It occurs to me that, as Betty is determined to do a better job (with respect to her death) with her children than her own mother did when she died, Don will have the opportunity to do a better job with his own children than his own father did after his mother died. I think he’s finally reached a level of self-acceptance where he will rise to the occasion when he finds out that his children are losing their mother. At least, I hope so.
@Joblue – tom and lorenzo’s commentary is great. THANKS for that link. and @Lergnom (mongrel?) you’re right; betty and the blue chiffon make sense.
I haven’t read all of the posts, but just want to link this recap that is beautifully written by Matt Zoller Seitz, who has long championed MM:
http://www.vulture.com/2015/05/mad-men-recap-season-7-episode-13.html
He picks up so many echoing references that I miss when I watch the episodes live.
For example, in 7x13, when Don attended the fund raiser, it was for a vet whose house had burnt down, etc.
And, with the end of Betty’s (a character I always found more sympathetic than others likely did) story, one could rewatch all of MM and see how she was as archetypical as Don is.
I’m looking forward to rewatching all of MM (with my D who is a novice) and seeing how well planted some of the seeds were all the way back at the beginning.
^^ agreed AttorneyMother, I’m looking forward to re-watching the first season in particular to see the beginning of the arc the characters live. BTW, AMC will have a MM marathon beginning Wednesday – from episode 1 to the final episode next Sunday. My DVR is set.
^ job blue and attorney mom thanks for those links.
Also, here is one for you Betty- haters, time magazine article about why madmen needed Betty.
http://time.com/3853918/mad-men-betty-cancer/
My biggest challenge is keeping D away from spoilers that are bound to flood the news and internet after this week and next. I’ve already texted her, H and friends who are behind to keep away. But many of the spoilers are in the headlines.
Betty’s was the “stealth” smoking story and I wonder how far in advance Matthew Weiner knew that her fate would end this way.
I thought Betty walking past Sally without a sign of emotion was her keeping it together for the boys, not her being cold. What could she do? Break down? And if Sally is home now, why? Sally lies to Bobby that she’s in trouble again but her mom didn’t know the lie so what was she supposed to do except leave the room so she wouldn’t give herself away.
I don’t know why people see Duck as burned out, etc. He manipulates Pete, with the connivance of McCann, because he’s clearly identified Pete as the best candidate for the Lear job - with his NYC old money and Dartmouth pedigree - and he’s convinced McCann this is good for them and now he’s just manipulating Pete into the job. It was brilliant, not drunken burn out.
And I thought the scenes with Henry were not about his limitations or character but his love for Betty. He loves her. The kids came with her, the important part being her. He wants Sally to help him keep Betty because he loves Betty. I asked myself why that’s important and it occurred to me: there are endings and, as Pete says, maybe you can have something more, and sometimes those endings are incredibly sad and sometimes they are happy and sometimes both happen in the same show. But mostly I felt Henry’s love is necessary because it is oriented around the Betty we’ve seen (and sometimes disliked or felt sorry for) and that connects to the reality that this is the essence of Betty, a beautiful, sometimes scatter-shot, sometimes aimless, sometimes strong woman who can’t be abstracted from the way she looks and carries herself. Henry loves that woman and his love enables the show to make such a powerful statement about her life and the lives of the people around her.
Getting back to Duck, that kind of con job mirrors the inept con job of the kid in OK. Duck is conning Pete to help him (and himself), which gets at the meaning of what Don says to the kid: that if you do this bad thing, you can’t come back, just as he couldn’t go back after he became Don, because the con isn’t helping anyone but you. And of course advertising is the big con. So the mirror to Duck is Don tossing the kid the key to the Caddy and saying don’t blow this.
This is not the first time Don went AWOL. He overstayed in California a couple of seasons ago when he hung out with the Eurotrash.
Favorite theory, wish it were my own, he becomes D.B. Cooper.
But maybe he goes back to where he started. Selling used cars at the lot where Anna Droper encountered him.
Thinking back, I recalled how cold his heart can be–shunning his brother who committed suicide the first season. He might have a lot on his conscious, if he has one.
Parents on CC are roughly the same age so I assume this show traverses most of our childhoods. So I was wondering when the smoking was going to catch up with someone…anyone.
My grandfather died of lung cancer in 1964. That was before it was firmly established that smoking is bad for you (shakes head in amazement). Everybody smoked. He usually had a cigarette in hand, just like Betty.
say - @Latichever – i dont remember how anna draper first met don at the car lot . . . was it random? can you refresh me briefly?
I don’t think Betty walking past Sally was a sign of her keeping it together. I thought it was a sign of her being angry at Henry for overriding her choice about how to tell her daughter she is ill. It dovetailed with the scene where the doctor and Henry were talking about her while she sat silent. Henry took her voice away from her and she was angry. At that moment she wasn’t ready to talk to Sally. She easily could have taken her upstairs and been warm to her without setting off alarms with the boys. She herself could have come up with the lie about Sally being in trouble. All she had to say was, “Boys, your sister and I will be upstairs.” She didn’t want to deal with anyone and left Sally standing there alone, which is how her parents always leave her.
I felt awful for Sally. I was Sally long ago sitting on my bed getting that kind of news. Henry was out of line to try to use her to influence Betty and Betty was the same narcissistic mother she’s always been hoping to look beautiful in her casket. She gave Sally a letter, mostly with instructions, and a few minutes of conversation, as if that’s enough to last her for a lifetime before she sends her away. I see a lot of therapy in Sally’s future. I really really hope that Don steps up for his kids. I hope he decides he is sick of advertising and rich enough to quit and be a dad to his kids and that he finds meaning in that. Unless MW is going to give us some flash forward like they did in Parenthood, we might not know if he does or not.
@bgbg4u ,
As far as I recall, we just saw Anna Draper walk in on Don when he was selling a used car to someone. She said something to the effect of “just tell me he isn’t dead” (IIRC) and Don/Dick immediately realized that his jig was up. Don/Dick then told Anna to meet him at his apartment later and he’d explain everything and there was a certain portentous menace in that scene which, as we know, did not result in anything bad happening to Anna. I don’t recall that we ever found out how Anna Draper heard about “Don Draper” working at the car dealership in the first place.
Is this right, @Latichever ?
My recollection too was this it was rather vague about how Anna figured it out. But they became real close. There was the situation where Don had to divorce Anna so as not to be technically a bigamist to marry Betty. You wonder why Don didn’t just stick with Anna, although there might never have been a Mad Man if he had settled down like that.
The last Mad Men promo is embedded here:
Oh my.
Tom and Lorenzo’s brilliant mad style. http://tomandlorenzo.com/2015/05/mad-style-the-milk-and-honey-route/ I am going to miss their commentary and Janie Bryant is amazing costume designer and storyteller.
its so fun watching the marathon – seeing so many things ive forgotten, or didnt catch. eg: betty saying don is kind on the inside, but not on the outside. Trudy crying about having a child, while peggy had one. Don recognizing bettys old roomate who is a party girl. Loving this! I will say betty sure seems lighter and sweeter in these earlier episodes.
here’s a cool idea ending.
this guy knows nothing of course, but i like this idea!
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/12/8589783/mad-men-finale-predictions
Thanks so much for the link to that promo. I hadn’t seen it before and I have to admit, it brought tears to my eyes.
I’m such a sap.
@Joblue ,
It did the same thing to me also. I’ve been watching MM since it first aired and the use of the song (which you may recall was featured in Kodak commercials long ago) is brilliant and recalls Don’s most moving client presentation in “Carousel.” I’ll be watching with a heavy heart on Sunday, no matter the conclusion. 
What the “Mad Men” Theme Music Has Been Trying to Tell Us All Along
A composer deconstructs the enigmatic opening in search of clues to Don Draper’s fate.
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2015/05/mad-men-finale-music-meaning