What is the “Mad Men” ending? What happened to Don Draper? The American period drama “Mad Men” ending left many wondering what happened at the conclusion. This period drama began airing on July 19, 2007. The series has over seven series, and each season comprises 13 episodes except for the seventh season, which has fourteen episodes. The series is the creation of Matthew Weiner, and Lionsgate Television produced this American series. Further, the series features talented actors like Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, and Christina Hendricks in lead roles.
The movie deals with themes like alcoholism, racism, sexuality, and identity. The “Mad Men” presents a story full of drama and thrilling sequences. Further, the performance by the actors in the series was phenomenal. The series received praises from the critics and audience for the acting, directing, narration, and historical authenticity. However, the “Mad Men” ending left fans with many questions in their heads. Thus, we will explain the “Mad Men” ending in this article. Further, beware of reading this article as it will contain many spoilers. So to avoid spoilers, you can watch the American period drama on Amazon Prime Video before reading this article.
What Is The Plot Of The American Period Drama?
The “Mad Men” focuses on a New York-based advertisement agency, Sterling Cooper, during the 1960s. Further, the title of the show “Mad Men” is a reference to the people working in Maddison Avenue. Because during that time period, this place was a hub for advertisement agencies. The plot of “Mad Men” primarily focuses on the genius creative director of Sterling Cooper, Don Draper. Apart from Don, the show also spotlights his colleagues and friends, Roger Sterling, who is Don’s partner in the agency; Pete Campbell, a young and ambitious account executive; and Peggy Olson, Draper’s secretary.
The series explores Don’s character and the struggles he goes through to establish a successful ad company. Don had a tough past which he tends to forget. His life taught him many lessons and made him the man he is now. He is a charismatic man with a talent for his work, but he also has many impurities like excessive smoking and drinking to being a playboy despite being a married man. In most of the series, we see Don as a dissatisfied man who is not able to balance his professional and personal life and also seeks some calm or meaning to his life.
As the plot is set during the 1960s, we see many historical facts. Like the evolution of media, fashion, and social norms. As the story continues, we see Don going through many troubles in his life, like a divorce from his wife, Betty Francis, to shutting down his ad company. However, he also saw light in his lifetime, as he and his wife both remarried. Also, he establishes again his company under the name Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. But after a huge merger, he rebrands the advertisement company again to Sterling Cooper & Partners.
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What Happened In The Ending Of “Mad Men”?
In the series finale, we witness Dom attending a meeting of his company. However, the ad man seemed really uninterested in that meeting and soon leaves from there. He later goes on a road trip and even plans to break the records of a race car driver. During his “race driver” adventure, Don discovers that betty is suffering from terminal lung cancer and will soon die. So, he tells Betty that he will raise his kids. However, Don’s daughter rejects the offer and instead chooses to live alone with her brothers. Even Betty informs Don that after her demise, she wants the kids to move into her brother’s household. Further, Don realizes that he has never been a good father or husband.
Meanwhile, Don’s self-proclaimed rival, Pete Cambell, undergoes a redemption arc and has reconciled with his ex-wife. Further, he is moving to Kansas along with his family to start a new happy life. Joan Holloway Harris starts her own production company and asks Peggy Olson to join her project. As she wasn’t happy with the work at Don’s company, and seriously thinks about the opportunity Joan presented her. Also, Don’s partner and friend, Roger Sterling, was enjoying a peaceful and happy married life with his wife. Eventually, Don visits Anna Draper’s niece, Stephanie, to look for some comfort after so many rejections. However, Anna’s niece also lost her baby, and she herself was going to a retreat. Don had nothing much to do and, therefore, joined Stephanie at the retreat.
In that retreat, Don had some tearful phone calls with Sally, Betty, and Peggy. Then he attends a seminar at the retreat where he breakdowns after hearing Leonard’s speech. As he could see himself in Leonard’s speech and embraced him. Finally, we see Don meditating with a group in the retreat. However, he no more has that broken down or dead face. Instead, he had a slight smile on his face, and soon the screen cuts into a Cola advertisement. This scene could mean that Don realized that the only purpose of his life is to be an ad man. Therefore, he might have returned back to New York and is the creator of that Cola Ad.
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