OT - Mad Men Season Finale
Pretty quiet finale to a pretty quiet season. Except for Pete getting his ass kicked on several occasions and Lane's suicide, there weren't any really big moments. The cliffhanger, if you can call it that, is whether Don is going to go back to his dirty ways? Now that he's given Megan a foot in the door to an acting career, it seems to me he's given up control of her, which could lead to him saying "f*** it, I'm going to have some fun." Also, he's obviously feeling guilty about Lane's suicide, in addition to his brother's suicide.
Still one of the best shows on TV. Hopefully they don't take another year and half off.
Nothing ended last night in a way that left me caring very much what happens. It's all starting to be repetitive.
I even got bored of it for a while and didn't watch for the month of may, then I caught up on demand and finished last night... not impressed.
I'm not saying it was horrible, I just found it to be floating around aimlessly... the character development was good and I liked some of the deeper plots (joan sold for an account comes to mind). I guess they were just so good so far that I had higher standards.
jdon
I don't know what it is about this show that is so gripping, but it is the best thing going right now. Every episode flies by and I am left constantly wanting more. I dread waiting for the next season to start about as much as I dread waiting for Michigan football to return. Brill.i.ant.
Agreed that this season was lacking *something* throughout, and was capped off by the clunker of a finale. I'm hoping that this was more of a hangover from their protracted negoations and that the show will come back better than ever next year.
Still cant quite believe the whole Lane suicide, seemed like such a drastic action from a little problem but it really underscores the disconnect that Don has with people sometimes, even if they are full partners like him.
Huge fan of the show.
Most seasons have tended to wander about (seemingly) aimlessly until a big bang in the last few episodes where it all comes together - leaving the viewer with hanging pregnancy/divorce/company turmoil, etc. I think that this element was a bit subdued this season - which some might gripe about. It's great, of course, but not what makes it a great show.
My first thought is that the show is posturing now that the end is near (there's only two seasons left). And, there's a limit to how many 'big bangs' one can have and still be believable - which is important to the genuine nature of character development shows. At this point, they don't need too big of a cliffhanger to keep people watching and it's probably going to start focusing on more cumulative resolution. I'm rambling now. Who knows? I'll still keep watching either way.
I really enjoy the show, and I thought the previous two weeks' episodes were excellent, but I have this nagging suspicion that we will look back on last night as the episode where Mad Men jumped the shark. The part of the show I'm referring to is where Pete has an affair, and the woman he has an affair with is forced to get electro-shock therapy by her husband because she's had an affair. I wasn't around in the 60's, so maybe some old-timers like Herm can clue me in, but how common was that? What are the odds that Pete, A) has an affair, and B) the woman gets electro-shock therapy to erase her memory of it? This followed up Weiner borrowing heavily from Indecent Proposal, which I thought was totally believable given Joanie's attributes, but still, that was shark-jumpable.
That said, the brilliance of Mad Men is that they can have something as simple as a woman asking a guy at a bar if he's alone, be a cliff-hangar, and I'll come back in a year or whenever to find out the answer.
That was used and is used still today. I had a roommate (in the early '00s) who had undergone it.
I didn't get the impression she was going in for electroshock because she had an affair ... as if it was some kind of punishment.
I got the impression the husband knew she'd had an affair, but that the electroshock was due to a severe and persistent case of depression. She'd had electroshock before.
All that said, it's quite possible her most current depression was because of the affair ... the whole "I want something other than what I have" theme of the show.
I thought it was good not great in the classic cliffhanger sense. The show doesn't normally do the traditional "who lives, who dies?" season finale. The episode was loaded with foreshadowing. It seems like the relatively austere and introspective behavior of the characters and the office itself, is going to be replaced by bigger, bolder, and living for the pleasure of the moment.
There's jumping the shark, and then there's rocketeering over a shark-infested ocean. I can't think of another TV series that went from great to awful in a single season. Worst. Season. Ever.
I was fine with the finale. I think can see the direction they're moving with the show.
I was also fine with the subdued "cliff hanger." Cliff hangers are generally hacky, but are a necessary evil.
I'm a bit shocked at how many people in this thread are down on season 5. Most critics are claiming this to be maybe the strongest season of Mad Men yet, and I happen to agree with them.
I agree that this season was great. A lot of people are down on it but there were some pretty good episodes, especially in the middle of the season. After last weeks episode I expected the finaleto be some what anti-climatic and it was, but I loved the ending. We all have an opinion as to what Don's answer was.
I don't think he actually crossed the room from the soundstage into the bar. That was just a bit of stylized direction. I believe Don was in the bar from the pilot.
The season as a whole had its share of meh episodes and its share of quite good episodes. On the whole I'd rather watch Mad Men than, say, Cupcake Wars.
A very large part of the show is based on the idea that happiness is elusive but the pursuit of it is irresistable and often painful. Every major character -- save Cooper, who's like this Zen monk in the middle of it all -- is groping for something ... anything ... to bring some measure of happiness and contentment.
Of course they can't attain it else we'd have no show.
For what it's worth -- and I have no inside knowledge of this or much of anything -- the drama of next season will be based upon a wildly successful Sterling Cooper Draper ... Pryce? There are few things that breed discontent like having all one thought would bring contentment. Or, said another way ... beware the attainment of a dream.
And Draper is going to screw the living daylights out of every beautiful young woman he can get his hands on. Because what Draper really wants is what he can't have -- his lost youth and his real identity.
What of Roger Sterling? He's hopped on LSD. He's going to play one wicked free safety in a Cover 1 defense.
I would have liked to see that Big Bang towards the end but i think this season provided a more subtle bang with Don and the look at the very end. The last few episodes started to suggest Don distancing himself from Megan so i kind of saw it coming but nevertheless interesting way to end the season. They ended the season still wanting the viewers to see what Don is going to do next so they caught us and drug us in. I think overall season 5 provided eveything i was looking for, but it seemed to go very fast.
I would think that season 6 will have more Betty involved, assuming January Jone's pregancy held back her role this season.
Looking way t0o far ahead, but i think Don's past will finally catch up with him in season 7.
Who plays Dawn on the show is my little cousin. I'm talking about used to change her diapers and was paid to baby sit her as a teen little cousin. We(my family and I) are very proud of her and we thank you all for watching.
That is very cool des..She is great... hope they give her more scenes next year. The thing with Peggy seemed like it was going somewhere but they never developed it.
I love the show but it is teetering on "jumping the shark". This season had some fun moments (most of Rogers stuff, especially the LSD and hummer from via la quebec) ...and some decent character development (namely Peggys continued ascension in advertising) but had several characters regress (Joan and Betty for the most part) in to cliched versions of their former selves.
The Lane suicide seemed forced and a bit too melodramatic to be taken seriously.....other subplots such as Petes daliance with Ms. Flaky til I lose my Memory in the Season Finale... and the head of the TV dept dudes Hare Krishna get laid scene were just tacked on and went no where. ...
and dont get me started on Glen. Ugh. A more worse case of nepotism has never existed. Kid is a deer in the headlights and can not act... if he was not Weiners son he would not get a part in a school play....but here he is on Mad Men bringing down every scene that he is in.
But as I say...I still love the show..just not as much as before. I suppose right now it is the curiousity of "what is next ..what will they do in 68" etc. more of a historical series rather than something that is revolutionary in plot...it seems to all have been played by now. I hope Im wrong..
yeah cant wait for BBad....