I would love to talk to dead relatives or friends every now and then, even in my car.

http://adage.com/article/agency-news/matthew-weiner-advertising/298377/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=creativity&ttl=1431357338

This is a great article about last nights episode. Long, but worth the read. And yes, it's from HuffPost, but it's actually on point.

'Mad Men' Activates Rage, Nostalgia And A Classic Draper Move

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The beer meeting was the final straw. Nobody puts Don Draper in the corner, or in a meeting with a bunch of robotic men in shirtsleeves who all act in unison. Don't they know Don Draper is a special, magical unicorn, one who can't be contained by your walls and sated with your crappy roast beef?

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It's ironic that so many early pieces about the show referenced "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" and talked about how representative Don was of a certain kind of late '50s conformity. There was some merit to that, of course: When the show first began, the guys all dressed a certain way, and though Don's wardrobe has evolved, he has found it difficult to take off his jacket and become just another McCann pod person. But underneath the traditional suit and the slicked-back hair, Don was always one of a kind. When the show began, Don Draper was Batman, he was the Picasso of pitches, he was a special snowflake made of frozen unicorn tears. *********it, Meredith, nobody at McCann got that memo!

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"Mad Men" likes to hit us over the head with certain things to make sure we get the idea or the symbolism or whatever, and this episode was no exception. References to the falling man from the opening credits have been thick on the ground this season; in this episode alone, we had Meredith trying to turn the bare walls of Don's new apartment into an actual home, we witnessed Don touching the immovable McCann windows, we saw him staring outside in the conference room, and then there was Roger's relevant quote ("Even if your name's on the door, you should know better than to get attached to some walls."). Everything falls away or gets taken away and is impermanent, as long as you have a place where you are known -- and that place is home.

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All the reactions were true to form. Roger got drunk and goofed off, because Roger. Ted kept his head down and tried to fit in (while secretly cheering the moment in which Don chose to bail). Peggy tenaciously continued to work, even though no one at McCann knew what to do with her or much cared about her as an employee. Don took off, even as Meredith proved that she has finally become a really great secretary (she's good at covering for Don, which is Job 1 for his secretaries, but lately she has been navigating every single situation with amazing efficiency. This may be the most shocking development in "Mad Men" history.)

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So what becomes of Roger? He made a comment last night about his office being on a floor at McCann that was a "retirement home". Guessing they are putting him out to pasture at McCann.

Yeah there is no position for Roger. He is of no help to ME, as they just got their clients and their trophies(Don/Ted, etc.) He isn't going to get a senior position, nor does he really want one. He always just wanted his name on the door, and for people to remember and respect him.

I hope somehow, they give ME the big finger and screw them out of their clients or somewhich. I'd like to see Ferg, the arshole that insulted Joan and the main guy get effed over.

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I wonder how the real McCann-Erickson feels about this

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I've wondered that, too. It's definitely interesting to see them tackle the issues that they need to tackle for the sake of the story, but partly at the expense of ME.

I guess since they rely heavily on the words of folks like Bob Levenson and many others who described the times, they are able to just pin it to "well this is straight from the horse's mouth of how it was at these companies, including ME, back then"

not to mention, it isn't as if Don and Roger were ever saints running SC&P...just nothing quite as blatant as the Dennis/Ferg combo at ME.

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So great

I love Tom & Lorenzo's Mad Men reviews. Some of the best writing about the show.

Ha. Perfect.

1) If you feel like you want something or other out of the finale, just remember: Don Draper will always disappoint you when you're counting on him.


2) Maybe Don's "going to St. Paul" will be more about meeting that particular person than seeing that particular place.

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These seven episodes appear to be an extended epilogue. This makes sense - the series has been about the 60's and now we're in the 70's. This is the aftermath. The entire Greek chorus is finally chiming in on Don's decisions, with some effect.

Plus, Weiner is gradually and quietly giving every character's storyline an ending. To me, it feels like the ending to the Sandlot so far where you get a wistful line or two about how all their lives ended up.

• Kenny got fired from SC&P, but went on to be head of advertising at Dow. He still writes occasionally and enjoyed being a thorn in Pete's side for years.
• Rachel finally settled down and had kids. She died from leukemia at a young age.
• Megan lived a comfortable life due to the divorce settlement from Don, but she never got that breakthrough role she wanted, and always felt like she had somehow missed the boat.
• Betty finally decided to stop being just a trophy wife and went back to school for her master's degree in psychology. She now does counseling for mothers and women in weight loss programs.
• Glen couldn't live up to his father's academic expectations, so he joined the army. He was killed in Vietnam in 1971.
• Joan married a rich real estate developer from LA. Her mother gladly takes care of Aaron for the few weeks a year she and Richard travel the world.

Some of that is speculation of course, but I could see it ending up that way. Characters we have left are: Sally, Pete, Roger, Peggy, and of course Don will be last. They really are putting a nice little bow on everyone's story.

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Love this take on this season. I feel like Joan and Peggy just got checked off the list. I feel like that walk down the hallway is a great place to leave Peggy. Joan walking away with $3 million in today's money is good for her (and with most of her dignity).

Man this show is great, just when I thought it was dragging with the Megan episode, it knocks it out of the park twice in a row.

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These seven episodes appear to be an extended epilogue. This makes sense - the series has been about the 60's and now we're in the 70's. This is the aftermath. The entire Greek chorus is finally chiming in on Don's decisions, with some effect.

Plus, Weiner is gradually and quietly giving every character's storyline an ending. To me, it feels like the ending to the Sandlot so far where you get a wistful line or two about how all their lives ended up.

• Kenny got fired from SC&P, but went on to be head of advertising at Dow. He still writes occasionally and enjoyed being a thorn in Pete's side for years.
• Rachel finally settled down and had kids. She died from leukemia at a young age.
• Megan lived a comfortable life due to the divorce settlement from Don, but she never got that breakthrough role she wanted, and always felt like she had somehow missed the boat.
• Betty finally decided to stop being just a trophy wife and went back to school for her master's degree in psychology. She now does counseling for mothers and women in weight loss programs.
• Glen couldn't live up to his father's academic expectations, so he joined the army. He was killed in Vietnam in 1971.
• Joan married a rich real estate developer from LA. Her mother gladly takes care of Aaron for the few weeks a year she and Richard travel the world.

Some of that is speculation of course, but I could see it ending up that way. Characters we have left are: Sally, Pete, Roger, Peggy, and of course Don will be last. They really are putting a nice little bow on everyone's story.

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Best post in the thread, and I missed it first time through. Nicely stated DanHo2012

For the record I would totally bang tentacle porn peggy

I know it's been discussed, but here's a little more on Don as DB Cooper

If Don has left NYC for the final time (at least as far as these next two episodes are concerned), does that mean we've already seen our last late-night bar conversation between Roger and Don?

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And also, was that the end of Joan? I'm assuming we won't see her until the series finale if we do see her again, but I'm thinking that was her finale last night

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I'm pretty sure we'll see her again. I do really like her this last season.

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Great, great episode but I'm realizing I'm not going to get the coda i want in the finale. I really want Don to "win" for some reason i can't quite put into words. Maybe I've been admiring him in some perverse way, but the idea of the series ending with him losing everything without any redemption as Don Draper has me feeling disappointed.

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If Don has left NYC for the final time (at least as far as these next two episodes are concerned), does that mean we've already seen our last late-night bar conversation between Roger and Don?

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I think that kiss goodbye was the last time they would be together.

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If Don has left NYC for the final time (at least as far as these next two episodes are concerned), does that mean we've already seen our last late-night bar conversation between Roger and Don?

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I think that kiss goodbye was the last time they would be together.

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If Don has left NYC for the final time (at least as far as these next two episodes are concerned), does that mean we've already seen our last late-night bar conversation between Roger and Don?

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I think that kiss goodbye was the last time they would be together.

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Who do you think will have the getaway car ready once Don jumps out of the plane?

I think that theory is assinine.

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I think that theory is assinine.

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So do I

I really do think this is the way the show ends for Don. Something very similar to the Sheraton Hawaii add he pitched.

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I really do think this is the way the show ends for Don. Something very similar to the Sheraton Hawaii add he pitched.

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I completely forgot about that ad, and after a quick google search to remind myself which episode it appeared in, I think you might be onto something. Consider:

1) That was the episode (season 6 premiere) that started with the mysterious heart attack/near death sequence, which many people attributed to Don's impending death (I honestly don't remember...was it ever revealed who the patient was in that scene? Or more importantly, who the other characters huddled around the patient were?)

2) Don's behavior in that pitch meeting seeming to indicate that he wanted to die

3) Don's response when the client says the ad is a little morbid: "Well, heaven's a little morbid. How do you get to heaven? Something terrible has to happen."

McCann was referred to as advertising heaven, and obviously something terrible had to happen to SC&P for Don to get there.

4) You know what else made an appearance in the Season 6 premiere? An ad for Dow Chemical's oven cleaner, which I believe was the same product that the guy made the fake ad for right before he quit in last week's episode.

What does this all mean? Probably nothing, but it's fun to speculate.

What i simultaneously love and hate about your theory is that Weiner could pull it off in a way that leaves things very open-ended. Suppose we see Don and the hitchhiker interacting over the next two episodes, talk about death and rebirth, and drink a lot... then the next thing we see is a state trooper pulling up to a burning car with a charred body inside. The ID says Draper, but the viewer never sees if Don was alone in the car when it crashed and really is dead, or if he killed the hitchhiker and started a new life as somebody else.

Actually, forget the "simultaneously love and hate" part of my post. I would want to murder Matthew Weiner if that's how the show ended.

Where does Sally go to school? Is the girls school she attends in New York? Or is she back living with Betty & co full time? Either way, I ask because there's a super-quick clip in next week's preview of Sally in her dorm room / bedroom saying to someone unseen, "What are you doing here?" Could very well be Don, and if so, we may, in fact, see him coming back to the city at some point after that. My preference is to see him just keep driving west for the next two episodes and never come back, but I feel like he HAS to have at least one more interaction with a couple of the more prominent characters.