It was a brilliant last episode- thematically spot on and the ending about as perfect a statement about humanity as the series- always aiming to make messages in that direction- could have managed.
Very happy with Mad Men overall.
__________________
"We've got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds everybody into Jawa burgers and not one of you buds has the midi-chlorians to stop her!"
I watched it again, I liked it better on a 2nd viewing. I still wish we had some interaction between people like Don and the various SCP employee's.
There were some crazy rumors flying around about how this would end. Some people even thought Don would turn out to be D.B. Cooper. Though I am surprised nobody died.
They could of had an awesome spin off series called "Driving with Mr. Cooper" featuring Don driving around the country with his sidekick the ghost of Bert Cooper.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
Last edited by Surtur on Jun 1st, 2015 at 01:31 PM
I felt bad not seeing the pitch session. For me, the best moments of the show are when Don is firing on all cylinders and making a pitch. I understand the importance of the hippie retreat scenes, but I don't like how our last scene with speaking parts is some unnamed character talking about his dreams where he's in a fridge rather than Don delivering the pitch of his life to Jim Hobart to save his career.
I understand why we didn't get it--I still would have liked to see it.
__________________
“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
I liked it very much done the way it was, fridge guy and all; it was all part of making that final moment work. They'd already done Don's goodbye/farewell drinks with the SCP guys a few episodes earlier, anyway (which was also quite clever). It's the same way they already told us what will happen to Peggy (though whether her ambition to create something of lasting value [dondismissal]'in advertising?'[/dondismissal] is achievable is another matter).
And yes, people were predicting apocalyptic ends. But in fact, everyone ended up pretty much with what they deserved- even Pete Campbell just managed to stop being an ass for the final half series in order to salvage something for his life. Betty gets a raw deal in general but she's still succeeded as a person, which is what she had struggled for.
Though I still hope Sal landed on his feet.
__________________
"We've got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds everybody into Jawa burgers and not one of you buds has the midi-chlorians to stop her!"
"You've never had any TINY bit of sex, have you?"
BtVS
Last edited by Ushgarak on Jun 3rd, 2015 at 08:38 AM
On the other hand, Don was like..a pretty terrible person for the last decade. I'm honestly not sure what he deserves. Pete was pretty bad, but not exactly "abandon your family" bad.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
Well, what does Don get? None of the family fantasy which he always strived to build- that's lost forever.
And all of that possible inner peace and contentment he was edging towards in the last half-season he trades in for a new advertising idea. In which respect, he likely goes on as a spiritually unfulfilled but professionally successful Mad Man. I think that is exactly what he deserves.
Which is all part of the broader comment, because Don is a hell of a lot closer to what a lot of men want to be than those same men would openly care to admit.
__________________
"We've got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds everybody into Jawa burgers and not one of you buds has the midi-chlorians to stop her!"
"You've never had any TINY bit of sex, have you?"
BtVS
Last edited by Ushgarak on Jun 3rd, 2015 at 08:40 AM
Why assume he traded it in for an ad idea? Why can't it be that in finding inner peace and contentment..he found he truly did still want to be a part of the ad business? What if in his mind..his coke commercial was his way of trying to pass on some of his inner peace to others? We know Don left the agency, and we know he obviously went back. What we have no way of knowing is if the Don that left is the same one that came back.
He is also relatively young, he could still make the "family fantasy" come true if that is what he truly wanted.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
Last edited by Surtur on Jun 4th, 2015 at 06:01 PM
I assume it because of how out of its way the series went to show how anathema all of that professional work as to any chance of Don finding peace. The retreat was all about disengaging- Don rejected that.
And Don is emotionally incapable of being a family man- that's another point of it all.
__________________
"We've got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds everybody into Jawa burgers and not one of you buds has the midi-chlorians to stop her!"
I took it differently. I took it as Don somewhat realizing he wasn't 100% right. In a prior episode he'd been laying into Ted..questioning him about what he wanted in the future. Ted reveals he wants "bigger accounts" and this disappoints Don because apparently after having a hard on for advertising for so long now it is just another job. He thinks there has to be more to life then work, but I think he realizes that there is, but it doesn't mean he has to completely put work on the back burner.
I think when Don left he thought literally the only way he could find peace was wandering around the country like the "Littlest Hobo". I like to think he realized he was wrong and carried this attitude back with him to the agency.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
I don't think that's supported by what we see on screen at all. Draper looks for something bigger but he never finds it- the biggest thing he gets is the largest Coke advert of all time, which is impressive but only on the same kind of mundane line as Ted's wish to land a pharmaceutical. Draper had made it clear to Peggy earlier that you can't create something of lasting value in advertising- but he went back to it all the same.
Don is still ultimately Don- he can't escape himself. That's the message.
__________________
"We've got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds everybody into Jawa burgers and not one of you buds has the midi-chlorians to stop her!"
To take a step back..I was rewatching the first half of the final season. In one episode someone accuses Jim Cutler of hating Don. He says he doesn't hate Don..he just hates what he did to Ted.
But what did Don do to Ted that was so bad? The only thing I can even think of is how in the episode where Don finds out about Peggy and Ted he sort of puts Ted on the spot a bit during the meeting, but that is it. Other then perhaps slightly embarrassing Ted what was so bad? Hell Don was even still willing to allow Ted to go to California in his place.
On to the next puzzle: the episode where Don first returns to the office. Don visits California and gets into a fight with Megan. We need see him having dinner with some men and then a strange woman comes up and acts like she knows him and then tells him what room she is in. Don acts like he has no idea who she is..later he visits her room and we find Roger is there.
I had assumed Roger had just sent the girl over to Don as some kind of messenger to get him up to his room, but then upon watching it again as soon as Roger answers the door he says "what are you doing here?" as if he wasn't even expecting it. So who the heck was the woman who approached Don? Reading the wiki description it makes it seem like Don specifically sought out Roger just to show him he had been offered a new job..but the way the entire thing is set up it really makes it seem like Roger had something to do with the girl who approached Don.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
Last edited by Surtur on Jul 2nd, 2015 at 10:07 PM
I find myself wondering what happened to poor Ginsberg. Mental hospitals back then were..not the best place to be, and someone like him could of legitimately acted in a way that they never release him.
I suppose when he started talking about being a Martian that should of been a sign something was off.
Does anyone see the relationship between Roger and Megans mom as lasting? When both members of a relationship are adulterers the relationship is doomed.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
As far as Ginsberg's concerned, I do wish we'd have gotten some insight into how he was faring and what his ultimate fate would be, but I'm going to bet he was in the asylum for life.
As for Roger and Megan's mom, I think it could work out as long as they have the understanding that it's an open relationship--I don't believe either of them can really stay monogamous for long, but if they accept themselves and each other they can stay together for the rest of their lives.
__________________
“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
Yeah, I was going to say I don't think Roger could do that. He could cheat, but I don't know how okay he'd be with her getting with other men. That is how men were at the time "It is okay for me, but not you". On the other hand the show ends in the 1970's and maybe all his experimenting with LSD maybe gave him a bit more of an open mind? Would of been curious to know wtf happened to his daughter as well. I feel sorry for his grandson, his mom just up and left to go live with some skeevy hippies.
As for Ginsberg, I can't help wondering how things would of turned out if Peggy had decided to bang him? Since he at first tried to relieve the pressure via sex prior to cutting his nip off. Then again I think as long as he was working on the same floor as that computer he'd of cracked sooner or later.
For me, I wish Don had ended up with Faye. I think they got along the best...since with Megan and Don it did at times seem more like a father/daughter relationship. Megan was pretty and sweet, but that isn't really enough to sustain a relationship. I'm guessing she probably either ended up married to another actor/director or some artsy type.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
Last edited by Surtur on Aug 9th, 2015 at 04:04 PM
The most popular theory (it might have even been confirmed in an interview, I can't remember) for Ginsberg is that he's closeted gay, which is what led to his breakdown, so I don't think getting with Peggy would have helped at all.
__________________
“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
Interesting...there could of been a Ginsberg/Stan/Peggy triangle. Would of been horrible though. Still think Faye was the best for Don.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
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