Mad Men Finale: Feels, Thoughts, and Questions

I just watched the Mad Men finale for the second time. I’m having feels and thoughts and questions, and I want to discuss them. Posting them below the jump, so as not to spoiler.

1. I’m assuming that that the clear implication from the final scene is that Don goes back to McCann, and creates the “I’d like to teach the world to sing” ad for Coke. Is anyone thinking anything else?

2. That intense encounter-group scene, where the guy talks about the dream of being on the shelf in the refrigerator and people opening the fridge and looking at him but not picking him? I’m also assuming that Don is going to turn that into an ad.

3. It seems like where 1 and 2 are pointing is at the commercialization of ’60s and ’70s idealism. Assuming that 1 is true, then the question is, “Is Don sincerely trying to communicate this idealism to a wider audience through the Coke commercial, or is he simply trying to capitalize on it?” And I think the answer would be, “Yes.”

4. Do you think Peggy made the right decision in turning down Joan’s partnership offer? On the one hand: I’ve been wanting the two of them to start their own business almost since the show started. On the other hand: Maybe Stan is right, that kind of production work isn’t really Peggy’s ouvre. And maybe her headhunter was right: if she puts in three years at McCann, she’ll be able to get just about any opportunity she wants.

5. Do you think Peggy is really in love with Stan? I kind of don’t. I was paying close attention to their phone call the second time around, and I think he is very much in love with her — but I think she loves him as a friend, and is letting his love for her persuade her that she’s in love with him. All that stuff about “You’re always right,” and the way she said “I think I’m in love with you,” several times, emphasis on the “I think,” before she finally just said “I love you.”

5a. I’m having feels about 5. On the one hand: I like stories where friendship turns into love, where love has its roots in friendship. On the other hand: I hate the idea that any deep friendship between a man and a woman will always eventually turn romantic.

6. Re Joan and Richard: Fuck that guy. Just — fuck him.

7. I really, really wish they’d brought Sal Romano back, for at least one episode.

8. I don’t even know what to say about Betty, and about Sally and Bobby and Gene. I did think that last scene with Sally and Bobby, where he tells her that he knows Betty is dying, and they she starts teaching him how to cook? Stunning. Also the way they both treat Gene as if he were their own child — by sending him out of the room to watch TV. Jesus.

Feels and thoughts and questions about my feels and thoughts and questions? Anything else you want to discuss?

Comforting Thoughts book cover oblong 100 JPG
Coming Out Atheist
Bending
why are you atheists so angry
Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

{advertisement}
Mad Men Finale: Feels, Thoughts, and Questions
{advertisement}

11 thoughts on “Mad Men Finale: Feels, Thoughts, and Questions

  1. 1

    I think you were a bit hard on Richard (Joan’s beau). I didn’t really like him (he is way too selfish, set in his ways, and way too “my way or the highway” kind of fellow) but I give him credit for knowing his limitations and not standing in the way of Joan’s desires to pursue a career by lying about being able to adapt and become a better person. Old dog, no new tricks. Did I miss something? I didn’t quite get why you had such a visceral “fuck him” response to him

    re: Don — I think you got it exactly. Don is the classic “artist” type (or as ‘artist’ as an ad man can ever be). Like an artist, he has to live/feel/experience everything first hand himself, so he can create. His constant failures to come into balance with the world around him is what he seeks/needs/desires — all grist for his ad mill. Nothing he experiences has any more depth than what it can provide to his chosen art form. One of my favorite themes about Mad Men is how this “tortured ad man” parallels and parodies the “tortured artist” archetype and exposes this way of thinking for the BS this trope actually is — an artist sacrificing for their art is no different than anyone who chooses to sacrifice for the career goals. People who live entirely for some external accomplishments, at the expense of all else in their lives, are truly mad men.

  2. 2

    I think you were a bit hard on Richard (Joan’s beau). I didn’t really like him (he is way too selfish, set in his ways, and way too “my way or the highway” kind of fellow) but I give him credit for knowing his limitations and not standing in the way of Joan’s desires to pursue a career by lying about being able to adapt and become a better person. Old dog, no new tricks. Did I miss something? I didn’t quite get why you had such a visceral “fuck him” response to him

    Dago Red @ #1: I respect him having limits, knowing his limits, and being clear about them. But (a) I think his limits were bullshit. His limits were basically, “I want to decide what kind of life we’re going to have, I want to live my life and my dreams, and I’m not interested in yours.” More to the point: (b) If you’re going to have limits, and you’re going to make an ultimatum about those limits, you should fucking well give your partner more than thirty seconds while the telephone is ringing to make up their mind about it. Basically, the second he realized she was starting a business, he was like, “I cannot deal with that, if you do that I’m leaving — and you have to make this monumental decision RIGHT NOW.” That was super-douchy.

  3. 3

    It seems like where 1 and 2 are pointing is at the commercialization of ’60s and ’70s idealism. Assuming that 1 is true, then the question is, “Is Don sincerely trying to communicate this idealism to a wider audience through the Coke commercial, or is he simply trying to capitalize on it?” And I think the answer would be, “Yes.”

    Eric Hoffer wrote — “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

    Maybe we were seeing the counterculture moving towards the “business” and “racket” stages?

  4. 5

    Well, not disappointed exactly, but I really was wondering if the title graphics would be reflected in the finale. I’m baffled as to why they show that if it wasn’t going to be relevant to the show.

  5. 6

    “1. I’m assuming that that the clear implication from the final scene is that Don goes back to McCann, and creates the “I’d like to teach the world to sing” ad for Coke. Is anyone thinking anything else?”

    I read it completely differently! I thought it was suggesting that Don has abandoned the fake search for meaning and fulfilment (ie the whole Ad-business, represented by the Coke ad) and is now going after the _real_ real thing. I think it would be a bit of a letdown if, after his crisis/breakdown over the last several episodes, he just went back to being the same old whisky-swilling skirt-chasing Madison Avenue suit we all know and love/hate/secretely-envy.

  6. 7

    #2 Greta: Got it. I agree. Fuck him. I also just remembered how inflexible and bullshit his response was to Joan having a kid. He changed his mind, but his initial response was identical to how he responded to Joan’s career choice. It’s one thing knowing what one wants…but its another when any differences that come up simply lead one to instantly threaten to cut and run. That’s just disgustingly manipulative. He was a shit all around.

    Also, I loved Sal Romano too.

    #5 Brian Murtagh: LOL – I also half-expected Don to take a dive too because of the title graphic. But, I also kept expecting the giant woman’s leg that slowly swings forward as the figure falls by, to actually kick it like a hacky sack.

  7. 8

    I don’t think Don went back to advertising. I think the Coke ad had already been released (unless the timeframe is all wrong) and this is what Don sees in his moment of meditative bliss. He’s always been a great ad man because he’s empty inside and advertising, aimed at common appeal, makes him feel connected. I think the end shows us that Don will always be that person searching for love and finding only the fake.

  8. 9

    I read it completely differently! I thought it was suggesting that Don has abandoned the fake search for meaning and fulfilment (ie the whole Ad-business, represented by the Coke ad) and is now going after the _real_ real thing

    I don’t think Don went back to advertising. I think the Coke ad had already been released (unless the timeframe is all wrong) and this is what Don sees in his moment of meditative bliss.

    csrster @ #6 and thetalkingstove @ #8: Actually, I’ve read some other reviews and analyses of this episode, and it’s now clear that Don definitely is the creator of that Coke ad. (Yes, the timeline is right: the Coke ad came out in 1971.) The giveaway: Many of the people at the Esalen retreat where he has his “epiphany” look very much like the singers in the Coke ad. Not a rough general stylistic resemblance — individual people at the retreat look almost identical to individual people in the ad. Here’s a link to the most obvious example: the woman at the Esalen reception desk, with the braids with red ribbons:

    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/18/15/28D30A4C00000578-3085879-image-a-1_1431960699785.jpg

  9. 10

    I’m a little disappointed. I’ve been waiting seven seasons for Don to jump out that window.

    Well, not disappointed exactly, but I really was wondering if the title graphics would be reflected in the finale. I’m baffled as to why they show that if it wasn’t going to be relevant to the show.

    Brian Murtagh @ #4 & #5: Funny. I never saw that graphic as being about suicide. I saw it as being about — well, falling. Like he’s helped create this world, this world of unattainable standards and treating humans as status symbols, and now he’s falling through it, uncontrollably, sinking to his worst self. Or something like that.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *