Ouch, a hard but possibly apt assessment of Don from AVClub:

Can you picture an elderly Don Draper proudly showing off his coin collection to visiting grandchildren? I can’t. I can only see him alone, living with regret. I think those flashes of soulfulness, those moments that keep us invested in Don’s happiness and worried about his fate, would only hurt him in his dotage. He’s a man capable of inflicting terrible hurt, but he’s sensitive enough to know what he’s doing and introspective enough to remember the hurt he’s dispensed. I see Don Draper’s golden years as an endless succession of tortured winces.

I don't know--my grandfather was from an abusive and very poor background and was a self-made man. He was unhappy in his first marriage (My grandmother) and was not a great father. A success in business but a failure in relationships. He was alone for some years and then met my step-grandmother. Something in her changed him. He got closer to my dad and to all of us. They retired to a little cabin on Lake Michigan and were very happy. She didn't "save" him, but there was something about her that let him be a caring person.

I'd be bummed to think Mad Men wound up like The Sopranos, that is, nobody really changes.

I don't think Don will wind up as that bitter old guy.

But I can't see quite how this marriage to Megan could possibly work.

Unless it works across/against the narrative that Don thinks he's creating. That he has to deal with shit and grow into it.

But right now both he and Roger look like they'll have two divorces on the books.

Do you think that Betty will have 2 divorces on the books?

Or will she figure out a way to grow up?

truly? I think she is going to kill Henry with stress.

Or will she figure out a way to grow up?

Nope. Because it's all about having someone on her side. Henry's saying that no one is ever on her side is just proof to her that she'll have to find someone else. I found it so telling that she retreated to her daughter's room after that confrontation.

And I'm with Hec in that Megan is no little naif/wallflower. Look at how capably she handled the fact that she knew Don still had some emotional investment in Faye and pushed him to end it. She wasn't hurt that he'd been involved with someone else, but now that it's her he's chosen, she's also not going to let him dangle someone else.

I think the fact that she has French background is also going to come into play with some of the societal/cultural mores playing a part in how she handles Don.

Or will she figure out a way to grow up?

I find myself constantly dating the characters' problems against the societal changes in place by the early seventies (after the sixties upheavals). Like, "Well, by then it's conceivable Betty would be in a feminist consciousness raising situation and therapy will practically be de rigeur."

They all seem so trapped by cultural expectations that won't change for another six or seven years.

But then I think about all the divorced dads in the seventies who went through their disco cocaine leisure suit phase and didn't seem to become any wiser for it.

The finale felt a little disappointing because Don's decision seemed like a big step backward for his character. It seemed in-character, though. I understand not only why Don made that choice but why it seemed like a really good, honest, true, forward-moving choice for him. But it's not.

Heh, Weiner's a fan of Aaang and Zuko and Toph.

********

A. And I have four little boys so I’m seeing everything. And they’re tired of going to the movies.

Q. That’s a sad commentary.

A. It’s a bummer. But we have things we watch together. We still watch “The Simpsons.” We watch “30 Rock.” We love that cartoon “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” We watch “Sym-Bionic Titan.”

And I'm with Hec in that Megan is no little naif/wallflower.

Me too. I think even dating back to when they first slept together. She knew she wasn't going to catch Don by putting any kind of relationship pressure on him, that it had to at least seem like it was all his decision. That being said, I'm not as convinced as everyone else seems to be that Don is making another bad decision.

You know everytime I'm using Read New and land here, I do a doubletake at all the Megans.