"Mad Men" on AMC (US) - (Spoilers Within)

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I don't know how scriptwriters approach these things. Did they know how the story would end back when it started? Beats me. But they had to have a whole lotta **** happen at once over the last couple of episodes.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-men-series-finale-matthew-797302

 

[MrBern]

Very cute story about 'Don' & 'Peggy' playing catch in Central Park amongst other chitchat...from a couple months ago.
[video=youtube;7dhkLHc7srI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dhkLHc7srI[/video]

 

[MrBern]

'Don & Peggy' shooting the TVGuide cover & having lots of fun.

[video=youtube;vwuHBcMouNE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwuHBcMouNE[/video]

 

[Fading Fast]

Finally got time to watch the last episode.

Don's line (from my shaky memory): I am good at figuring people out (or maybe it was "I am good at knowing how people work"). Regardless of the exact quote, it was smart as Don is incredibly successful in his business (and in his seedy womanizing) because he is good at figuring out how other people work; but, he is terrible at really understanding himself.

My take is that he will go back, be the creative force behind the famous Coke commercial and once again be able to write his own ticket. That said, he will also smash it all up again. He succeeds and, then, undermines his own success in his professional and personal life. In a way, he really hasn't grown much at all throughout the show.

Peggy and Stan: doubt they make it to the alter without breaking up after a knock-down, drag-out fight, but if they do, the marriage doesn't have two years in it. Two angry, mad, selfish people will not a successful marriage make. (Ditto, Peter and his new-old wife.)

Roger's new wife: Don said it all when he told Roger, "You know she's crazy." They'd have to work the printing presses overtime to have enough money to get me to marry that woman.

 

[Burma Schave]

'Nuff said.

 

[Redshoes51]

Ernest said: "...all this goes back to the fact that you and I... don't watch the show from the same perspective."

I think this is true about Life in general... and that the Universe IS indifferent... most, if not everything going on around us IS our perception and understanding of said events...

(tosses .02 cents in the cup on the way out...)

~shoes~

 

[tonyb]

You know, 'shoes51, that's kind of in keeping with the overall theme of the show. That's my take on it anyway. It's all about perception.

 

[Worf]

To me... Don's little smile said it all. I believe (cause nobody knows) that Don took that "Zen moment" back to NY, sat down with Coke and figured out how to use the "counter culture" to sell tooth dissolving, diabetes inducing swill to the masses. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, that slight little smile on his face before the commercial, told me all I needed to know!

Worf

 

[tonyb]

Yup. I'm reminded of the poster promoting a summertime Bible camp for school-age kids some decades back. Jesus with a mullet.

 

[Fading Fast]

The more I think about Don, the more I think he is a well-drawn, real-to-life character. He's one of those "forces of nature" people I've known who simply move through the world in their own unique way. I've know some super smart people who are successful but self-destructive, kind but sometimes cruel, good to their family, but sometimes very selfish toward them as well. And these people don't change. They seem driven by some internal engine and guidance system that was programed at birth and doesn't change.

Don was all those things. Successful, self-destructive, kind, selfish, super smart and always driven by some inner gyroscope that only somewhat aligns with society's structure. As a percentage of the population, these people are in the very low single digits. When you get to know one of them, they make a life long impression.

 

[MrBern]

Elizabeth Moss was interviewed this week about shooting the Mad Men finale & her last scenes with Don.
[video=youtube;m-uILToQ9ss]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-uILToQ9ss[/video]

 

[MrBern]

Jon Hamm on Mad Men finale. Don Draper costume in Smithsonian:

[video=youtube;iqQw0daQ9dE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqQw0daQ9dE[/video]

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://www.glow-internet.com/infographics/don-drapers-best-put-downs.aspx

 

[The Good]

Don Draper was very charismatic and successful. There are many good quotes from Mad Men. I wonder what he'd have been like in the 2000s and 2010s? A decades later flash-forward scene was an idea put out by Weiner, and I think it would have been interesting, but pretty difficult to do. The film Once Upon a Time in America did handle old age makeup on a younger actor well, though. Robert De Niro did look similar to his current self in the 1980s when it was made.