Mad Men ends season three with a perfect reinvention of both its hero and the series itself

It's a given with series and season finales; they are never as satisfying, groundbreaking or revolutionary as you hope they will be.

Except when they are.

And the wonder of Mad Men's season finale Sunday, "Shut the Door, Have a Seat," is that it hits every note you'd hope and more -- repositioning the series for serious re-invention next season while stripping hero Don Draper (Jon Hamm) down to his emotional core. All in space of 60 minutes, minus commercials.

First, the spoilery plot stuff. Our heroes' corporate home, Sterling Cooper, is about to be sold along with its new British owners to another advertising firm. Rather than endure that transition -- John Slattery's masterfully profane Roger Sterling compared it to a working girl hopping beds again -- Draper convinces his colleagues to first try buying the firm and then to steal away it's clients and start their own, new business.

This move gives parts of the episode a Magnificent Seven quality, as Draper, Sterling and honcho Bert Cooper reach out to all the key characters who found themselves set adrift over this season -- yes, drooling fanboys, Christina Hendricks' voluptuous Joan Harris returns in all her glory. Pete Campbell, Peggy Olson, even British manager Lane Pryce makes the jump -- snagging a partnership by agreeing to fire Cooper, Draper and Sterling, which allows their departure in the first place.

But the best effect of this turmoil, is to strip Draper bare. He is forced to reconnect with people he had previously written off or taken for granted, including Sterling, Campbell and Olson, to admit what he values about them to pull them into his new venture -- forcing him to accept how much he really needs them, after all.

(Here's a great Web site which claims to have every line draper has uttered on the show; a surprisingly small amount of words, and another indication of how much actors here say without saying anything.)

It is, then, a supremely crafted irony that Draper's home life is falling apart, even as his professional world is entering an exciting new chapter. Wife Betty consults a divorce attorney, new flame Henry Francis by her side; when Draper discovers she is leaving him for another man, his bitter anger is both hypocritical and predictable. Like every other relationship in his life, Draper had taken Betty's blind devotion for granted until it was gone. But there is little doubt that much unfinished business remains between these two.

There were so many amazing moments in this episode, I had trouble keeping up:

-- Connie Hilton informing Draper that his company was being sold and, subtly, daring him to do something about it. "I got everything I have on my own. It's made me immune to those who complain and cry because they can't. I didn't take you for one of them Don. Are you?" Hilton says, with a smirk. Draper knows in that moment he wants to be that independent and powerful. Another irony: that his own impoverished father and Hilton would both provide the inspiration for the new firm, like twin father figures.

-- Betty revealing to Draper that she's been unhappy for a long time, after he assumed she'd had a tough couple of weeks. "I've had a tough year," she says, ferociously. But when we see new flame Henry become the driving force in her consultation with the divorce lawyer, you wonder -- is she trading one controlling, accomplished man for another?

-- Roger summing up Draper's problems in a sentence. "You're not good at relationships because you don't value them."

-- Peggy snapping back at Draper when he barks orders at her, assuming she would leap at the chance to join his new firm. "You assume I'll follow you like some nervous poodle," she snaps. "I don't want to make a career out of being there so you can kick me when you fail." More evidence she is a young version of Draper; and in another delicious irony, this exchange resonates with the way Hilton has treated Draper.

-- Roger telling Draper about Betty's flame, thinking he knew, prompting the man who has had at least five affairs on his wife in the recent past to call her a whore.

-- Draper's daughter Sally learning her father would be moving out of the house and responding by getting angry at everyone. "Did you make him leave?" the sharp beyond her years Sally barked at her mother. "You made him sleep in (Betty's recently deceased father) Gene's room and it's scary in there."

-- Watching men used to handing correspondence and coffee orders to secretaries typing out letters in their new firm's hotel suite office. Roger learns the new order when he asks Peggy to grab him a cup of coffee and she replies with a curt "No." Welcome to the modern age, Mr. Sterling.

-- The episode's end set to the strains of Roy Orbison's plaintive B-side cut Shahdaroba. Check the incredibly appropriate lyrics here.

Now fans can feel the show's characters are on the same verge of discovery and new beginnings as America itself. A new firm, new challenges -- a Draper liberated from his family just as he learns how much he values them. And all the characters on new footing with each other as they are forced to forge a new future together.

I wish the new season started tomorrow. And for a TV producer spinning a masterpiece, that may be the highest praise imaginable.

Here's New York magazine's amazing collection of Roger Sterling's one-liners:

 

Comments

[Matt]

Thanks Eric for the killer recap.

This ep will be rewatched for many months until the new season arrives.

I'm trying my damnedest to get my fellow USFSP college of journalism and media studies students to start watching this show. I consider it required viewing, it has all the elements of media criticism wrapped into its narrative. I suspect it may be a reason why Mr. Deggans is a huge fan.

My own personal top ten TV hour long series

1: Battlestar Galactica (Ron Moore redux)
2: Lost
3: Twin Peaks
4: Star Trek: TNG
5: The Sopranos
6: The Wire
7: Homicide: Life on the Street
8: Mad Men
9: The X-Files
10: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

[Dick Weed]

The Sopranos blows Mad Men totally out of the water. Not even close!!!!

[TLewis]

As a huge fan of this show, I've read about the final review of Mad Men in no less than four different (national) publications and by far Eric has had the most salient and intriguing points to make:

"Another irony: that his own impoverished father and Hilton would both provide the inspiration for the new firm, like twin father figures."-Great!! As someone with father issues, that revelation blew my mind.

"is she trading one controlling, accomplished man for another?"-Okay, my mother did that.

And lastly,

"The episode's end set to the strains of Roy Orbison's plaintive B-side cut Shahdaroba. Check the incredibly appropriate lyrics here."-I thought I was the only one who actually noticed final credit lyrics. And that website is very helpful.

Kudos to you Mr Deggins

[up there with ...]

The Wire

[Don Draper]

Great article for a great show.
This is the only show I have ever watched twice each week. The 10 pm and the 11pm show.
If you don't follow this show it is one of the top 10 series of all time.
Can we get a top 10 list going?

1. Mad men
2. Sopranos
3. Breaking Bad
4. The Shield
5. Rescue me
6. Dexter
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
The A team..ha

[madbeach]

A brilliant table-setting for a new season.

[Jim Williams]

Great comments perfect article hope this show is around a long long time.

[Linda]

There is no series that could hold a candle to Mad Men's depth of characters, brilliant script and delicious cinematography. I thought the Sopranos was the best TV show ever; now find it second to Man Men. I have seen every episode of every season. It's almost painful to see it end for the season.

[Happy belated birthday to Eric]

Happy belated birthday to @deggans.

http://bit.ly/Dxsot

[Jamie Favreau]

This is the first season I have watched and I have 2 back seasons to watch. I am ready for season 4 to start. What a way to start the new season.

A lot of stuff happened in this episode and I think I could watch it over and over again. The relationships built, failed, etc.

If anything it does inspire someone to become an entrepreneur.

[Trevor]

Haven't watched every episode, but, enjoyed Matt Weiner's interviews and work on Sopranos. Mad Men writing/producing has the same attention to detail as that legendary series. Like you, Eric, I look forward to the next chapter of Mad Men.