Mad Love

I’m new to the Mad Men craze but it’s hit me like a stiff drink over ice…I love it. I never write about television on my blog, but since my affection for Don, I mean Mad Men, runs deep and it’s the only show I’m watching with any regularity this year I thought I’d post my random thoughts about last night’s season finale.

I considered wearing my black cashmere cardigan and pearls to mourn the end of my weekly Mad Men fix, but it’s too hot here for cashmere and hubby and I are still catching up on seasons 1 and 2. If you don’t watch Mad Men, well, I’m sorry, but considering I’ve skipped over many LOST recap posts I don’t feel too bad.

True to Mad Men form last night’s finale was unpredictable. What you see on the surface is not always the reality. Everyone has their little schemes, their deep dark secrets hidden beneath the suits and shifts, the cuff links and pearls.  The show focused primarily on Don’s kick ass attempt to, as always, stay on top despite others’ attempts to pull his strings. His marriage is crumbling and he’s letting Betty go, for now, but he’s not going to sit back and let Sterling Cooper go down the drain. I loved Roger calling Joan in to save the day and I KNEW as soon as he said he was going to make a phone call he’d be calling Joanie. I was waiting for them to call Sal, though. I miss his character. I loved that Don kicked in the door to the art room. Pete’s secretary screaming, “We’ve been robbed!,” was classic.

I was a little surprised about Pete coming on board (I hate his skeevy little beady-eyed character) but even sweet  Trudy and her perkiness and her sandwiches couldn’t annoy me when they all rallied in the hotel room to rebuild a bigger (and you know it will be better) Sterling Cooper. There’s something about Peggy’s character that bugs me although for once it was nice to see Pete accept her as a peer and not give her the weird possessive vibe.

I love the Don and Betty drama but the finale wasn’t really dominated by that. I love their chemistry. Betty is definitely a little girl in pearls playing housewife. I don’t think she’ll ever grow up. I could almost hear her thinking “Oh sh*t” on the plane to Reno with Henry by her side. Something’s gotta give. The scene where Don crawls into bed with Sally killed me, as well as the scene where they tell Sally and Bobby that Don will no longer be living with them. I don’t think it occurred to Betty how hard it would be to tell the kids.

I don’t think Don and Betty will reconcile, but does anyone really believe Betty will have a happily ever after with Henry? Perhaps Henry will run for political office and Don will discover some sort of dirty secret or maybe he’ll end up sleeping with Henry’s grown daughter (not sure how old she is.) I’m waiting for Suzanne the free-spirited teacher to reappear in Don’s life now that Betty’s filed for divorce. I keep waiting for her to snap, though, or for her crazy brother to reappear.

So everything that was no longer is—from Don and Betty’s on the surface storybook marriage to the Madison Avenue empire Sterling Cooper—and that will keep the writers, and the fans, busy until season 4.

Want to see something hilarious? Here’s the SNL spoof “Don Draper’s Guide to Picking Up Women.”

Jon Hamm answers fan queries on AMC’s website.

The Basket of Kisses Mad Men blog has a great interview with Hamm.

What did you think of last night’s finale?