Mad Men Season 5 Finale Review

Picture 1: The partners look out at the New York City skyline in the empty room that promises to hold their future.

Mad Men Season 5 Finale Review

The primary reason, for this fan, regarding the source of this show's greatness comes from a few factors; writer and creator Matthew Weiner worked on the Sopranos. He learned that a show can be sophisticated and intelligent and that the audience would in fact not be too stupid to understand it. He explains in an interview with Emmy TV Legends that without the confidence he gained while writing for The Sopranos that Mad Men would've likely been "a piece of shit." He goes on further to state he would have taken a "safer posture, a more ironic posture" rather than telling the subtle story that is Mad Men.

And, it is that point that we should be grateful for, as fans. There is something about certain classic old movies that captures me and Mad Men has been the first television show to ever achieve the same result. Weiner and his superb cast portray those little, personal, dark moments that we all have; however, we are privy to them. But, we rarely ever get a good impression of the inner monologue which makes us put together the fragmented puzzle that is these character's lives.

I watched the final two episode right in a row and it feels like it was meant to be done that way. There are plenty of moments worth gushing over, but instead I'll choose one which I think sums up this series as a whole, in regards to it's excellence. Don watches Megan's actor reel in a dimly lit room at the offices of SCDP. The only light from the room is from the stream of light aimed at the projector screen. We see Don from the side, the beam of light passing in front of his face, specifically his eyes and the smoke from his cigarette obscuring our view of him. He sees Megan spin and smile and speak silently at whoever is instructing her in the film reel. Don smiles fondly at the video. As the film closes in on Megan's face we see a brief glimpse of a true sadness in Megan that Don is seeing for the first time, just like us. His fond smile looks more plastic. It is this moment, I believe, that informs Don's decisions the close the episode; that sadness he sees in Megan is a "temporary bandage on a permanent wound", as Pete Campbell explained earlier in the episode. Don must have realized that his dream of being saved by this woman and having the life and family he hoped for had slipped away. Don ends the episode by letting go of his wife into the world of acting where she will likely be a success next season and returning down a dark, lonely hallway (off-stage area) to a place more familiar and unhealthy: a bar with a beautiful young woman smiling at him fondly.

These little moments are what make this show great. A television show can be great for many different reasons, but the way Matthew Weiner built this story is special. 

Picture 2: Don walks away from Megan in her brightly lit new life through a corridor of darkness back to a place familiar.

PS,

Bravo to AMC: Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. Had they owned the rights on LOST, I'd say they won TV and there was no more TV left to have.