people. Put down your phone and watch!

 

[sixteen-bit]

All this coke talk has been making me crave a can.

dat product placement

 

[Axiology]

I don't think that the prospect of Don "sliding back into his old ways" has to be as bad as everyone is suggesting. Sure, he definitely doesn't become some hippie communist, but I think he most likely just goes back to being himself while continuing to be at peace with who he is. When Peggy says "What did you ever do that was so bad?" I think she's really questioning whether Don's sins are really impossible to come back from. Sure he destroyed all his romantic relationships, but he wasn't really built for them anyway. His vices (lechery, alcohol) were all as bad for him as they were because they represented his desire to run away from his past and escape his own interior turmoil. After his time at the retreat he probably figures out that things in his life aren't really so bad. He's single, has a network of family and friends that cares about him and doesn't give a shit about his possessions.

He goes back to NY, makes the greatest ad of all time and then probably just continues to live his life as the chillest, "who gives a shit?" dude. He almost definitely doesn't go back to being wound as tight as he was before the therapy session, walking around the room going "yo, this is bullshit" in his head. He makes sure his kids are doing alright and just keeps on livin'. Sounds like a pretty big change to me.

Don's conclusion actually parallels Roger's, if you think about it. Roger is pretty much a chill-ass retired dude whose main focus is enjoying the time that he has left with the people that he loves. Even Pete comes to a similar realization. There's more to life than work. It's funny that in comparison to the men it's the women of the show who actually finish the series off being more work obsessed. It's like the men collectively passed the torch off.

 

[shadyspace]

Sepinwall's thoughts pretty much encapsulate my own. What a cynical ending.

 

[A Human Becoming]

Loved the finale. It felt so out of place with the show, but in a way that brought balance. I still don't like the path they chose for Betty. Fantastic emotional scene with Don and her on the phone.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

See, I kinda felt this same way through most of the episode, which is the great play here... "ugh no more hippie shit, get on with it."

But then you've got that god-tier turn at the end, it becomes clear this whole season was building toward it. It's actually a really strong corollary for that path of enlightenment. Over the course of the season he methodically loses or sheds every single thing that made That Don Draper who he was... his accounts, his job, his wife, everything in his apartment, his apartment itself, his city, his car, his belongings, his "Anna Draper Fantasy," his secrets to the VA group, most of his cash, at least (though there's surely plenty in banks and back at McCann).

Then at the end, he has his confession to Peggy, over the phone--I've sullied my new identity, I've done nothing good--and here's that one voice, Peggy, saying Come Home, where there never was a "home" before. Nirvana! Spiritual enlightenment, from having shed all things that a self can even be.

And what's his enlightenment? What's the single piece of final ascendent achievement? It's Coca-Cola, the beacon of consumerism, world-wide capitalism, the American Dream.

It's a genuine ending for him, but I wouldn't say it's "cynical" like a lot of people have. It's clever, it's ironic, it's a little sarcastic... and it lets us believe that Don Draper became what he wanted to become.

That's the thing. If it ended at the "OM" thing at the end it would have been meh, but just showing that coke commercial made it into a great ending.

We've all been wondering what all this stuff with Don was leading to this second half and it was all leading to him not becoming someone else, but actually embracing Don Draper.

I'm also stunned at some people implying the ending was ambiguous. Makes me wonder if people actually pay attention. I sincerely think it was one of the most well done show endings I've seen, and I've seen a ton. I also don't get how the ending is cynical in any way. Hell, Don is even smiling at the end after finding his moment of peace. In fact, literally every character other than Betty finds something in their life that they are content with and want. Everyone is moving into that next chapter of their lives. Finally embracing what they deserve or what they've been chasing after. Roger settles finally and makes that move, Peggy embraces her relationship with Stan, Joan drops the dude and does what she wants to do because that's who she is, Pete gets his life together, etc.....

 

[BertramCooper]

Sepinwall's thoughts pretty much encapsulate my own. What a cynical ending.

Yeah, I enjoyed it, too. Doesn't match up entirely with my interpretation, but it does in the most important ways.

If Don really traversed this great land of ours, threw away all the sigils of Don Draper-hood, learned of Betty's impending death and the shaky future of their three children, and finally heard someone articulate his own deepest feelings of unlovability, and he came out the other side having only acquired the inspiration needed to buy his way back into McCann(**) and write that Coke ad — and cutting straight from the look of pure bliss on Don's face to the ad, without giving us hints of anything else he might do upon returning to New York, suggests that this is the only thing that ultimately matters to him — then that is a very cynical and dark take on a man I wanted better from.

But it also seems like an honest take on who that man actually was, and what "Mad Men" has been about.

I can't buy Don as a redemptive character. Certainly not with this ending.

 

[DarkKyo]

Loved the finale. It felt so out of place with the show, but in a way that brought balance. I still don't like the path they chose for Betty. Fantastic emotional scene with Don and her on the phone.

Probably my favorite scene in the episode...

"Birdie..."
".. I know.."

Never has so much been said with such little dialogue.

 

[BFIB]

Loved the finale. It felt so out of place with the show, but in a way that brought balance. I still don't like the path they chose for Betty. Fantastic emotional scene with Don and her on the phone.

There was a part of me that hoped we had a "jump forward" scenario with Betty already gone, but I'm really glad the finale showed her, in her final scene, cig in hand and doing what Betty always did.

 

[Fatalah]

I was staring at Peggy's unbalanced lag poster the entire episode. And then Stan comes and fills the void.

OTP ;_;

Peggy's going to travel and see the world with Stan. She said she hadn't traveled enough earlier this season. I don't the placement of the flags is a coincidence.

 

[kirblar]

By the end both of them (Don/Betty) owned who they were.

 

[Y2Kev]

Sal was in the commune somewhere

 

[jtb]

ugh, I hated the S6 finale. The show's fixation on Don's whorehouse past was so heavy handed and misguided. Even this relatively uneventful final half season was better than that.

 

[Rymuth]

See, I kinda felt this same way through most of the episode, which is the great play here... "ugh no more hippie shit, get on with it."

But then you've got that god-tier turn at the end, it becomes clear this whole season was building toward it. It's actually a really strong corollary for that path of enlightenment. Over the course of the season he methodically loses or sheds every single thing that made That Don Draper who he was... his accounts, his job, his wife, everything in his apartment, his apartment itself, his city, his car, his belongings, his "Anna Draper Fantasy," his secrets to the VA group, most of his cash, at least (though there's surely plenty in banks and back at McCann).

Then at the end, he has his confession to Peggy, over the phone--I've sullied my new identity, I've done nothing good--and here's that one voice, Peggy, saying Come Home, where there never was a "home" before. Nirvana! Spiritual enlightenment, from having shed all things that a self can even be.

And what's his enlightenment? What's the single piece of final ascendent achievement? It's Coca-Cola, the beacon of consumerism, world-wide capitalism, the American Dream.

It's a genuine ending for him, but I wouldn't say it's "cynical" like a lot of people have. It's clever, it's ironic, it's a little sarcastic... and it lets us believe that Don Draper became what he wanted to become.

This was a beautiful write-up

Sal was in the commune somewhere

Bwahahaha~ I really thought Joan was calling him when she was setting up the agency.

 

[youbastards]

I thought it was a fitting end to the series, and do agree that Don's sabbatical to California allowed him to finally shed himself of all of the Dick Whitman bullshit and truly become Don Draper, thus creating his legacy advertisement.

I also think that Weiner was implying that Peggy finally *did* find love and happiness in her life, but in doing so she never created the "lasting ad" that she told Don she wanted, while Don was only able to create his "lasting ad" after further isolating himself from love and happiness.

 

[tim.mbp]

Sal was in the commune somewhere

Kinsey's type of scene more likely.

 

[kirblar]

I thought it was a fitting end to the series, and do agree that Don's sabbatical to California allowed him to finally shed himself of all of the Dick Whitman bullshit and truly become Don Draper, thus creating his legacy advertisement.

I also think that Weiner was implying that Peggy finally *did* find love and happiness in her life, but in doing so she never created the "lasting ad" that she told Don she wanted, while Don was only able to create his "lasting ad" after further isolating himself from love and happiness.

At the end of S5, I think we see what Peggy wants.

 

[Axiology]

What was up with all the phone conversations?

Something about Don only being able to talk to the closest people in his life when not facing them.

I also feel like it has something to do with what Stan said to Peggy about wanting to strangle her in person but getting "the person he really wanted" when he talks to her on the phone. It's like poetry, it rhymes.

A couple more thoughts: I found it interesting that so much of the series centered around Don's advertising relationship with cigarette companies and that three of the women who meant the most to him (Anna, Rachel and Betty) died of cancer. I know Betty's is the only case where it was actually specifically lung cancer, though. Did Don have a part in killing her off?

Also, I thought it was pretty cool that most of the characters ended off looking away from their work for their meaning in life. When everyone got shipped to McCann (literally hell on Earth) we (and they) all assumed that they would have a miserable time there, but it actually had the effect of making them think "you know, why am I so invested in where I work and what I do? It's just a job." They might not have actually been pushed to that point if they actually liked the place like they did in SCDP. In some ways SCDP was a benevolent purgatory XD

 

[Sober]

I was super excited for Don to finally open up and take that chair!

Jon Hamm's Emmy moment was stolen by a random actor, who nailed it!

I'd laugh if Jon Hamm's Emmy was literally stolen by the fridge story dude during the actual Emmy's for this year.

Spoiler

categories and all that yeah yeah

 

[jett]

I can't believe throughout the whole episode I was like when is he leaving this stupid commune? And then Stephanie ditches him. Ugh. Guess I'm not satisfied.

I couldn't stand this hippie shit either.

 

[Fatalah]

Man, I'm going to miss the soundtrack too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTs3BP3fzD8

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Faraci at BirthMoviesDeath weighs in with a measured, considered take:

The final episode of Mad Men is perhaps the greatest finale in the history of television, a last episode that works on a character level - we see all these characters we love coming to a places of happiness that leave us satisfied - and that works on a thematic level, a final bit that wraps up so much of what Matthew Weiner has been saying all along… and still leaves us with deep, and sort of endless, questions.

There’s a lot to write about the meaning of the end of the show (I’m even starting to wonder if the final shots are more metaphorical than literal, if the show transcends reality to merge the character of Don Draper with the history of American advertising in a profound way), but the first thing worth talking about is how well it simply works. The transition from Don, seated lotus position at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, smiling, to the iconic “Hilltop” Coca-Cola ad is a beautiful punchline, a great joke. But it’s more than that - so much more than that.

 

[Leona Lewis]

Faraci at BirthMoviesDeath weighs in with a measured, considered take:

I needed this today. Thanks <3

(And Friday Night Lights' finale remains untouchable)

 

[Beer Monkey]

Edit: It's also sad to think the only people who got a really terrible ending were Betty and Sally

Megan's character deserved a proper sendoff and got the shaft IMO.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I will say this - while I drastically disagree with his take on the quality of this episode, I do appreciate the quick history of the Coke ad itself in the body of the article.

 

[stn]

I loved it. I assume the final ad implies that Don went back to McCann eventually but with new perspective and insight into himself.

 

[Y2Kev]

I can't even imagine how big of a shithead you would have to be not to go see your kids after their mother dies. Betty's wishes or not, give me a break.

 

[Fatalah]

I can't even imagine how big of a shithead you would have to be not to go see your kids after their mother dies. Betty's wishes or not, give me a break.

I don't think that's what Betty said.

 

[Pillville]

Well, this will (probably) be my last Mad Men post. The show is over and I only liked posting here trying to speculate on what would be happening in future episodes.

It was a great show, well worth the years of watching (and drinking along to).

Final Episode Notes:

• I thought the finale was fine. But I knew some people were not going to like it no matter what happened. Nothing could compare to the hype they built up in their heads.
• I don't understand anyone upset that it ended in one of the most famous commercials of all time. It's a show about advertising.
• I don't understand anyone upset that Peggy, Pete, etc... had happy endings. Forced or not, it was the end of a long running show, let it make us happy by making some fictional characters happy.
• So what the hell ever happened to that waitress? Did she serve just to kick start his "Don across America tour"?
• I was a little disappointed by no Sal, Kinsey, ghost Lane, ghost Glen (meaning he had died), ghost Megan (meaning she had died), original Bobby(s) cameos.

 

[kirblar]

I don't think that's what Betty said.

It wasn't. She was trying to maintain the illusion of normalcy and feared him coming to visit would break it. But, as the scene in the kitchen showed, that illusion had shattered.

 

[ShinAmano]

Probably my favorite scene in the episode...

"Birdie..."
".. I know.."

Never has so much been said with such little dialogue.

Yup...incredible.

 

[Leona Lewis]

I can't even imagine how big of a shithead you would have to be not to go see your kids after their mother dies. Betty's wishes or not, give me a break.

Betty told him to not pursue custody and uproot the children from their stable life, not to avoid seeing them altogether.

 

[vpance]

I thought Betty survived? She looked healthy and was even smoking. Plus we can presume more than 6 months had passed since the diagnosis.

 

[hamchan]

I thought Betty survived? She looked healthy and was even smoking. Plus we can presume more than 6 months had passed since the diagnosis.

What?! She looked awful!

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I need to go back through these threads someday and collect all my hilariously wrong predictions.

 

[Y2Kev]

Betty told him to not pursue custody and uproot the children from their stable life, not to avoid seeing them altogether.

I know that. But that he didn't immediately come home to me was shocking.

She didn't want him around to break an illusion no one had. But he should have said I'm coming to see my kids. I can't even imagine a father doing something else.

 

[hamchan]

I know that. But that he didn't immediately come home to me was shocking.

She didn't want him there. This whole episode was people saying they didn't want him, nearly driving him towards suicide, before Peggy told him to come home.

 

[sooperkool]

Sal was in the commune somewhere

Him and Kinsey

 

[npa189]

I thought Betty survived? She looked healthy and was even smoking. Plus we can presume more than 6 months had passed since the diagnosis.

Sally doing dishes signifies that she had to take care of the boys now. Betty was just accepting the ineveible end, whats one more cigarette when your all but certain to die?

She died like she lived, sitting at that kitchen table.

 

[vpance]

What?! She looked awful!

Looked fine to me. She had her makeup on and everything.

She was diagnosed in summer of 1969, and the show ended in 1970s. Joan's calendar showed it was November. She survived.

 

[Opto]

Thinking about it, Betty is doing a totally fucked up thing to the kids. Keeping it a secret until the bitter end, then throwing them on their aunt and uncle who they never seemed close with.

obviously they left the fate of the Draper kids up in the air intentionally, but goddamnit, I want to know.