Mad Men - the final count down

[Anonymous]

The PP meant a Don & Peggy scene, not Don and Betty. I agree though- I think we won't see Don and Betty again after the kitchen scene (which I thought was actually quite touching). I really hope we see Peggy again. While I loved her stroll down the hallway at McCann, and I think that could be her ending, I just hope it isn't because she's my favorite character. And she has been such a central character (as a PP pointed out, the show started on her first day at work), and one of Don's few true friends, to the extent he ever had any. One thing that has always struck me about his character is that he is such a womanizer but at the same time his only real friends were women -- namely Anna Draper, and Peggy. This hit me when I watched The Suitcase. Just an interesting character trait. Anyway, I cannot predict what direction Don will take, but one of the few redeeming aspects of his life has been his relationship with Sally so I hope he will step in and be dad to his kids. It would just be depressing if they lost their mom and Don moves off to California or wherever without them. (And yes I realize they are fictional but I am irrationally attached to these characters and the show!)

[Anonymous]

Peggy will be in the last episode!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, I've been thinking about a number of these hypotheses about the ending.

First, I think the Diana storyline was meant to drag Don off of dead center and force him to focus on life. Diana's ex-husband told Don that she was a tornado (or something like that) and that Don hadn't been the first guy to come looking for her. She wasn't afraid to just take off and start anew. Don had to realize that the reason he "knew' her was because he was the same way. They really were the same people: running to escape past lives without conscience (or without thinking about the consequences of their decisions for others). We're not going to see Diana in the finale; her role is complete.

As for how Don will deal with the Betty scenario, I think it will be through Sally. Dick's mother died in childbirth and, although he was never respectful towards Betty as a mother, he never really questioned how she was raising the children or the quality of life she was giving them. He'll feel horrible about them being motherless but will likely abdicate to Henry to raise the boys and encourage Sally to continue towards her ambitions. He'll want Sally to become the anti-Betty, just as he encouraged Peggy to break out of her mold.

I do think we've seen the end of Roger, Peggy, Pete, and Joan. Even Harry Crane got the opportunity to tell Roger to stick it, so we've seen everyone progress in some sense.

Ultimately, Don will progress too. I don't know if he'll go find the former Don Draper's widow's niece and help her raise oranges in California or just end up peacefully in California reading at the beach. Either way, I think he's shed his demons and will end up content.

I largely agree with this, though I would give anything for one more Don and Peggy scene. However, I think Don will actually take his kids. I don't think he'll go back to McCann though. My hope is that he takes the kids to CA and somehow runs into Peggy sometime in the future (maybe he starts an agency out there with Joan?? probably wishful thinking). And sees Peggy at a pitch.

I keep thinking about how Christina Hendricks said Joan had "a beautiful ending." I don't think her ending thus far is "beautiful". I think it's fine, but I wouldn't quite call it beautiful. So maybe there is more to come there.

I'm the PP to whom you're responding. I don't think he'll end up raising his kids. Sure, that's what we, in 2015, want a good dad to do, but I don't think it's going to happen with Don / Dick in 1970. Hobos don't have children and, plus, he doesn't think he's a very good person (he may be free of demons but he still knows he's lacking -- lest we forget his blaming himself for his little brother's suicide) and, although he does love his kids, he doesn't think he's a good dad. I think he'll tell himself that Henry will be more stable and attentive than he could be for the boys. Also, Sally taking Gene onto her lap in the last episode foreshadows that she is prepared to step in and help out as a big sister / replacement mama for the boys in their current environment.

There's just no way Matthew Wiener could agree to Don / Dick becoming saddled down with children just as he finds his inner freedom. Then again, there is always the Carousel reference...

I'd be bummed if Sally's wings get clipped because she has to help take care of her brothers. REALLY bummed.

[Anonymous]

Will it be one or two hours this Sunday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the Carousel reference?

In the episode for the Kodak Carousel Don says the Wheel is a carousel that takes you round and round again until it takes you back to the place which you long to go again. And it's loaded with his personal pictures of him and Betty and the kids.

Only one of the best Don Draper scenes in the whole series!

NP here. As I mentioned in the other Betty thread, I too really hope, and do think, that we'll see a scene win Don and Peggy again. I believe they are the two characters the show is most about, and they have such a deep and complex relationship, deeper than any of his lady lovers and even wives. I think it would be wrong not to show a "goodbye" scene between them (even if it's just a Don/Peggy knowing moment and not them actually saying "Goodbye").

I agree with 15:50 that having found some freedom, he will take, or at least take an implied bigger role with, his kids. I don't think he'll stay with McCann or even advertising. This is the closest he's come to being his true self since he was dating the blonde psych researcher doc, her name escapes me. I think with that he'll have some peace and his kids will be a part of that.

They had this scene already - when she is studying in the kitchen and he rubs her back. THAT was their intimate, familiar, good bye scene. We've had it folks.

Yes that is/was a great ending scene for Don and Betty (I found it very touching like PP, and reminiscent of their lives when they were very happy together), but I mean Don and Peggy. I think Don and Betty have a had a fairly typical husband-wife relationship, but Don and Peggy have had, in my opinion, the most complicated and interesting male-female relationship of the series. Betty is pretty much a supporting character, and Peggy is a lead character without question. I don't see how this series can end without a last scene between Don and Peggy!

[Anonymous]

Don and Peggy reminded me a lot of the dynamic between Tony and Christopher in The Sopranos.

But you may remember their final scene together, the car crash, Tony killing Christopher by holding his nose. Horrible.

I can't help thinking if Don and Peggy had a final scene (which I don't think they will have) it could be along those lines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really want Peggy to end up becoming a suburban housewife and mom and really loving it.

She's so much more important than that. She is a senior creative at an advertising agency - she's literally a beacon of hope for women. Why put her in a domestic role after achieving so much? That would just be a tragedy.

Earlier in the series she said she could have forced Pete to marry her when she was pregnant - she has already very much rejected that life.

Amen.

[Anonymous]

I thought the hallway was perfect for Peggy. The picture -- the lady (Peggy) being pleasured by the Octopus (McCann) the perfect metaphor for her success in the firm.

[Anonymous]

I'm 13:30 from yesterday. I researched last week's episode and am prepared to agree with those that believe Don wilL step up for his kids. There were some images/foreshadowing that lead me to believe you all are right: the reference to buying cleats and a stick "Next time.," the black and white show with the Sanford and Son guy talking about children as a gift (then the TV breaks and he helps hotel lady fix her typewriter), and the stoic nature of Sally as she watched Henry break down crying in her dorm room. She is just like Don- he knows that- and he won't let her down. The only thing in flux for me is that it gives Henry's character a horrible ending but I guess we aren't supposed to worry about him. Being a republican and all.

[Anonymous]

Not researched - rewatched! Reseafch would ruin the fun of the analysis!

[Anonymous]

I am sick today and rewatching season 1. I had to laugh because the only reason Betty goes to the psychiatrist is because after she runs her car up on a lawn (that didn't phase Don) she keeps fixating on how bad it COULD have been. She's talking to Don and she says "Not that I could have killed the kids but what if it was worse, and Sally lived, and had a disfiguring scar? Bobby would be okay, he's a boy, but Sally would have a life of misery and loneliness." That Birdie! Vanity is thy name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sick today and rewatching season 1. I had to laugh because the only reason Betty goes to the psychiatrist is because after she runs her car up on a lawn (that didn't phase Don) she keeps fixating on how bad it COULD have been. She's talking to Don and she says "Not that I could have killed the kids but what if it was worse, and Sally lived, and had a disfiguring scar? Bobby would be okay, he's a boy, but Sally would have a life of misery and loneliness." That Birdie! Vanity is thy name.

Didn't she see the psychiatrist after she'd shot the pigeons owned by the next door neighbor? Sally called them "doggies" or something, the neighbor shouted at the kids and Betty came out with a cigarette hanging from her mouth and shot the lot of them. I loved that scene.

[Anonymous]

Love this thread.

I hope Don takes the kids, moves to Hawaii, and buys a little surf shop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sick today and rewatching season 1. I had to laugh because the only reason Betty goes to the psychiatrist is because after she runs her car up on a lawn (that didn't phase Don) she keeps fixating on how bad it COULD have been. She's talking to Don and she says "Not that I could have killed the kids but what if it was worse, and Sally lived, and had a disfiguring scar? Bobby would be okay, he's a boy, but Sally would have a life of misery and loneliness." That Birdie! Vanity is thy name.

Didn't she see the psychiatrist after she'd shot the pigeons owned by the next door neighbor? Sally called them "doggies" or something, the neighbor shouted at the kids and Betty came out with a cigarette hanging from her mouth and shot the lot of them. I loved that scene.

She probably visited him then but she starts seeing him in episode 2 after her hands act funny while driving and doctors say there's nothing wrong with her but nerves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sick today and rewatching season 1. I had to laugh because the only reason Betty goes to the psychiatrist is because after she runs her car up on a lawn (that didn't phase Don) she keeps fixating on how bad it COULD have been. She's talking to Don and she says "Not that I could have killed the kids but what if it was worse, and Sally lived, and had a disfiguring scar? Bobby would be okay, he's a boy, but Sally would have a life of misery and loneliness." That Birdie! Vanity is thy name.

Didn't she see the psychiatrist after she'd shot the pigeons owned by the next door neighbor? Sally called them "doggies" or something, the neighbor shouted at the kids and Betty came out with a cigarette hanging from her mouth and shot the lot of them. I loved that scene.

She probably visited him then but she starts seeing him in episode 2 after her hands act funny while driving and doctors say there's nothing wrong with her but nerves.

Oh my goodness I had forgotten about the hands. I wonder if that was an early symptom of the cancer. i remember my grandmother had numbness in her hands long before her diagnosis.