The sixties are finally over. Mad Men has come to an end.
[ Video: Mad Men‘s Final Episode Trailer May Be The Most Nostalgic Thing You’ve Ever Seen! ]
But how did it end for all your favorite characters?
Find out in this SPOILER-TASTIC recap of the series finale of AMC‘s flagship original series:
Betty
The last time we see Betty (January Jones), she’s still smoking after her terminal lung cancer diagnosis. Only now it looks as if she has a caretaker.
[ Photos: January Jones Gives Fierce Face On The Cover Of Marie Claire UK ]
Sally
Yes, sadly it looks like the ever precocious Sally (Kiernan Shipka) is going to have to give up the rest of her youthful fun to look after her dying mother.
In the end, it doesn’t look like she inherited her parents’ self-centered attitudes after all.
Pete
Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) took that high-paying job in Kansas — and even got a second chance with Trudy (Alison Brie)! Hopefully he finally grew up enough to deserve her!
Joan
One of the big through lines of ​Mad Men was the struggle of women in the workplace, and the final season really brought that fight to the fore.
So the ending for Joan (Christina Hendricks) was especially satisfying. After she left McCann-Erickson, bought out for “fifty cents on the dollar,” it seemed as if she was going to ride off into the sunset with her hot older guy Richard (Bruce Greenwood).
[ Photos: Christina Hendricks Is Moving On From Mad Men With A Rather Sexy Photo Shoot! ]
But when a new opportunity gives her the chance to start her own production company, she has to choose between the man and the job.
And for her, there’s no choice. All she ever wanted was to be the boss — and no one deserved it more!
Roger
While Joan wanted nothing more than to work, Roger (John Slattery) wanted nothing more than to play. So retiring to France for lobsters and champagne with a finally-happy-looking Marie (Julia Ormond) seems a fitting end.
Peggy
Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) spent the whole series hard-working and determined and having a take-no-crap attitude, which served her well in the workplace — but not so much with the men in her life.
[ Photos: Mad Men Characters Through The Seasons! ]
So we were so happy she and longtime co-worker/confidante Stan (Jay R. Ferguson) finally admitted their love for each other!
We mean, how many times did he have to listen to her purposely get his girlfriend’s name wrong before he realized what was going on??
But this means Peggy can be at work all the time AND with her man! She gets to have it all!
Don
After talking to Sally, saying farewell to the terminally ill Betty, and bedding one last lady — because come on, it’s Mad Men — Don (Jon Hamm) finally makes it to California.
Here, the only place he can be himself, AKA Dick Whitman, he hangs out with his “niece” Stephanie (Caity Lotz) and then joins a hippie retreat.
It’s there that he comes to some realizations about himself and what he’s looking for in life, thanks to some very emotional group therapy sessions.
So when Don calls Peggy for help — a reverse of how their relationship began — she tells him he can always move forward, and can even come back to work on the advertising for Coca-Cola.
[ Photos: Sexist, Racist, And Just Plain WRONG Ads From The 1950s!! ]
The last shot of Don/Dick shows him perched on a hillside in California, meditating, when a bell rings and…
The series all about advertising in the 60s ends with possibly the most iconic ad of the 70s, the 1971 “I Want To Buy the World A Coke” ad.
The implication is that he was inspired to create the famous ad. So he’s still living life, moving on, being Don.
(Historically, the ad WAS created at McCann-Erickson, but by real-life creative director Bill Backer after his flight made an emergency landing and he noticed the passengers finally calmed down once they were given Cokes.)
Watch the last few moments of one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time (below)!
[Image via AMC.]
Related Posts
