‘Mad Men,’ A Conversation (Season Four Finale)

I’m just relieved none of the kids drowned at the pool! I’m not sure I like the new Don Draper, who was absolutely glowing….. I’m sure most women will react to his new love the same way Peggy and Joan did……

He’ll hath no fury like a woman scorned. And Don, in a moment of weakness, revealed his true identity to Dr. Faye. Clearly, this is the big bend of season cliffhanger, in terms of narrative, however subtle.

“Midge auditioning for the role of wife.” I think you mean, “Megan auditioning for the role of wife.” Excellent and thoughtful analysis. Thank you.

Evangeline, I don’t think Peggy is disappointed that Don is ‘settling for personal happiness.” I think she is disappointed that Don seems to think — delusively, I expect — that he will find personal happiness by marrying his 25-year-old, gorgeous and ambitious secretary, who has been after him from day one. The secretary who seduced him by saying — don’t worry, I’m not going to go running in tears out of your office (like the very sympathetic earlier one that you took advantage of). That’s happiness, compared to the conversation Peggy and Don had in ‘The Suitcase”?

While this was not a Dallas-style cliffhanger, it leaves a lot of interesting questions out there. Surely Faye is not going to go gentle into that good night, knowing what she knows, being who she is and having been treated as she has been? Is Megan as perfect a young wife as she seems? What will happen to Joan’s husband — everyone assumes he is going to be killed, but the show generally surprises us, doesn’t it? There are other possibilities. And what will happen to SCDP — they got one small new account, but is that really going to save them?

I thought Don’s pivot from Faye to Megan was very true to life. He has the ability to be involved with several women at one time, and he has done this throughout the series so far. The trip to California with Megan caring for his children and sleeping with him was very domestic and very comfortable for him. They all seemed so relaxed and happy. I agree that the milkshake spill scene was decisive. Of course, Faye is right that he is interested in “beginnings” and not in following through in all the humdrum parts of life. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next season.

The three big end-of-season enigmas for me:

1) Betty: Obviously she has a renewed interest in Don, just as he closes that door (although as the fortune cookie says, anything’s possible…in bed). The “I Got You Babe” scene with Megan at the end is both an allusion to Groundhog Day (hat tip to Suzie Q on the other board) and the final scene last season, with Henry and Betty flying out to Vegas.

2) Faye: She has the goods on Don. Heck, so does Betty. That information will not lie dormant for long and neither will Faye. I think that both of them will realize that with persistence, the batting of eyelashes, and maybe a little extortion, they can get at least a slice of Don for themselves.

3) Peggy: Maybe I’m just a man, but the scene with Joan and Peggy struck me as a little bit of Joan trying to manipulate Peggy into being more angry–or at least angry in a different way–than she would be otherwise. There is no mutual love interest in Don and Peggy, so there’s no jealously there. Joan is trying to give voice to Peggy’s frustrations, but in an old-school, pre-feminist way. Peggy is trying to find her Third Way, not the old-boys’ network and not the behind-the-scenes gamesmanship of prefeminist women.

Peggy is rightfully frustrated, but her comment to Joan (“That’s BS”) says it all. They share a common frustration but don’t see eye-to-eye on it. Ken knows to bide his time for his recognition, and Peggy has a gut feeling to do that too. It doesn’t make her feel better, but it is giving her some chits to cash in later.

One of the most interesting dynamics of the show has been the contrasts and interplay between the old-fashioned prefeminist girl-power of Joan, the individualist feminism of Peggy, and the gender feminism of Joyce. You could also throw in Faye as an example of individualist feminism “down the road”.

“Don’t get upset, it’s just a milkshake.” Megan’s nonplused, kind, and loving response to Sally’s knocking over her milkshake at the diner sealed her opportunity to become the next Mrs. Donald Draper. Sally, Bobby, and most importantly Don were all stunned that she didn’t “rage on” like Betty would have done. This season Don auditioned Bethany for job, but, although a close competitor to Betty’s beauty, she fell short for being too immature. Faye had a shot, but her nasty temper and inadequacies as a replacement maternal figure blew it for her (but will her knowledge of Don’s identity secret and her father’s mob connections come back to haunt Don?). Megan’s loving rescue of the hysterical Sally during her office tantrum, her seemingly God-given maternal skills exhibited on the California trip, her intelligent understanding of Don the man, and her lust for Don got her Anna’s ring. In Don’s mind, Megan now replaces Anna in Don’s life and Betty in the children’s lives, at least to the extent Don has them.

I feel like Christmas morning after having opened all my presents. I hate it that this season has ended and the next is so far away!

I love Evangeline’s take on the characters “auditioning” for various roles. Clearly Megan’s audition was a hit – she got the winning part! Now it remains to be seen how long the run of the play will be…

As for Betty, she made her bed, so to speak, though a tiny ounce of pity for her crept in at the end.

Faye may well turn out to be the woman scorned. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. (Another delusion on Don’s part that she wouldn’t be? Because Betty has yet to spill his past? Betty has something to lose. Faye does not.)

I disagree that the season went out with a whimper. This felt like an appropriately open ending – satisfying, and not shutting the door on the stunning disorientation of the opener, but closing it enough for us to feel satisfied as viewers. We know there’s plenty of storm to come.

I found it to be a fitting finale. Clever (as usual), nuanced, and taking us where we needed to go.

http://dailyplateofcrazy.com/2010/10/18/mad-men-moves-us-to-tomorrowland-season-4-finale/

Which house did Don double his money on in 10 years according to the lawyer? Was it the house in Conneticut of the house in California?

Don doesn’t need to get married again. Megan is too good for him and I don’t think he’s changed enough to be a better husband. It’s too soon, he was so sloppy earlier in the season and I am not buying into his self-control. If he had any he would have not proposed. So what if Megan is good with his children, he’s not with them enough for it to matter. I feel bad for Betty, she married a man who only wanted her for her pretty face and plastered all of his ideas about what she should be without ever really trying to know her, she was hurting so bad from being married to Don, she thought Henry would be her salvation. She is the character with the most growth potential if Matt W decides to take it there.

I did not like the way Betty fired Carla. Carla overstepped but she took the blame head on but refused to allow herself to be insulted or brow beaten. I loved that about her in that scene. betty tried but she couldn’t take Carla’s dignity away, Carla said what she had to say and I am sure Don will give her a letter of recommendation on behalf of himself and Betty. I am sad to see her go, she was there for those children and they love her.

@DerickD — I think he was referring to the Ossining, NY homestead. Pretty hefty cap. gains tax back then- 48%- according to Don.

Did you see the look Roger gave Megan before he kissed her to congratulate her engagement to Don?? Wow Roger would like some of that action… Of course next season Faye won’t let Don spurn her without retaliation. She will spread rumors about Don’s indentity. In fact all the women in Don’s life will look for a little payback… Maybe Don will hump Peggy next season…

It seems like Don proposed to Megan for the sake of his kids – so they have a stable step-mom. Betty is realizing that life is never perfect and is full contradictions. She cannot deal with this and needs help. And, Henry is understanding that Betty is someone he can never please.

The scene where Betty sleeps alone Sally’s bed after her fight with Henry was very symbolic because it shows the child-like personality of Betty. And, in some ways, it is her suffering the same saddness that Sally dealth with in the last episode when Betty banned Sally from seeing Glen.

And, will Cooper being coming back next season?

Mad Men is about marketing in more ways than one. Besides the clever placement ads, the cast itself lends itself to series marketing. Flashbacks and visits to the West Coast connects well with our western friends. Jarad Harris entertains British viewers while Megan (Ms. Pare) Don’s fiance, is a welcome addition for the show’s Canadian and French viewers. Given enough time SCDP will begin to resemble the bridge of the Starship Enterprise

I’ve often too made the connection between Don and Jay Gatsby (actually James Gatz, a ne’er-do-well like Don, with an assumed name). But Don is darker, deeper too, introspective (Don reads and writes, all of Jay’s books have “uncut” pages) without Gatsby’s cheerfulness, naivete, and unflinching optimism. That being said, it is obviously Betty who is Don’s Daisy, her ethereal, remote beauty (she’s only “sexy” in that scene in Italy with Don, when she dons, pun intended, a persona and a lofty hair piece); she’s the Golden Girl, the ideal, with Daisy’s cold, hard, and careless core (mind you, there’s the late 20th century neurosis that Daisy doesn’t have: the Daddy obsession and the couch sessions). In last night’s finale, though, Meagan is no Daisy, no Golden Girl. She’s JackieO, set up for the big fall when she marries the “Golden Man”, until she discovers he’s a serial womanizer. Don’t decision to marry her felt surreal and abrupt; it is, like Gatsby, a “gesture,” among many, of his “Platonic conception of himself” (that’s Fitzgerald, not me). The seminal scene of last night’s episode is the scene between Peggy and Joany: watching Peggy is like watching all you can know, epitomized in one character, about the women’s movement. Her drive and ambition; she’s right on when she calls Joany on the pleasure she derives from her job, her struggle with a need for family and romantic love … all there laid out in one character. It was a masterful, understated, but masterful episode, with a strange but effective, hollow silence beyond the dialogue.

My perspective on the finale is that when Don looked into Megan’s eyes and told her he loved her, he is sub-consciously trying to visualize his life together again with happy children and a reformed Betty. It appeared to me he was in a trance reciting false words to Megan. He proposed in a moment of vulnerability for the past. The last scene in the empty kitchen with just Don, Betty, and the bottle of whiskey/scotch was brilliant. The words and the body language only magnified the chemistry the two still have between them. Betty has realized her mistake and Don, deep down in his pit, still loves her. All else is a superficial setting they have employed to mascarade their inner feelings for each other. When they both left the room, the scene pans on the empty room and the bottle. That is where they should have ended the show instead of continuing on with the last scene of Megan and Don in each other’s arms. I felt the empty kitchen scene was so poignant and telling of how people go on with their lives while leaving behind a past they wish they could return to only with a happier ending. All in all, this is just the best drama on tv.

Check this out: http://www.ronreplogle.com/2010/10/mad-men-annas-bequest.html

Here’s the angle – By Anna bequeathing to Dick/Don her engagement ring from the real Don, she’s giving him the license to continue to live as Don and to find a new and improved Betty, hence the marriage proposal to Megan. Very very cool insight.

I like this take on why Anna gave Don her ring:

“When Don tells Faye that he’s marrying someone else, Faye shows that she’s the antithesis of Megan by putting her finger on what makes Don tick: “you,” she tells him, “only like the beginning of things.” Faye means that as an indictment of Don’s shallowness. Anna wanted Don to live a life in Tomorrowland, where everything is always just beginning.”

http://www.ronreplogle.com/2010/10/mad-men-annas-bequest.html

Don’s a trainwreck just waiting to happen, a spectacular chrome shining steamer, that looks great from the outside – and here we are contemplating each stop along the way – leading up to the sadly spectacular crash on the horizon – but when and how and by whom..will it be a complete loss or a means to redemption?????

great stuff

I think when Don saw Megan sitting with his kids quietly he saw the idea of being married to her, or someone like her, the solution to his unsorted life. When she cleaned up the spill milk(shake) without muss or fuss he was sold. He saw a Betty Draper with more intelligence and patience. By comparison, Faye was more demanding and less kid-friendly. She wanted to know his secrets way too much. And she didn’t want to have kids- which can also be seen as not tolerating kids. Of course, Don’s match is really Peggy if only she were more than moderately attractive.

Epic Fail of a season…to be capped off with an entire finale in a Howard Johnson, no less.

In this season we saw Don de-constructed into an every-man; with no flourishes of his old carpe diem style that propelled him from banal existence into slick 60s elite. Never did he call out face-to-face his enemies, from lost accounts, to grabbing Heinz by the Throat, to bagging the big fish. It was all milquetoast half-measures…even with Women. Maybe this is why the 60s ended in chaos

Peggy turned from a sultry prize into a neurotic fridge; the rest of the Women became cliches, from crying career shrews to opportunists.

In this finale, great scenes with potential slipped away. The final scene in Peggys kitchen could have had a poignancy of chasing empty dreams…..yet, nothing.

Don has become a corporate clone…presenting his cookie cutter wife as if its product launch, desperately seeking their acceptance.

“Please get us some ice” by Roger was the only realness in the show. It was the edge that brought us all here…to view a class that isnt afraid to poke jokes at the arriveste, either arriving or departing.

I think many of us are doing the same.

This show is a bit of a carbon copy of my life as a child of a Fortune 500 NYC Executive in the ’60′s. We lived in Fairfield CT. I can’t say that this show will copy exactly miy life, but here’s a few thought’s. Don Draper and my dad are almost carbon copies. My Dad was such a ladies man while the Mom(Betty)is at home with the kids in CT. My Mom had lots of mental issues just like Betty. They divorced just like Don&Betty. Don married his secretary, My Dad married the waitress at the NYC restaurant the guys would go to for their 3 martini lunches. My Dad went on to even bigger and better things. My brother and I ended up with Mom and it was not pretty. We ended up with Dad and the waitress. Here’s how I think the show will “progress” next season. Don’s new wife will settle him down and he will really get himself back together, except for the fact that he’ll always have women after him and he will partake. Betty will go into another spiral and Don will get get kids. The women in the office(Peggy and Joan)will save the company and move themselves up into partnership. The show will somewhat follow the times of the ’60′s. Can’t wait for next year but I wish there were more episodes This show is great but when I watch it it is so sad. The memories come back to life. I’ve asked my son, who lives in NYC, to watch this show because of how much it reminds me of my childhood. He says he wishes he could have lived back then. I tell him it is better now. Can we have a few more episodes, please?

Re: Gatsby

I think many have gotten the Jay Gatsby / Don thing wrong; or mis-read the original masterpiece.

Gatsby was about unbounded confidence, pursuit as self, and a world dazzled with a single look. One quote captures it:

“He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”

I feel a little let down by this season. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was until last night, during the Draper house kitchen scene where Don and Betty had a long-overdue meet up on the screen… it was sad and poignant and I realized how much I miss that screen relationship. I used marvel at this show. The scenes between those two were always an anchor. This season was…just alright. I was sure that proposal nonsense was a dream. I’m still feeling icky about it.

Critical fact: Don did NOT tell Megan about Dick; before, during or after proposing (with the real Don’s ring).

As far as I’m concerned, that means this second marriage (if it even happens) too is doomed. He had a chance at honesty with Faye because she knew EVERYTHING about him. But Megan remains a fantasy because she does not.

And entering into a new primary relationship without honesty also means Don has abandoned the opportunity to exorcise the demons haunting the rest of his life. All the disappointments noted by $ and others in previous posts ultimately stem from Don’s existential lack of self-confidence, knowing as he does that he is living the life of another man he hardly knew. And that must continue unless he can find it within himself to come clean with those closest to him, especially the woman in his life. He did it with Faye but now he has dumped Faye so he’s back to square one.

I loved the ending with Sonny and Cher playing as the screen faded to black – On a side note, remember when Sonny and Cher were on The Ed Sullivan Show – http://goo.gl/1zUl ?

Peggy is indeed a hottie Angel. Did you get a look at the high fashion model that Harry drooled over in Peggy’s office? Peggy was way cutier.

By the way, that scene must have been the last one shot – it did not seem up to the high standards of Madmen. It seemed very forced and stilted. Like everyone was ready to wrap up the season and go hang out ont he Walking Dead set.

Any day I am expecting the WSJ to change it’s name to “Mad Men Journal”. I have never seen a newspaper devote so much ink and space to a TV show before. Ever.

Megan or Faye…tough decision. But you have to go with the person that makes you feel your best. Megan is smokey hot, speaks french, and can clean up a spill lickity split. My fav line from the episode “No one’s on your side, Betty.” Wow!! I thought Carla was going to go off on Bety. Great season but I hope the show doesnt become too soap operish.

Has anyone noticed how much Mad Men seems to be derived from the Academy Award winning film The Apartment ? Fred Mac Murray is an insurance executive in 1960. He has a secretary named Miss Olsen and he cheats on his wife (along with other executives ). After he goes for a roll in the hay with a young girl played by Shirley Mac Laine, he realizes he forgot to buy her a Christmas present, so he gives her $100 cash (Just like Don did when he gave his secretary a bonus). Both female characters thought they were being treated like hookers.

Every blue moon , The Apartment plays on TCM. See it for yourself and you may spot a thing or two I missed.

The beauty of Mad Men is that you never get the full story; you get bits of information that serve as hints. Thus, the speculation becomes as important as the actual viewing. There have been hints of warmth between Don and Megan through the season (Faye even picked up on it.) While the proposal was sudden, it wasn’t entirely spontaneous on Don’s part (he stayed up all night considering it, recall; and we also saw him in a contemplative mode in California.) What we know is that Don has pulled himself up from the depths of his personal unhappiness, that he has recommitted to parenting his children and that he sees Megan as an emotionally supportive help mate, at least for the moment. What we can anticipate is backlash from Faye or her “connections,” the possibility that Megan’s “manipulative” behavior may have negative consequences, the probability of Betty making a more serious play to reunite with Don, and, as always, the risks of the Don/Dick charade unraveling, not to mention the ongoing roller coaster ride for SCDP. I will be back for season 5, for sure.

Interesting how this finale turned on the women in the MadMen unverse since, after all, it’s about the Mad MEN, right? Audience demographics anyone? I’m just a guy old enough to remember most of this stuff including that kitchen with the knotty pine cabinets and rustic black hinges. And divorces ripping childhood apart. (Remember – that house is not sold yet. Could Don end up with custody of the kids? And Carla needs a job.) Lots of interesting profiling going on above but I have two contributions. (A) Peggy effectively demanded her own audience with Don. She was incredulous about the turn of events because she has worshipped Don while he chased every OTHER young woman in Manhattan. Woman scorned? In her own way, yes. (B) Hate is not the oppopsite of love, merely unrequited. Betty has hated Don (“I want him dead!”) before her new marriage cooled and before Don married the beautiful chippie (whom the kids love). Her tone (and a tear?) in the final scene demonstrated where her heart still lies. If she hated him, felt scorned before, its only gonna get worse. Comparing Don to the Charlie of 2.5 Men, he’s just lucky that his ex’s can’t build a website and expose the superficial and insincere fantasy that he peddles in both his work life and private life. The Vietnam Doc may get written out of the script but screwed up kids – we’ll hear more about that.

The former apprentice learned his lessons well. There really was never a season when The Sopranos ended the way our fevered brows contemplated and it always ended with all the signs pointing in a hundred directions. David Chase knew what he was doing, and Matt Weiner does, too.

One of David’s many memorable scenes, where screenwriters debated the merits of an Emmy award against the ostensibly more prestigious Oscars, probably did not have the blood and fore usually associated with The Sopranos, but you got the point then and still do with Mad Men today. Television has left the movies in the dust.

Oh, there was so much in this last episode—there are no overt homicides in Mad Men season enders, but the equivalent abound. Yes, I will accept the idea that once Dr. Miller knew the secret, her relationship with Don/Dick was doomed, yet, somehow, I think that Betty, who learned it first (though belatedly) is not through with him yet.

Meagan is the 1950s into 1960s stereotype perfectly played. She knew what she wanted, bided her time, and got it and having children of her own may not have been part of the plan given that a man with three children may not be keen on having more even if he has married the ideal mother.

But I don’t think it is fair to say they have never spoken. She was his secretary for awhile, and on the fringes of his professional life for longer than that. She has told him about her interest in their work and, after all, Myra Janco’s marriage to Draper Daniels worked out okay for her, and probably for him, too.

I only have one comments and it is that everyone’s take on Faye is wrong…

She won’t betray Don instead she will fight to win him back, it is in her nature. She didn’t want her last boyfriend, but she wants Don. Like a true mafioso would say “You don’t walk out on me I walk out on you”

Season 5 will open with Don and Faye in bed with her analyzing his bad decision.

In the first year of sobriety, one is warned about entanglements. While Don is nit a member of any group and still imbibes – his swimming and work and the good doctor were diversions. His trip to Anna’s house if warm memories and loss are a trigger for Don to fill a void that suddenly occurs when one addiction is replaced with another. Ephiphanies often bring about change without guidance – just a ‘pink cloud’. Perhaps Don’s wakeful window gazing is really a sobriety check!

Megan is perfect, I don’t understand why critics discredit her, the blondes are maniacs, Megan has a stronger persona than these women, she understand for what it’s worth/or it could worth nothing. She’s explained it clearly to Don, she’s not gonna cry walking out of the office, or that she loves him but isn’t overly expressive or controlling. She understand’s Don’s nytimes tactic, it will be interesting if he pulls some of those stunts on her, “I dump him, he didnt’ dump me” .we haven’t seen all of her emotion range, or maybe she’s a person that doesn’t dwelve too deep personally. Again Megan reminds me of Jackie O. and the blondes remsembles the many personality of Marilyn Monroe. The stable and steady brunette.

I took a completely different read on the proposed marriage and the ending of the season. I thought nobody really welcomed the marriage at SCDP. He got congratulations from bemused colleagues but then the phone rang and who was going to get it? To his face, I thought hostility and scorn toward Don and his marriage was barely concealed with only Lane really approving, and the reaction was outright vicious behind his back. This marriage proposal caught everybody by surprise.

The last scene, I got the impression that although Don and Megan went to bed together and Megan was sleeping peacefully, Don was staring at the ceiling thinking, “My God, what have I done?” as Sonny and Cher’s song played and the credits rolled.

Don is turning into Roger who totally caves to his impulses and makes some tacky moves.

I think David Paletz is forgetting that there is a unique and inappropriate history between Betty and Glenn that stretches back to Season 1. Betty babysat Glenn in one episode and Glenn developed a huge crush on Betty. Betty reciprocated by giving Glenn a lock of her hair and a hint of very adult intimacy. She was subsequently shamed by Glenn’s mother who made Betty out to be the bad person and separated Glenn from Betty. Since then Betty has sought out Glenn and in these episodes of Season Four, Glenn is really seeking contact with Betty by developing a relationship with her daughter, Sally. Glenn is caught and confused by Betty’s coldness toward him because she does not want to go there and she knows full well Sally is being used by Glenn to get to her, even though nobody else in the cast knows about this. There is a subtle undercurrent of a story there.

I am thrilled that Don is trying to answer the question from episode one; “Who is Don Draper” so positively. He was on a collision course in mid-season four (throwig up, drinking heavily, involved with prostitues, having anxiety attacks) and now seems to be sincerely trying to move in a positive direction.

He is more honest too. His answer to the ACS team. about why he wrote the letter) had a ring of honesty, he admitted his name was Dick to his children (a half truth because he called it a nickname…but he did say something with truth, he corrected himself when he gave Megan the ring by making it more clear who the ring belonged to, he jumped into the pool and played with his kids instead of resting in the room. All these are signs that he is sincerely trying to move on a good path.

We have doomsayers who say this will not last. But, as our Speakeasy commentators say, we still like Don…shady past and womanizing ways…and all. I am happy for him and enjoyed the arc of this season’s episodes. I am glad it ended happily too. Doomsayers say they are afraid the show will “jump the shark”. It’s true that events at this time are not as brutal as in previous episodes. But this series did have some amazing moments. I now will be in limbo and in MM withdrawl until next summer. Boo hoo.,

this show – as now everybody has come to discover is a melange of so many realites vs emotions.. Weiner has told us millions of times that he wants authenticity & though I was not there in the 50′s & 60′s I handled the Manhattan advertising firms on Madison, 3rd, Lex from the 30′s to 59th street. Even in the 80′s the drinking and women assessing were common place. I was invited to many a luncheon or dinner like those shown. As to the characters. I adore Don for being sexy and flawed – your typical bad boy grown up. Peggy is every woman’s heroine and Joan is that woman who always acts like she hasn’t a clue when she has it all over most. I will miss this show on Sunday but will content myself with HBO’s Boardwalk and Showtimes Dexter till the new shows return..

Will Robert Morse re-appear, or is he really gone?

In addition to “The Apartment”, be sure and check out Robert Morse in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”.

i don’t really agree that peggy “saved” the company. she signed one account and it’s only for a quarter mil. that’s peanuts. peggy certainly *helped* the company and deserves recognition for it, but i would hardly say she *saved* it.

I am not sure how I feel about the episode, which I guess is why the show is so good. I was hoping that the trip would show him commit to being a better and more involved dad, especially in light of the increasing meltowns from Betty. Instead, he falls head over heels in love like a teenager with the added benefit of possibly finding a better “mother” for the kids in Megan. When the newness of his feelings for Megan end, will Don be any better a parent than he has been? I also felt bad for Dr. Faye. Maybe having a relationship with her is too hard for Don, she’s his intellctual equal. Like Peggy’s situation the career gal doesn’t get the guy and that seems to be a recurring theme even when women are successful in the workplace its often sacrificing their personal life that is a byproduct

I thought the MadMen finale was fabulous. After being dismayed earlier when Don Draper and Megan the “new secretary” hooked up, my opinion was changed when I saw her behavior in this last episode. Maybe because I have had not so successful dealings with another man’s children, maybe because her calmness in the face of mishaps was so refreshing, maybe because I am a brunette (!) – I thought Megan had class. And in her presence, and for the first time, I saw the possibility that Don could become “a real man” (with altered ref. to Pinocchio). Don noticed Megan, he saw her as who she was; but only for possessing qualities than bring out the best in him? And how is he good for her? That’s one back story I hope next season takes a look at.

Having read all the articles about the show, I feel that something was missed. Don asking Megan to marry him is his way of re-asserting Don Draper, and leaving Dick Whitman in the shadows. The ring bequeathed to him by Anna gave him the license to do so. She was reaching from the grave telling him to continue to be Don and go find a new and improved Betty so he can live the life he’s dreamed of that is eluding him.

Check this out: http://www.ronreplogle.com/2010/10/mad-men-annas-bequest.html

Re: Toril Moi Though it’s nice to hear Cavell invoked in this context, her reading of the Don/Megan connection is just weak. For instance, where is she going with the Quebec accent thing? The actress playing Megan is from Mtl and her accent is perfectly native to here, and is Don really so simple as to ignore a “papa” reference? But in any case, in what service are any of these (or the other) comments? Cavell describes to bring to a point – we know little of what is going on in this relationship, and Moi’s descriptions do little to say something about it. Also, is there really a difference between how Joan changes and how Mad Men depicts that change? Is there a Joan outside of this depiction? Sorry, but invoke Cavell and you’re invoking the standard of his philosophical (and analytical) rigor.

Next season, Faye will take her revenge on Don by revealing his secret

Will Season Five observe yet another ad agency “tradition?” Two talented women jilted by Draper — Faye and Peggy– set up their own ad agency? Starter account: Topaz pantyhose?

Megan is a known, controllable quantity for Don, despite the lack of mutual knowledge on a more personal level. Don has always seen trips to California as an escape, and here he took Megan with him to escape facing the music of the Don/Dick conflict. Don has three kids he has trouble relating to, and Megan did so effortlessly. That was a legitimate reason for him to prefer her over Dr. Faye long-term – Faye couldn’t handle being around kids. I thought it was telling that in the American Cancer Society client meeting earlier, he mocked the sentimentality of young people, then later with Megan echoed the same destiny/kismet nonsense about fate bringing the two of them together. Don seemed as if he was trying to convince himself, more than he was trying to convince Megan, that they were right for each other. Given his mental state, Don’s sudden proposal to Megan made perfect sense.

I predict Don keeps the old house.

I notice that a lot of posters say that Faye knows everything about Don/Dick. However, if you replay that episode where he told her, he only said that there was a mix-up (identity) by the Army and he just went along with it. He stopped there and said no more; nothing about Dick Whitman being his real name, that he was the one who switched the dog tags, Anna Draper, his parents and upbringing, nothing. So she really knows very little, certainly nothing to leverage in any way.

Not to be unduly harsh or sound like a Tea Partier, but Toril Moi’s errant observation about Megan’s supposed lack of a Quebecois accent is the kind of blather only a tedious academic would offer. The actress who plays Megan, Jessica Pare, is from Montreal, and numerous references have been made throughout Season 4 to the character’s French Canadian origin. And, I’m sorry, but how would a native Norwegian become so expert a Francophone-accent detecter as to be able to identify one by a few seconds of one half of a phone conversation from a scripted TV show?

I noticed many people predicting some sort of revenge by Faye but I think she is much too proud to pursue Don after he rejected her. Personally, I definitely think we will see Faye again, and she will be the dominant person in any future interaction with Don, but there is NO WAY she will try extortion or blackmail, she is much too smart / too good for it.

The last episode left me–as usual–wanting more. However, with the exception of Don’s surprise marriage announcement, the episode did not seem to have any shockers.

Last week, someone with a strangely crafted screen name left a cryptic though crude response directed toward me for suggesting that Don–flaws and all–represents the American Dream. He is a striver and leaves a lot of destruction in his wake but still holds to some purpose of making his way in the world in spite of his means to achieve it. I alluded to characters in our history who have made huge successes–some in honest ways, some in not-so honest ways. In that same set of comments I also made unfavorable comparisons to the counter-culture generation whose members really had no purpose except to take Daddy’s money and act foolishly and behave in immature ways. I guess the person making the comment is an unreconstructed counterculturist. I disagree with Brinkley and Dellinger that this seriies has not adequately and fully portrayed the counter-culture movement.

One more thing …. has anyone thought of the potential flaw in the Mad Men story of Don’s age. If he was 35 years old in 1960, then he was born in 1925. That means that he must have been 25 yrs old when he went to Korea. That is a little old for a buck private. What was he doing still at home til he was 23-25 yrs old? Is that why he lives only for the moment? Because of all those years as a nobody with seemingly no way out?

Just a thought.

@Ed – I thought that whoever posted the intended insult splattered more on themselves considering they quoted from the Mothers of Invention’s “We’re Only in it for the Money” which was a masterful parody of the state of the counter-culture (in 1968). ANYway…

Mr. Brinkley may have provided the key to resolving comment-board arguments on the degree to which other major contemporary elements are portrayed in the show. He took the position that Mad Men has been tracking two major themes – Don’s identity and emergent feminism. I find that acceptable and submit that the show can’t be everything to everybody without becoming unfocused. There are a host of other elements which, while being acknowledged, are getting shorted: Civil rights (previously noted), the Cold War, The Great Society, British Invasion, the AFL-CIO, Space Race and Nine Types of Industrial Pollution. By sticking with the two chosen themes, Weiner has plenty of room to build an outstanding program – feminism is still relevant today, and the identity enigma would be intriguing in almost any setting.

Like a lot of things, we know Don’s age to be what he *told* us it is. Dick could have been born in ’32 and split the difference in his and Lt. Draper’s real ages. Even so, Dick enlisted, which would start him at the lowest rank regardless of his age. And with Megan, Don’s acting like an impulsive teenager. SHEESH, what an Oedipal complication.

Its overblown that Faye knows everyhting about Don. He only told her that he took Don Draper’s indentity. He never gave the name Dick Whitman or told her about his life as Dick Whitman. If you rewatch the episodes, you will see Don is just not that into Faye. He is just not in love with her even though Don and Faye are very similar types of people who are both comfortable with deception and come from humble backgrounds. Meanwhile, every short scene with Megan was to show qualities that would make her a worthy partner of Don and to contrast her favorably vs. Faye. Remember, one of the themes of season 4 is Aesop’s Fable of the Sun & Wind with Faye=Wind; Megan=Sun; Don=Traveler; Don’s Hiding of Secrets/Identity Issues=Traveler’s Coat. Its more clear upon reviewing but basically Weiner is saying Don needs someone with an open, straightfoward, warm loving personality to begin dealing with his indentity issues (he tells the truth about the engagement ring & the name Dick to his kids) rather than someone who has a closed, deceptive, forceful personality even though Faye says her life’s work is to help people resolve their issues.

Don Draper – happy at last. Don’t count on it. The fourth season is barely over and I’m already making predictions about the next one. Last night’s season finale, Tomorrowland, was as neatly resolved as the last season’s ending was unsettled, albeit optimistic. But as a near-rabid Mad Man fan that’s gotten to know Don Draper pretty well, I find it impossible to believe this man’s internal longings all are resolved after a wonderful “family” week in California. A storybook week in dreamland? In an intimate moment, his secretary/ fiancée, Megan, says he’s “always trying to be better” – he answers “we all try and we don’t always make it.” Although we see unusual intimacy between these two and he thinks together he’s his better- self with her, are we being setup? Does this new woman of his dreams turn out to be a dream and not reality? He looked so goofy as he got engaged; I initially thought it was a dream sequence. I’m still hoping for a Dallas-type rewind/do-over. But maybe it won’t be so bad; maybe this pretty, cagey, fawning, flattering, self-effacing help-mate is really not as sweet as she appears, or as perfect as she behaved when she won Don by not getting angry when his children, Bobby and Sally spilled a milkshake on her—so unlike Don’s ultra- fussy ex-wife. Is this one really a Betty Draper – no, there’s nobody quite like Betty Draper. Does this sound as bitter and cynical as the scene between Peggy and Joan as they smoked and waxed cattily about the engagement announcement? (In my view the best scene of the first disappointing episode of the season) Maybe Megan’s just what she appears to be. Maybe rooting for Dr. Miller, the feminist psychologist, was jumping ahead to the 70s and reflects a personal feeling that the Mad- Men era is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Again in a season of consistently fabulous episodes full of surprising twists and depth, last night seemed too much of a cliché – I hope it’s not. And this is the beginning of another twisted rocky ride as Don hurtles toward self-discovery and, dare I say it, happiness. If not, oh well. Anyway, it was a fabulous season overall and my disappointment with the finale left me better able to cope with a hiatus.

If I told you how easy it is to get a job in this recession, you wouldn’t believe me. But the truth is more employers are going online to find people just like you and me who are ready to work at a good job (one that pays good!). The only thing that makes sense is to stop wasting time driving around all day filling out a dozen applications and going from one boring low paying job to another. I found this site that pretty much matches you up with your dream job that is available in your city right now. I have found it very helpful. Go to YouFindWork.com

I fell in love with this show in the very first episode and have been a huge fan ever since. Don is such an easily relatable character I just can’t help but connect with his struggles. Unfortunately I’ve felt out of the loop for most of the time it’s been on. Travelling a lot makes it very difficult to keep up with my favorite shows. I found myself with a huge backlog of DVR’d content waiting for me when I would finally get home and as much as I love Mad Men (and a few other shows) I didn’t want to spend all my time at home trying to catch up with TV. That all changed recently when I became an employee of DISH Network, I’ve been a customer for years and didn’t know about their TV everywhere. Basically I just picked up a sling adapter and plugged it into my 722 receiver. That’s it, now I can stream all my live programming and DVR’d content to my laptop so I can keep up with my shows during my downtime in the hotel room and spend more time with my family while I’m at home. It’s fantastic.

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