Matthew Weiner is almost 50 years old. Just under a decade ago, The Sopranos was finished its reign on the air. His work in the final two seasons as both a writer and a producer would be enough for the resume of anyone wanting to work in television. Not so, as shortly afterwards, Weiner got started on the period drama Mad Men; A show often hailed as the greatest cable drama of all time. To have an enriched show on an easily accessible channel outside of subscription based ones is a miracle. Then there is Weiner’s level of perfectionism, where even characters’ wallets are detailed enough to be real and full of their emotional and every day needs (just in case you decided to jump into your television set and bark at the people within the show for proof).
The titled “end of an era” is happening, and the show’s successful seven season run is finally slowing down to collapse after the finish line. With shows like Breaking Bad off the air, Mad Men’s finale will likely place a big void on television when it comes to truly exceptional tv work still running live. Sure, everyone has their favorite shows, but it isn’t every season that you get something as prophetic as a show like this. It’s nearly as in depth as the crime classic The Wire while being as emotionally heavy as the funeral dramedy Six Feet Under. Until this finale, it was the only show still on the air to be featured in the top 10 for the Writing Guild of America’s top 101 Best Written TV Series list.We can only be thankful that such a show is quitting while it is still strong, though. We can only cherish the moments the series gave us (the many, MANY moments). There are many more than ten that are worth mentioning, believe me. It felt like torture to limit the list to such a small amount, but it also made me realize how much of the show I will truly miss. These moments are more than quick blips that happened. These are prime examples of how complicated the show is. Most of these events are special because of how loudly they speak about the greater whole of what the show was trying to be. You will also have two moments here that depict a great knack the show had in other talents, but the rest are only highlighted parts within a massive paragraph of what one could say about these layered happenings.
You will surely disagree to some extent, but that’s what makes this show great. None of these lists will be a mirror image to another’s. In fact, I hope you have moments I have missed out. I’d like to be reminded how special these hour long blasts to the past were to us all.
Here are my top 10 favorite moments of Mad Men.
If you have not watched the show, there are MANY spoilers ahead. I warn you to turn back now if this is a concern.
10. The Lawnmower Incident
Episode: Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency (Season 3 Episode 6)
Mad Men is full of shock moments that you won’t see coming. Don Draper doesn’t sell meth. Pete isn’t a mobster. You won’t catch Peggy as a war surgeon anytime soon. It’s a show that takes place in advertising, and most of its success comes from its messages. Still, the odd moment to keep you on your toes is plopped in, and Mad Men has been talked about here and there because of a few of these (ripped off nipples, anyone?). Because you don’t expect something so out there, these moments stick with you even more.The best example of one of these happens in Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency. It was a great episode on its own, but there’s nothing like a bloody mishap to make it all the more uneasy. Sterling Cooper make an agreement with John Deere, and in typical fashion when you have a lot of money to toss, the workers there have fun puttering around on a lawn mower. When that lawnmower runs over an employee’s foot, it’s laughably abrupt. When his career is stripped of him over it, it’s depressing. Advertising is all about image, and how can someone appeal to others without a foot? That’s what the higher ups say about this. To us, we see a corporate vehicle dismantling one man’s life, and it reminds us all too well how much stronger a soulless company is compared to a living person.
9. JFK Assassination
Episode: The Grown-Ups (Season 3 Episode 12)
Another reoccurring element Mad Men pulls off well is the inclusion of historical events. These time stamps are so accurately placed with relation to the characters and what they are experiencing. We know Mad Men takes place in the 60’s (and now the early 70’s), and we don’t need a reminder when the entire show is a pitch perfect representation of these times. However, it’s still powerful to see how these people react to events that shook the world. You have innovations (the dawn of the computer), moments of promise (the moon landing) and even something the every day person in New York may have experienced (the deadly smog of 1966 in Manhattan). You also have the devastating tragedies that put fear into all of America: The Manson family, for instance.One of these events was the John F Kennedy assassination. Everybody in the show is frozen in place with their jaws hitting the floor as they see this news flooding from their television sets. Within a world where main figures are who run everything, to see the vulnerability of the representative of the United States of America is shocking. You have the American Dream, being chased by virtually everybody in the show, being questioned. You also get a sense of how strong the media was back then, especially with a celebrity president. This is important for the advertising world. This world is one that tries to sell products with glimpses of hope, but in the end, they are only using the tactic that works well on them: Fear. There is fear that you won’t be good enough if you don’t use this or that product. It’s this very same fear that causes tension throughout that episode and the entire show. Nobody is safe from death, and the many employees with their fancy jobs finally notice this within the show.
8. Sterling’s Hallucination
Episode: Far Away Places (Season 5 Episode 6)
Roger Sterling is my favorite person on this show. Hands down. He is an absolute clown with enough professionalism to put people in their places. He is as suave as much as he is classless. He is the most imprinted by the image of what a boss should be, and thus may be the most affected by shallow representations on the show. He is a blast to laugh with (and at), but his moments of clarity hit hard due to his usually-silly exterior. This is perfect, because we usually see some of the weirder Mad Men moments through Sterling’s crazy lifestyle.When his marriage is on the rocks, Roger and his (then) wife Jane take LSD. As a screenwriting plus, this is the moment that both closed up people acknowledge that their marriage is essentially lifeless. As a viewer, we get a creepy trip deep into Sterling’s psyche. His hair goes both white and black; This is not just a look at mortality, but also his past youth and his dedication to advertising and image. He is unimpressed with the drug’s lack of power until it kicks in; This is similar to how he shrugged off the possibility of his marriage’s final stages. This is another funny moment that Sterling needs to remain calm in. It’s the kind of drastic waking up Sterling needed, and it’s a mind bender for us.
7. Sally Catches Don
Episode: Favors (Season 6 Episode 11)
Don Draper is an adulterer. So are many men on the show. They start off with power, and many of their worlds have crumbled since. If they have not acted to turn around (Pete), they have faced severe consequences. Don’s marriage with Betty fizzled pretty early on in the series, but his marriage to Megan is one we have watched from start to finish. Sally has had to witness her parents’ divorce and has put up with the arguments from both sides. She has always sided more with her father than her mother, of whom she has treated with a sandpaper edge until the second last episode of the series. Don was faithful for much of his marriage to Megan. That is until season 6, where his obsessions with women and sex kicked in again with his neighbor Sylvia.Sally walks in on Don and Sylvia making love, and you can feel the rush of disappointment smack Sally right against the face. To know that she was siding with the less faithful person in the marriage must have been devastating. It’s a moment we knew would come eventually had Don kept his slithering ways up, and it was a bittersweet moment for us all. Finally, Don can maybe think about his actions, but look who has been hit in the crossfire. From here on in, Sally feels a strong resentment towards both of her parents. Don’s attachment to remaining lovable as a man got in the way of his responsibilities as a parent, and , as unfortunate as it was to witness, it’s great screenwriting when you can truly feel the impact of on man’s vices.
6. Beth’s Therapy
Episode: The Phantom (Season 5 Episode 13)
Pete Campbell is possibly the slimiest main character. It’s why his misfortunes make us laugh the hardest. We start the series off seeing him cheat right after he gets married. He’s a young member of the company and the most affected by how others appeal to him. His bad decisions and silly tantrums have put ease on some scenarios that more mature characters would have handled with a lot more severity (anyone up for fisticuffs?). We finally see his character come full circle within this final season, and we see his realization that he truly isn’t one of these macho guys as much as he has tried to be one. The start of this kind of realization is during the end of his fling with Beth.Interestingly enough, this is around the time when mental illness was being approached from different angles. It wasn’t being treated as seriously as it is now, but the spark of progress had just gone off. Beth’s battle with manic depression ends up being a supposed excuse for her behavior, and her husband orders her to take electroshock therapy. This is a woman that has reminded Pete who he is as a young man with an admirer. This is what he missed in his marriage to Trudy. Once Beth’s treatment is done, Pete goes to visit her, and she has no recollection of who he is. That history is gone. The happiness was as fake as the joy delivered by the one liners his company spews. His identity was crafted by a promiscuous wife who no longer even knows anything about him. It takes a while for Pete to come around, but this tragic moment seems to be the big search into Pete’s spirit for who he truly wants to be. We finally get that glorious finding in the second last episode, but it took something drastic like Beth’s therapy for him to face reality and no longer chase after silly dreams.
5. Lane Pryce’s Resolution
Episode: Commissions and Fees (Season 5 Episode 12)
Lane Pryce was the most level headed out of the four heads of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. That’s how it seemed, until we discover that he was actually a criminal. His greedy ways changed the way we all saw him. No longer was he the voice of reason there. For all we know, he could have been lying through his teeth the entire time. We hated him for a very short while. That’s because we saw the resolution of his character. We should have predicted his suicide not just within the last few episodes of season 5, but from way before, too. With drawings of nooses during meetings and Pryce’s chipper exclamation that he’s probably going to spend “the rest of [his] life” in an office, it was his fate all along.His suicide was spooky, and it was grim. It was also the last redemption the character had; Not that his life was a satisfiable apology, of course. We saw the kind of man Pryce was. He gripped onto anything for meaning. He never truly knew what he was doing, just as long as it meant he was doing something. He isn’t an evil man. He just wanted to do whatever it took to keep going. He realized both the error of his ways and that the world is an unforgiving one. The advertising world swallowed him up, and he stopped it from spitting him back out. He came to America and died there. It was a reminder that nothing, and no one, is as you picture them to be, whether it be the American dream or the man you’re both loving and despising.
4. Peggy’s Hell of a Night
Episode: The Suitcase (Season 4 Episode 7)
Peggy Olson has to be one of the greatest characters in television history when it comes to how someone can evolve. She started the series as a meek doormat and she ends as an absolute tour de force. We have yet to find out her final fate, but the majority of us are positive that she will be dominating the world. Had The Suitcase happened in the first season, we’d find that Peggy has way too much nerve to be talking the way she does. If the episode was in the final season, we’d question where her ability to drive points is. Because this episode is smacked into the middle of the series, we fully understand Peggy’s place. She is in a relationship that seemed promising and she is being taken a bit more seriously at work. Within one evening, her annoyed boyfriend crushes their relationship and Don expels his frustration.
With some of the best acting in the series, both Peggy and Don’s feud is powerful. It’s a story-defining moment that reminds us how low Peggy still is in this corporate ladder and how high she is aiming to be. We get a look at how Peggy is no longer a pushover, and we realize (just like she does) that she still needs a little bit more grit to truly put people in their places. She’s a bold woman who won’t allow people to define her anymore, and this night stuck within office walls is an intimate moment that makes us, like Don, acknowledge just how special a character Peggy truly is.3. Cooper’s Fulfillment
Episode: Waterloo (Season 7 Episode 7)
Robert Morse as Bertram Cooper – Mad Men _ Season 7, Episode 7 – Photo Credit: Justina Mintz/AMC
Bertram Cooper was the mystic of the show. He disallowed shoes in his office and he only spoke poetic words of wisdom. He was as enchanted by the world outside of his office as he was the world within. While Sterling was the jester, Cooper was the wizard. He delivered poignancy wherever he could. He also, deep down, believed in a world outside of ours. Never mind leaving America, he wanted to leave the world altogether. When a secretary passed away, Cooper compared her to an astronaut, as she was born on the ground and died on a high floor within an office. Yes, if anybody could make anything profound, it was Cooper.
The moon landing of 1969 ended up being Cooper’s final moments alive. He saw what man was capable of, and that’s all he needed to see. Was he comparable to an astronaut, though? Sure, he got to the top in his field. Yes, he was part of the name of the company he worked in. He was beloved and dearly missed once he died. However, maybe he hung on until the very moment his life felt fulfilled. It felt that way at the hands of another, who landed on a floating satellite outside in the deep, black sky. I think Cooper was always more concerned with how the world would go instead of where he could go. He worked in advertising to try and push society towards a certain direction. He passed away after witnessing one of mankind’s greatest achievements. He leaves Don with a bizarre musical number and he revisits Don’s psyche in the latter half of season 7, but on Earth, he will forever be attached to humanity pushing its own limits.
2. Betty’s Dark Fate
Episode: The Milk and Honey Route (Season 7 Episode 13)
Smoking is bad for you. The dangers of cigarettes have been battled against since the first episode, and that was to sell the products and not heed to the safety of its customers. Everybody smokes in this show, and it is seen as a symbol of sex. For years, people have talked about who will die on the show. Don Draper may do himself in with his lack of true identity. Roger Sterling may die from his heart condition and reckless ways. Even Megan has been hypothesized about, as she can be linked to Sharon Tate and the Manson family is up and about during the era the show is in currently. We still have an episode left to discover what may happen to everyone, but we learn Betty’s fate just a little early. With a slight cancer scare once before, we dismissed it. Betty’s always going to be around, and she’s always going to be clinging to whatever and whomever she pleases. Well, unfortunately, the cancer is within her lungs and it’s not just life threatening, it’s life stealing.There is no way for Betty to recover, and even then, she is ignoring the procedures that can at least prolong her life just a little bit more. She links her foreseeable death to her mother’s passing, and we understand why she refuses to put her own children in the same position. She still sees the importance of how others perceive her even in such a dark time. Her obsession with self beauty, however, ends up being the most heartbreaking moment in the entire show’s history (unless the finale can outdo this). She leaves Sally a note with instructions on what she should do once the big day comes. Sally is told to find Betty’s favorite dress (as seen in the attached picture) and to make sure her dead corpse will still be gorgeous, as it is the one time she cannot control how people see her and she wants to remain attractive. It’s a strong character point, and one hell of a somber moment. If this didn’t make you tear up, you haven’t paid attention throughout the series enough.
1: Don’s Lucky Strike Pitch
Episode: Smoke Gets in your Eyes (Season 1 Episode 1)
A moment from the very first episode. Cliched pick for the top spot, I know, but I feel as though there are very good reasons for this. Sterling Cooper has existed for years before this show’s timeline starts. In fact, the company celebrates its 40th year in existence during Mad Men. Why does the show start here, though? Why do we begin Mad Men’s roller coaster journey with this fight to get a cigarette account? It was a harbinger of things to come, and a very delicately shot moment that once told us a tale of heroism in advertising but now is an ironic shot in one’s own foot. You see, Mad Men starts with the Lucky Strike account’s pitch because it is the one that eventually led to the downfall of the company and the change of everyone’s lives within the show. Cigarettes are what ended up killing Betty and possibly making Sterling’s heart weak, but Sterling Cooper fought to advertise Lucky Strike because of what a huge account they were. Almost every bad event from this show, in relation to the main characters, can be linked to the hand shakes from this meeting.You can even pinpoint the moment where Don hesitates to save Pete. Pete blabbers and makes a fool of himself and Sterling Cooper almost loses their client. You see Don look to the side and rest in his chair. He finally rockets out of his seat and saves the meeting. Had he just sat in place and shut up, Sterling Cooper may possibly still exist. Maybe they wouldn’t be the advertising superstars they became, but they’d be secure and not tainted by McCann-Erikson. Then again, had Draper not budged, Mad Men would not exist. Everything you need to know about Don Draper happens within this very moment. He fancies himself as an advertising hero and as a reinvented man unlike who he once was (so he’d hope). His speech about happiness is screenwriting genius, and his discussion about happiness being what advertisers tell you to feel is not only sadly true, it’s a dictation of every motive within the show.
Don Draper may have secured the account, but he started the snowball that ended up being a massive bolder that destroyed the company seven seasons later. Lucky Strike may not have been so lucky after all. In the opening credits, you see a silhouette fall off the top of a building surrounded by magazine ads. He is finally secured and in his chair when the title pops up. He has a cigarette in hand.That cigarette was lit by Don, and its stomped on filter was the very moment the company was dissolved by McCann-Erickson. Sure, it felt good for a bit, but it proved to be fatal. Every main character on the show has had to separate themselves from what made them feel good, or else they suffered. Happiness is just an illusion. Securing that account made Don and the entire company happy, and while his advertising charm was risky, it sold Mad Men for us within microseconds. We knew the show would be special from here on in, and were we ever far from wrong. This finale may end up being the best episode depending on how it plays out, but it had to come from somewhere, and this pitch, the show’s best moment, was the leap off that building down the rabbit hole of the advertising world and humanity’s obsessions and fatalities.
