[SLAG]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Like The Soprano's, this series has lasted one season too long. As I mentioned earlier, too many story lines have been extended because Weiner has the time to do so. If this was the final season, each episode would be much tighter.

Personally, I liked the parallels between Don Draper/Dick Whitman and Bob Benson/?. Bob, however, seems hell bent on power and has a little more determination and "evil" behind his rise to power, whereas Don was always surprised that he was able to ascend in the business world so quickly.

Once again, the direction of the program appears to be setting up a death. Ken wasn't killed but Pete was seen cleaning a gun. Don & Megan ran into Ted & Peggy at Rosemary's Baby and later re-enacted that disturbing scene (for the time, especially), with Don as Satan's baby. There just seems to be an ominous air about the direction of the series this season.

The transformation of Sally is nearly complete. She didn't like her mother and adored her father, until she saw who her father really was in last week's episode ("Monster!"). She's finally given in and become like her mother, sharing a cigarette while insulting Don ("He's never given me anything").

Finally, Don in the fetal position to start the show and Don in a the fetal position to end the show. The two women he most respected (Peggy & Sally) now seem him for who he really is: A shallow, empty, shell of a man. Considering that Weiner isn't prone to redemption, I can only assume that Don's downward spiral will continue until the final episode.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I think Don kills himself, or at least attempts to kill himself, in the series finale. Watching Don fall from the top of a building in the opening credits for the past six years, IMO, isn't a coincidence.

So many plates spinning, but its missing something the Sopranos had that kept me wanting more each week, but with Mad Men its becoming more and more forgettable