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Is there? <\/p>\n
Last night, the much-anticipated series finale aired. I was so eager to see it that I stayed up past midnight to watch, despite having a very early morning flight to catch. <\/p>\n
The previous two episodes to the finale were outstanding, and provided a lot of scenes with main characters that could easily have been their last. Betty\u2019s letter to Sally, Joan exiting with her Rolodex, Peggy entering like a rock star. But it would have been so unsatisfying to never see them again. The biggest obstacle this finale had to overcome was the fact that the central character was so far removed from everyone else. Don was off on a personal odyssey, mostly interacting with a bunch of New Age, yoga-loving hippies we\u2019d never met before. Don\u2019s interactions with the three most important women in his life \u2013 Sally, Betty and Peggy \u2013 had to happen over the phone. But the scenes were so good that I believe the show did overcome that obstacle. I thought this was a strong finish to one of the best dramas of all-time. It\u2019s no \u201cThe Suitcase\u201d, but how often is a series finale the best episode of a show\u2019s run?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s begin at the end. For a moment, I thought the show would end with Don humming \u201cOm\u201d, finally at peace with himself. Had it, I would have interpreted that as Don shedding his identity for a new one once again. Don running away from a life he no longer liked, once again. I wouldn\u2019t have been dissatisfied with that ending \u2013 because even though it would suggest that Don had changed, it really wouldn\u2019t. There would be no way to know that Don looked so happy because he was about to return to New York to finally raise his children. I absolutely would have assumed that it meant Don was starting over. <\/p>\n Instead, there was a smile and the show cut to one of the most famous ads of all-time. Because it\u2019s five a.m. at the airport, I\u2019ve already read the entire Internet of Mad Men<\/em> finale think-pieces. (OK, I read three.) They all included some kind of debate over whether this means that Don created that ad. <\/p>\n I\u2019m not here to wonder. I assumed that cutting from Don\u2019s smiling face to that ad meant that he\u2019d just gotten the idea for it. This is how I am interpreting the show\u2019s end.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think that Don dreams up the ad and thinks \u201cThank god, I can use this amazing idea to buy my way back into my old life.\u201d I think that to Don, ideas are like a drug. A good idea is an incredible high, something he\u2019s unable to resist. It doesn\u2019t matter whether he\u2019s Don Draper or Dick Whitman \u2013 at the end of the day, the ideas have always been his. He can\u2019t stop having them, and he can\u2019t resist using them. <\/p>\n So Don will return to his old life, and he\u2019ll probably return to his old ways. He won\u2019t change, despite his conversations with Sally and with Betty \u2013 two of the most powerful scenes in the episode. Is that disheartening? Not to me. I wouldn\u2019t have expected anything else from a show that embraces flaws as much as Mad Men does. <\/p>\n Just look at the other characters. There are ways that Pete, Peggy, Joan and Roger have all changed since the show began. Pete seems kinder, Peggy braver, Joan more in control and Roger happier. But there are still core elements to their personalities that can\u2019t be changed. <\/p>\n Roger gets the happy ending he always wanted, by including Kevin in his will and finding love with Marie. Kevin won\u2019t share his last name, but it gives Roger solace to think that he has a child out there (other than the screw-up), and that he\u2019s taking care of that child. He seems more genuinely happy with Marie than he did in his past relationships, but there\u2019s still an element of drama to their romance that Roger craves. His circumstances may have changed, but I think he\u2019s the same old Roger. <\/p>\n How much has Pete changed? He\u2019s still ambitious; he still yearns to be treated like royalty. As I said in my last review, Pete screwed up and remedied his life by hitting rewind. I wouldn\u2019t exactly call that change. He\u2019s living the life he always wanted \u2013 he just took a brief detour. <\/p>\n I loved his final goodbye with Peggy. It left so much of their personal history unsaid, because what really mattered to both of them was their professional history. (I also loved the brief, laughable appearance from the unlikable Harry Crane. \u201cHe\u2019s acting like we\u2019re the three musketeers. We never went for lunch!\u201d)<\/p>\n Did Pete get a happy ending? He got everything he always wanted, but the ending is unwritten. He could go back to feeling trapped inside his seemingly perfect marriage. He could go back to cheating on Trudy. But Trudy\u2019s no dope. She knew what she was getting into when she took Pete back. Maybe she\u2019ll be happy as long as he keeps his philandering out of their neighborhood this time.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Joan. In some ways, Joan has changed a lot. I can\u2019t imagine the Joan of 1960 agreeing to spend her life with a man without marrying. I can imagine the Joan of 1960 feeling thrilled at the idea of settling down for a life of luxury with a handsome, interesting man. But the Joan of 1960 had no other options open to her. Joan had even fewer options open to her than Peggy did. But Joan has always been business-minded, and she\u2019s always secretly wanted more. It wasn\u2019t until she had the opportunity to achieve it that she let herself acknowledge it. So has Joan changed? Sure, I guess. But what changed more is the world around her, the times. <\/p>\n Joan wanted Richard in her life, but she wasn\u2019t ready to retire with him. She went to the beach, and didn\u2019t care to stay. Joan has always wanted love, and she\u2019s always wanted what\u2019s best for Kevin. But she came to allow herself to want a flourishing career, too. Like Pete, Joan got somewhat of a happy ending. She\u2019s working for herself, answering to no one. But she had yet another man walk out on her, because she can\u2019t (and shouldn\u2019t have to) change. This is who she is. This is who she\u2019s always been.<\/p>\n I loved Joan\u2019s proposition to Peggy that they partner, even though Stan was right \u2013 Peggy\u2019s best move was to stay put. Peggy was so flattered, both by Joan\u2019s offer and by Pete\u2019s parting words. It was like she finally started to see how other people saw her.<\/p>\n Oh, Peggy. I expected to get more of a glimpse at Peggy\u2019s career trajectory in this episode. At brunch on Sunday morning, my friend Melanie suggested that maybe it would be Peggy to come up with the iconic Coke ad. (The theory that Don would come up with the ad was circulating on the Internet, so congrats to whoever nailed that prediction.) I thought Melanie\u2019s suggestion was a great one, because Peggy is Don\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9 and successor. Coke was supposed to be for him, but he left. Peggy was struggling to be taken seriously at McCann, but she\u2019d knock their socks off with a Draper-quality pitch. <\/p>\n Obviously, that didn\u2019t happen. In fact, the finale focused more on Peggy\u2019s personal life, the part of her life that she has always put on the back burner. She gave up a child so she could pursue this career. She didn\u2019t get on that plane to Paris. <\/p>\n Stan has always been around, and I think the show (especially recently) pointed at a possible romance between Stan and Peggy. Giving us that felt more like fan-service than anything else the show has ever done, but it was done so well. Peggy\u2019s repeated responses of \u201cWhat?\u201d were perfect. I loved how she slowly came to the realization that she loves Stan, too. <\/p>\n By giving Peggy this particular ending, I think Matthew Weiner made Peggy one of the few characters who\u2019ve truly changed. Don, Pete, Joan, Roger \u2013 their stories ended in places that were pretty similar to where they began. They are who they are. Peggy found a guy who loves her because of, not despite of, who she is. Her narrative is no longer that of someone who always put work before the rest of her life. <\/p>\n Joan told Richard that she couldn\u2019t just \u201cturn off\u201d the side of her that wanted to start a business. Just like how Don couldn\u2019t turn off that part of his brain, either. Even across the country, after hitting an emotional rock bottom, while meditating, Don cannot turn off his ability to have a good idea. It\u2019s who he is. <\/p>\n At times, watching Don in this episode was tedious. He was lost and confused. He chased after Diana to try and \u201csave\u201d her, and then did the same thing with Anna\u2019s daughter. He failed both times. They don\u2019t want his help. He\u2019s no one to them. He offered to come home and finally care for his children, only to be told by both Sally and Betty that it\u2019s too late. What they need is normalcy, and normalcy means an absentee father. <\/p>\n For me, those scenes of Don in California, drifting and depressed, were worth the pay-off. They were justified by the revelations they caused Don to have, even though the payoff is not necessarily a changed man. <\/p>\n I\u2019m probably not the only female fan of Mad Men<\/em> who\u2019s wondered, \u201cAm I a Peggy, a Joan, or a Betty?\u201d There are Buzzfeed quizzes for it all. But the character I\u2019ve always related most to is Sally. Sally has grown up so fast in the ten or so years this show covered. She\u2019s had to replace Betty, being the one to care for her brothers and the one to knock some sense into Don. She is as movie-star beautiful as both of her parents, and she shares a lot of other qualities with them as well. But these last few episodes indicated that Sally will probably also grow up to be a better person than both of her parents. Despite her troubled upbringing, she doesn\u2019t seem as miserable. She\u2019s more self-possessed. Like Betty said, her life will be an adventure. <\/p>\n This blog is super long, so I\u2019ll end it now. I intend on watching this entire season a second time (and what I\u2019d really like to do is watch the show from beginning to end again) so I might write more later. I\u2019d love to hear from all of you. There\u2019s plenty to talk about! <\/p>\n Is there? Last night, the much-anticipated series finale aired. I was so eager to see it that I stayed up past midnight to watch, despite having a very early morning flight to catch. The previous two episodes to the finale were outstanding, and provided a lot of scenes with main characters that could easily have … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7767],"tags":[2668],"zone":[121876],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/feed\/podcast\/inside-pulse","embedCode":"
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Mad Men Series Finale \u2013 \u201cThere\u2019s more to life than work.\u201d<\/a><\/blockquote>