The final season of Mad Men is upon us. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through Mondays without my Sunday ritual of sipping vodka martinis while watching Don, Roger, Peggy and Joan rule Madison Avenue. I’ll still have my Sunday night martinis, but it won’t be the same.
On the brighter side, we do have an entire season ahead of us, and plenty to look back on. As the end of the Mad Men mythology unfolds, you can be sure I’ll be revisiting some of the most memorable moments in the sordid history of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency (and the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Advertising Agency, and the Cutler Gleason Chaough Sterling Draper Cooper Advertising Agency…).
ROGER STERLING EXPANDS HIS MIND
The silver fox drops acid with wife Jane and, in spite of himself, has a mind-altering trip that changes his life, and his marriage, forever. (It’s not long before we see Roger Sterling wearing a Hawaiian shirt at the office.)
DON DRAPER CRAVES PUNISHMENT
He can fuck anyone he likes, whenever and wherever he likes, and that’s why we love Don Draper. How satisfying is it when, in the 4th season, the increasingly dark Don calls on a prostitute on one uncharacteristically lonely night, and tells her to slap the shit out of him? VERY.
FUCK YEAH PEGGY OLSON
“I’m Peggy Olson and I want to smoke some marijuana.” This is arguably the greatest character arc on TV, ever.
JOAN, JOAN, JOAN
Everyone knows the ship would sink without the formidable and fiery Joan Holloway Harris, but when the agency’s major account with Jaguar is on the line, she uses her talents for Sterling Cooper in a way she never imagined she would.
WHO IS BETTY DRAPER?
This is the moment we learn that Betty Draper gives absolutely zero fucks.
LIKE LUCY AND DESI
So, everyone talks about how Megan, the new Mrs. Draper, provocatively performs “Zou Bisou Bisou” at Don’s 40th birthday party. Yep, it’s awkward. Yep, it’s cringeworthy. Yep, it’s narcissistic. The best part of it all is at the end when Roger and Jane deftly deliver the punch-line.
THE WOMEN BEHIND THE MAN
One of the brilliant things about Sally Draper’s tween breakdown at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, is that we get to watch all of the key women in Don’s life swirling around him for the entire scene, with poor Sally caught in the middle.
