Mad Men and Don Draper meet their end

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
41

I guess you could title this episode “the meaning of rooms”. Don in Henry & Betty’s kitchen. Megan and her sister in a hotel room. Don and Diana in the living “she (Megan) decorated it”. Don, Arnold and Sylvia in the elevator. Don and Diana in his boys room. Stan and the photographer Pima in the darkroom. Roger and Marie (Megan’s mother) in the empty apartment living room. Don and Megan at the lawyers’ office. Don in Diana’s cheap room. Don alone in his emptied apartment. C’est si bon!

Don looks back at his family having milkshakes without him. Pete talks about how you want to do it over and get it right this time but you can’t even get it started. The loaded meaning of Megan’s comments about how he lied to her, reflecting her disappointment with the reality of being another actress trying to get work in Hollywood - and having creeps like Harry try to bleep her - a disappointment that reflects her mother’s disappointment with her life and husband (which we’ve seen vividly) and the angry disappointment her sister poorly suppresses. Best mirror scenes of the show: Marie saying to Megan “like a whore” when told Don gave her a check for $500 and then Megan taking a check for $1 million after literally saying “I don’t want anything of yours” and then that “you ruined my life”. And that’s mirrored in Pima humping Stan to get her negatives developed as she wants and coming on to Peggy to get the photo she wants picked and Peggy saying she’s “a hustler”, as in we’re all “actually selling something” (which Stan says at the Cinzano shoot). And yet another mirror in Marie calling Roger and demanding he bring over $200 and then she “defiles” the apartment by having sex with him, which mirrors the scene where Diana thinks the $100 tip was pre-payment for sex.

Question: did Marie go to Roger? That would be weird although I think she could handle him as well as his first wife Mona (John Slattery’s actual wife) did.

So what do rooms mean? Memories. What went wrong. What went right. The things we leave behind. The things that are meaningful and the things that are just things. The place we are. The places we were. The places we can’t go back to again. This has been a theme of both episodes, rendered literally in the Jewish sense in the Shiva scene where there’s a room with mirrors covered and a strange ritual going on that Don, like most people, cannot be part of.

I would not be surprised if this is the last of Megan on the show. I thought a key narrative scene was when Harry lies to Don about his lunch with Megan and it’s obvious Don knows Harry is covering his ass because he knows Harry. But Harry says Megan quitting her soap for a dream in LA was a mistake and Don has promised her he’ll take care of her, as the “previously on Mad Men” beginning of the show repeated. So he does. There’s something noble in that, the good side of Don’s nature. The bad side of Megan’s character came out too: she didn’t give up anything for him. She was a secretary that he helped get a job in commercials and then supported her as an actress. We’ve seen this streak of blame in her mother and sister, particularly in the way her mother emasculates her father and blames him for everything that has happened to her in her life. I think that’s less a comment about Megan than about the way people are.

I don’t understand Diana’s character very well. I think the idea was to reveal that something makes her want to remain in purgatory, which is a form of mirror to Don’s affair with Sylvia and her lending him “her Inferno”. Hers is more literal: a cheap room, a bottle of cheap vodka, Avon shampoo that reminds her of her living room in Racine and thus of her daughter. Do we learn what happened? Does it matter. I think it was crucial that she wants to tell Don why and he says he doesn’t want to know. It’s a narrative device to avoid exposition but it’s a turning point because he realizes it’s not a dead child she needs to forgive herself for but something more and that means he’s not in the right room and he leaves.

I understand the attraction for Don: she’s seriously damaged and he is drawn to that because he’s so damaged and because he tried the sunny side up approach with Megan and it didn’t work (and time only revealed her damages too). I don’t understand why he needs someone in his life so badly when he hasn’t shown any ability to maintain a relationship in his life. Finding someone to share your grief is not a recipe for happiness. Or as Megan’s last line is that at least her mother, who she says has been unhappy for a very long time, is doing something about it.

BTW, in an era when an apartment in NYC goes for 1500 a square foot, it’s hard to remember that $1M in 1970 was a huge sum of money. In 1970, for example, Target had 24 stores and sales of about $200M. You could buy a building in much of Manhattan for tens of thousands.

42

Lergnom, I like your recaps more than those in the NY Times - more insightful. Are you a professional?

Please remind me of one thing. Why is no one in California anymore? Did the firm change strategy, did they lose the CA clients, or what?

43

^^^^
Me too, Lergnom! Love your recaps!

44

I was unhappy with this episode (I’m sure it was designed that way.) Megan’s anger seems unfair and unwarranted. Don, for all his faults, supported her and her ambitions since the beginning. Last we saw of her before this episode was tearfully telling him that he didn’t owe her anything. Now she’s whining about money, accusing him of ruining her life - just as Roger quoted his former wife doing so - and leaves with the furniture she herself didn’t want in the first place. Megan has become a cliche, and very much unlike the modern, practical Megan of old. Did I totally misunderstand the character? Or did Mad Men, in the need to finish up the story lines, do a turnaround with Megan?

I agree with lergnom that we may not see Megan again, which makes me sad. The series didn’t do right by her, as far as I’m concerned.

45

I like the stereotypes of the show and do think they represent the era. Fifty years ago, the firms (accounting, advertising, law) were divided. There were WASP firms (which it’s been said many times on the show that Cooper Sterling was), Irish firms, Jewish firms, etc., and most of the employees but all of the partners were in the assigned ethnic or religious group. We, the viewers, would never see Don Draper as Jewish because we’ve been told over and over that he wasn’t. Remember they had to pull a guy from the mailroom, pretend he was from the art department, when they needed a Jew to impress a client? Jon Hamm might be Jewish IRL, but he was cast in a part that was for a WASP. Woody Allen would not have gotten this part! Part of the Michael Ginsburg character was to show how different he was from the others in the art/copy department so they play up his Jewish background. I think adding the stereotyped characters to the show as the seasons (and years from 1960 to 69) was as much a part of the culture as adding the mustaches, longer hair, and short skirts.

Many of the firms, at least on the east coast, were still quite segregated well into the 80’s because those hired in the 60’s grew into the partners as their careers went on. In Baltimore, there were still Jewish law firms and Irish law firms and Waspy law firms well into the 1980s. They were pretty easy to pick out because the named partners had ethnic names. The younger employees may not have been Jewish or Irish, but the partners sure were because they’d been hired so long ago. There, and in many cities, there were also preferences for certain law schools, and because those schools were still drawing from their cultural roots, the graduates still were filling those stereotypical parts - the Irish Catholic lawyers came from Georgetown or Catholic U, there still weren’t many minorities (including women) at the U of Maryland, so a firm that was a ‘UM firm’ didn’t have a big pool of minorities to recruit from.

46

I have a queasy feeling about how easily Don is giving things away and letting things go.

A million dollars? Have it.
All my furniture? Who cares.
Golf clothes? Nah, I’ll just flip my tie over my shoulder.

And he’s reviewing his life, sometimes in his head, sometimes by literally looking back over his shoulder ( at his boys in the kitchen, for instance).

The last shot of the series will be of him, from behind with a cigarette and a drink in hand, on the one chair that’s left in his apartment - the one on the balcony.

He’ll stand, and walk to the railing of the balcony, and that will be the end. We’ll never know if he steps off.

47

I think the Megan story is that life isn’t fair, that you uncover your unhappiness, that you don’t necessarily see what you have until you don’t have it. When she met Don she was trying to be a secretary, then she moved into copy writing, then she moved into acting. She was able to do these things because of her relationship and it seemed, perhaps, that she deserved what she got and she started to feel that way: success on TV in NYC, then some good starts in LA. But remove the relationship and she’s just another girl who the sleazes hit on, which must have been harsh for her because she thinks of Harry as working for Don and Don as her protector. I think that motivated him to make the big gesture because he promised to protect her. I think that urge in part comes from 2 things: his father’s failure to do that and “Uncle Mac’s” protection (but also abuse) of his prostitutes.

I think the meaning is tough, that life is disillusioning, that you fail at what you try and maybe succeed early or late or whatever but not necessarily when you want or plan or how you think it should happen. I note this is also true of Stan’s experience in this episode: hasn’t done any serious work in a long time and feels bad about that but he’s a success as an art director.

There’s a Jewish poem included in Reform prayer books for a few generations that Matt Weiner must have heard a million times. It’s by a Rabbi from San Francisco named Alvin Fine and builds off an old quote which we often hear in Emerson’s words that life is journey, not a destination. I thought about this in regard to Matt Weiner, in regard to my own life, to my kids’ lives, etc. because the essence of the Shiva ceremony - which is part of a longer mourning period which is part of a year long period of saying Kaddish - is the saying of an ancient prayer (originally it seems in Aramaic) about the glory of God who is to be “blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled, mighty, upraised, and lauded”. The poem is often read just before Kaddish:

Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey.
A going, a growing from stage to stage:
From childhood to maturity and youth to old age.

From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion and then perhaps, to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or strength to weakness and often back again.
From health to sickness and back we pray, to health again.

From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion.
From grief to understanding, from fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat, until, looking backward or ahead:

We see that victory lies not at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage,
Made stage by stage… To life everlasting.

48

I have always disliked Megan AND her mother, the latter more intensely, and I’d be happy to see the last of both of them. But I do think that the “I gave up everything for you” line comes out of left field. You could say that she had been stripped of the delusion that she was making her own way up the ladder when Harry made it clear that now that Don’s protection was presumably withdrawn she was just another piece of meat. You could say that she gave up “everything”–that is, the ability to be a self-supporting adult who makes it on her own–when she married him. Is she suggesting that he should have left her alone in the first place? I’d agree with that…for his sake, and hers. She should have had a relationship with a guy her own age with whom she could have been a more equal partner, not become the elbow ornament for a sugar daddy.

49

“You could say that she gave up “everything”–that is, the ability to be a self-supporting adult who makes it on her own–when she married him” – @Consolation, interesting idea, I like it.

50

I thought it was a) one of those thing people say when they’re upset and b) a mirror of Roger’s comments about what Jane said, that she’d given up her best years, her career - to which he says, what career? She’s a consumer - and her child-bearing years. And Don says Megan’s not Jane. In the right circumstances, I guess they can be. If Megan was at that time successful in her career, the scene would have been different.

51

I realize that the statement was intended to mirror Roger/Jane, but I agree with @Katliamom that it is out of character and a piece of clumsy writing. Trashing Megan is a way to continue to turn Don’s life into dust and ashes, and I agree with @eastcoascrazy that it appears to be part of Don’s long march to the ledge.

52

Megan, unlike Jane, HAD a career: she was succeeding in advertising and was on TV.

53

@Lergnom, I also enjoyed reading you posts. I didn’t watch the final season. As far as I am concerned the show was over when Don returned to where he grew up.

54

BTW, I think there’s a very good chance this was Betty’s last show. There’s no story left with that relationship. Unless she appears when the show gets to Sally.

55

Sally is going to be Don’s only reason not to jump. I hope she gets a chance to save him. He should then enter a length period of being alone and not screwing around and coming to terms with things, after which he should settle down permanently with Joan, who Roger has unfortunately proven himself totally unworthy of.

56

Of all the women Don has met, only 2 made sense to me: the late Rachel and Faye Miller. Faye had him nailed: needs to be in a relationship, knows his cheating history, wouldn’t put up with his blatant sexism. I thought the last talk between Don and Betty highlighted that aspect: she says she’s going to get a Masters in psych and he sort of laughs, she defends herself and he makes a condescending remark. He can’t really take her seriously and he can’t even be supportive. He at least tried to be supportive of Megan. He never really took Midge seriously and more liked the freedom her lifestyle represented. But Faye had his respect, as did Rachel Menken/Katz.

57

“But Faye had his respect, as did Rachel Menken/Katz” – I agree totally, which is why I was so pleased Rachel’s character reappeared, even if posthumously. She was crucial in Don’s story and I was glad she’d had a good life post-Don.

58

i just feel like there so much to cover with only a few episodes left. will anything be resolved, or are we supposed to take our hints from these episodes?

59

I’m not sure anything major other than Don’s story still needs to be “resolved” – in no particular order: Peggy is secure in her upward trajectory professionally; Joan is secure financially; Roger, for better or worse, has assumed leadership of the firm but otherwise remains Roger; Pete is unconnected emotionally to anything other than his job and while he gripes about it, deep down he’s OK with it; Betty has plans that excite her; Sally, wise beyond her years, promises to grow into an interesting young woman.

We wait to see Don’s path. I just hope the series ends on an up note. We’ve seen Don come such a long way, and I root for him. I don’t expect a happily ever after, but I would like to see Don at least begin to achieve a kind of peace.

60

I almost didn’t post about this episode because it’s the clearest ever in the show. The future. Is that all there is? There are some beautiful bits, my favorite being when the ad guy (who gets fired) tells Don the reason his blustering joke to Lee Garner, Jr. worked is because Garner had a physical obsession with Don. That dovetails so well with Sally’s angry comment to her dad about how her parents each light up when they get attention, that he can’t stop and neither can her mom. (And her dad’s great line that you are like your parents and you’re a beautiful girl and what you do more is up to you.)

I loved the ending when the realtor says we have to find a place for you, Don. And last week we ended on him standing in the empty living room and this week we end with him in the hallway which now leads away from where he has lived.

I understand the Glen bit contextually in relation to Betty and Sally and the war and the future, but the only really good thing to me was Sally’s terrific phone call when she tries to apologize for yelling at him for going into the army. Kiernan did a great job with that scene.

Some of the rest seemed almost forced. Joan’s new man and his not wanting to have plans. It not only felt forced but I wondered why she’s with a guy that old. She has money. She could buy Don’s place - at $40 psf on the upper East Side!!!

The scenes with Don and Peggy are great in the way they let us know she sees Don clearly but I wasn’t keen on the content. She wants a performance review so just tell her and have that conversation about the future instead of ignoring what she wants. I found that frustratingly in character for both: he brings his agenda to her needs and she rarely gets what she asks for. “Why don’t you just write down all of your dreams so I can s**t on them.”

BTW, the Roberta Flack version of Ever I Saw Your Face was recorded a few years after this show’s date. I assume they knew that and went with it anyway.