Mad Men Series Finale Review: Person to Person (Season 7 Episode 14)

It seems like Don Draper has gotten a happy ending, or at least his version of it. Don’s final journey, an aimless trip across America that began with him chasing after a waitress, ends with him learning a little something about himself.

Mad Men Season 7 has slowly taken everything away from Don. He lost his wife, his apartment, his company, his family – even Betty is dying. It would have been a perfectly appropriate ending for Don to die, either from actually jumping out that window, or from some other cause (we haven’t really addressed his health lately, and it’s long been suggested he had some sort of problem).

Instead, the final leg of his journey, at a new age retreat, may just be what saves him. There are two points that bring Don, slowly, back from rock bottom. The first is his phone call to Peggy.

He’s a complete mess when he calls her, telling her he just wanted to hear her voice. He also confesses taking another man’s name, saying he never made anything of it. Peggy is obviously worried about that call, with Don sounding desperate and emotional. She urges him to come home, but he just hangs up.

Still, I think that call is part of what saves Don from himself, even if it isn’t immediate. Peggy and Don have both had a history of saving each other in small ways, from Peggy bailing Don out of jail, to Don being the one to encourage Peggy to leave the past behind after giving birth.

Their relationship, though never a romantic one, has been a driving force in the story of Mad Men, so it’s fitting that Peggy gives him a few small words of encouragement. When he says he made nothing of the name, “Don Draper,” she simply says, “That’s not true.”

He ends the call, slumping down by the phone, completely hopeless. It’s later when a woman at the retreat encourages him to go with her to a session, that he has one of the strangest, yet most poignant moments of the season.

As a man talks about his life, being lonely, and not being seen, he breaks down into tears. Don stands, quietly as everyone else watches on, and he embraces the man. He holds back tears of his own, and it’s a real, genuine hug with so much symbolism we could analyze it for hours.

Then, the final scene. Don is meditating, and a bell rings – twice. A smile crosses his face – a kind of smile we’ve never seen in Don before now.

Has he found peace? Can he truly be happy? Maybe, just maybe he can. But it may not be in the way you’re thinking.

This is still a different Don, but the Coke commercial we see next is obviously an idea inspired from Don’s journey. You can only imagine Don going back to New York and pitching his idea for one of the most iconic commercials we’ve ever seen on television.

So why does that work? Because Don loves advertising. He loves the creative part of it, and he uses it as an expression of himself. Don has still found happiness, and he’s still found himself.

The ad is one he wouldn’t have been able to come up with if it hadn’t been for that journey. He also still ends up alone, which seems fitting. I’ve said before that I wanted Don to stop desperately trying to find love, and instead find happiness within himself.

Other Thoughts:

• For some reason, I didn’t see it coming that Peggy and Stan would end up together, but it feels pretty perfect. The two of them work well because Stan respects Peggy and wants her to do what she loves.
• Three cheers for Joan, who kicks Richard to the curb and starts her own business. If anyone deserves that, it’s her. She doesn’t need anyone standing in her way.
• We are spared from seeing Betty die, and instead watch Sally, all grown up now, come home to help take care of her brothers.
• The last phone call between Don and Betty is the most emotional moment of the episode. They still have an important connection despite all they’ve been through, and the fact that Don still calls her ‘Birdie’ is sweet and sincere.

More photos from the series finale of Mad Men:

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