Season 7.2 (2015)
Created by: Matthew Weiner
Starring: Jon Hamm , Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, John Slattery, Christina Hendricks, January Jones
Verdict:
While this is classified as season seven, the mid-season break pushes it into season eight territory. This is the end of an era. I can't review just this season without offering a retrospective on the series at large. I'm slightly dissatisfied that I can't look forward to more episodes of Mad Men. This show leaves a void. Few shows do I miss when they conclude, but this is one of them.
Who knew the world of advertising could be so engrossing? It was part drama, part documentary, and always a soap opera. The characters were always the focus and they (and we) have been through a lot. Don begins and ends as a creative genius. He battled his demons and lies throughout, a man so talented and at the same time so lost. It's a testament to the show's writing and storytelling that the name Don Draper is part of the pop-culture lexicon.
The show would often elbow the viewer and wink as it displayed antiquated technology and ideology, but it was always fascinating to imagine life in the sixties, though just a few decades ago, it contrasted so sharply with the world we know. The period accuracy always impressed, and it never distracted from the characters.
Review:
Episode 8: Severance
Peggy and Joan are reminded, as are we, it's a misogynistic world. Despite what they've accomplished, despite what they're hired to do, their parent company doesn't care.
Peggy has a date and decides to go to Paris, but changes her mind the next morning. She's always been a Don protege, but she's never been as distinguished or respected. She always second guesses herself, told at every step she's not good enough or that she can't do it. She hopes the job will fulfill her, where Don hopes the ideas and the pitch will fulfill. Peggy thinks a position will gain her respect, for Don convincing someone to accept his idea is the thrill.
Ken Cosgrove is fired but lands a job with Dow chemical. I'm guessing this is the wrap for his story.
Episode 9: New Business
Don is an outsider to his kids, but he never really cared. His first marriage was a charade and his second was impulse. Don has never cared about anything past himself. He's chasing after the waitress for his own fulfillment.
At the end of the episode, Don comes back home to an empty house, Megan having taken all the furniture. Slowly he's being stripped of everything. He's forsaken another wife. His company is on the verge of being absorbed. He lives a hollow life, punctuated by flashes of brilliant salesmanship.
Episode 10: The Forecast
Don is a presence, people are drawn to him. He likes it. He likes to be in control. Whenever he isn't in control, he finds a way to gain the upper hand. Don has felt like an impostor, all the more real because he stole an identity. It's something he's never reconciled. Despite being the best and lauded by associates, he's never content. His past always catches up to him and his present is always fleeting. He placates with women and booze. The only thing he has is his work, and that's only enjoyable if he's in the driver's seat.
Roger asks Don to develop a speech about the future of SC&P. Don mines Ted and Peggy, but Peggy is the only one with any answers.
Mathis takes Don's advice and makes light of a gaffe in front of a client. It ends poorly, culminating in Mathis being fired. Mathis can't read people like Don. Don has instincts. Mathis cites Don's ability as based on being handsome, but that's not it. Don has to be confidant. He has to believe his past won't catch up to him, and that he won't be exposed as a fraud. He's managed to build something from nothing. He excels at advertising because it's a lie. He's adept at making people see things his way.
Episode 11: Time & Life
Will Peggy ever make the leap to being self confidant and assertive? As much as these characters do and go through, some character aspects remain very similar.
Episode 12: Lost Horizon
When Don attends a client research meeting, he's dismayed at the number of creative heads in the meeting. He's beginning to feel like a small fish in a big pond. At SC&P he stood at the top alone, at McCann he's just another cog. Don is finding the adjustment difficult and walks out mid-meeting. He's never been one to follow any rules but his own. It's not surprising that as soon as McCann tries to leash him, he just walks out. He realizes that at McCann he's not the Don Draper, he's just another creative lead.
Joan is finding adjustment difficult. The men don't respect her and she's told that no man in the office will accept a woman as a superior. She's met with sexism and resistance all the way to the top. She concludes her only option is to cash out, but she doesn't have any leverage to bargain.
Peggy is dismayed that she doesn't have an office, refusing to relocate until she has an office.
With all of her potential, it's never mattered. She's always been a shadow She's never been wily enough to change that. She wants to be Don, but isn't willing to sacrifice anyone else to do it.
Episode 13: The Milk and Honey Route
The veterans assume Don stole their money when it turns up missing, but Don realizes it was the waiter, a hustler in training. Don recovers and returns the money, even giving the hustler his car.
Betty's story begins the final chapter when she's diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
Pete, though resistant, may be getting a job that would provide a fresh start, and just maybe reunite him with his wife and daughter.
Don's arc is a mystery, but the supporting character's stories are falling into place.
Episode 14: Person to Person
Story lines are reaching their closing, and Sally reveals to Don that Betty has lung cancer. It's a great moment for Sally as she crosses the threshold into adulthood. She tells Don that he shouldn't get her younger brothers, stating she's thought about it more than he has. Despite her neglectful parents and the ensuing disagreements, Sally turned out okay.
Don and Betty have a great moment as Betty pleads for a normal life, which is Don not being present. He wants the boys but realizes that Betty is right. He can't provide that life.
Don has never wanted to live a normal life. He's always wanted to masquerade as someone else, slipping in and out of different circles, never feeling like he belonged. He often ends up with people much younger than he. Maybe he's trying to relive his misspent youth. He's always worked harder to prove that he belonged.
He visits Anna's niece Stephanie and follows her to a retreat. He ends up stranded and desperate to leave California calls Peggy because he never told her goodbye. She demands he comes back, adding that he will still have a job. Don confesses his deceits and wishes he had made more of stealing another man's name. He bids her goodbye.
Stan finally admits he loves Peggy. Peggy rambles trying to process the information, and she concludes that she loves Stan.
Joan wants to start a video production business with Peggy, Harris-Olsen. She says it needs two names to sound real. Peggy is reluctant. She decides she wants to stay in advertising.
The business venture puts Joan at odds with Richard or wants to retire and vacation with Joan. He knows if she starts a company that will monopolize her time.
Still at the retreat, Don hears a man tearfully reveal he feels unloved, boring, and invisible. It resonates with Don and he embraces the man as a montage begins.
Pete boards a flight to Kansas with his wife and daughter. Joan runs her production business out of her hours. Roger is in France with Marie Calvert. Sally is running the Francis household. Peggy wries copy, as Stan watches.
In the final clip, as Don meditates a smirk crosses his face. with a cut to the famous Coke commercial I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke. That is the end of Mad Men.
I speculate that Don went back to McCann, with an idea sparked from his meditation. He finally got to work for Coke and brought them one of the greatest ads ever. He built something that people remember. Was Don ever happy? I doubt it. I expect he continued to live with doubt, retiring and then coming back because the one thing he did was advertising. He probably found a niche or a small firm, one that could contend with his frequent vacations and need to control.
The one thing Don knows is how people work and how to sell them.
This is a must watch season. If you've followed Mad Men, you have to finish it. If you haven't watched Mad Men, start. Experience the journey with these characters. It's a well done and fitting finale, though bittersweet knowing I'll never have a new episode of Mad Men to anticipate.
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