10 More TV Villains You Didn't Realise Actually Won
6. Don Draper - Mad Men
Though Mad Men is absolutely a show beyond binary definitions of hero and villain, troubled protagonist Don Draper (Jon Hamm) certainly gravitates more towards the latter than the former.
While Don is far from unaware of the toxic nature of his actions throughout the series, it doesn't change the fact that he's a serial philanderer with abusive tendencies - typically towards women - and harbours little respect for anyone, even himself it seems.
As such, many predicted that Mad Men's final episode would see Don finally complete his quest for self-destruction, perhaps even taking a leap from an office window as the Draper-esque figure does in the show's opening titles. But Matthew Weiner did something very unexpected instead, ending the show with Don finding apparent enlightenment at a spiritual retreat. Except, that's not what really happens at all.
The closing shot of Don smiling in apparent contentment is followed by a smash cut to Coca-Cola's legendary 1971 "Hilltop" commercial. Given that said commercial features figures not unlike those at the retreat, the implication is that Don did the most cynical thing imaginable - co-opting his experience at the retreat for one of the most successful pieces of marketing in the history of the world.
It would be unfair, though, to suggest that Don took nothing genuine away from his experience at the retreat, so this was basically an ending that let its oft-despicable protagonist have his cake and eat it too.