I've no doubt that the nostalgic details can be appreciated an enjoyed by anyone. I just don't know that the deeply emotional, almost visceral experience is the same for one who didn't live through it.

Dudes, the girl who checked Don out of the commune was wearing the same outfit as a girl in the ad. Same braids, very, very similar shirt.

Really like OA71s take on this thread.

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I've no doubt that the nostalgic details can be appreciated an enjoyed by anyone. I just don't know that the deeply emotional, almost visceral experience is the same for one who didn't live through it.

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Throughout the entires series, I would see things-cars, wardrobes, products and have flashbacks to my childhood. Heck there were a few times I would "smell" my dad at that age...the old cigarettes and booze combo that eminated from him at times. That is why the Coke Ad took me directly back to sitting in my bean bag on the green shag carpet watching that ad, in color on our new console TV. THAT ending was a visceral experience for me for sure.
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Really liked the finale. Thought everyone got an ending. I didn't think the end was ambiguous at all. The "dings"
(Two of them) made it pretty clear that Don thought of the coke idea. I had to watch the end twice to make sure that's shat happened.

At first, I thought we got a sopranos ending but the. I realized what the "dings" meant.

I thought it was a great finale.

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Dudes, the girl who checked Don out of the commune was wearing the same outfit as a girl in the ad. Same braids, very, very similar shirt.

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Sorry, didnt read. Drunk on old fashioneds and wholly satiated by the finale. Bravo indeed

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I've no doubt that the nostalgic details can be appreciated an enjoyed by anyone. I just don't know that the deeply emotional, almost visceral experience is the same for one who didn't live through it.

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My parents were married in '62. I was born in the '70's. Grew up hearing about those huge moments, like watching the Moon landing on TV and where my dad was when he heard about JFK. They were a little too old to be hippies, and saw a lot of cultural change around them as they settled down with kids and careers.

All the women in my mom's coffee group were talking about Mad Men a couple years ago, so I gave her the Season 1 box set to watch and she was blown away. She told me a story I'd never heard before, about a roommate she had before getting married. This girl always had more money than my mom and the other girlfriend, and could buy luxury items like a TV. One weekend she went on a "work" trip with her boss to New York and came back with a fur coat. They later found out she had posed for Playboy. Never asked her about the money or luxury items...she just had them.

A huge part of the show's success that we don't consider a lot when fawning over the show's artistry was its ability to draw in such a wide age range of viewers. At my age, I never really thought about the nostalgia factor, but I think it must be huge for that generation of young professionals and wives who did the practical things they were supposed to do as they watched the 60's and 70's unfold.

FWIW the "dings" were shown on closed captions as "chimes" (as in wind chimes) . Doesn't change the obvious meaning, but puts on condition text.

Watched it again. The chimes/idea dings binary meaning just solidifies the finale's brilliance. And for once I don't feel like we're reading into something that's not there. That was 100%, undeniably intentional.

So, interesting framing from the first scene of Season 7 Episode 1 with a close up of Freddy Rumsen's face pitching the Accutron ad - even using "Om" - to represent time.

Freddy Rumsen video

And then the finale with a close of up of Don's face and the "Om"

Found from a redditor.

That's awesome.

GREAT analysis from Fienberg at HitFix...

http://www.hitfix.com/the-fien-print/mad-men-series-finale-offers-happyish-endings-from-person-to-person

This guy somewhat called the ending:

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the screen fades to black.
And out of the blackness, we begin to hear perhaps the most famous ad of the 1970s.

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http://www.vox.com/2015/5/12/8589783/mad-men-finale-predictions

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Everyone had a happy ending but poor Betty.

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indeed. But I'm not sure how they left it with Sally. Seems like her call to Don was the big moment - "my opinion is important - stop treating me like a child". Then she goes home and takes over the home as Betty withers away. So Sally was forced to grow up quickly and she took responsibility for her family.

Whats the message? All that crazy **** she had to see as a kid (don: "I scandalized my daughter") ended up helping her as she found the maturity to save her younger brothers? I suppose that's a departure from the standard thinking that Sally was going to be the one to get lost in the Movement - instead it was Roger's daughter turning hippy and Stephanie running away from responsibility.

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GREAT analysis from Fienberg at HitFix...

http://www.hitfix.com/the-fien-print/mad-men-series-finale-offers-happyish-endings-from-person-to-person

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Is he stealing Sepinwall's thunder?

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Everyone had a happy ending but poor Betty.

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indeed. But I'm not sure how they left it with Sally. Seems like her call to Don was the big moment - "my opinion is important - stop treating me like a child". Then she goes home and takes over the home as Betty withers away. So Sally was forced to grow up quickly and she took responsibility for her family.

Whats the message? All that crazy **** she had to see as a kid (don: "I scandalized my daughter") ended up helping her as she found the maturity to save her younger brothers? I suppose that's a departure from the standard thinking that Sally was going to be the one to get lost in the Movement - instead it was Roger's daughter turning hippy and Stephanie running away from responsibility.

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Love this.

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GREAT analysis from Fienberg at HitFix...

http://www.hitfix.com/the-fien-print/mad-men-series-finale-offers-happyish-endings-from-person-to-person

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Is he stealing Sepinwall's thunder?

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He acknowledges as much in the article and apologizes. I'm sure Sepinwall's will hit any minute now (he said on Twitter he didn't like where his original review was going so he scrapped it and started over).

Such an overall positive ending with Pete and Peggy. Feels like every loose end was accounted for - even Roger and Joans kid!

Underrated line: "little rich *******. Hey wait....that's what he really is!"

Speak of the devil...

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Such an overall positive ending with Pete and Peggy. Feels like every loose end was accounted for - even Roger and Joans kid!

Underrated line: "little rich *******. Hey wait....that's what he really is!"

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The more I keep going over all the events, the more this rings true. Weiner tied a bow on every notable character/story angle, even bringing certain bits full circle in a couple of instances, in such a great, non-schmaltzy way. Even Harry and Meredith went out with character-perfect lines/moments. As of this moment, I can confidently say that was the most satisfying series finale I've ever seen (though Breaking Bad is a close second).

Speaking of tying up loose ends - Surprised they didn't name Sal as an art director on one of those films or something. They accounted for Greg the rapist but no Sal.

Sepinwall nails it, as always...

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/series-finale-review-mad-men-person-to-person-id-like-to-buy-the-world-a-coke

(Though the one thing I disagree with is that Don coming up with the Coke ad in that fashion basically means he isn't a changed person. I know this is an insanely, overly positive outlook, but there's no reason why Don can't be a (somewhat) changed person, help raise his kids in whatever better way he can, AND have come up with the Coke ad.)

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(**) During Peggy and Stan's phone call (about which I will have much more to say in a bit), he tells her that Don will come back and be just fine like he always has in the past, and she later observes that Stan is always right.

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I'm SO glad the overwhelming sentiment about the finale has changed from negative to positive. When I first logged on after the show, most of the comments were negative and I felt like I must have watched a different show than everyone else!

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/05/18/the-annotated-mad-men-don-draper-buys-the-world-a-coke

I'm still 50/50 on it. Need more absorbing. I wasn't as blown away by the finale overall, but I can certainly appreciate the significance of the ending.

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I am new to this thread, so apologies if this has been covered.

Both my kids and I watch Mad Men. I am convinced that the entire series has nuance that just can't be seen or felt by people much under the age of about 60 (my age). Certainly it can be enjoyed immensely, but there are just things about it. A radio ad playing in the background. Pervasive cigarette smoking. Kids standing up in the front seat of the car. A TV show the kids are watching. Minor details in clothing. Things on counters and around the house. etc etc etc
The show's time period covered my life from 6 to 16. It as taken me back and made me remember things I hadn't thought of in years. I thing some of these things younger people might not notice when they do, think they are caricatures. They really aren't. Mad Men absolutely nailed the era, it's culture and style.

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Same age as Sally Draper c

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I'm 30 and saw/noticed the cars, clothing, things on the counters(my first car was on a box of cereal in one episode.) I also knew the coke ad, so maybe I'm different than others my age.

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You noticed it but you dont have tje nostalgia.

Thinking about it the end for both Don and Sam on Cheers had some similarity.

Recall Cheers ended with Carla extorting "It's the bar, Sam. It's the bar." The analog for Don is sort of "It's the Ad, Don, it's the Ad."

I kind regret watching the last two episodes being pissed at what they were doing to Don. Should have known I was being set up!

I wasn't sure how I felt at first but I had a smile on my face. I quickly realized I was happy with the ending.

Of course that damn song has been looping in my head for almost seven hours now...

Like many....as I sat and watched 'real time' with the Coke ad blaring away....I was having my WTF moment. As I absorbed it and re-watched it several times (up until 1am :-/ ), I became much more settled with the episode and how they dealt with it.

1) Don was left in satisfied ambiguity, 2) Betty facing her impending fate with courage/acceptance (and still smoking), 3) Sally accepting the responsibilities of adulthood and beginning her journey into life and 4) most others tied up in a positive way.

I liked it.

I liked it.

I don't know if Don becomes the father he can and should be, but it seems more possible now that he's come to terms with who he is. The group therapy session sealed that for me. that one guy telling the shelf-on-a-refrigerator story, causing Don to breakdown and hug him in a "i feel exactly the same" way. it didn't hurt that that guy was the only one in the circle who looked most like Don, plain normal non-hippie clothes, office worker, etc. something like "they look at me but they don't see me, and they never pick me", like "they look at me and see don draper, but i'm dick Whitman and nobody has ever wanted dick Whitman".

except he is don draper.

i'm kinda surprised living with this identity was as difficult as it was for as long as it was. I would've thought it got easier over time, especially after betty found out and he moved forward and some of his key business colleagues knew and didn't care. "put this behind you and move forward, it gets easier" like he told Ana's niece, though she blew that off as b.s. But then he also told young thieve in last episode about living under a false name "it's not what you think it is". the call to Peggy that was near confessional "Ive broken all my vows, took another man's name, and did nothing with it."

I was hoping he was done with NY and all that came with it, but I liked the ending, only because it came across as him returning to NY and his ad life by choice with eyes wide open, not because he was in trouble or had completed his bender. the rare Don smile and coke ad was a great way to send him back to NY

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Here goes nothing. I have a terrible time getting anything right as Wiener kicks all our azzes on a regular basis.

But for fun:

1. Don never gets on a bus or at least we don't see it if he does. A hot chick picks him up in a brand new Rivera, she has more money than him.

2. Don ends up thinking up the iconic Coca Cola song/ad and instead of going back, he calls Peggy and gives it to her. She polishes it and becomes famous.

3. Roger, Roger, Roger??? I'll stick with my idea of a come-uppance of epic proportions, a figurative death. Flash to an important boardroom meeting where he is asked by one of McCann's VPs , "Roger would you go get me a cup of coffee from the break room? NO cream, two sugars." Switching places with Joan as disrespected nobody.

4. Peggy becomes a superstar off Don's idea, gets Stan.

5. Don, he can't leave the kids, but that does not mean he goes to NY, does it? He will find out from Sally within the week so no matter where he is, I feel he will have to go back. But not to McCann.

Mour guesses later!

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FInal score:

Wins,
Don does not get on a bus.
Don thinks up the iconic Coke ad.
Peggy gets Stan.

Losses,
Too many to list!

With ten thousand guesses I would never have come up with the Bonnevllle Salt Flats!

GOnna miss this show.

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which is why i immediately posed the questions "did don come up with it, or did peggy, or did he feed it to her" that has to be what the take away here is. im not sure that question will ever be answered, but that is the onlt reason to show that ad.

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I also speculated on the idea that Don may have fed the ad idea to Peggy and actually, that can be what happened if you like!