Ok, our very last recap of Mad Men. Here goes.
We’re at the Utah salt flats. Don Draper is driving a test car wearing a helmet and goggles. He drives into a garage and tells the kids what they need to do to fix it.
Meredith and Caroline are in Roger’s office. Meredith tells Roger she translated his speech into Pig Latin, but Roger said he was joking. Caroline tells Roger that Marie has sent her luggage down, but in a cryptic way. Roger says Meredith knows Marie as she is Megan’s mother. Roger tells Meredith he’s letting her go. Meredith says she’ll land on her feet. She thinks Don is dead and said he’s in a better place. Then she says no matter what, Don is in a better place. We love Meredith.
Peggy finds she and Stan have been taken off an account. She asks Lorraine why and she says with Pete Campbell gone, his replacement has his favorites. Peggy persists and Lorraine puts her back.
Don is sleeping with a woman who he finds stole his money and Megan’s wedding ring. He forgives her quickly.
Joan is with Richard in Florida. They snort some cocaine. They got off on it. Richard tells her he wants a life together. Joan asks her if they want to get married. He only says if she wants to.
Pete comes into Peggy’s office. She tells him she can’t go to lunch with he and Harry. She bids him goodbye.
Don calls Sally at school to tell her he broke the world land speed record. She’s distracted. She then informs Don that Betty is dying. Don says he’s coming home. Sally says she wasn’t supposed to tell him. She wants Don to tell Betty that she should allow Henry to take the kids. Sally hangs up.
Don calls Betty. She wants the kids to live with her brother and sister-in-law. Betty says she can still see them on weekends. Then she burns Don with the statement, “When was the last time you saw them?” Betty tells Don not to come home. Don starts to cry. Betty cries. She says she has to go. Don is shaken.
Ken Cosgrove sees Joan back in New York. Ken asks Joan to do a job for him at Dow Chemical, to read a script like she did at SCP for $50,000. She accepts.
Don is sleeping when the two guys from the garage come into his room and ask for money. Don shows them his envelope of cash. He then says he’ll go with them to Los Angeles. Oh Don.
Joan calls Peggy and wants to have lunch. Joan wants to see her and help her with the Dow script. Joan offers Peggy $1,200.
Don goes to see Stephanie. the niece of Anna Draper. She recognizes him as Dick Whitman. He asks for liquor. She tells him her son is living with her dad. He gives her the ring from Anna. He offers her money but while she appreciates the offer, she feels he’s the one who needs help. She says Don can stay there while she goes to a retreat up the West Coast. She tells him to sleep while she makes some stew.
Roger is sleeping with Marie. He finds that she saw Emile. Roger tries to forbid her from seeing him again. She scolds him in French. Then she kicks him out of bed. Hilarious.
Don wakes up. Stephanie tells him that he’s going with her to the retreat.
Sally is back home. Bobby asks why she’s home. She tells Gene to go away. Sally and Bobby talk. He tells her Betty is upstairs. Sally teaches Bobby to cook dinner.
Don and Stephanie are at the retreat. A host tells them the schedule. They stay in the same room. Don falls on a bed to find someone else is next to him. She wishes him goodnight.
Roger sees Joan at her apartment. He sees his son, Kevin. Roger says he’s revising his will. He wants to set some money aside to Kevin. Roger tells Joan he’s marrying Marie. Joan tells Roger if he wants to give money to Kevin, she’ll accept.
Don is in Cali watching people do Tai Chi. Stephanie and Don go to a guru at the retreat who tells them and others to walk around. They stop. The guy tells them to communicate without talking. While Don sees other get closer. The woman who looks at him, feels Don’s negative energy and pushes him away.
Joan and Peggy eat lunch. They get Bloody Mary’s. Joan tells Peggy that the script she turned in was great. It helped Ken at Dow. Joan wants a writer for another script. Then she tells Peggy that she wants to open her own production company and call it Harris-Olson. Peggy hesitates. Then Joan tells her she needs a decision by the end of the week. Joan says the partnership is just for her.
At the retreat, Stephanie tells another counselor she feels judged. She says she made a mistake giving up her baby. The others judge her. She runs out. Don runs after her. Don tells her not to listen to the others. But she wants to hear the truth. Don says he could help her and help her to forget about the baby. Stephanie scolds Don about coming out to the Cali.
Peggy and Stan talk about Joan’s offer. Peggy is contemplating the idea of leaving. Stan says he’s happy at McCann. He kind of poo poos her idea of working with Joan. She lashes out at him saying he sounds like a failure. Stan walks out.
Don is back at the retreat in bed. He sees Stephanie come in. He goes back to sleep.
Joan offers coffee to Richard. Joan says she can’t go to Old Lyme. Joan has a business meeting. Richard asks if Joan wants to be her. Richard says if it’s going to take all of her time, he doesn’t want to root for it to fail. As the phone rings, she keeps talking and she can’t turn the work part of her off. She doesn’t want to make him choose. Richard leaves and says goodbye.
Don wakes up. Stephanie is gone. He finds out from someone that she left and drove off. Don asks the front desk if he can get a ride.
Don calls Peggy from California. She scolds him for leaving. Peggy says he can come back. She says McCann will take him back. He then says he can’t come back. Peggy tells him to come home. Don says he screwed up. It worries Peggy. Peggy asks him what did he do that was so bad. He replies he broke his vows, scandalized his child and took another man’s identity. Peggy won’t believe it. Don tells Peggy goodbye. Peggy says he shouldn’t be alone. But Don hangs up in tears. He doesn’t know who he is anymore. And he collapses to the ground.
Peggy calls Stan and tells him she spoke with Don. Stan says Don’s a survivor, but she has to let go. Peggy apologizes to Stan and says she won’t leave. Stan tells her that he didn’t want her to leave. Then Stan admits he’s in love with her. She asks him to say it again. She tells Stan she needs to catch her breath, but she doesn’t think about Stan. But then she says Stan makes everything ok. Peggy then realizes she’s been in love with Stan all this time. He runs to her office and she tells him she loves him. They kiss. It’s about time, Peggy. Jeepers.
Don is sitting in a trance when a woman walks up to him if he’s waiting for a phone call. She asks Don to go to a seminar with him. She’s late and doesn’t want to walk in alone. Don sits at the seminar and while he’s still in a trance, people get up and talk. A guy, Leonard starts to talk and says he’s never been interesting. He says he works at an office and notes that people don’t pay attention to him. He says no one cares that he’s gone. Don suddenly is shaken from his trance. This guy says he doesn’t get love, but then he sees they’re trying. He says he had a dream that’s on a shelf on a refrigerator seeing everyone eating. But someone closes the door. When someone opens the door, he sees everyone’s happy and they don’t pick him and the door closes. Leonard cries. Don gets up and hugs him. Don cries too.
Pete and Trudy get out of a limo with their daughter to start their life in Topeka.
Joan is at her apartment building her business. She’s worked out of an apartment before.
Roger and Marie are in a Montreal restaurant. He orders something in French.
Sally is home with Betty STILL SMOKING????
Peggy is typing something at her office at McCann. Stan kisses her.
Don is at the California coast. Don has embraced the lifestyle. He meditates and finds inner peace. Then thinks of a great idea.
The classic Coke ad, I’d Like Teach The World to Sing plays us out. It was made by McCann Erickson. And we’re done.
Some people are complaining about the finale, but Don finally found himself and his inner peace, and the next big idea.
Videos now. We have Matt Weiner going inside the finale and explaining his thinking behind the episode. AMC is not allowing us to embed the video, so I’ll have to link to it. Suffice to say Weiner is satisfied with the ending.
Costume designer Janie Bryant, Property Master Ellen Freund, and Set Director Charlotte Didul talk about the fashion and style of the episode.
Now to videos I can embed, here’s the scene where Stan and Peggy profess their love to each other.
And here’s the last scene. Brilliant.
And just for the hell of it, one entire season of cryptic “Next on Mad Men” promos. Nice to see AMC with a sense of humor.
That will do it. It’s a great ride, Mad Men.
