Fans bid goodbye to Mad Men and its flawed but relatable characters.
When Don Draper closed his eyes to meditate and it transitioned into the iconic “Hilltop” ad of Coca-Cola from 1971, it closed the door to arguably one of the greatest television shows of all time. This was how executive producer Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men chose to end after seven seasons, featuring an ad that remains popular in the age of YouTube as when it first aired.
Mad Men made stars out of Jon Hamm as Draper, Elisabeth Moss (as secretary turned copywriter Peggy Olson), January Jones (as Don’s perfect Stepford wife Betty), Jon Slattery (as smarmy yet endearing veteran ad man Roger Sterling), Christina Hendricks (as sassy office manager Joan Holloway), and Vincent Kartheiser (as ambitious account executive Pete Campbell). It also allowed audiences to look back with fondness at a bygone age. For many who were yet to be born in the 1960s, we were able to witness such things as the moon landing, the Kennedy Assassination, the Beatnik movement, etc. through the eyes of well-dressed men and women on Madison Avenue where the show got its name.
Draper was a hero with many flaws: his very shady childhood, his cowardice in the Korean War, and his perpetual need to cheat on any woman he was with. Along with Tony Soprano and Walter White, Draper represented the difficult man we couldn’t help but cheer even as he self-destructed and left his responsibilities behind in New York.
It’s been argued that the real star of the show was Moss, as the show began with her first day as Draper’s new secretary in the fictional Sterling Cooper offices. In the course of the show’s run, Peggy would go through several relationships while also asserting her personality and becoming a sought-after creative director. Though she never had an affair with Don, their interactions often proved to be the most engaging as she became a sounding board for the insecure Draper. Peggy’s surprising happy ending could be viewed as fan service but also deserving of someone who had been through so much.
The last few episodes of Mad Men often felt like a farewell tour for characters fans had become attached to. Roger, Joan, Pete, Betty, and Peggy each had their turn in the spotlight in individual episodes as their stories wound down, yet they all still appeared in the series finale. Betty’s ending was clearly the saddest as she faced the specter of death, but with daughter Sally and second husband Henry supporting her, she finds the courage to meet the challenge.
Returning to that ending though, as Don had fled the chaos of city life to drive all the way to the West Coast, there was hope that he would finally find peace. In the midst of a retreat and meditation, the half-smile that flashes across his face could only be interpreted as the spark of inspiration. For Mad Men to end with that Coke ad only cements Don’s need to be creative and to return to the advertising world where he was truly home.
This article was first published in the July-August 2015 Issue of adobo magazine.
About the Author:
Jason Inocencio was once the Digital Editor of adobo magazine who still loves seeing great campaigns from all over the world. He proudly shows off his love for all kinds of geeky things, whether it be movies, TV shows, comics, sports, or trivia.
