The only reason that theory doesn't quite jive is that Don never seemed to be THAT obsessed with money.
Holy shitsnacks! I finally got around to watching Sunday's episode tonight. The waitress's ex seemed familiar, but I didn't really pay much attention at the time. Then just now I was reading a funny recap of the show and it mentioned that it was Mackenzie Astin. Wow! I had completely forgotten that Sean Astin had a younger brother, who was on Facts of Life, whatnot. Their parents are Patty Duke and John Astin. And that was him! Anyway, the episode filled me with angers and if my Joannie doesn't come out on top, I will flip a table.
The day that shit is truth is the day Matthew Weiner plays two girls one cup and smears shit on his bald head and throws it at the camera as it cuts to black playing can't stop believing by Journey. I feel bad for Joan. 50 cents on the dollar? The show really makes you feel bad for the treatment women got back in the day.
http://nerdist.com/nerdist-podcast-matthew-weiner-returns/ Good long podcast with Weiner. I coulda sworn he was gay, but he talks a little about his wife in this podcast so...
I could not agree more with both of these statements. This shit isn't Lost, nothing is ever going to be like Lost. Weiner just throws shit like that out to throw people off so they don't ask what he's really doing, which will be cool, but never that convoluted. And...the kid that plays Glen is his son.
I knew that, but as it turns out, gay people can have kids, too. Speaking of Glen, I was super happy that he was still such a creepy fucker. When he first showed up I was like, "Aw, Glen turned into a normal kid..." Then he went for it with Betty and, shit he might have had a chance. Awesome. "Hey Dad, can you write a scene where I get to make out with January Jones?"
I'm still not sure what in the fuck they're doing with Don, but I guess he's done with advertising? Betty with cancer. Sucks for her, but at least Sally got to hear "I love you" from that cold hearted cunt at least once while she was alive, even if it was just in a letter. That means the kids go back to Don once Betty dies, right?
I think my favorite part was when Betty's husband told Sally it was okay for her to cry, and then he burst into sobs himself. Theoretically the kids would go back to Don, but that assumes he'll be more stable than their stepfather. It's possible he will be once he finds out about the cancer - it could be what snaps him out of whatever he's doing.
I think he's headed to California. Maybe the next episode takes place a few months after the previous episode, and he's informed of Betty's death. He'll have to head back to New York (possibly with Stephanie and her baby in tow) to take responsibility for his kids. I feel like his relationship with his family is the only thing left to wrap up for Don: Work? "I was in advertising", he told Andy the Thieving Motel Employee. He's walked away from McCann, their shirtsleeves, and probably his $2 million. His home? Gone. Sold to a young family with a bright future. His car? Given away. One more thing that could tie him down, as it tied him down in Mobile-homa for several days when it broke down. His name? In the penultimate episode, Don seems to have finally come to peace with his name and the crime he committed in obtaining it. He finally admitted that he had killed his CO and the revelation was met with acceptance ("You did what you had to do to come home"). At the end of "The Milk and Honey Route", after giving up everything of value in his life ("The Best Things in Life Are Free", Bert Cooper) and making peace with his past, we find Don smiling with what seems to be contentment for the first time in...well, maybe ever. Now that he's got Don/Dick figured out, he can go back to his kids. I'd like to hope so. Sally is one of my favorite characters.
I'm wondering, does Don have his social security card in that Sears bag? If so, that's the only thing he has left from his old life, quite literally. Maybe he's going to head to Hawaii, and act out his own ad idea, a trail of clothes leading toward the ocean. One of the paperbacks in his hotel room was "Hawaii," maybe Weiner was planting the seed, or throwing in some misdirection.
So far Betty's conclusion seems the most fitting cosmically. A lifetime of negativity manifested in aggressive cancer that has spread to every fiber of her being. I think her letter had more to do with Sally's conclusion than hers. I'm not sure it's fitting but maybe too fitting for a show that's known for being more enigmatic? Pete's has been the most out of the blue. They have showed his yearning for Trudy pretty well this past season. Odd that a guy that was a petulant snot nosed punk for a good portion of the series is getting sent off with one of the happier conclusions. It'd be crazy if the bus stop was the last we saw of Don. Assuming it'd be like other that characters have already exited and won't be seen again, like Joan. It would be a Soprano's esque 'what if?' if Don leaves as he came in starting anew but with a clearer conscious. No answers, just, gone. Never knowing what really happened to him. Then they end the series focused on Peggy, Don's heir apparent in the show, finally (hopefully for the love of god) gaining his level of confidence in the ad world. With Roger there with her throwing in hilarious quips and tying up his loose ends*. *One of his best lines from the series I remembered after seeing Duck Phillips again. At the CLIOS a few seasons back Duck throws a drunken scene and falls over, Roger zings, "Man I miss working with that guy."
I realize it might be one of those "we leave it open to interpretation" things, but is the Coke commercial meant to be merely a reflection of the consciousness that Don experienced at that place (and a cultural shift in general), or is it that he came up with a great idea for the Coke campaign out there and went back to McCann and that commercial was the end result?
I'm not sure exactly how to take the ending yet. I can see it through several lenses: -Don, who "always comes back," does so with a clear conscience and he helps create the ad for Coke. And based on what that Leonard guy was saying, he might even follow it up with "have a coke and a smile." -Don is at peace, but we the viewers see that the advertising world will always use culture to try and make money ...and a whole bunch of other ways I haven't even put into coherent thoughts yet. I thought the scene with Leonard talking about love was great. In the very first episode, Don admits that "love was invented by guys like us to sell nylons," and here he is witnessing the result of that line of thinking.
The ending is obviously open to interpretation, but when it comes to it being definitive? I'm 31 years old, and everything about that Coke ad SCREAMS "70's" to me - the hairstyles, the clothing, the music production, the film quality. In that respect, an ad like that being used on the show would definitely shut the door on the 60's and document "The End of an Era."
What you're supposed to take away from the ending was the Don went back to McCann with that Coke idea and made it rain. The front desk girl he talks to when he realizes Stephanie left has the same exact hairstyle as the one of the first girls in the ad, with the ribbons tied in her hair. Also, this has really been the only accurate theory since Coca-Cola was introduced two episodes ago, and all but confirmed when the motel guy asked Don to fix the machine. The A.V. Club had a great write-up about who Don Draper became after the show. So good, it's quoted below.
this is just me riffing here, but I like the juxtaposition of an ad like Jaguar - where it's all about how you finally own something, it's yours, with that implication of the sex appeal - vs. "buy a coke for someone else!" But it's still selling and making money, just a different angle. And after Don's journey through the 60's, that's the angle he milks for a huge payout.
Yeah all the pieces are there like the ending of The Sopranos but you think Weiner will crack and reveal Don's fate? I can say right now it makes sense to me he'd go back and pitch the idea. I swear one of the girls in the commercial looked just like the girl that took him to the hippy retreat. For a show that was known for having the most unhappy characters they all had a rewarding wholly happy ending. Outside of Betty who dies painfully of analbum cancer.