Glad I'm not the only one who notice the ribbon braided girl from the front desk at the retreat in the Coke commercial! It was a perfect ending because of the song! Conceived by Don/Dicks spiritual awakening! I had chills lol
Carina Reyes - 9 years ago
The finale dud not disappoint. I love that Peggy got it all -- love, career, etc. Don found his true self --still a mad man. Joan chose ambition over love because Roger gave her security for their son --love the Rich bastard humor and she already has a client. I could see a Joan show sequel.
Michael Rieck - 9 years ago
Along the lines of what I said earlier, the ambivalence of the ending was a master stroke. They knew that some fans would demand redemption for Don, while others would want no redemption at all. That hugging suggests the former. The smirky smile suggests the latter. Weiner is letting fans decide for themselves!
james swayze - 9 years ago
Lazy boring anti climatic.
Ja - 9 years ago
After all the hype, all the waiting, running the entire series since Wednesday - that was it??? I was ENORMOUSLY disappointed - Don at a yoga retreat - seriously ?? There were parts that I liked but the Don finale truly sucked as far as I am concerned.
susan - 9 years ago
It was a great ending! Don Draper is dead and Dick Whitman is at peace with himself-finally! Of course Peggy came up with the Coke commercial, making Mc Cann the genius agency because of the merger. It just showed the true feelings of the times which was Peace, Love, Tolerance and Brotherhood. Everyone was given a happy ending. Betty may not be happy but she is at peace with her situation and seemed better, so maybe she will last a little longer than expected. The children are self prepared and Sally is the rock. With Sally taking control on her own Betty, in her usual narcissism, knows she did a good job and feels loved by her, whether Sally feels any more love or not doesn't matter. Sally is working for her brothers in hopes that Henry will keep them intact as a family.
jnelson - 9 years ago
It's as though all the writers connected to the show left the building or they couldn't or would't, finish their jobs. it appeared to b a rush job, no effort, maybe a 5 minute think, and 15 minutes worth of writing. the worst possible letdown to a series i loved for years! 2 big thumbs down.
Thud - 9 years ago
How I met your Mother was a worse ending by far. But this left a lot to be desired too.
Writing my own ending puts Don on a long trip which ends up with him living in a homeless camp in the woods someplace in Calif.
Roger goes on to find happiness and marriage to Phil's wife from Modern Family who he had first met on ED.
Pete dies from a fractured skull that he suffers standing too close to Joan when she spins around and hits his head broadside with her left one.
Peggy changes her name to Sarah and ends up Governor of Alaska.
Marlow - 9 years ago
I thought that the ending was a logical result of the trajectory of Draper's character development. In the end he is still too emotionally damaged to connect with anyone, especially Sally, as the children face their mother's death, and he turns what might have become a redemptive experience into a television commercial. He hurt everyone he touched, and he will go on doing so until the day someone finally pushes him out of his office window. I only wish that we could have seen the final fall.
John Sheetd - 9 years ago
it was brilliant ending! Weiner displayed raw courage in sticking with the encounter group theme, especially at such great length, but the payoff was wortth it. When Don first started to rise from his seat during the painful admission of that office worker who felt unnoticed if not unloved, who except myself was unsure if he wasn't ready to split. He cried hugging the poor guy and i did too. The coke commercial sealed it. As Emmerson had observed, beneath our veneer of who we want the world to think we are, and who we really are, we all, even the strongest and most buttoned down among us, lead lives of quiet desparation, deep inside, we feel unworthy. It captured the essence of the era as well. The Coke commercial definitely tells us that Don went back to work. I cried, not once, four times during the show. I haven't done that before. Don had always been a decent man with character flaws that may have led some to believe him morally bankrupt. Weiner went with his guts and it was and spellbinding. I will by need skim over any negative comments the rest of the night.
S. Tate - 9 years ago
Perfect ending! Don is able to face his demons, admit the truth, acknowledge his failures and begins to heal himself, ironically at a time when he wasn't looking for help and a place he never wanted to be at, The last couple episodes was all leading up to Don Draper making one of the greatest commercials of all time (I'd like to buy the world a Coke ...) In the previous episode Don repaired the Coke machine at the motel he was staying at. It was also one of the perks of the merger with McCann - Coke was one of their clients. And the phone call with Peggy at the end where she tries to convince Don to come back to New York by saying "Don't you want to work on Coke?" Ironically, Don didn't need to be in New York to work on Coke - his creative juices were flowing even while he was doing an "ohm" chant in California at the yoga retreat.
prlart - 9 years ago
Don was on the road to redemption. That was satisfying. We all took this journey with the character and you just wanted him to figure it out. I think he found "a new day ,new ideas, and the new life" the therapist talks about in the end.
Don throughout always had a brilliant creative gift no matter how screwed up he was.The smile at the end then the cut to the iconic Coke commercial with the young women at the retreat in it meant he did not lose that. That was a good part of him. A creative person needs to use their gift.
That commercial also reflected that time period. It was a long journey we all made in those 10 years from 1960 to 1970. The characters of Madmen told that story.
I was happy for Joan and Peggy. Joan got to be her true self. She was gifted at getting things done. A true leader. Peggy got her happy ending too. I think she did both. She had a successful career and an understanding husband. After all they were in the trenches together and they depended on each other. They are a team.
Every story has a tragedy. Betz and Sally's are the saddest story-line. Not everyone got to live happily ever after. Sally was always the adult in a way in this tale. There she was at the end taking care of her brothers. A lot to bear for a young girl. I think she was a strong enough though. Betz is just a sad situation. She was the collateral damage of Don's actions. I watched early episodes where Betz was actually a happy loving woman. Once she felt betrayed she just spiraled downward. Very sad.
not disclosed - 9 years ago
Sick and tired of the retreat enlightenment plot as the go-to story line. Such an inauthentic ending for a series that prides itself on authenticity. Fail
slb - 9 years ago
I didn't think it was that cute or clever! I would have ended the finale with the commercial but pan back to see Joan reviewing the final cut that she produced and Peggy and Stan developed for her from an Idea that Don comes up with .I wanted to know that Joan succeeds and that Peggy achieves the acclaim that her talent deserves.It's too easy not to show them reach that pinnacle as was the real world case for so many enterprising women in the early '70's. So instead we see so many of the men's characters 1-get what they want(Pete Campbell) 2- finally settle their affairs and life (Roger) 3-perhaps turn over a new leaf and find perhaps that their past mistakes are absolved(Don). We are left with the women 1- working their ass off to maybe build their dream (Joan) 2- finding love that may keep them from achieving their full potential-perhaps one baby away from leaving her career(Peggy) 3 - and dying (Betty) Wow! that sounds a lot like my mom and her friends in the early '70's.
gnsdeb - 9 years ago
I think Don's last smile showed the dawning of the idea for the Coke commercial. Cynical, yes, but consistent with his character.
As endings for popular series go, It was not quite as as satisfying as Buffy the Vampire Slayer's (the all-time best series ending) or Breaking Bad's (a close second), but infinitely better than Soprano's and How I Met Your Mother. So I give it a B+.
A Diamond - 9 years ago
the ending fell short for me; so many years spent building characters only to leave so many gapping holes in the final summation. I mean seriously, Pete and his wife run from the car to the plane and thats it for their end run? I do however get the whole Coke commercial bit, that was pretty neat to make that connection. D+
Michael Rieck - 9 years ago
A brilliant ending, and of course Don went back and did the Coke commercial. On the one hand, uplifting and redemptive. On the other hand, reassuring that he hasn't completely given up on the ludicrous world of Madison Avenue. And on the third hand, who cares -- it was just cute and clever!
Mish - 9 years ago
Peggy made the coke commercial! That gave her the promo to creative director
Glad I'm not the only one who notice the ribbon braided girl from the front desk at the retreat in the Coke commercial! It was a perfect ending because of the song! Conceived by Don/Dicks spiritual awakening! I had chills lol
The finale dud not disappoint. I love that Peggy got it all -- love, career, etc. Don found his true self --still a mad man. Joan chose ambition over love because Roger gave her security for their son --love the Rich bastard humor and she already has a client. I could see a Joan show sequel.
Along the lines of what I said earlier, the ambivalence of the ending was a master stroke. They knew that some fans would demand redemption for Don, while others would want no redemption at all. That hugging suggests the former. The smirky smile suggests the latter. Weiner is letting fans decide for themselves!
Lazy boring anti climatic.
After all the hype, all the waiting, running the entire series since Wednesday - that was it??? I was ENORMOUSLY disappointed - Don at a yoga retreat - seriously ?? There were parts that I liked but the Don finale truly sucked as far as I am concerned.
It was a great ending! Don Draper is dead and Dick Whitman is at peace with himself-finally! Of course Peggy came up with the Coke commercial, making Mc Cann the genius agency because of the merger. It just showed the true feelings of the times which was Peace, Love, Tolerance and Brotherhood. Everyone was given a happy ending. Betty may not be happy but she is at peace with her situation and seemed better, so maybe she will last a little longer than expected. The children are self prepared and Sally is the rock. With Sally taking control on her own Betty, in her usual narcissism, knows she did a good job and feels loved by her, whether Sally feels any more love or not doesn't matter. Sally is working for her brothers in hopes that Henry will keep them intact as a family.
It's as though all the writers connected to the show left the building or they couldn't or would't, finish their jobs. it appeared to b a rush job, no effort, maybe a 5 minute think, and 15 minutes worth of writing. the worst possible letdown to a series i loved for years! 2 big thumbs down.
How I met your Mother was a worse ending by far. But this left a lot to be desired too.
Writing my own ending puts Don on a long trip which ends up with him living in a homeless camp in the woods someplace in Calif.
Roger goes on to find happiness and marriage to Phil's wife from Modern Family who he had first met on ED.
Pete dies from a fractured skull that he suffers standing too close to Joan when she spins around and hits his head broadside with her left one.
Peggy changes her name to Sarah and ends up Governor of Alaska.
I thought that the ending was a logical result of the trajectory of Draper's character development. In the end he is still too emotionally damaged to connect with anyone, especially Sally, as the children face their mother's death, and he turns what might have become a redemptive experience into a television commercial. He hurt everyone he touched, and he will go on doing so until the day someone finally pushes him out of his office window. I only wish that we could have seen the final fall.
it was brilliant ending! Weiner displayed raw courage in sticking with the encounter group theme, especially at such great length, but the payoff was wortth it. When Don first started to rise from his seat during the painful admission of that office worker who felt unnoticed if not unloved, who except myself was unsure if he wasn't ready to split. He cried hugging the poor guy and i did too. The coke commercial sealed it. As Emmerson had observed, beneath our veneer of who we want the world to think we are, and who we really are, we all, even the strongest and most buttoned down among us, lead lives of quiet desparation, deep inside, we feel unworthy. It captured the essence of the era as well. The Coke commercial definitely tells us that Don went back to work. I cried, not once, four times during the show. I haven't done that before. Don had always been a decent man with character flaws that may have led some to believe him morally bankrupt. Weiner went with his guts and it was and spellbinding. I will by need skim over any negative comments the rest of the night.
Perfect ending! Don is able to face his demons, admit the truth, acknowledge his failures and begins to heal himself, ironically at a time when he wasn't looking for help and a place he never wanted to be at, The last couple episodes was all leading up to Don Draper making one of the greatest commercials of all time (I'd like to buy the world a Coke ...) In the previous episode Don repaired the Coke machine at the motel he was staying at. It was also one of the perks of the merger with McCann - Coke was one of their clients. And the phone call with Peggy at the end where she tries to convince Don to come back to New York by saying "Don't you want to work on Coke?" Ironically, Don didn't need to be in New York to work on Coke - his creative juices were flowing even while he was doing an "ohm" chant in California at the yoga retreat.
Don was on the road to redemption. That was satisfying. We all took this journey with the character and you just wanted him to figure it out. I think he found "a new day ,new ideas, and the new life" the therapist talks about in the end.
Don throughout always had a brilliant creative gift no matter how screwed up he was.The smile at the end then the cut to the iconic Coke commercial with the young women at the retreat in it meant he did not lose that. That was a good part of him. A creative person needs to use their gift.
That commercial also reflected that time period. It was a long journey we all made in those 10 years from 1960 to 1970. The characters of Madmen told that story.
I was happy for Joan and Peggy. Joan got to be her true self. She was gifted at getting things done. A true leader. Peggy got her happy ending too. I think she did both. She had a successful career and an understanding husband. After all they were in the trenches together and they depended on each other. They are a team.
Every story has a tragedy. Betz and Sally's are the saddest story-line. Not everyone got to live happily ever after. Sally was always the adult in a way in this tale. There she was at the end taking care of her brothers. A lot to bear for a young girl. I think she was a strong enough though. Betz is just a sad situation. She was the collateral damage of Don's actions. I watched early episodes where Betz was actually a happy loving woman. Once she felt betrayed she just spiraled downward. Very sad.
Sick and tired of the retreat enlightenment plot as the go-to story line. Such an inauthentic ending for a series that prides itself on authenticity. Fail
I didn't think it was that cute or clever! I would have ended the finale with the commercial but pan back to see Joan reviewing the final cut that she produced and Peggy and Stan developed for her from an Idea that Don comes up with .I wanted to know that Joan succeeds and that Peggy achieves the acclaim that her talent deserves.It's too easy not to show them reach that pinnacle as was the real world case for so many enterprising women in the early '70's. So instead we see so many of the men's characters 1-get what they want(Pete Campbell) 2- finally settle their affairs and life (Roger) 3-perhaps turn over a new leaf and find perhaps that their past mistakes are absolved(Don). We are left with the women 1- working their ass off to maybe build their dream (Joan) 2- finding love that may keep them from achieving their full potential-perhaps one baby away from leaving her career(Peggy) 3 - and dying (Betty) Wow! that sounds a lot like my mom and her friends in the early '70's.
I think Don's last smile showed the dawning of the idea for the Coke commercial. Cynical, yes, but consistent with his character.
As endings for popular series go, It was not quite as as satisfying as Buffy the Vampire Slayer's (the all-time best series ending) or Breaking Bad's (a close second), but infinitely better than Soprano's and How I Met Your Mother. So I give it a B+.
the ending fell short for me; so many years spent building characters only to leave so many gapping holes in the final summation. I mean seriously, Pete and his wife run from the car to the plane and thats it for their end run? I do however get the whole Coke commercial bit, that was pretty neat to make that connection. D+
A brilliant ending, and of course Don went back and did the Coke commercial. On the one hand, uplifting and redemptive. On the other hand, reassuring that he hasn't completely given up on the ludicrous world of Madison Avenue. And on the third hand, who cares -- it was just cute and clever!
Peggy made the coke commercial! That gave her the promo to creative director