"Mad Men" - The Season Finale

Posted on October 19, 2007 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

The bad news is the season is over. The good news is it was received well enough it will be coming back. The bad news (again) is it is not coming back until the summer of 2008! Now I will suffer withdrawal!

When this series first started I wrote about it very cautiously and even came down rather hard on the opening episode. I have since warmed to it and even have become addicted to it. It is the one show I actually go out of may way to arrange my schedule to watch and when I can't it gets recorded. I also like "The Dog Whisperer" but haven't yet recorded missed episodes. This is a big deal for me, as I do not watch any other regularly scheduled programing on TV!

The series is quite well done and written. Yes, it has some technical flaws, some of which were mentioned in previous posts. I have warmed to the characters and their human failings, which, considering the outstanding writing, is easy to do.

The season finale left you hanging with enough loose ends so you will be drawn back for season two just to find out what happened. Will Don Draper, now that he has realized what he has in his family, quit sleeping around? Has Betty taken the kids and left Don now that she "knows" he has been unfaithful? Will Rachael, who obviously loves Don, yet at the same time hates his values, return from her European trip and stir the pot? Will Peggy, newly broken through the glass ceiling to junior copywriter, become a working single mom or put her baby up for adoption? (If you missed the last show, she delivered a baby she did not realize she was carrying - denial?) And poor Pete Campbell, is he the father of Peggy's child? Will he really be forced to accept Peggy as copywriter on his father-in-law's Clearasil account?

The best part of the last episode was Don's presentation for the Kodak account and the Carousel projector. That alone was worth watching the episode. It was the catalyst that made him realize the value of his family and how he had put that at risk with his carousing. It was moving and so well done we wish we could present like that.