TV Thread - beware, [expletive] can get spoilery

[thrill]

Every theme of the show, every pattern of Don's behavior etc leads up to Don coming oh so close to complete personal change and then using his journey of self-discovery to a professional creative epiphany and kicking the cycle off all over again. Carousel. Samsonite. Megan over Dr. Fay. I think the implication is definitely that he went back to McCann and whipped his nuts out with buy the world a coke.

[thrill]

I've read 6 Mad Men recaps so far. Can anyone beat that?

[ghostrunner]

I think Don is retired until that ding. Or arguably until he hugs that guy.

I think you can take the last two episodes as a Sullivan's Travels parallel for him.

[heyzeus]

I think Don is retired until that ding. Or arguably until he hugs that guy.

I think you can take the last two episodes as a Sullivan's Travels parallel for him.

Don's therapy sesh hug reminds me a lot of Tyler Durden crying on Meat Loaf in Fight Club. Ie, a cynical and self-serving cathartic release. Maybe Don realized that, like this fridge guy, he doesn't understand how to accept love. But it seems to have just helped Don go on being the crass seller of crap using people's desires and dreams that he always has been.

[Freed Roger]

some memorable moments

[SHOW]

[heyzeus]

In addition to all of y'all's keen insights into capitalism and the question of reinvention v. authenticity, it is also important to remember that Megan Draper gets topless in Hot Tub Time Machine.

[Jocephus]

hah, i remember that lawnmower scene and the lunch in the park trash part.

[Vidor]

Don's therapy sesh hug reminds me a lot of Tyler Durden crying on Meat Loaf in Fight Club. Ie, a cynical and self-serving cathartic release. Maybe Don realized that, like this fridge guy, he doesn't understand how to accept love. But it seems to have just helped Don go on being the crass seller of crap using people's desires and dreams that he always has been.

I saw the ending as much more uplifting than that. I think people are looking at Don going back to advertising as some fundamental failure, which I guess makes sense if one thinks of advertising as inherently evil. I see a guy who's finally at peace with himself and has learned how to reconcile Dick and Don.

Matt Zoller Seitz saw it the way I do.

http://www.vulture.com/2015/05/mad-men- ... de-14.html

I started my final recap with this seemingly minor scene between Stephanie and Don because I’ve been reading descriptions of Mad Men’s last few minutes — a meditation followed by a Coke ad — as “cynical,” confirmation that all Don really learned in season seven, and at the retreat in particular, was how to hug and get his job back.

I couldn’t disagree more strongly. I think the optimism is sincere, bordering on maudlin. The whole episode fits that description.

[Vidor]

Girl in Coca-Cola ad:



Clerk at hippie retreat:



I assume the retreat Don went to is either actually supposed to be the Esalen Institute or is closely modeled thereon. I drove past it once. The scenery really is just that lovely. Although the sun still sets in the west.

[Jocephus]

it'd be funny if he got his thetan levels checked