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Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Yeah, that was a great finale.
I was really hoping Don would head off to California, but really Meghan's right - they're not going to work. Don can't have a career-oriented, ambitious wife.
I presume everyone took that final scene as the same "**** you" to Sally that I took it as. The sideways look pretty much said "sweetheart, you have no concept of a broken home; get your shit together".
I do feel like the Hershey meeting was something of a deus ex machina. Nothing really explains the outburst; not the DTs, not the downtrodden look from Ted, not even a bit of sudden clarity. Don still would've swallowed that because he's still a pro in this game. Weiner wanted one more straw to give SCP a reason to send him away for a bit and so he contrived one.
It'll be damn interesting to see how next season starts. The last episode did more to build anticipation than the rest of the season combined.
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While your cynicism toward Don normally would be well-placed, I agree with Keg on this. I think Don's reversal was genuine. He's hit rock bottom, and he's trying to begin the climb back up.
Two things key this in: Ted telling Don "I know there's a good man in there," and the preacher in the bar telling Don "The only unpardonable sin is to believe God cannot forgive you.”
I think when Don in that meeting saw his hand shaking and looked at Ted's face, he became Dick Whitman. And when he took the kids to the whorehouse, he wasn't trying to teach Sally a lesson. He was being Dick Whitman: "Kids, this is who, and what, I am."
I think the series could've ended right there: Don confronting and embracing his past, leaving SCP and NY behind; Ted and Pete going to Calif.; Betty in Albany beginning Henry's political career; and especially, Peggy sitting in Don's desk, literally wearing the pants.
As it is, it will be interesting to see where next season picks up in Don's redemption tour. Will he be Dick Whitman? Don was a reconstituted Dick. Perhaps the final season will be Dick as a reconstituted Don. Or will it ultimately prove impossible, and Don/Dick will face a tragic end, unable to resolve the two? (And by tragic, I don't necessarily mean suicidal/dead, but more like sitting alone, old, with NOTHING of his past -- family, career, etc. -- to hold on to.)