10 Most Controversial Series Finales In TV History
7. Mad Men
Most things in television are subjective, but you’ll struggle to find too many people willing to defend the finales of How I Met Your Mother or Game Of Thrones.
Mad Men’s finale though is a very different creature. It boasts a 9.3 on IMDb, and is typically thought of as one of the best episodes the show ever put out (and make no mistake, there were a lot of good ones).
The final season focuses on Don changing, with him heading out to a hippy retreat to gain perspective.
Meanwhile, Peggy’s career finally takes off. In the finale, he calls her to tell her about his quest for inner peace, before a take of him meditating turns into the famous ‘I’d like to buy the world a Coke’ advert.
It’s deliberately unclear whether Peggy spins Don’s enthusiasm into the Coca-Cola advert, or if Don was sucked back into the capitalist world and wasted his personal growth to sell fizzy drinks. Therein lies the genius, though leaving Don’s arc unresolved certainly ruffled feathers.
The show always asked questions, but some viewers were unhappy that the finale left things so open, citing Don’s lack of closure as a big sticking point.