Mad Men: 10 Greatest Episodes
6. Person To Person (Season 7, Episode 14)
It’d be wrong to exclude the culmination of the journey which made up Mad Men’s run, so the series finale makes the the cut. Not only does it close with poignance the chapters of the stories we’ve been privy to, but it marks personal beginnings of an entirely new era.
Primarily structured around three phone calls Don makes to his daughter, his dying ex-wife, and his long-time protege, each devastating in their own way, Person to Person breaks down the character of Don Draper before seemingly bringing his adopted persona to its climactic end.
The final reveal, however, of an iconic Coca-Cola campaign as the fruits of Don’s personal and spiritual journey bring his character full circle as the ultimate survivor. In a culture marked by rapid changes and the emergence of the next generation, Don’s advertising genius proves more relevant and valuable than ever, with newly gained insights for once again beguiling a wounded society with the hope provided by fiction, reality as it could be. It’s 1970, and 10 years since his breathtaking Carousel pitch, but Don Draper’s still got it.
With sunrises and sunsets abound, the only direction to look is forward. The closing montage of characters each beginning personal new endeavours provides more than a fitting end for a show that featured multiple new beginnings and fresh starts for its characters over the course of its decade-spanning run. In the latest iteration of such a cycle, we leave them for the last time on the cusp of unknown futures, perhaps bright, perhaps not, but always fuelled by the latest fantasies spun by your friendly neighbourhood ad man.
It’s a perfect encapsulation of the cyclical nature of advertising, Mad Men’s primary theme.