In which we speculate about the Season 3 Finale:Shut the Door. Have a Seat:
Sterling Cooper is for sale!
And Lane doesn’t want it to be. Nor does he want to leave the U.S. But his wife sure does.
Peggy is seeing Duck, but Swedish Roommate has planted the question “Why are you seeing him?” into her head, and Peggy is very good at paying attention to such questions. Does a Peggy-Duck breakup jeopardize her job? Is Duck vengeful on humans or just dogs?
Danny Farrell, out there with Don’s business card.
Suzanne Farrell, out there with who knows what. Sad, abandoned, possibly getting angry.
Where is Salvatore? Is he working? Is he cruising? Who will Sterling Coo hire to replace him?
Joan Harris: Who is Bob and does he offer her a job? Does she get a heavier vase? Has Roger decided she’s the one?
Does Pete leave Sterling Coo? For Grey? And find out about Peggy and Duck? Ew!
Does Grey buy Sterling Cooper? Does Connie?
Who commits suicide? There have been, what, six? Mentions of suicide this season? Gypsy has a partial collection; all these plus “Bye Bye Birdie,” and Betty’s nickname is Birdie. I’m sure this must be foreshadowing; it’s just too much.
Betty! Henry! Don! Marriage? Divorce? What!?!
Has anyone gotten pregnant or vomited?
74 Responses to “Unfinished business”
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My hubby and I have been tossing around cliffhanger ideas all week. As I stated previously, my money is still on something happening in the office with that rifle. It was so OBVIOUSLY there in the opening shot last week. Assassination foreshadowing, maybe, but it's been in Pete's office for such a long time now. It has to mean something.
My husband's theory is definitely something drug related with Don or Betty. Too much pill popping and alcohol plus the crushing stress Don is under. He thinks someone is going to end up in a coma and would like to see that draw the Draper's back together. Awwww . . .
I still think "Bye, Bye Birdie" means the marriage is over. Don't necessarily think Betty will fly to Henry, but I sure see Suzanne reappearing.
Cannot wait until tonight!
There is a certain logical thread that says Sal might be the one to commit suicide due to his being torn in different directions, his inability to be true to himself in this era, and his recent demise in the workplace due to these circumstances.
If Jane takes too many pills, and dies, Marilyn-like, who would Roger turn to in his grief? Certainly not Mona…obviously Joan.
Speculation is so much fun! My guesses:
If Betty attempts suicide it will be accidental (mixing pills on booze) and it won't be successful, but it might take us 9 months to find that out. Sally could be the one to find her and call for help, another scarring memory for the poor kid.
Or, Suzanne might attempt suicide and succeed — just as Don knocks on her door to tell her Betty has kicked him out and he needs a place to stay.
Peggy will cool things off with Duck and later learn that Grey has bought Sterling Cooper and that she'll be reporting to both of her former lovers.
Sal might find a niche in Grey's art department, or we could see him on the client side, getting the last laugh.
And would it be too much to ask, but could Bob work at Grey, too, so Joan is reunited with the gang?
It might be interesting for Connie to buy it… and give it to Don to run!
@ #3: And if it is Jane who kills herself and Roger does seek solace in the arms of Joan, the audience will see that Joan is a far better psychiatrist than her husband will ever be, continuing the thread that Joan is the one marrying down despite her ambitions to move out of the secretarial pool by marrying up.
Oh, the ironies across the board in this scenario.
who would Roger turn to in his grief
Somehow, Im not picturing "grief" as Roger's primary emotional state if Jane committed suicide, based on last week's ep.
@ 11 Mike Gibson S- Don doesn't care who anyone is sleeping with, as long as it doesn't interfere with their work. If Peggy wants to have a nooner with Duck, that's fine. If Grey starts using Sterling-Cooper's copy, then it's a problem. Don didn't care that Sal was gay until it became an issue at work.
Oh yeah, since this is the season of David Ogilvy–perhaps the advertising storyline will focus on how Sterling Cooper markets itself. Ogilvy was fond os saying "physician, heal thyself!" Unlike many firms Ogilvy & Mather would advertise their own brand. I'd love to see Don pitch the identity of Sterling Cooper.
Mike, I can see Roger & Don reconciling too – the sale would be a good reason. Those two guys are good together in a funny way, and after Betty's smackdown last week, Don might be feeling just a little less smug about Roger's impetuous marriage.
In my pollyanna version of predictions, Don & Roger pool their money (does Roger have any left, btw?) and also approach Connie for some venture capital to buy back SC, Bert finally having departed to visit those cattle in Montana. Somehow though, I think it's more likely that Connie dumps Don. It's been awfully quiet on the Hilton front for a few weeks. No more late night heart-to-hearts. Plus, I think MW's going to kick Don at least one more time while he's down.
I'm sort of hoping that Joan and Sal will have found new jobs at Grey. Then I hope Pete will bring his accounts to Grey and consequently Grey will be rich enough to buy Sterling Cooper. I fear that sounds way too contrived but I'm desperate for any situation that brings Joan and Sal back to the work story. And even though he's a sly bastard, I'd rather like to see Duck back at work too. Not to mention Rachel, who is a Grey client.
If anyone commits suicide I hope it's Suzanne. Anything to get this tedious character off the show. I hope Betty leaves Don for Henry and then Henry bails for some reason, forcing Betty to face divorce without a safety net. I wouldn't mind seeing the back of Connie too. But Lane must stay! Lane is by far my favourite new addition of S3.
I'd like to see Pete do a little pwning and get the better of Sterling Cooper for once. I'd like to see the looks on Bert and Roger's faces too. Then I'd like to see the look on Pete's face when his moment of glory is spoiled by finding out about the horror that is Duck/Peggy.
I'd quite like to see – as gypsy describes it – the annihilation of Don. Just because it would be interesting to see him trying to rebuid himself next season. I don't want Don/Betty to reconcile. Nooooo!! That would be a big old copout I feel. Let's do this divorce. I'm ready for it. For extra credit Betty will actually call the cops on Don.
Whatever happens, I can't wait. Mad Men finales have a very good reputation to maintain.
The show has already used a "pregnancy" cliffhanger twice – with Peggy and with Betty – so I doubt they'll go that way. Of course, finding out that Suzanne is carrying Don's child, might be interesting.
I don't think suicide will be a factor in the show, though an unexpected death might be a possibility. Bert? Roger? Henry? Baby Gene?
Betty running to Henry doesn't make sense to me, though Peggy running from Duck, does.
A few episodes back, when Sal called home from the phone booth in the cruising area of the park, I wondered if something might happen to him there, or that Kitty would discover he had lost his job.
There are too many "loose ends" to be fully resolved in tonight's finale. I think that most of them will, at least, be touched upon – but only a few will be resolved.
I don't think Connie is going to buy Sterling-Cooper, as, although his interest in doing business with them is fictional-yet-believable, he IS NOT a fictional character; installing him as the new owner of an ad agency would be overstepping creative boundaires, I feel. I expect him to terminate his business relationship with Don in this episode.
I think, instead, that S-C is going to lose a major account like Lucky Strike at the beginning of the episode, leaving them financially depleted, at which point Grey will sweep in to buy them. Since Peggy and Pete have been dealing with Duck in the past previous months and have generally been loyal to him, he'll find a way to install them over Don in the company's hierarchy. Don will thus end the season as a man who's lost both his power as an ad man as well as a family man – maybe season 4 will document his struggle to regain these lost powers.
Oh, and Betty dies tonight! I just have this hunch that won't go away. Suzanne may or may not come back next season – I don't expect her to be in tonight's episode, though.
Oh, and Betty dies tonight! I just have this hunch that won’t go away.
Wow. REALLY? I'm so curious to know what little clues lead you to this prediction. That would be ….big.
I think it would be way too easy a way to resolve the Don-Betty issue, though.
Most likely to return and break up Betty and Don: Suzanne
Most likely to attempt suicide: Joan
Most likely to spread her wings and leave: Betty
Most likely to return to SC: Duck
Most likely to get sexually harrassed next season: Peggy
Most likely to end up out of power temporarily: Don
Most likely to have his consciousness raised: Pete
Most likely to cheat on his trophy wife: Roger
Most likely to riot at Stonewall in a few years: Sal
#19
Joan? I would probably place her as least-likely, alongside Roger (despite his dangerous consumption habits).
If Duck returns to S-C, it will be because Grey has purchased them, and Duck finally lands his dream position as Don's superior.
@ 12 Retro Girl –That's a good point. I didn't mean to suggest Don would disapprove. I'm not sure what his reaction would be. I have an inkling it would be a bright line as to how far things have changed.
@ 17 Red Medicine – I agree with Gypsy. Betty won't kill herself because we have to see how Betty's second marriage plays out. Maybe not to Henry, but to someone else. The drama of having the kids complain to Don about life with their stepdad is too interesting to pass up…besides this was the beginning of the era when Americas started divorcing each other in record numbers.
Don could get kicked harder. It may be that Pete comes out on top finally. He leaves Sterling before the ship sinks and then whatever firm he ends up at, it buys the wreckage of Sterling Coo.
I can't see suicides, pregnancies, or murders figuring in the story. Maybe infidelity.
#21. I don't think anyone really appreciates how far Joan has fallen. She married the wrong man. She lost the job she loves. She lost the man who loves her. She's looking forward to life as an army wife with no house in the suburbs. If she ends up pregnant, she could get desperate.
She's the kind of person of whom other people say, "I never saw it coming. She seemed like she had it together."
well, that's my best guess anyway.
Three predictions:
**Betty asks Don for the divorce and he submits.
**The domestic Rome has crumbled; the business Caesar has to fall. Caesar's don't just fall though. Unfortunately therefore Bert Cooper dies.
(Thirdly, I’ve crossed my fingers, I’m hoping for teh Vomit, maybe, but I know for certain that
**we will see Don’s bare feet again.
BTW Inquiring mind wants to know,– Do they need stunt feet for The Jon Hamm?
I mean in reality, he has to have some flaw, right?
Perhaps fungal infections? Verruca?? Hammer Toe??
I think the Conrad Hilton storyline will be wrapped up tonight, and possibly the Henry/Betty storyline and (god willing) the Peggy/Duck storyline.
If Pete goes with Duck, there goes the lucrative J'ai Alai account, and if Hilton leaves, there's another hole. Who wants to buy Sterling Cooper? Did Lane mention this to anyone at SC, and we just didn't see this on cameral? (I'm for keeping Lane, too. I've grown to love his scenes.)
We'll see Sal again and have a frame of reference for him for next season, which I think will take place in the mid-sixties, maybe '66, when the characters have had a bit of time to assimilate the sixties. The civil rights movement will have crested and turned, the Vietnam War will be on full tilt, Americans will be on the cusp of full-out protest against it, women will be much more vocal and assertive, and music will be spectacular.
No one has mentioned Baby Gene by name since the episode where Don complained of his name and Sally was petrified of him. I think Baby Gene will have a new name next season, and will be out of the infant/early toddler stage.
Don and Betty will split. We've been set up to see that Betty is smart, she's a survivor, and she's changing. I'm curious to see how that will work out in a new season. I don't see her with Henry, who is about as interesting as a piece of shirt cardboard.
Eh, I dunno… Honestly, I'm getting kind of tired of Betty as a character. I realize that BoK is a very enthusiastic blog that favors symbolic analysis over the critical kind, but throughout this season I've also been reading a bunch of other blogs/forums that are about Mad Men, and the general feeling I'm getting is that Betty has to go, as much for the story's sake as for the viewer's.
Just to give you an idea of the typical responses I'm seeing at other forums, this is a post from TV Without Pity written by a user named "Colin" re: the increased use of Betty-at-home scenes this season:
"Betty learning how to cheat doesn't interest me at all. I've always liked this show due to the ad agency aspect; the characters are all such douchebag worthless shitheads that I could really give a fuck about their home lives, you know? If betty wasn't such a queef I'd give a shit that she's miserable."
And honestly, I can sort of see where he's coming from. Don has an interesting backstory and many facets to his personality, while characters like Sal and Joan are all so sassy and nuanced that their mere presence livens up a scene.
But Betty? I don't see that with her. She's a repressed 1950s relic who simply can't adapt. She doesn't get many "good" lines from the writing staff because that's not the nature of her character. I'd be fine with her leaving the ensemble. She's weighing things down, and her death would be the symbolic culmination of the "opening up" of the decade.
#23
That may be true, but honestly, Joan has appeared in so few scenes this season that it's hard to gauge that. It's a bit disappointing that the scenes in which she did appear seemed merely written to "update" us on her marriage with Greg rather than provide us with more details of how she was coping inside. I do feel that her story was a bit underwritten this year.
Hopefully Weiner's shake-up of the writing staff will rejuvenate the attention that's paid to other characters in season 4.
I hope people don't think I'm trashing Season 3. It's been very good; I'd give it a 9/10 so far. But season 2 was a 10/10.
Betty can't just go away. Don has children with her. Maybe she'll be seen less next year but she'll still be around.
And I don't understand the childish impatience of other sites to be rid of her. It strikes me as having a really short attention span.
I think Red Medicine may have nailed it, at least half of it. Connie's departs, SC also loses Lucky Strike and is purchased by Grey, leaving Don trapped in a contract and at least working with, if not reporting to, Duck. Re: the loss of LS, I flashed on that poster and the pack of LS floating away!–But I don't think Betty will die. Accidental or intentional suicide attempt, perhaps, but I just don't believe that MW will do away with one of his major actors. Same goes for Sal, Joan, Peggy, Don and Roger. They'll all be back, at least eventually.
So for what it's worth…with the admission that my past (private) predictions have pretty much all been wrong!
Oh, please. It's hardly childish impatience. Those posts aren't being written by 4th-graders. I for one love the films of John Cassavetes and their 20-minute scenes, and I'm getting a bit tired of Betty.
It's all a matter of her character failing to develop. #25 refers to Betty as a "survivor"? Really? How is she a "survivor"? By embarking on an impetuous affair with a creepy governor and continuously leaving the man confused as to how that affair stands? By continuing to disregard her children's needs? By discovering Don's secret, eventually confronting him, and then waiting for weeks until she decides she doesn't love him anymore? Betty's a flake. Deciphering her motivations is a hard task even for herself, much less the audience.
#27. Have you noticed how utterly boring TV is lately? I think the money isn't there for shows like Mad Men to keep all of their major characters employed this season. Jon Hamm is paid as much as Kate Gosselin per episode. I never watch John and Kate +8 but Jon Hamm is a steal at $75k per episode. Mad Men must have a tiny budget and less than the last two seasons. It's the economy.
Yeah, fleshing Joan out (no pun intended) would have been nice. Maybe Weiner sacrificed it when he wrote the Kennedy episode. According to Weiner, Joan wasn't supposed to be a major character but she turned into one. If my Ibsen theory is correct, she took the Hedda Gabler storyline and that plot ends with a suicide- Hedda's. Who is Joan.
Whether she succeeds or not us the question. Hedda did but Joan is living in the 60's. There's hope.
#30 speak for yourself. I am as interested in what happens to Betty as Don. I'm sure I'm not the only one. The sixties were about what happened to women as men. Don's not the most important person in the world and though he's the main character, he only barely edges out Betty in my mind. She's complicated, irritating, surprising. She's one of the best female characters ever written for TV. If MM were a movie, actresses would be lining up to sleep with Satan to play her. January Jones is extremely lucky. Her performance is a tour de force of restraint.
MM wouldn't be the same without Betty and anyone who thinks otherwise isn't paying close enough attention to the big picture.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/christin…
Christina Hendricks on the finale:
"But I can tell you that the finale is pretty shocking,†she says, rather coquettishly. “Something happens that absolutely nobody will be expecting. The show is about the ad business, so of course we want people to come back next year.â€
#33. Oooooh. I feel scared now.
I hope it isn't a nasty shock. Like a main character dying. *cries*
I personally think there's been way too much Betty & Don (for the record, I think they're both unsympathetic)…presumably the finale will be saturated with them. Unexciting speculation, but I think I have the highest odds of being correct
I'm skeptical that Joan or Sal will be back in a significant way, but I'd love to be wrong on this.
And falafel, I'm with you – I would love to see Pete pwn Sterling Cooper, just for once. And I would like to see his reaction to finding out that Peggy & Duck have been an item.
Betty attempting suicide? Maybe likely in earlier episodes but now? Doesn't seem like she's depressed – I think she's finally feeling free, somehow, and ultimately feels very good about herself at the moment despite her being upset with Don and whatnot – so it will surprise me very much if she goes that far down in the span of one episode. What about her husband, though..? Yes, Don. He's already feeling so lost now – and obviously something big is going down in the finale with Hilton and Sterling-Cooper… which might leave Don stuck working under Duck? So, no family, no joy at work, no nothing. As opposed to having 'everything, and so much of it'. I'm probably grasping at straws, but I would be so fascinated if Don actually does something with his despair. Obviously he won't die, so perhaps it's a poor cliffhanger, but…
Now THIS would make for an interesting season 4! (#21 Red Medicine):
"If Duck returns to S-C, it will be because Grey has purchased them, and Duck finally lands his dream position as Don’s superior."
#24 less of me: excellent points about Rome/Burt and longer-reaching themes.
"The show has already used a “pregnancy†cliffhanger twice – with Peggy and with Betty – so I doubt they’ll go that way. Of course, finding out that Suzanne is carrying Don’s child, might be interesting."
Actually that would mirror is own life a bit, especially if Betty decides not to divorce him. But I don't think anyone wants Suzanne around anymore…that could be sticky for the audience.
#26 Red Medicine:
"But Betty? I don’t see that with her. She’s a repressed 1950s relic who simply can’t adapt. She doesn’t get many “good†lines from the writing staff because that’s not the nature of her character. I’d be fine with her leaving the ensemble. She’s weighing things down, and her death would be the symbolic culmination of the “opening up†of the decade."
Also a good point, but it's possible that Betty represents the goodly number of women who came of age in the sixties, and DID change. Or who really sank into the despair of not being able to change, and I think that story is worth following — and those women ARE survivors. We (as a culture) have this idealized version of the Betty-mothers of the late fifties/early sixties as June Cleavers, fulfilled and content. That's not the way it was for so many, and that's a story that's not well represented in television — or society.
Agree, agree (and laughed out loud) with #32 riverdaughter:
"If MM were a movie, actresses would be lining up to sleep with Satan to play her. January Jones is extremely lucky. Her performance is a tour de force of restraint.
MM wouldn’t be the same without Betty…"
No matter what happens, past history indicates that something really big will happen with Peggy, as it has for the last two season finales. And she's due for a big development, after doing so much of the first half of the year, and then falling by the wayside to the Drapers in the second half. Of course, it's hard to imagine much more shocking Peggy cliffhangers than the pregnancy and the confession.
@ 2 aullando- God I hope not. It’s such a cliche. Not even MW can elevate to something other than a tired outdated cliche.
Only 7 hours to go!
Don having to report to Peggy in season 4 would be nice. I wonder if his ego could take it.
Just as it was mentioned above that Hilton will not buy SC because he is not a fictional charachter Grey will not purchase SC either because it is not a fictional business.
Here's a theory, a bit out there and I might be embarrasing myself but … I'm not home to check the exact quote I'll set the scene. Henry said something to Betty about Romeo and Juliet being a tragedy. Since there were two suicides in R&J, first Romeo and then Juliet could there be a double suicide?
Nah.
"No matter what happens, past history indicates that something really big will happen with Peggy, as it has for the last two season finales."
I hope she doesn't marry Duck.
I had the thought last night that if Pete takes the jai alai account with him to Grey, the loss of an expected one million dollars in billings could jeopardize PPL’s plan to sell SC.
#31 Well I'm guessing Jon Hamm's agent is going to be pressing for a wage increase, then, if he makes that little!
Bert Cooper is going to die eventually, I'm not sure if it will happen this episode or not.
With the way Don sleeps around I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone turned up pregnant. Again, I'm not predicting that for the finale.
Betty and Don are done, I think the final break will occur this episode. My guess is that Betty won't take up Henry on his marriage proposal, however.
I hope we find out what happened to Sal, and think that Joan is going to rekindle her relationship with Roger.
SQQUUUEEEAAAALLLLLL!!
just squeal, that's all. I can't wait for tonight's episode. If I were a guy, I'd go #$&@ off to relieve some of the tension, but since I'm a socially-repressed female with no libido, I'll just have to squeal. and wiggle around in my seat, impatiently.
My predictions:
Surrogate father-figure Connie will pull the Hilton account from SC, expressing disappointment once again in Don’s work, thus completing the arc of the season’s storyline – the total annihilation of Don. Rejection of his love at home, rejection of his work at the office, rejection by his father-figure, trapped by a contract with a failing and now-for-sale company, dissolution of his friendship with Roger. But, I think (or do I only wish?) that there will be some glimmer of hope for the future that will keep us going until next season. Hard to see based on my gloomy predictions what that will be.
I *think* someone will attempt suicide, because of all the hints I summarized before, but perhaps its just a metaphorical suicide. Betty? Nah, she’s got options now doesn’t she? Maybe Sal makes an attempt. Whoever it is, it will be another brick on the load of Don’s conscience.
We’ll see some kind of flashback from Don’s youth, maybe one that involves death-by-farming. Then maybe another figure who gives young Dick the advice which is the basis for his hope, like the hobo did.
Betty and Don are done, certainly for now. We’re going to hear some hints at how the divorce might suss out, but the details will be skipped over, and we’ll pick up next season after the messy part is done.
I’d be kind of surprised if the Suzanne – Danny thread is picked up tonight, although of course that’s always looming in the background.
Joan will go back to work. Maybe Moneypenny is called back home.
OK, that’s enough wild speculation for now.
Geez, I forgot something important. PETE knows the truth about Don/Dick. If he decides to leave SC he could try to take Don out by telling the clients. He could tell Connie Hilton!
At this point, I really do feel like the Drapers' marriage is doomed, but at the same time I'd be unsatisfied with the idea that Don's confession to Betty about his past won't end up amounting to much more than the straw that broke the osteoporotic camel's back. (Originally, I had assumed that his confession would be, perversely, the thing that saved their marriage, which would lend it much more substantial dramatic weight.) So I'm wondering if the finale will end up framing it as a lesson learned at great price — Don realizes that his marriage failed because of his lies and his extreme compartmentalization, and he makes a conscious effort to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
So I'm expecting the finale to include another Don Draper confession, this one offered freely at the beginning of a relationship instead of under duress at the very end. Maybe to Suzanne? I could see this season ending with Suzanne accepting his past, and the next season beginning with her as his second wife.
But speaking of big storylines for Peggy, there's a tiny part of me that wonders if the writers have actually been quietly laying the groundwork for her to be Don's next relationship instead of Suzanne. After all, Suzanne is the barefoot woman in the grass, but Peggy is the woman who inspired him to look for the barefoot woman in the grass. She's been trading sympathetic looks with Don all season; the writers gave her an older, more sophisticated suitor in Duck, perhaps to prime the pump. I'm not sure I like the idea, but I do feel like it would be a way of tying together a lot of dangling story threads. . . .
Fun! My guesses:
1) Connie dumps Don. Daddy doesn’t love me!
2) Putnam, Powell & Lowe are selling Sterling Coo–and Don and Roger reconcile in order to find a willing (more amiable) buyer.
3) Don gets kicked out of the house…again.
4) Don discovers Peggy is sleeping with Duck.
5) Grey is potential buyer of Sterling Coo.
#47: I was a tiny bit afraid that something bigger would happen between Don and Peggy in last week's final scene. But a big part of the season for Peggy has been about her challenging Don more often, and finding her own voice in the workplace instead of just parroting Don. Her loyalty to Don is still there, for certain, but it's not unquestioning anymore, which should be important to her development in future seasons. So I doubt Peggy would get that close to Don- but of course, if she could stand Duck, then anything's possible.
"She’s one of the best female characters ever written for TV. If MM were a movie, actresses would be lining up to sleep with Satan to play her. January Jones is extremely lucky. Her performance is a tour de force of restraint."
I was laughing so hard at this…LOL It's true though, Betty is one of those breakthrough characters.
Wow, I had no idea that Grey was a real advertising agency. I really should have checked, but I had assumed that, like Sterling-Cooper, it was made up.
I guess that shoots down my theory of Grey buying S-C and Duck presiding over Don (it could happen, but I'd be disappointed if it did, as it would overstep the creative boundaries in place when incorporating real characters into a fictional story).
#47
Don doesn't like his personal life interfering with his office life. And, besides, wouldn't Peggy be a bit homely by Don's standards? (Not that she hasn't look more decent with her new hairstyle.)
*looked more decent*
If Betty commits suicide, then my theory is complete: Betty = Madame Bovary. But Betty must get herself into a lot more personal and financial troubles before that can happen.
"Don doesn’t like his personal life interfering with his office life."
True, but the whole season has been about Don's compartmentalization breaking down, about how he's started to embrace the change and chaos he always fought to keep under wraps. Getting involved with someone from the office (like getting involved with his daughter's teacher), would be a pretty striking way of demonstrating how far he's come.
Financial troubles? Hasn't Don paid for everything in her life since they got married? If she wants to leave him, then obviously she realizes the repercussions that would have on her "finances."
And, to reiterate again on the difficulties I have with people always seeking connections, I seriously doubt that, when planning out Betty's arc, Weiner had a bunch of French and Russian literary works piled up around him so that he could explicitly link their contents to it…
Heck, I'm thinking wa-a-a-y too much about this! Last night I dreamed that Don shot Betty! I guess my main concern is that no one dies! I really hope Sal will come back, Joan will come back to SC, and that Don won't have a heart attack!
Like I said, I expect it to be a fatal cocktail of pills and booze (which a few other users above have talked about). When have we seen her taking pills prior to the last episode?
I don’t know that the Don-Betty issue needs to be further resolved. Their marriage is essentially over in every aspect but the legal paperwork. I can’t see Betty evolve as a character beyond what we’ve seen. I actually feel that her death would be good for Mad Men as a series (and based on the frustration that people are beginning to voice in regards to the “home life portion” of the show, I’m certainly not the only one to feel that way).
Oh, Red Medicine. :> We're having fun. I love all the references to literature and Rome and implausible connections.
the GoodSally is correctomundo!!
Fun, fun, fun. We can't be in NYC, but we can party hardy right here.
No one's home, it's like Christmas around here. Not a Lipp in sight!
Throw the TV off the balcony into the pool. "I am a golden god!!" Send lawyers, guns and money!!
BUT I tells ya again, we're seein' Don's bare feet tonight!!!
"If Betty commits suicide, then my theory is complete: Betty = Madame Bovary. But Betty must get herself into a lot more personal and financial troubles before that can happen."
Ever see Little Children?…I love the Madame Bovary analysis they do in that movie.
Hopefully something will happen in the Don/Betty camp. It would be nice to see the focus somewhere else next season. I don't see Betty overdosing unless it's accidental.
Not only is Connie in tonight's episode, so is Henry Francis, according to the most recent episode cast list. It may not be Romeo and Juliet, but perhaps Betty and Henry end up in a really bad car accident together (and if we REALLY want to push coincidence, swerving to avoid a hitchhiking Danny) and we're left until next season to see which of them survives. That would also cover the possible police department scenario; maybe Don assumes at first he's busted, only to discover it's not him they're after, it's that Betty's clinging to life in the local hospital.
There's also a character described as "Cooperative Head." A co-op buyout maybe? Instead of Grey buying SC, maybe a consortium of individuals get together to salvage the shop: Bert and Alice, Don, Lane (bidding adieu to his wife who storms back to London), Freddy and Sal (contributing his skills instead of $$)
okay, here's my guess, drawing inspiration from youse guys.
Duck's firm makes a play for S-C.
Pryce tells Sterling and Don about the plan to sell in order to stay on with S-C with Don, Sterling and Bert and Pryce at the helm. Don loses Hilton as a client. As someone else noted, this makes S-C look less profitable. Pete talks to his clients about moving somewhere else as well.
Pete tells Duck that Don is doing something illegal. This gives Duck ammo on Don for next season.
Bert maybe dies, or gets very sick. (I don't want this to happen! so I'll be happy when I'm wrong.)
Pyrce will help to make the company look like a total loss.
Gray doesn't want and clients decide to walk; PPL decides to just unload the co.
Joan will return to S-C, but not this episode, because PPL gets out and MoneyPenny leaves. and because Sterling wants to be near her.
Jane will get drunk. Either on or offscreen.
Betty and Don… I have no idea. Maybe Betty does accidentally take too many pills with liquor, in which case Bert is saved for next season. Maybe she decides to date Henry because she no longer loves Don but doesn't want to do something legally yet. Maybe Betty needs the idea of Henry to be able to leave. Happy Rockerfeller as her life coach.
Maybe she starts reading The Feminine Mystique after she volunteers for Rockerfeller to be near Henry. (one of the other women is reading it.) No PDAs with Henry, tho.
Don spends a night in the city and winds up at Legends with a bunch of people watching a show about his life.
I think Betty will confide Don's secrete to Henry who will tell her to file for divorce on the grounds of fraud and Don will be arrested.
I say, the only way Betty dies is if she reads three chapters of The Feminine Mystique and dies of boredom.
She isn't married to Don Draper. Don Draper is dead. Does she really need a divorce?
No quite the right thread but the hall monitors are most likely knee-deep in the Gibsons right now.
Last episode, sigh. We yak at each other for a few more days and then I guess we scatter to the corners of the cyber-sphere until next season. In this winter of my discontent, so I won’t miss yinz so badly, I have decided to crib from Dick Whitman; to seize opportunity and be reborn; to recreate myself in the Basket’s image no less. I’m not talking about just slapping a new label on the old Caldecott; I’m going to tweak the horsemeat (pardone moi) to coin a phrase. So this offseason. . .
How do I adjust the recipe of LOM? Let me count the ways.
Anne B obviously will need me to dust off the classics (Billy Shakes, the Greeks) and the pop-classics (Delillo, etc.) and I’ll probably have to grow a soul too. For Deborah I have to retrieve my old numerology work-up and give up poker for Tarot. Is there money in that? I will need to finish construction of my time machine so in the future I can go into the past to live-blog with B. Cooper about last week’s show (?!?). I vow to take a stenography course, so as to be useful and gain Roberta’s favor, thereby weaseling into the celeb interview room. And since Matt laments (my apologies MM, that was too easy, but Could. Not. Resist.) our color-blindness, I’ll dig out my mood ring and my old 64 count box of Crayolas.
And that’s just a few promises to part of the house staff; my commitment to the sundry other Cases will take time too. Riverdaughter demands I understand 19th century Nordic playwrights, and interpersonal thermodynamics. I need my dancing shoes; SFCaramia wants to Hold My Hand and Twist and Shout (just musically of course) as the Invasion takes place. I discovered it will take stamina and probably amphetamines to stay apace the commenting of gypsy howell (I’m trying, was in here at 3:30am EST this week, ha!). SmilerG wants me to dive deep into the backwaters of the murky swamp of American history (though in all honesty, you and I both know that ain’t happening; I’m sorry in advance) And esme-Nancy-Pumpkin-GildaRadnerstern already has me alliteratively sipping Shiraz, whispering French(oui, oui, mon cherie) and twangin’ to Jolie Holland; partially reprogrammed to appreciate just a few of her undoubtedly many fine amusements and diversions.
As for the rest of crew, hey, can’t you see? the plate’s pretty full, read all that again, that’s a lot of change for one mere LOM.
I’ll have to catch you next year.
It’s been a full, fun, enlightening thirteen weeks. It felt like the best memories of a semester back at school, (without the pressures to conform, cheat and binge-drink of course.) And I have nothing awkward to explain to Mom and Dad either.
Good times. Thanks bunches.
Hurry 10PM. I’m set. Let’s light this candle already.
Is it possible that Connie might buy Don out of his SC contract?
Whatever happens tonight, I know I’ll be saying, “Of course! It was all right there, set up for us, in previous episodes! I just wasn’t smart enough to see it coming.”
Trudy, get your girl on!
aaaaaaaaaaccck!
Don: Henry Francis?
oh, I love this.
l-o-m – don't touch that dial (up).
bok will be here after last night (I say hopefully, as I jonesed through a long night without the same.)
oh, and I just want to point out post #63 in which I make half-thought-out guesses… Pryce brings about the new agency (got it wrong about keeping S-C, but right about the four of them in partnership.) Betty going with Henry (but wrong about the trip to Reno, exactly.) Joan back (but I thought she wouldn't show till the beginning of next season.
I did go with the someone dies after so much talk of foreshadowing from the episodes. very glad MW didn't go that route, tho. He did kill S-C – doesn't count but much more satisfying.
anyway, do I get a ribbon or at least a mini shout-out?
woo-hoo.
your kung fu is strong, grasshopper.
I haven't read anyone else's posts of the final ep yet, so I am just jumping in here…The final ep seemed inevitable (in retrospect…I did not predict) because it was just so profoundly American…this is ultimately a show about American business and ingenuity so, of course, they were action heroes. And also, it was sentimental in just the right way. That last shot had the feel of a great happy camp reunion, which was kind of a love letter to the show. Oh, and best moment: at 10:40, I (and I would imagine everyone else did, too) happily exclaimed to the TV: "JOANIE!!!"
those were big shouts — and a hey now.
thank you for indulging me.
…and for noting another reason why Arrested Development was so super-truly-freaking-awesome. like MM, casting, casting, casting.
I blue myself watching that one.
oops. that comment is worthless without a Tobias Fünke link.
Seer of seers, almost. . . kinda. Here's a "
Hey Now!" to esme
or does she want me to
shout?!
esme – Blue??!!!Yellow? OH! I get it now.
That two minute clip violates Einstein's Sixth Law of Double Entendre Gay Jokes. The space/time continuum doubles back on itself at the 1:37 point and auto-fellates. You're a cheeky monkey. hee.