I don't think he was intentionally using the experience as fodder....but he's an Ad Man...he can't help it when a great idea comes into his head.....hence the grin at the end
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Mad Men on AMC (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Red Apples
- Start date
packersfan
Footballguy
From the review: "This is a show whose opening credits — depicting an ad man who has his whole world stripped away, sending him plunging to the ground, only to end up back where he started, lounging confidently, a cigarette dangling from his hand"
The opening credits sure seem to be telling us Don returned to McCann a new man and wrote the Coke jingle.
The opening credits sure seem to be telling us Don returned to McCann a new man and wrote the Coke jingle.
Hang 10
Footballguy
Doesn't Wiener write these episodes backwards or something? He had a good ending but just didn't have a ####### clue how to get there.
Workhorse
Footballguy
I don't think it was intentional either. I just think it's his nature to yearn for authentic connections with other people in order to derive meaning for his life, only to find that the only true calling he has is using those feelings to shill products. Put another way: Does anyone think that Don lives happily ever after post Coke ad, which would surely propel his career into the stratosphere? Or does he eventually end up in yet another existential crisis down the line? I'd bet my life on the latter.
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The General
Footballguy
I had read that in a review of he finale. Pretty much cements for me that he did the Coke ad along with Peggy asking him "Don't you want to work on Coke" earlier on the call.
The finale was too rushed but it was great to show the main cast again. Truly amazing series.
The General
Footballguy
Ray Karpis
Footballguy
I watched it again and think it is much better than I initially thought. Like someone else said, the fact that Don was still at that retreat center with 10 minutes left in the show made me really antsy. I wanted him back in New York and that affected my feelings toward how things were wrapping up.
To me, there is absolutely no ambiguity that Don did indeed write the Coke ad. You rewatch that scene - the leader says "we're thankful for the lives we get to live. It's a new day, new ideas, a new you." The group is "chanting" ("singing") together, and you hear a "ding" (WTH was that?), and Don gets the wry smile...cut to ad.
Weiner previously said he envisioned how the series would end 2-3 years ago. There's no way that vision was Don sitting on a cliff doing yoga. Weiner envisioned Don writing the Coke ad (which is why he said he knew some people would hate it), and then he had to construct the yoga retreat/Don's renewal to get to that ending.
I liked it. For me, it works.
Overall, I liked the finale...a lot of really good scenes (phone calls) if you just take them for what they were.
1) Don calling Betty - powerful stuff; Don wanting to come back and be a hero out of obligation, Betty knowing what is best for the kids at the moment shows the growth of Betty. Loved Don breaking down, "Birdie..." and she just responds, "I know." A lot of things not said that were communicated in that exchange.
2) Don calling Peggy - also thought this was extremely well done. Don crumbling over the phone with Peggy - feeling like she was the one person he owed a "goodbye" to.
3) Don and Leonard - interesting that an unknown character has such a big moment in the closing moments of the show. I guess he kinda "confessed" for Don...he said what Don would have said had he sat down in that chair, and Don realizes he's not alone. Great scene.
I like the last little bit of closure each character got. They all made sense for the particular character. Roger and Marie will go down in big flames...everyone knows that, but that fits Roger Sterling. Also appreciate that Weiner threw a bone to Ken and Harry and worked them into the finale in an unforced way.
All in all, I'm good with how the show ended.
To me, there is absolutely no ambiguity that Don did indeed write the Coke ad. You rewatch that scene - the leader says "we're thankful for the lives we get to live. It's a new day, new ideas, a new you." The group is "chanting" ("singing") together, and you hear a "ding" (WTH was that?), and Don gets the wry smile...cut to ad.
Weiner previously said he envisioned how the series would end 2-3 years ago. There's no way that vision was Don sitting on a cliff doing yoga. Weiner envisioned Don writing the Coke ad (which is why he said he knew some people would hate it), and then he had to construct the yoga retreat/Don's renewal to get to that ending.
I liked it. For me, it works.
Overall, I liked the finale...a lot of really good scenes (phone calls) if you just take them for what they were.
1) Don calling Betty - powerful stuff; Don wanting to come back and be a hero out of obligation, Betty knowing what is best for the kids at the moment shows the growth of Betty. Loved Don breaking down, "Birdie..." and she just responds, "I know." A lot of things not said that were communicated in that exchange.
2) Don calling Peggy - also thought this was extremely well done. Don crumbling over the phone with Peggy - feeling like she was the one person he owed a "goodbye" to.
3) Don and Leonard - interesting that an unknown character has such a big moment in the closing moments of the show. I guess he kinda "confessed" for Don...he said what Don would have said had he sat down in that chair, and Don realizes he's not alone. Great scene.
I like the last little bit of closure each character got. They all made sense for the particular character. Roger and Marie will go down in big flames...everyone knows that, but that fits Roger Sterling. Also appreciate that Weiner threw a bone to Ken and Harry and worked them into the finale in an unforced way.
All in all, I'm good with how the show ended.
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The General
Footballguy
I have caught myself humming hat GD coke song a few times already this morning.
Jack White
Footballguy
I wouldn't say pissed, because it's OK that there is some ambiguity.
But as I saw the commercial playing, I was thinking they might pull back and reveal that the commercial was playing on a screen at McCann.
As someone else said, though, that's why Matt Weiner is a story-telling genius and the rest of us work at Bass Pro Shop(s).
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Mystery Achiever
Footballguy
This is a great point. I was clock-watching also and I think waiting for big events caused me to miss the little things like the girl in pigtails. I can't wait to re-watch.
Good Posting Judge
Footballguy
I think a single Bass Pro Shops is called a "Bass Pro Shops", not a "Bass Pro Shop." Google seems to confirm this, but I wasn't sure.
I've never set foot inside of one.
I've never set foot inside of one.
dozer
Footballguy
Good Posting Judge
Footballguy
Upon further review I have decided to rank this show 6th all time, tied with The Octonauts and right behind Good Times.
Capella
Footballguy
Sammy3469
Footballguy
Well, I don't think there's much ambiguity (though I guess one could argue it was a Peggy/Stan commercial if one wanted) in who made it. I guess you can make the argument that there wasn't a pitch scene because the "new" Don doesn't do pitches anymore (or some such argument). I just have a hard time believing that if he did create the ad, he's really "transformed". As Roger says he does these trips frequently, this is really nothing new.
It just seems more like a show-runner giving the viewers the cold shoulder for no good reason. The iconic moments of the series are Don's pitches, to not give us the biggest one he'll ever do just seems to leave a hole.
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Jack White
Footballguy
The fact that everyone is debating it and the fact that they did not show the pitch itself seems to confirm there is ambiguity.
The General
Footballguy
Love that he got one last good line in.
5-ish Finkle
Footballguy
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This is exactly my nit to pick....the storyteller should have constructed it, so there was no debate....
Good Posting Judge
Footballguy
Did Peggy and Stan really get together? There was no scene of his gigantic* hairy **** entering her ######.
* - I'm guessing.
* - I'm guessing.
Sammy3469
Footballguy
Hell, the only debate is if his smile is him rediscovering himself or just realizing how good a f-ing idea the Coke commercial was.
Read the Internet sometime....people are debating an it's not just the one or two dopes who have an alternate interpretation of everything.....
The fact people don't want to admit what's right in front of their face doesn't make it ambiguous.
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WE DIDN'T SEE HIM PITCH IT TO COKE AND COKE GIVE THEIR BLESSING AND PEGGY DO THE COPYRIGHTING AND STAN DO THE DESIGN!
Mystery Achiever
Footballguy
PlasmaDogPlasma
Footballguy
And Joan and the real estate guy having coke and a smile
Jack White
Footballguy
Jack White
Footballguy
Came across this on a Google search and thought it was well written:
http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/mad-men-person-person-219567
http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/mad-men-person-person-219567
Zegras11
Footballguy
Everything about Peggy was unnatural. From the start with the "lipstick" episode, they made it very clear she didn't process things like most women do.
bigmarc27
Footballguy
Here's my question I guess, if he didn't do the ad then why the hell would they even show it? It would be a pointless tack-on to the finish. There are a few things I didn't love about the finale, but I think it's glaringly obvious that **** Draper did the commercial.
Ned Ryerson
Footballguy
I think he did too.
I guess the theoretical counter would be that he actually achieved some sort of spiritual enlightenment for the first time in his miserable life, and MW was showing how the same sort of spiritual awakening that was happening as part of the counterculture around the country could be turned on its ear and coopted for the purpose of commerce, as a counter to ****/Don's actual enlightenment.
Class Dismissed
Footballguy
And it should have said.....THE END
Officer Pete Malloy
Footballguy
Officer Pete Malloy
Footballguy
I'm still processing the finale. I was probably a little harsh last night right after it aired.
We've watched Draper look for happiness all over the place...women, sex, booze, money, drugs, prestige, power, etc...and he never really found it. We'll just have to assume that whatever breakdown-then-breakthrough he had at the retreat finally worked.
The guy sitting there meditating wasn't Draper or Whitman but somebody new. I think that's what put me off at first. I didn't think it was authentic to the character. But realizing now that was the whole point I get it.
We've watched Draper look for happiness all over the place...women, sex, booze, money, drugs, prestige, power, etc...and he never really found it. We'll just have to assume that whatever breakdown-then-breakthrough he had at the retreat finally worked.
The guy sitting there meditating wasn't Draper or Whitman but somebody new. I think that's what put me off at first. I didn't think it was authentic to the character. But realizing now that was the whole point I get it.
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
Officer Pete Malloy
Footballguy
Oh and I loved that Roger's final scene included him delivering a funny line even if it was in French. 
Officer Pete Malloy
Footballguy
Ooo! Ooo! Remember way back when Stan was new on the show and he and Peggy locked themselves in a hotel room to finish some project? Peggy called Stan's bluff and they got naked. I remember Peggy glancing down at Stan's fun zone and smirking. You couldn't tell if she was unimpressed or reacting to his state of arousal.
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