For a penultimate episode this was a strange one, even by Mad Men standards. We didn’t see three big parts of the main cast — Roger, Joan, and Peggy — at all. We did, however, get extended time with Don, Pete, and Betty. Since so much happened in this episode let’s break down what exactly went on with those three characters.
Don: He continues hobo-ing his way through American’s heartland, this time stopping in Oklahoma on his way to the Grand Canyon. Car trouble brings him to a motel owned by a nice couple in their 60s, the husband played by veteran character actor Chris Ellis. He recognizes the conman instincts of Andy the maid/messenger early on and it’s immediately clear who stole the money from the American Legion. Sadly for Don, everyone else blames him and he gets a couple whacks across the face with a phonebook by a WWII vet (played nicely by another veteran character actor, Max Gail) while being interrogated.
Andy actually does himself a favor coming back to Don’s room. He’s never going to get a life lesson like Don dishes out. Don knows what this kid is about. He’s been there. He’s conned people. Him telling the kid “If you keep (the money) you’ll have to become someone else” is something don knows all too well. Plus, the kid gets a sweet new car out of a ride to the bus stop. Don tells him not to waste this rare opportunity to turn his life around. Sitting on that bench, all he needs to do is tie that Sears bag to a stick and he’ll nearly be transformed to full hobo. He’s able to go full hobo and run away from his problems because his kids, the only thing he truly cares about, have the security of living with their mother and rich step-father. Little does Don know that’s about to change.
Am I mistaken or is this the first time we learned that Don blames himself for the death of his commanding officer? We knew he died and Don took the dog tags, but I don’t remember him admitting he killed him. In any case, Don shouldn't be let around liquor and strangers.
Betty: I’m having a hard time feeling sorry for Betty because she doesn't seem to feel that way about her lung cancer diagnosis. The shot of the doctor and Henry out of focus in the background while a concerned Betty sits in the foreground was wonderfully framed. She’s taking the grim news head on, not letting it change her life at all as we see when she goes back to school. She watched her Mother whither away and doesn't want to put her family through that, and that’s her choice. The instructions she gave Sally to be read upon her death (of course a teenage girl is going to read them at her first opportunity), were heartbreaking and touching. She knows and trusts the wonderful, smart girl she’s raised will carry out her final wishes to a T.
I will say that it seems like an odd thing to give this character who hasn't been part of any main story in a long time. Having one of the core cast members die wouldn’t be a Mad Men thing to do, but I can’t help be feel as if giving Betty cancer was partly an excuse to give Kiernan Shipka some material to play with as Sally, which she predictably crushes.
Pete: Lots of Pete in this one. Duck has successfully hornswoggled Pete into this new job. If everything Duck says about the job is true, that they’ll pay him lots of money, give him use of a private jet, and even get McCann to pay him nearly everything left on his contract, it’s a no brainer for Pete to take … as long as Trudy and Tammy come with him. Trudy is rightfully put off by his words early in the episode, telling him she’s not going to be hurt again and that she’s jealous of his ability to be sentimental about the past while she remembers exactly the asshole he was. But, in what may be Vincent Kartheiser’s best scene of the entire series he spills his heart, professing his undying love and begging her to say yes with her voice and not just with her eyes. He finally understands what it means to be happy, which says a lot for him.
I still don’t trust Duck, though he would stand to land a good commission on delivering Pete to LearJet. This type of happy ending isn’t something I expected would happen on this show.
This Sunday is it and Don is somewhere in Oklahoma with no car or care in the world. All I’m asking is for one last Don and Peggy scene, Matthew Weiner. That’s all.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2015.