‘Mad Men’ Season Finale Left Us Some Surprises, And A Clever Ending [Spoilers]

[Ed. Note: This article contains spoilers for the series finale to Mad Men.]

Mad Men’s season finale stayed true to form for great finales — some questions answered, some remain, and an ending to remember.

The New York Post is reporting that perhaps the most poignant scenes of the series finale of Mad Men were three separate telephone calls made by Mad Men’s protagonist/antihero Don Draper. The first, to daughter Sally, is when he learns of his ex-wife’s breast cancer becoming progressively worse, and his daughter having to grow up so quickly to compensate. Sally had been forced to grow up for years, so nothing new there. The phone call ends with Sally hanging up, as another person waits for the public phone.

Don’s second call is to Betty, his ex-wife. At first, Don is upset that he wasn’t informed. This was Betty’s intention. Betty has chosen to pass away a certain way, and it is without Don in her life. Don offers to help financially, which has been his crutch throughout Mad Men, and Betty steadfastly refuses. When the phone call ends, Don sits alone in his hotel room, realizing that his money and influence can only get him so far. The tears between the two were palpable and crushing.

According to the Rolling Stone, the third phone call set up the ending of Mad Men. Don, having been stranded at a California retreat, calls Peggy, his Mad Men foil, to reach out. Peggy, sensing that Don is hurting far more than ever, tells him directly, “Don, come home. Don’t you want to work on Coke?” But, for the first time, Don is paralyzed by his actions and behaviors, and cannot get away from them. At this time, when other Mad Men characters seem to be moving on and up, like Joan starting a production company with Peggy at the expense of losing her boyfriend, Richard, and Peggy and Stan finally realizing they were meant to be together, Don sits alone in a very un-Mad Men-like state.

That is, until Sheila, played by Helen Slater, asks Don to accompany her to a seminar. In that seminar, a man unleashes a self-loathing diatribe that truly gets to Don, and Don can’t help but hug the man and offer comfort. It’s the same words Don would have used to describe himself, and it begins an awakening of sorts.

Cut to the end of Mad Men, where Don and others are sitting yoga-style, meditating and chanting, basking in the sun. Suddenly, Don gets this look of contentment on his face. Then, cut to the Coca-Cola commercial, inferring that Don had returned to McCann Erickson and created the iconic “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” Coke commercial. It shows Don that it was time for him to go back where he should be. After all, he is an ad man. Or, in this case, a Mad Men.

[Image courtesy of Corporate Rain]