I know some of you watch this show, so I decided to start a thread seeing as how the final season begins tonight. I was bored so I turned on Season 7A on Netflix earlier tonight. And I ended up watching the whole thing. This show is so damn good and I'm so excited for the end. Honestly, this might be the best TV show I've ever seen. I've enjoyed Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones more because of the crazy plot, but in terms of the acting, dialogue, cinematography, music, attention to detail, and creation of realistically flawed characters, this show is on another level. I can totally understand why someone might not be able to get into this show, but once you get hooked, every scene is so captivating.
It's a great drama, but I personally wouldn't put it ahead of Breaking Bad. That said I'm looking forward to the final stretch, seeing where Don and Co. end up.
The premiere was ... interesting. Spoiler That episode was very surreal, confusing, and honestly pretty depressing. I thought it was a good choice to only focus on Don and the business. It really highlighted how empty and unsatisfying Don's life now is. He's richer than he's ever been, he has more girls than he's ever had, and yet he's yearning (and failing) to reconnect with the past. Hopefully things start changing for him though, and soon. I really want a happy ending for Don.
Yeah, different episode. Not what I was expecting. I don't think a happily ever after is in the cards for Don. His lifestyle is too self destructive and I don't see that changing in a handful of episodes. But I don't think death is in the store for him either.
I think he's made a lot of strides though. Ever since Sally caught him having an affair, he hasn't cheated on anyone, he's been a lot more honest with everyone in his life, he stopped drinking as much, and he put his ego aside to do work that was beneath him. But yeah, I don't really see a full happy ending for Don anymore.
I need to check it out. As for the best drama series ever: Breaking Bad, The Wire, The Shield, and 24.
Breaking Bad is definitely there. The problem I have with the Wire is the shipyard season was bad (IMO of course) and the final season was ho-hum. The show only lasted for 5 seasons, so when two aren't great, it kind of taints it that much more. Same sort of problem with 24. A couple seasons were just not good, including this last one in London. I'd throw Mad Men in the top 10 for me for sure, maybe top 6-7. But for me Battlestar Galactica (new version) and Sons of Anarchy are both up there too. And don't ask me why, but I'm a sucker for Friday Night Lights. Game of Thrones may be the best of them all, but there's just too much time left in the show to make that assertion.
^^^ I didn't care for the shipyard season either. The season with the kids made up for it. I'm a big SOA fan too. Check out the Shield. Amazing drama. I've never watched Game of Thrones.
What'd yall think of the finale? Honestly this was my least favorite season by far. I thought the series finale wasn't bad and was even good as far as episodes this season go. Few great shows end with a great finale. Breaking Bad and Justified did, but more miss the mark than hit the home run. Want to get the consensus here on the most debated issue of the episode: Did Draper create the Coke ad? I think he did.
Hamm's thoughts on the finale http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/artsbeat/2015/05/18/mad-men-finale-jon-hamm-interview/?referrer=
I loved it. The first few episodes of the latter half of this season were a bit slow, but I think most of episodes 10-14 were right up there with some of the best episodes in previous seasons. Honestly, I think I like this better as a series finale than Breaking Bad's (just talking about the last episode, the last season of Breaking Bad in its entirety was bonkers). When I watched it, I was thinking that we were left with an incredibly open-ended finale with Don vaguely finding some kind of inner peace among the hippies. I thought the purpose of closing with the Coke ad was showing the irony of Don living the life that someone else used in an advertisement to make millions, but being okay with it. I was semi-content with that. But no, I think it's pretty much a certainty that Don did create that ad. I hate myself for not putting it together until I went online to read up on the episode afterwards. And I am extremely satisfied with that interpretation. There's still some open-endedness to it though. Some are looking at it very cynically, that Don hasn't changed at all. He doesn't care about those hippies, he just has an idea that he wants to make more money off of. And that he'll go back to New York and live just as empty of a life after making the ad, and fall back into his own traps. I'm looking at it much more optimistically though. I think Don genuinely does feel that inner happiness and sense of community that is the core of the advertisement. He wants to share it with others. He no longer feels guilty about taking up the Don Draper name. He knows he's a damned good ad man and he goes back to McCann to share one of the greatest ads ever with the rest of the world. Don now accepts who he is, and he's happy about it.
