Mad Men

I really liked the ending. The Peggy/Stan thing was a little bit weird, but whatever.

a lot of things would have worked better if they had built it up slowly over the season, instead of abruptly in the finale. The Joan-starts-a-new-company thing should have been the half season arc, and more clearly showed the sacrifice (the douchebag boyfriend) Joan has to make to fully embrace a job, and would have made it clearer to Peggy what sacrificing your life to a job can do. Although arguably Peggy understands even better than Joan I think, what with the adoption and seeing what happened to Don.

Betty's story was pretty good, maybe a few more minutes with Hank over the season so its a bit more clear who the boys end up with.

Pete's story was pretty much perfect, although my personal preference would be to see him 5 or 10 years down the road - Trudy realizing that living in bumfuck Kansas sucks, Pete out of control and back to his sleazy ways, his daughter being the town bicycle, and him really missing living in NYC.

They really never did anything with Roger, especially work related. Which I guess is his life.

Seeing more of Harry and that coat would have been fantastic too.

Instead they completely wasted 3 episodes at the beginning of the season with that retarded waitress.

I don't think Joan really sacrificed her life or anything, that guy just wasn't right for her. She clearly wants to work and likes to work, and likes being in charge. Her boyfriend was on the downslope, he wanted to fuck around and party, that wasn't her.

Joan was finally able to get out from under controlling men who don't value what she's capable of. She got that at work with her sleazy coworker and unsympathetic boss, and she was getting it with her boyfriend and his ultimatums. She now gets to be her own boss and has more control over her life.

I kind of think the fact that someone like Joan couldn't let go, and had to go back to doing "something" is kind of an argument that the Coke ad is Don's creation once heading back to McCann. Don isn't just going to be satisfied as a hippy or farmer. He IS an Ad Man.

After watching it? I loved the final. Thought it was excellent. And while it did feel like a bit of en epilogue, it was nice to get confirmations on how all the characters turned out. It looks like life keeps on spinning. It was nice to finally get a series end that wasn't totally dark, like Chaos said.

I think the end for Don was pretty clear for me (But just my interpretation). When that guy said the stuff about being alone? All I thought off was the pitch in the first season about happiness-where Don explained what advertising is, what happiness is. It's telling people they are okay, that they have what makes them happy. You are okay. When the guy was crying, I think Don realized that everyone despairs about that. Being alone, being unloved, being unwanted. But in reality, it's you--it's in your head, it's your own fear. I think Don realized it's up tohimto see the love people offer, not try to convince them to give him more, but convince himself (And others) they are okay, that they only need to look to see it (Or open a coke to find out the whole world is offering them love).

In the end, he doesn't need to prove anything to anyone. And that has been the struggle this WHOLE series. Has he earned the life the "real" Don Draper gave him? Has he done well enough, has he made enough people respect him, and love him, to pay back the sacrifice of that man in Korea. I think the answer is yes--he has. His problem isn't that he hasn't, it's just that his despair, like the invisible man in the chair, has not let him see it. I think the very end was supposed to symbolize that he finally sees it. He sees he's a decent man. Not a perfect person, but a decent one. A man who has built something, who should be proud of who Don Draper is--because he's not some ghost that simply exists for Dick Whitman to survive. As someone else in the thread said, he finally realized Don Draper is a real person, and Dick Whitman is Don Draper. The man behind the mask is the same. It's was only Don's hang ups holding him down.

Anyway, then like any good Murican he took that harmonious enlightenment and fucking sold it; with Coca Cola. And you know what? That's awesome. I believe 100% he went back home, happier and essentially took thefinal formof theDraperand was able to sell the core of advertising--happiness, getting people to believe they are okay.

As for Peggy and Stan? My wife and I both didn't think that came out of left field. As someone else said, their first encounter was them stripping down. Those two have always been very complimentary toward each other and very friendly. It actually seemed pretty natural when they got together. It felt a tad rushed? I agree with what someone said earlier, they could have shortened the waitress thing and played out some of these stories. But it wasn't completely out of left field.

I loved Pete's ending the most. Once he "proved" himself that he WAS a better man than his father (And became rich without Dad's money?)...He became far, far nicer, and less prickish. That whole chip on his shoulder, I think, is what drove him to be so unhappy--constantly having to prove himself to his mother and brother, while his asshole father who was a sleeze ball looked down on him (While being a hypocritical failure?) really drove Pete to just be mean. However, once he realized his Dad was a failure, and his Mother became the hollow raving woman she always kind of was, combined with Don becoming like a surrogate, and fair, father? Pete really became a fairly nice guy. In addition he was almost always right, and really perceptive--I'm glad he wound up on top.

Joan's ending was also good, she got what she wanted. She is truly her own woman now. Going to miss Roger the most though. Even his final lines were hilarious. Love how they intimate he's essentially just going to be the guy Joan's boyfriend wanted to be--just flying around and having fun with a woman who won't take any of his shit, but also gets his attitude and humor. Betty's end was sad, but as others said--she became somewhat noble and earthly, which is what she actually wanted form the series get go. People finally started respecting her for her intelligence and wisdom, it was nice. (She finally wasn't the idiot saying "I'm smart...I SPEAK ITALIAN!")

btw, here is that pitch, it's why I think he made the coke Ad. Done finally realized he was right at the end.


You are okay. If you can believe that, you can be happy. I think that's what the final scene was about, and then he sold it .

ok so did don make the coke coloa commercial ? seem like he did so makes me think he goes back to NY and lives on. As far as betty goes sad to see her go but she went out smoking which to me says she is going out on her terms. Pete gets a happy ending if you will didn't see that happening was thinking along the lines of him finally claiming the kid and thats it. OK here is the pussy side of me speaking I wanted Roger to end up with big tits.

i would have like the ep to have less hippie shit more ny story.

I hated the last episode because it was the last one.

That was a very unsatisfying ending. Makes me think they left everything wide open for the possibility of another season.

Agraza_sl said:

I really liked the ending. The Peggy/Stan thing was a little bit weird, but whatever.

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I have been thinking they were going to get together for a long time now but didn't think they were going to go through with it since it was coming down to the wire.

Somewhat mixed feelings about the final episode. Would have preferred the previous episode being the finale for most of the characters, especially Peggy.

I could of sworn they were going to have at least one scene, if not an episode, with Don as an old man talking about his life in like the 90s or something.

Like a saving Private Ryan kind of deal.

That would have taken balls of steel to do and it would have been pretty funny for how god-awful cheesy it would have been.

If anyone has earned a little bit of self-congratulatory snarky cheese it would be the writers for this show. That would have been funny for real. On the order of a GRRM "I troll u, lololol". I would have groaned and then laughed.

The idea that Don goes back to NY to do the Coke ad does not work that well with the new age speech that accompanies his enlightenment. It is about being reborn as someone new, so I really took it as him deciding that after Dick and Don he could start a third life. Reading it like this made the Coke ad a kind of send off for the show, the era of advertisement it depicted and the quest of its characters.

I'm pretty sure Don goes back and makes the ad. He goes through all that shit, then learns how to package it and sell it to people. He hugged the guy telling the refrigerator story because that guy is the exact opposite of himself. That guy crying made Don realize that he's pretty awesome and everyone loves him, now let's go sell some sugar water.

Szlia_sl said:

The idea that Don goes back to NY to do the Coke ad does not work that well with the new age speech that accompanies his enlightenment. It is about being reborn as someone new, so I really took it as him deciding that after Dick and Don he could start a third life. Reading it like this made the Coke ad a kind of send off for the show, the era of advertisement it depicted and the quest of its characters.

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"Someone new" has a lot of meanings in the context of this show. He has always struggled with his identity, even before he became Don Draper. Being reborn as someone new could also mean accepting himself and stopping all of the pretending to be someone else. He is himself, Draper and Whitman are gone, he isn't the savior of Anna, or the protector of Betty or Sally, or whatever. He was never able to really be himself because he didn't know what that meant, and what he thought it meant was scary as fuck. So he ran, either literally or figuratively into booze and drugs and women. It kind of seems like it came to him when he was in the circle and hugged it out with the crying guy, that in this place he was FINALLY able to find another person who feels what he feels, maybe that helped him get beyond his "Who is Don Draper" shit.

It could be either, but like I said, I don't think it really matters. The point of the story is not which awesome ads got made. The point is how the characters grew and changed. You can write a story where Don goes back and writes the ad, or one where Don walks the earth after witnessing a miracle or whatever, either would be fit final-form Draper just as well.

So when does season 8 start?













^2

No idea, but I doubt it.

That was just about a perfect way to end it. You had closure with Don, and they found a way to leave his story open-ended so you could think, "He became a more responsible man and an excellent father". Or you could say, "He went back to New York, got hip deep in 20 year old pussy, and couldn't stop getting richer". Or you could say, "He said fuck this and went and bought his farm!!!!"

The only bad thing about the finale is that Beardy McBeard and Peggy was rushed. They'd built it all season, and it's very nice that they put it in there for ol' Pegster. But I wanted more than just an minor focus in the final episode. Pegster deserved more!!!!

And that is a very minor complaint.