Mad Men S07 Part 2 (2015) – The end of an era and Don 2.0
[CAVEAT EMPTOR: SPOILERS AHEAD]
Well, that happened. After 7 seasons over 9 years and 92 episodes, Mad Men took a bow and vanished into TV history on Sunday night. I thought that this last season was very strong and in particular this last episode was outstanding. I have a separate draft waiting for me to complete comparing various series finales so let me focus on Mad Men here. Several blogs and podcasts have mentioned Don’s final transformation as a successful integration of Don Draper and Dick Whitman. I think I agree with that assessment. All the Coke references (cocaine use by Joan and Richard, the call to the office where Peggy asks him to come back for Coke…) and the underlying Mad Men them of reality versus our construction of it which are echoed in the infamous Coke and a smile commercial at the end all convinced me that Don did return to the new office and make the world’s best commercial. Rather than drinking, he was doing yoga and meditating…a healthy change. I found this highly satisfying. Steggy as some have called the mutual love declarations of Stan and Peggy also tugged hard on my heartstrings (yes, I do have a romantic side!). The three women that Don talks to with person to person collect calls (thus the title “Person to Person”) are Sally (wow, has she grown into a responsible adult, who figured?), Betty (“Birdy” killed me) and Peggy were perfectly acted and could not have been better written. Yes, it is a bit sickening to see Pete walk off into the sunset but then his wife certainly deserved a happy ending for herself at least. Marie and Roger’s romance was hilarious and oddly fitting. And then there is Joan. I was so sad the Richard turned out to be an egotistical sap, but then Joan did get what she always wanted: total control over her career and her name on the door…without having to sleep with a creep!
Although it did not have the final punch that the Breaking Bad finale had, I’d rate this really high in my list of final episodes (again, a blog post is forthcoming!). So, how about you Mad Men fans out there, did you like it or were you disappointed?
