A theory on how Mad Men ends: [link]

So, I liked where the season ended. I'm still kind of tired of Matt Weiner making excuses for Don, but whatever, it's TV. (I actually think Jon Hamm has been brilliant this season in making Don truly pathetic, but in Q&As, Weiner always seems surprised when people ask why Don is so unlikeable this season, and I think it shows in the choices he's made, hitting us over the head with flashbacks, etc.)

Peggy's "Well isn't that nice for you, to have decisions" was dead-on. Fuck you, Ted.

Pete's "NOT GREAT BOB" in the elevator killed me. We rewound the Tivo to watch it again, it was so perfect. Holy crap. And then Pete and his brother deciding not to even pursue Manolo, because it would cost too much! Campbell family, what the hell is wrong with all of you. You are THE WORST.

I would like to state for the record right now that I would watch the hell out of a Pete Campbell spin-off, in LA, in the 1970s. AMC MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

Peggy in Don's office because that's where all the work she had to do already was was also pretty good. But the decisions line was stellar.

Man, the Campbells. I love that they have an almost unspoken understanding when they hear "sparing no expense". When we first met Pete all he had going for him were his family connections and now his family is all gone.

I loved Don telling Hershey that they shouldn't advertise, and I think all of his great moments where he works his Don Draper magic have come from that same place, just channeled in a more controlled way to, you know, bring money into the agency.

Peggy in Don's office because that's where all the work she had to do already was was also pretty good.

And did you notice the last shot of her in that office was this sillhouette? Aw, yeah.

I did not. That's awesome.

My biggest disappoint this season was that Joan didn't have much of a storyline or much screen time. But I am hoping that the fact that she is still spending time with Bob and the fact that she is letting Roger into her son's life means that she will have a bigger role next season.

And did you notice the last shot of her in that office was this sillhouette? Aw, yeah.

I did not notice, but that is awesome.

I loved Don last night, but I am skeptical of his ability to really change.

A theory on how Mad Men ends: [link]

I love this theory.

Ooh, an intriguing insight for the previous episode ganked from the Guardian Blog:

Is it too obvious to point out that Don plays the part of Rosemary's satanic baby here? It's not just in Peggy and Ted's breakdown of the ad. He starts the episode in the foetal position in Sally's bed, then plays the baby in the ad and then is in the foetal position again on his office sofa when Peggy calls him 'a monster'.

Furthermore, in the ad runthrough, Peggy plays the mother.

This is my rather Freudian take: Don always, as here, has a plausible reason for the things he does regarding Peggy, but the result is insistently the same: Peggy gets sidelined and denied recognition. It's becoming impossible not to see this as a pattern. I think Don is quite unconsciously punishing Peggy for giving up her baby, because it's what his mother did to him.

All babies are monsters. Either they get what they want from their mothers or they protest furiously. It's appropriate for a baby, but not for an adult, who is able to understand the complicating factors that prevent mothers being perfect lady bountifuls. Don is depicted as a demonic baby here because he's never got beyond this monstrously egotistical infant worldview.

Is anyone watching Graceland? I'm glad they make a deal about this being based on a real thing, because the idea looks like prime cable adventure and unworkable in real life. How is a house full of undercover agents not a massive liability for every case, every agency involved?

Still, nefarious Sunjata--I'm in. And the kid is a good find--he's not quite Michael Ross (I think he's the boy lightning in the bottle--sad to see that Kate Reed is not the girl version--I liked the show, whatever it was, and Baron Vaughn is amazing) but he grew on me more than I was expecting.

SO GLAD Burn Notice is on the way out. Talk about beating a dead horse. That poor fucking premise...

Will Psych ever be cancelled?

Will Psych ever be cancelled?

It needs to be. At least Burn Notice knows it's its last season, and it can try to wrap things up.

One of the things that tickled at the back of my brain watching this ep is the representation of the 7 deadly sins in this episode. It is a bit of a stretch, but it kept poking at me. Intentionally or not, we saw representations of the seven deadly sins during the final episode this season. So there were callbacks to Hell and the first ep of the season (as well to recurring themes throughout the series), but I saw specific references to the sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Sloth and Wrath are perhaps the only stretches. Perhaps Megan's reaction to Don not leaving NYC is the closest to Wrath and Sloth, as the "failure to do things one should do" is pretty much what got Don put on leave in the first place. As was gluttony.