Don Draper Uses Meditation For Advertising, Betty Smokes Till The End & Peggy And Joan Hit Their Stride

It’s been a long time coming, but the conclusion of Mad Men has finally happened. A fairly neat wrapping up of events (or at least tidier than we expected from Matthew Weiner after his Betty Draper-Francis cancer curveball), “Person to Person” does a surprising job of distributing story lines so as to adequately satiate fans of every character.

As Don continues to wander the country, ending up in California as always to find refuge, things on the McCann Erickson front barrel along at a fast-paced rate. A brief appearance from Pete on his way to Kansas for his new job finds him saying goodbye to Peggy in an only mildly sentimental way, while Joan can’t help but persist in wheeling and dealing in the advertising world after a meeting with Ken Cosgrove requesting her help with the production of a short thirty-minute film.

Joan’s lust for being her own boss finds her reaching out to Peggy, who, while not exactly a head honcho at McCann Erickson, still isn’t afraid to speak up for herself. Nonetheless, an offer from Joan to start a production company called Harris Olson briefly tantalizes her–that is, until getting in a spat about it with her longtime cohort and co-worker, Stan, and coming to the revelation (thanks to Stan) that she’s in love with him. Thus, Peggy finally finds her proverbial work-life balance.

Sally confesses Betty’s impending death to Don, who calls her in an attempt to offer to take care of Bobby and Gene in her absence. Betty burns him with the comment that she doesn’t want to alert them to anything being out of the ordinary, and him being there would be out of the ordinary. Still, the old connection between them remains, especially with his utterance of the epithet “Birdy.” They say a casual goodbye, knowing full well it might be the last time.

Don’s re-encounter with Stephanie Horton, Anna Draper’s niece, finds him on a retreat in Big Sur, where conversations about feelings and emotions leave him cold, that is, until Stephanie leaves him behind in the middle of the night and Don is ultimately touched by a stranger’s story of loneliness and insignificance. In the final scene, as he meditates on a bluff chanting “om,” a knowing smile crosses his face and Weiner then cuts to the famous 1971 “I’d Like to Buy the World A Coke” commercial, inferring that Don found advertising inspiration through his spiritual retreat. A very fitting conclusion indeed.