So that Mad Men finale?
I've just watched it and I can't say it changed my man about finales in general. It wasn't bad and I loved the last minute, but there was some stuff in it that I did not like, and there many Mad Men episodes that are much much better than that one IMO.
What I liked was :
- the fact Don had to be Dick again - and now that Anna is dead, Stephanie was the only character who would use that name - before finding out that he was Don Draper, perhaps has always been, and will always be, and let Dick go for good.
- the ending of course, with lotus Don turning into some sort of Buddha, except that, in his case, of course, the big smile meant he just had an idea for a new ad...and so it led to the final commercial, using hippies to sell coke! Perfect.... and perfectly foreshadowed by the phone call with Peggy when she mentioned Coca Cola. She did lure him back "home" with that advertising Nirvana!
- Don calling the 3 most important women in his life (Sally, Betty and Peggy)...echoing what Ted told him at the beginning of the season about the fact that there are three women in a man's life.
- the parallel between so many phone calls, during which, people did connect with one another and were honest - while failing to connect "person to person", something that was not very subtlely pointed out by Stan when he said that the Peggy he usually got on the phone was the Peggy he wanted while the Peggy with whom he was face to face was someone he wanted to struggle and who was someone who said shitty things she didn't mean...
- BTW Don/Betty phone call made me cry. How he breaks down when she tells him that she wants things to be "as normal as possible" and that his "not being here is part of that", how she understands what he can't even voice and how she calls him "honey"...Very touching. *sniff*
- Peggy/Pete last scene was really sweet. Pete was adorable. His journey was the best.
- the coke parallel or coke versus coke...and eventually coca cola was the winner and cocaine seemed to lose...Coke si addictive!
Shows come and go, but some of them get to say goodbye. :- )
What I did not like:
- Marie Calvet whose French is just so terrible (and barely understable) that they should have had Julia Ormond stick to English speaking with what can pass for a French accent. No really, it's insufferable. John Slattery's French is even better!
- Peggy/Stan happy ending. I guess it was supposed to twist things and have Joan finding "happiness" in business - and losing her man in the process - while Peggy finally found happiness in a relationship, but I didn't like it. Too cheesy, and not the ending I wanted for Peggy, even though I didn't want Peggy to become another Don whose work is his only home either.
- not a big fan of the Joan/Roger scene either, because so predictable...expected by viewers for ages.
- Don hugging the man...didn't work for me at all. If it was supposed to show a true connection "person to person", it's a failure.
- the last shot of Betty during the montage was weird, especially given that the person doing the dishes in the background didn't quite look like Sally...
So more plusses than minuses, but I would have liked no minus at all.
Now I'm going to read what Sepinwall wrote about the episode.
ETA. Well, apparently he didn't like the ending scene as much as I do because it's too cynical...but at least I totally agree with this:
"Pete's farewell to Peggy was a marvel, acknowledging parts of their very long and complicated history without ever getting anywhere near the most important piece, with Pete demonstrating his own huge personal growth (he and Peggy are the two characters who have changed the most since the pilot) in the compliment he pays Peggy - and in his complete lack of vanity or envy in acknowledging that no one has ever said such a thing about him - and Peggy replying by quoting Pete's all-purpose exclamation, "A thing like that." They don't hug, they don't allude to the baby, or the affair, or anything that most ties them together. At the end, they are simply colleagues who have earned each other's complete respect and admiration, and that's remarkable on both ends, given who they were when they first met."
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/series-finale-review-mad-men-person-to-person-id-like-to-buy-the-world-a-coke#D5l5P9mfRU2eiLwP.99
What I liked was :
- the fact Don had to be Dick again - and now that Anna is dead, Stephanie was the only character who would use that name - before finding out that he was Don Draper, perhaps has always been, and will always be, and let Dick go for good.
- the ending of course, with lotus Don turning into some sort of Buddha, except that, in his case, of course, the big smile meant he just had an idea for a new ad...and so it led to the final commercial, using hippies to sell coke! Perfect.... and perfectly foreshadowed by the phone call with Peggy when she mentioned Coca Cola. She did lure him back "home" with that advertising Nirvana!
- Don calling the 3 most important women in his life (Sally, Betty and Peggy)...echoing what Ted told him at the beginning of the season about the fact that there are three women in a man's life.
- the parallel between so many phone calls, during which, people did connect with one another and were honest - while failing to connect "person to person", something that was not very subtlely pointed out by Stan when he said that the Peggy he usually got on the phone was the Peggy he wanted while the Peggy with whom he was face to face was someone he wanted to struggle and who was someone who said shitty things she didn't mean...
- BTW Don/Betty phone call made me cry. How he breaks down when she tells him that she wants things to be "as normal as possible" and that his "not being here is part of that", how she understands what he can't even voice and how she calls him "honey"...Very touching. *sniff*
- Peggy/Pete last scene was really sweet. Pete was adorable. His journey was the best.
- the coke parallel or coke versus coke...and eventually coca cola was the winner and cocaine seemed to lose...Coke si addictive!
Shows come and go, but some of them get to say goodbye. :- )
What I did not like:
- Marie Calvet whose French is just so terrible (and barely understable) that they should have had Julia Ormond stick to English speaking with what can pass for a French accent. No really, it's insufferable. John Slattery's French is even better!
- Peggy/Stan happy ending. I guess it was supposed to twist things and have Joan finding "happiness" in business - and losing her man in the process - while Peggy finally found happiness in a relationship, but I didn't like it. Too cheesy, and not the ending I wanted for Peggy, even though I didn't want Peggy to become another Don whose work is his only home either.
- not a big fan of the Joan/Roger scene either, because so predictable...expected by viewers for ages.
- Don hugging the man...didn't work for me at all. If it was supposed to show a true connection "person to person", it's a failure.
- the last shot of Betty during the montage was weird, especially given that the person doing the dishes in the background didn't quite look like Sally...
So more plusses than minuses, but I would have liked no minus at all.
Now I'm going to read what Sepinwall wrote about the episode.
ETA. Well, apparently he didn't like the ending scene as much as I do because it's too cynical...but at least I totally agree with this:
"Pete's farewell to Peggy was a marvel, acknowledging parts of their very long and complicated history without ever getting anywhere near the most important piece, with Pete demonstrating his own huge personal growth (he and Peggy are the two characters who have changed the most since the pilot) in the compliment he pays Peggy - and in his complete lack of vanity or envy in acknowledging that no one has ever said such a thing about him - and Peggy replying by quoting Pete's all-purpose exclamation, "A thing like that." They don't hug, they don't allude to the baby, or the affair, or anything that most ties them together. At the end, they are simply colleagues who have earned each other's complete respect and admiration, and that's remarkable on both ends, given who they were when they first met."
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/series-finale-review-mad-men-person-to-person-id-like-to-buy-the-world-a-coke#D5l5P9mfRU2eiLwP.99