Mad Men Season 7, Episode 14, “Person to Person”

A lot of viewers and critics – myself included – have speculated about what the Mad Men finale would look like. How could we not? For a series focused so squarely on character rather than plot, the possibilities for the finale seemed nearly endless. Would it focus exclusively on Don wandering through America, letting the previous final appearances of the other characters serve as their respective series finales? Would Don return to New York upon learning of Betty’s terminal cancer, and encounter the other characters once again? Would Don commit suicide, or drop the Don Draper identity entirely? While some of these possibilities – especially a return to New York and suicide – seem distinctly likely at various points throughout the finale, ultimately the series ends with something more satisfying by touching on each of the major characters, providing both a firm coda for their arcs, as well as an idea of what their lives will be like heading into the 1970s and beyond. And then there’s a Coke commercial tacked on to the end for good measure!

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 13, “The Milk and Honey Route”

The penultimate episode of Mad Men features Don, Pete, and Betty each reaching epiphanies of sorts, as each comes to a realization about their lives or the lives of their families. I was somewhat surprised to find myself most interested in Pete’s story this week. Pete’s happiness in “Lost Horizon” reveals itself to be rather genuine here. As he tells Duck – who makes what is likely his final appearance as one of the longest running and most frequently recurring characters on the show – he’s contented with McCann’s hospitality, and the importance he’s been accorded. However, despite his own protests to the contrary, Pete is too self-aware to know it will last.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 12, “Lost Horizon”

Last week’s episode was the best of this half season thus far, but this week’s episode far surpassed it, easily ranking among my personal pantheon of Mad Men's greatest episodes. Where to begin with such an embarrassment of riches? Perhaps with some of the indelible, beautiful, and at times haunting imagery: the empty, torn down offices of SC&P; Peggy roller-skating to Roger’s drunken organ music; Peggy’s grand entrance into McCann, turning heads as the absolute essence of cool, with Bert Cooper’s Japanese erotic octopus painting tucked under her arm; Don being the odd man out and wearing his suit coat to the Miller meeting while all the other McCann creative execs go with only a shirt and tie; or even Don leaving Diana’s former Midwestern home to step into his Cadillac. This was a marvelously directed episode from start to finish, one that made great use of the all of the irreversible changes afoot in the world of these characters.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 11, “Time & Life”

This week sees yet another major overhaul to the organization of SC&P, this time in the form of their imminent absorption by McCann Erickson. Naturally, Don and the rest of the partners (except Ted) are resistant to the move, as it negates the independence they thought they were maintaining when they agreed to be bought out by McCann in the first place. Between a rock and a hard place, the partners have no recourse but to accept it, unless, that is, they can convince McCann to let them set up shop in California as SC&P West, maintaining the clientele that they would otherwise have to cut loose because of conflicts of interest.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 10, "The Forecast”

“The Forecast” is an aptly-named episode, as it finds many characters thinking about what they want out of the future and who they want to be. This episode finds Don having to write a speech for Roger about the future of SC&P for their bosses at McCann. Don’s at a loss for what to write about, and I think there are multiple competing possibilities for why it’s such a struggle for him.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 9, “New Business”

I was somewhat surprised to see Diana the waitress return so prominently in this episode, but midway through, it dawned on me that she’s actually kind of perfect for Don: she matches Don’s humble roots, and she has a world-weariness about her that suggests she knows what a hard life is like (in stark contrast with Don’s ex-wives, both of whom had privileged upbringings). Even more fittingly, eventually she reveals that just like Don, she is also running from a shameful past: her daughter died of the flu. It’s easy to see why Don is drawn to her. However, near the end of the episode she reveals herself not to be as kindred a spirit as she seemed: her pain stems not solely from the death of her daughter, but from her subsequent abandonment of another surviving daughter back in Wisconsin. She turns down Don’s attempts to escalate their romance because being with him makes it easier for her to forget, and unlike him, rather than run from her pain, she wants to hold onto it and remember it. The comfort Don can provide is not what she wants, ultimately.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 8, “Severance”

The first half of this final season satisfactorily resolved (more or less) the arcs of three of the most important relationships on this show: those Don has with Peggy, Sally, and Megan. All is right between Don and Peggy, Don has healed his rift with Sally as well (although I wouldn't mind seeing more bonding here), and while his marriage to Megan ended poorly, it resolved; they’re done, a point emphatically driven home by the string of women Don sleeps with in this episode. The resolution of these storylines leads me to wonder about what stories there are left to tell in this final half-season (some of which are strongly indicated in this episode), as well as what kinds of stories I want the show to spend its remaining time focused on.*

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 7, “Waterloo”

Rest in peace, Bert Cooper. The first half of the final season of Mad Men concludes with his passing away, and the ramifications it has for the agency and the rest of the characters. He gets one final substantial scene with Roger before his passing. At first, it appears to be an inconsequential one, which is perfect for conveying how sudden and unexpected death can be. Roger has no idea that this will be his last conversation with Bert, so Roger behaves in his usual, snarky manner. Later, this gives him cause for regret; Roger would much rather have spent their final conversation telling Bert how much he meant to him.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 6, “The Strategy”

This is the episode I have long been waiting for: the return of Bob Benson! Actually, more exciting is that the ice finally thaws between Peggy and Don, who gradually reconcile their past differences and become close with one another again, both literally and figuratively.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 5, “The Runaways”

Don Draper’s past rears its head again in this episode in the form of Stephanie, Anna Draper's niece, whose reappearance throws Don and Megan’s marriage into further disrepair. Stephanie seems to have lived a wild life since we last saw her in season four, as she is now pregnant, filthy, and dressed liked a hippie. She contacts Don from Los Angeles asking him for money, and he directs her to stay with Megan until he can fly over to see her, whereupon trouble ensues.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 4, “The Monolith”

This episode finds Don struggling mightily to adjust to the terms of his resumption of work at SC&P. Every encounter Don has seems to make him feel small and wounds his pride. Sometimes this is simply a product of the terms of his return. For instance, he catches Jim, Roger, and Lou sitting down for a meeting in the conference room near the beginning, and he’s clearly jealous of being excluded from such high-level affairs. His discontent is magnified by how sharply that meeting contrasts with the mundane and irrelevant task with which he is momentarily occupied: helping the obnoxious Michael move a couch. Likewise, when Harry introduces Don to Lloyd, the man who is installing the computer at SC&P, Harry diminishes Don’s status by introducing Don not only as one the partners, but one of the agency’s three creative directors. It’s accurate, but it still irks Don.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 3, “Field Trip”

It seems as though Don has indeed learned some lessons from his previous behavior. After the success Don had reconnecting with Sally last week once he simply told her the truth about what was happening in his life, he gives truth-telling another shot this week with Megan, the next-most important woman in his life. Unfortunately, however, he doesn’t seem to realize that Megan is much too close to his lies – and that he’s lied to her for much too long – for the truth about his status at SC&P to go as smoothly with her as it did with Sally.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 2, “A Day’s Work”

This week’s excellent episode takes place on Valentine’s Day, 1969, and the episode title, “A Day’s Work” is a rather ironic one when taken to refer to Don, Peggy, Pete, or Joan, all of whom have odd or frustrating work days: Don performs some much needed work on his personal life, namely his relationship with his daughter; Peggy is so distracted by her love life (or lack thereof) that she can’t concentrate on anything productive; Pete has a major accomplishment taken away from him by the other partners, and Joan spends the day thanklessly mopping up the messes created by the petty and selfish decisions of the creative personnel, particularly Peggy and Lou.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 1, “Time Zones”

Season 6 ended with Don and Megan’s marriage seemingly on the rocks: Don had completely lost interest in her, and his indifference had driven Megan to the point where she appeared ready to give up as well, especially once he reneged on his promise to move to Los Angeles with her. Thus it is somewhat surprising that Don and Megan begin season 7 in the midst of a seemingly happy routine: Megan lives in Los Angeles, pursuing her acting career, while Don makes time to visit from New York. Had Don and Megan somehow healed the distance between them and recommitted to each other in the time between seasons? Are they really in a happier and healthier place?

Mad Men Season 6, Episode 13, “In Care Of”

Just when I’m ready to give up on Don, he demonstrates some of the self-realization and responsibility I questioned him capable of last week. However, the small measure of growth Don undergoes in the season finale does not come easily to him, ends up costing him dearly, and requires him to first overcome his usual patterns of behavior. Early in the finale, Don once again copes poorly with his problems in the ways we’ve become accustomed to, by drinking and fleeing. Don calls Sally to try to get her to testify in the grandma Ida burglary, and she shames Don with her moral superiority. Devastated by his own failures, Don spends the day indulging in the first coping mechanism: drinking at a bar. He appears to bottom out when he punches a minister and spends the night in jail; it’s somewhat of a turning point, as he’s next seen dumping his alcohol down the kitchen sink. However, we have ample reason to doubt the sincerity of this new leaf: not only is it unrealistic for a functional alcoholic like Don to quit cold turkey (as Ted will point out to him later in the episode), but more importantly he’s still repeating other negative patterns of behavior, in that his next thought is to run away, this time to California.

Mad Men Season 6, Episode 12, “The Quality of Mercy”

My prediction that Don would use knowledge of Peggy and Ted’s feelings for each other to inflict pain on the pair came to fruition in this week’s episode, in a cruel scene where he let them think that he was on the verge of embarrassing them in front of a client. Ted and Peggy spend most of the episode in a positive reinforcement feedback loop, where their feelings for each other fuel their ideas for St. Joseph, which in turn fuel their feelings, and so on, ad infinitum. It’s as though the ad is taking place of their consummating their attraction to one another, and their giddiness is obvious to everyone around them, including Ted’s secretary, Ginsberg, Joan, and of course Don.

Mad Men Season 6, Episode 11, “Favors”

Roger begins this week’s episode by revealing that he can juggle, telling Don, “See? Not all surprises are bad.” However, this episode features a number of characters discovering surprises, nearly all of them construed as bad. The biggest and most portentous is a pair of mutual surprises Don and Sally give one another: Sally surprises Don by walking in on his latest tryst with Sylvia, while Don surprises Sally by revealing himself as a philanderer. My predictions about Don and Sylvia’s affair leading to disaster seem to have come to fruition, or very nearly so. After their mutual surprises, Don and Sally next confront one another late in the episode, at Megan's dinner table, where Sally cannot meet Don's eyes. When Arnold and his son Mitchell make an appearance to thank Don for helping Mitchell avoid becoming a draft dodger, Don gets Arnold’s thanks, which prompts Megan to fawn over how sweet Don is for helping their neighbors (an about-face from his disinterest earlier in the episode). This display of hypocrisy is too much for young Sally, who shouts at Don what many viewers have long wanted to shout many times over the course of Mad Men’s run: “You make me sick!” She then storms out of the dining room and locks herself in her bedroom. It’s a cathartic moment for those of us who’ve wanted Don to get his act together (although this shock is unlikely to change his habits or increase self-understanding), but it is also a profoundly sad moment, as it is a product of the destruction of whatever faith Sally still had in her father. However, once again, what’s bad for characters is exciting for viewers: this development significantly shifts the power relations between them, as Sally indicates when she subsequently refuses to open her door for Don, stating, “You don’t get to talk to me anymore.” Perhaps Don being beholden to Sally will lead Don to being a more attentive parent in a (futile?) attempt to redeem himself; or perhaps Sally will simply use her knowledge to try to manipulate Don – she would certainly do so were the same thing to happen between her and Betty.

Mad Men Season 6, Episode 10, “A Tale of Two Cities”

This week’s episode is titled “A Tale of Two Cities,” and revolutionary motifs and themes ripple throughout the episode, which takes place in the midst of the riots during the 1968 democratic convention in Chicago. Various plot threads explore the conflicts and contrasts between the older generation of hard line conservatives and the politically active American youth culture, and the way in which the Mad Men’s characters navigate this “revolutionary” divide.

Mad Men Season 6, Episode 9, “The Better Half”

After last week’s disappointment, this week’s episode is a return to form: a masterful hour of television, through and through. There are so many great developments it’s hard to know where to start, but I’ll begin with Peggy’s storyline, which is the most symmetrical of the episode. Finally, Mad Men is paying off the promise of the merger in episode six with the kind of Don-Peggy-Ted professional “love” triangle storyline I had been hoping for, one that places front and center the conflicting personalities, loyalties, histories, and egos that inform these three characters’ relationships. Peggy starts the episode in the uncomfortable position of being fought over by her two mentors, and ends the episode with both of them boxing her out physically and emotionally, literally shutting their office doors on her. In a wonderful touch, the complete reversal of her relationships with them is emphasized ironically through her starting and ending the episode in the exact same physical location: midway between Don and Ted’s offices, just outside of the conference room.

Mad Men Season 6, Episode 8, “The Crash”

Given how invested Don was in his affair with Sylvia, I suppose some emotional fallout was inevitable. And given my relative disinterest in Don's affair with Sylvia, I found this to be the most lackluster episode of the season thus far, despite all of the whacked out, druggy behavior from Don and others at SCDP. We’ve never seen Don flail about this much after the end of an affair. He’s like a teenage lover who can’t figure out how to get over his first heartbreak, and who thinks that his ex can somehow be talked back into their relationship, if only he could figure out the right combination of words. And that’s precisely what he spends nearly the entire episode attempting to do, as he descends into a speed-induced frenzy. Don has made his way in the world based on the power of his ability to convince people of what he wants them to think – that he’s Don Draper, that his ad campaigns are brilliant, that he’s a devoted husband – thus Don is extra-frustrated that Sylvia has stopped buying what he’s selling, especially considering the importance he places on this particular sale.