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| Roger slips into a little nihilism during a therapy session in the sixth season's premiere episode. With finale in hand, are the times finally a-changin' for Don and SC&P? |
The following contains spoilers if you have not yet seen the season six finale, "In Care Of."
At the close of its sixth and penultimate season that spanned perhaps the darkest and most turbulent year in recent American history, Mad Men did the unexpected.
It left us feeling a little hopeful.
As Judy Collins played us out, we were left to wonder just how Don's "both sides, now" will reconcile. Self-destruction aside, how does one come back from the heartrending chaos of 1968? A watershed year in American history, it was a time of vivid colors, startling sounds, and searing images that forever changed a nation. As a relentless cascade of events pummeled the world around them, people were left to find their own sense of solace (or distraction, at best). And when the haze cleared, many came out knowing that things would never be quite the same.
For all that it rendered, "In Care Of" could have been a series finale. The departures from New York and gravity of Don's exit from the agency, along with numerous callbacks to the first season (and even the pilot), all carried a strong sense of finality for many story arcs, as a number of characters charted out into the great unknown. Not to even mention, the figurative death of the show's protagonist, as Don sacrificed himself in the most inappropriate of places.
Of course, we can't trust any of it. Not yet, at least. The landscape has been rocked by great change in the past, only to have its impact neatly reversed in the end. And yet, this time feels different. As bound in their ways as many of its characters appear, the series has always been about looking forward. How the world carries on, while its players remain the same. If its final season rounds out the Sixties, Mad Men will have captured a decade of incredible upheaval and transformation for a nation and its people. A decade that saw its youth grab hold with both hands and venture out into a bold frontier that would never be quite like what came before it. To have a future in this brave new world, one has little choice but to evolve – or resume the downward spiral into obscurity (at best).
It could really be different this time. We may yet see a different Don, a different Roger, a different Peggy, or a different Pete (if it matters). For many, there's no turning back. Though directed at Pete, it's clear there are much further-reaching implications for Trudy's assertion that her estranged husband is finally "free" from all of the burden and responsibility he once had in his life. Even more clear, however, is how dissatisfied he is in this realization.
After all, isn't freedom just another word for nothing left to lose?
It left us feeling a little hopeful.
As Judy Collins played us out, we were left to wonder just how Don's "both sides, now" will reconcile. Self-destruction aside, how does one come back from the heartrending chaos of 1968? A watershed year in American history, it was a time of vivid colors, startling sounds, and searing images that forever changed a nation. As a relentless cascade of events pummeled the world around them, people were left to find their own sense of solace (or distraction, at best). And when the haze cleared, many came out knowing that things would never be quite the same.
For all that it rendered, "In Care Of" could have been a series finale. The departures from New York and gravity of Don's exit from the agency, along with numerous callbacks to the first season (and even the pilot), all carried a strong sense of finality for many story arcs, as a number of characters charted out into the great unknown. Not to even mention, the figurative death of the show's protagonist, as Don sacrificed himself in the most inappropriate of places.
Of course, we can't trust any of it. Not yet, at least. The landscape has been rocked by great change in the past, only to have its impact neatly reversed in the end. And yet, this time feels different. As bound in their ways as many of its characters appear, the series has always been about looking forward. How the world carries on, while its players remain the same. If its final season rounds out the Sixties, Mad Men will have captured a decade of incredible upheaval and transformation for a nation and its people. A decade that saw its youth grab hold with both hands and venture out into a bold frontier that would never be quite like what came before it. To have a future in this brave new world, one has little choice but to evolve – or resume the downward spiral into obscurity (at best).
It could really be different this time. We may yet see a different Don, a different Roger, a different Peggy, or a different Pete (if it matters). For many, there's no turning back. Though directed at Pete, it's clear there are much further-reaching implications for Trudy's assertion that her estranged husband is finally "free" from all of the burden and responsibility he once had in his life. Even more clear, however, is how dissatisfied he is in this realization.
After all, isn't freedom just another word for nothing left to lose?
As a courtesy, this is not my full review of the finale. Instead, here's a closer look into three scenes* which, at the expense of all others, would have been enough.