Mad Men Season 7 Discussion Thread - Final Episodes - SERIES FINALE

Rolaholic said:
Here's hoping they can finally give Jon Hamm his Emmy :lol:  
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You know what I think it is at this point given how long the show has gone on and how consistently great it's been some ppl (those voting) may feel that the writing outshines the actors.

So even in a weird way that it's the actors bringing it all too life, ppl end up being more appreciative of Weiner than Hamm as Draper.
 
:lol:

I liked the pizza bagel ending vid in that link better. If it ended that way fans would be confused and outraged.
 
from av club and other sources.

The creator matthew weiner-

irst things first—Don does go back to McCann-Erickson, and he does create that Coke ad. Weiner says he’s known this for a long time, and told Hamm about it a while ago. He thinks it’s a “beautiful” ad, and that he finds people who read its inclusion cynically “disturbing”:

I’m not saying advertising’s not corny, but I’m saying that the people who find that ad corny, they’re probably experiencing a lot of life that way, and they’re missing out on something...And the idea that someone in an enlightened state might have created something that’s very pure—yeah, there’s soda in there with a good feeling, but that ad to me is the best ad ever made, and it comes from a very good place.

So that’s pretty clear. But, Weiner says, the hug between Don and Leonard—who Weiner calls “probably the most important role in the series”—can be read a couple of ways. “I hope the audience would feel either that he was embracing a part of himself, or maybe them, and that they were heard. I don’t want to put it into words more than that,” he says. He also says that,

I didn’t realize until the end that Don likes strangers. He likes seducing strangers, which is just like advertising...And once he gets to know you, he doesn’t like you. It’s gonna turn once they feel exposed. That’s why he picked Megan over Faye. He just tells Peggy, just move forward—that’s his philosophy in life.

But while Don’s fate—and Betty’s, who Weiner says he knew early on ”wasn’t going to live long...I think there’s a lesson to be learned about the randomness of things”—was clear to Weiner as early as the end of season four, not every character’s arc was mapped out so early. He says that Peggy and Stan ending up together “had to be proved to me,” and that he had consulted Sopranos creator (and his old boss) David Chase about whether Peggy should tell Pete about the baby. “She will have a psychological scar,” Chase told him. Speaking of babies, Weiner also says,

I thought Joan was gonna go through with that abortion. I definitely didn’t think Joan would end up this single-mom feminist, looking for childcare. I love the fact that it’s not philosophical for her. I’m not demeaning the philosophy of feminism, I’m just saying this woman made a practical decision not to take any **** anymore...She biologically loves work.

And for Mad Men fans unsure how to spend their Sunday nights now that the show is over, Weiner says he’s open to working with a streaming service like Netflix in the future, but he has some similarly old-fashioned attitudes about binge watching. “I love the waiting; I love the marination. When you watch an entire season of a show in a day, you will definitely dream about it, but it’s not the same as walking around the whole week, saying, ‘God, Pete really pissed me off,’” he says.
 
Don not liking ppl after he gets to know them more makes sense and I can understand it given his actions the entire series. I still don't like the choice of Megan over Faye though :smh:

Still not buying Peggy and Stan ending up together. That wasn't proved to me. I still feel like she settled in a sort of scared of success/too much ambition sort of way.
 
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Master Zik said:
Don not liking ppl after he gets to know them more makes sense and I can understand it given his actions the entire series. I still don't like the choice of Megan over Faye though :smh:

Still not buying Peggy and Stan ending up together. That wasn't proved to me. I still feel like she settled in a sort of scared of success/too much ambition sort of way.
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when I was watching that season (i think 5) when he was like its better to just do everything naked, and peggy was like ok, then made dude mad awkward, you could kind of tell then this scenario could have happened.
 
When peggy said something like "i never even think of you at all" to stan berore realizing he solves eveything. Am i the only one that thought of Don and Michael?

i think peggy and stan makes sense but the execution felt a bit forced. There have def been signs they might get together
 
I agree that the execution seemed forced.

To be honest, I just thought she said yes because she had no one and she was seeing signs of potentially becoming a lonely old ambitious cat woman.
 
Slighted said:
To be honest, I just thought she said yes because she had no one and she was seeing signs of potentially becoming a lonely old ambitious cat woman.
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This is absolutely true but Stan is also a good choice. Leaving Peggy to her own devices she would never find a mate. Stan knows this and just takes control.

In that sense it's totally forced, so I can understand it not sitting well with people.
 
Stan's nurse girlfriend was looking real good. Even let him take pictures. I've always thought Elizabeth Moss was cute in her own way but I dunno if I would choose her over the nurse.
 
I don't even disagree there were some signs throughout the series between them but that finale rushed and forced it.

It's easily the one conclusion I least like out of all the characters.
 
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I'd say it was one of those "finale" things that you either buy into or you don't. They had set up a few things the past few episodes to build to... the agency folding which would prompt the main characters to ask themselves several questions. Does Roger stick around? Will Peggy stay and make a name for herself? Joan's struggling to be taken seriously. Pete more or less reaching his potential within advertising. Then Don taking another break, maybe for the final time.

So some things just worked out neatly like with Pete getting back together then leaving with a better job. I buy it because he's accomplished all he could within advertising and what he's realized is he wants his family back. Pete was someone who wanted to be like Don throughout the show, but he was never that guy. So when he reaches the mountaintop, he realizes he doesn't care about that and wants the family and still gets the money and prestige of working for an aviation company. It seems "easy" but they've established this path for Pete and this is the logical final step for his chracter. 

Joan's felt a little... ehh. It seems like exactly the kind of thing Joan would do so I like it because it makes sense for her character. She rejects the safe life with her new guy and instead tries out a new venture. 

Roger's made perfect sense too.. Sterling Cooper is dead.. he has no purpose anymore, nothing left to prove or accomplish, why not live out his remaining days happy and in love.

For Peggy it just seemed a bit forced. Rather than just give her the realization that she wants to stick it out at the new agency and leave her love life up in the air.. they give her Stan and it makes sense. It just might not have been "earned" within the story. Their conversation and realization all made sense, but it just happened. Things happen in life like that so I'm sure that could be the point... but it was certainly the biggest leap you had to make.
 
Interesting take on Peggy and makes me think they just felt compelled to give something. Because, honestly, if you take out the Stan part she has no nice little bow, so to speak, wrapping up her story. It would just be more of Peggy settling, which isn't a change at all.
 
You were probably the only one.

I don't think most ppl watching don't know that many office flirtations usually don't go anywhere and if they do it's usually nothing past a one night stand after an office party.

Peggy and Stan seem forced cuz just out of the blue son confesses his love for her on the phone. She's left in an awkward position, we almost don't know if she'll respond the same and when she does it isn't like oh I just realized I'm in love with Stan. It's like let me not leave him hanging and see where this goes. It's like she pleasantly surprised to find herself in a new relationship more than it's I've found the man I love. Somebody to not make me so obsessed with work for a while. It was definitely forced and rushed. Just look at Peggy's entire story this final season. Weiner himself talks about having to be sold on her ending up with Stan. I just happen to be a fan that wasn't sold on it and apparently I'm not the only one.

This also isn't about out of nowhere relationships in general. It's specifically that it's an out of nowhere relationship used to conclude a character's storyline in the finale. That's what I have a problem with. If we were getting 13 more eps touching on Peggy and Stan I could say okay lets see how the writers and Weiner explain this. That's exactly what he did with Don and Megan. Plus he explains even more about why Don chose Megan over Faye. If Mad Men ended with Don getting married with some random minor character I'd be pissed more so than I was kinda disappointed with Peggy's ending.

As far as Joan's relationship with the old dude, that was a 2nd half of the final season subplot to tide us over to Joan being a businesswoman owning her own business. Nobody was rooting for them to stick together or get married. I'm not sure anybody even cared much about it and was just focused on Joan. Writers didn't try to disguise that as anything than it wasn't especially by making the guy some no commitment living your life leisurely doing whatever you want to do.
 
There were hints, of course, but to pair up a major character with another character like that in the last episode feels more rushed and like a neat ending then setting up that story more explicitly in the final episodes.

Pete, Roger, Joan, Don, all had their personal lives get some development over the final episodes... Peggy not so much.
 
I just realized how fitting pete's ending was. Hid dad died in that plane crash and they found out he pretty much squander a lot of their mom's money and this was kind of the beginning of the long line of losses for Pete . It was the beginning of what tore his family (mom, dad, and brother) a part. Now an airline company is what brings it back together and is his biggest win. Mind = blown

Also, I had a random dream about peggy the other night where it was close to 1980, she was about to become Creative Director, she's sitting in the kitchen and then someone comes in and shoots her in the head a la Casino.
 
great finale. 

the last betty scene was great.

it was dark and betty is smoking...sally is grown up and don is nowhere in the picture.  a microcosm of their whole relationship.

petes ending was perfect and the parallel of the private jets and his father's death was great.
 
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