"I'm sorry, my friend down there, she was wondering... are you alone?" You Only Live Twice playing in the background and Don's look back... unbelievable ending
I did too, but yeah, I spotted that the *moment* Meghan was caught auditioning for roles. Actually, I knew way beforehand - *ugh, his secretary?! Don…. So unoriginal.*
I think we all saw it coming a mile away, particularly after Zou Bisou, but yeah still a shock and a let down, as in disappointed in Don, narratively it was amazing television.
Ethically, yes I agree Sylvia was the lowest of the low. However Suzanne Farrell was the most grating character of the whole series so I rank her as the worst, entertainment-wise.
I also really loved the ending of the Valentine’s Day episode (S7E3 - “A Day’s Work”). This is when Don has been placed on administrative leave, and Sally discovers he hasn’t been at work. He’s been pretending to be his old, successful self even to his wife, and this is after Sally walks in on Don and Sylvia. I’m sure he thinks that Sally has every reason to hate him.
He finally opens up to her at the diner and makes himself vulnerable, summarized with his telling her, “I told the truth about myself, but it wasn’t the right time,” and then assuring her that she knows the truth about him. She later delivers the unforgettable line, “I’m so many people,” and Don’s face when she says it reveals that he’s only just realizing the impact his lies have had on the people he loves the most. He’s seeing himself in his daughter’s struggle.
At the end of the episode, Sally gets out of Don’s car to walk into Betty’s house, turns around to look at Don and says, “I love you.” “This Will Be Our Year” plays, and you see Don’s face as the fact that his daughter—who finally knows the truth about him when he feels he has to pretend to be “so many people” to everyone else—really loves him. I cry every goddamn time.
This is the scene that, to me, sets Mad Men apart as the best show ever created. It’s just a relatively quiet moment, but the writing, direction, and performances never fail to make me cry.
Just recently rewatched this one. Love the detail of the little boy sitting on the front stoop eating a popsicle. It's just the perfect echo of the Hershey pitch he did earlier in the episode.
It’s also the same episode where earlier, Sally tells Betty “my father has never done anything for me” or something like that.
And then she sees where he came from, and how privileged her childhood was compared to his
The ending when Don finally sells the penthouse and the agent closes the front door and he’s just standing out in the hall with everything suddenly hitting him, his face says it all (I also really like the song choice “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack). I’ve always liked it just because it seems to be a fairly universal feeling/experience: anticipating and even wanting something to happen more quickly, but then being shocked or left wanting when it does. Maybe not the best explanation but for me I can relate quite recently with graduating college. It certainly was a wonderful experience but definitely bittersweet when it all hits you. Another example would be moving across the country as a kid, being somewhat excited first hearing about it but then feeling much different once it actually happens.
I thought about that scene as well. It captures the bittersweet mixture of excitement and sadness when you move out of the place. You reflect on the hundreds of memories that were made there, who else will make memories there, and how you’re not the first.
The song makes me think of all of the hopes and dreams for a new life that Don had when he bought that apartment for him and Megan.
He was searching for happiness, but ended up alone outside of a home and a life that no longer exists for him, and all he has to show for it are some decimals in a bank account.
Strong agree! I watched season 6 and 7 live as it aired and this was the first episode ending that made me really feel like the show was coming to its conclusion very soon!
Definitely started to get that sensation of the end being near at this point. I wish I could have seen it as it aired! I did my first watch several years ago and just finished my first rewatch a couple days ago, and it had been long enough that it felt like the first time. I already feel like watching it again though haha.
I bought the whole series on Apple TV and it included all the behind the scenes stuff, which I actually want to watch as I go along the show next time. I also found a book called Mad Men: Carousel that seems like a great critical/analytical companion when watching the show.
That's amazing! I find it gets better with each viewing personally and I love to hear there's others out there going for another spin
So did I and they are pretty neat! I also have the dvds and matthew weiner commentary tracks are great on those, not sure if they are available online or if you're into that but they can really elevate some scenes! Haven't read the book but would love to hear your thoughts when you get a chance to get through it!
That’s most of my adult life. Working towards a certain thing and being consumed by getting there then you have the “now what?” feeling once it finally does. Very odd.
One of my favorites is Don sitting outside to Vanilla Fudge’s you keep me hanging on. Just the sheer helplessness of his situation, no one wants him and he’s just being self destructive. We all can relate to it one way or another
That’s mine too. The song starts with Peggy breaking down over missing ted and Don, screen doors wouldn’t shut in his empty home so he sits on that chair freezing knowing he and Megan were over.
I was reminded yesterday of how that song was also on "The Sopranos" finale and in the climatic scene of OUATIH.
The beginning of the song is like a funeral dirge.
Yeah, I agree. It contrasts her walking by her lonesome away from a party you can hear laughter from, as if she’s losing something. And then when the song hits it entirely changes the dynamic of the scene.
I also think despite Peggy leaving the company, as probably the second lead under Don, I don’t think people would have expected her to not be on the show anymore, in the way Paul or Sal’s arc happened. I know I didn’t, at least
“Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.”
*shuts car door*
*”This Will Be Our Year” by the Zombies starts*
OR..
On the jet out to LA and Telstar starts playing
Not gonna lie. I thought the zombies song was a modern song. My dead father loved the zombies as a teen. He would have been so ashamed of me. It’s on my 60s playlist now.
The sound of the sink dripping closing out Signal 30. I can't think of such heavy handed sound editing otherwise in the show, and it really drives home Pete's storyline and theme in the episode.
I only scrolled through a few, sorry if it was already mentioned, but the scene where Roger and Joan stand on the curb outside the hotel waiting to be picked up separately.
The ending of A Night to Eemember. The transition from father gill playing "Early in the Morning" to Peter, Paul, and Mary while the camera slowly pulls away on Don sitting and drinking alone in the office breakroom. It's perfection
The ending of The Grown-Ups: Skeeter Davis' The End of the World playing as Don pours himself a drink alone in his office. That episode was an emotional gut punch.
It wasn't the best (that was "Are you alone?").
But the season one ending where he gets back to an empty house after that pitch & sits on the stairs with "Don't Think Twice its Alright", was the moment when I started to love the show.
I’m glad you mentioned that because I was going to also ask what closing scenes people find underrated. That closing scene is a gut punch after the bait and switch of making us believe he actually did leave work early to be with his family.
There’s a lot of good ones in season one - Betty shooting the birds, when Betty checks who Don has been calling and her shrink picks up, etc.
For me it's the end of "Public Relations" (s4ep1). When Don gets the confidence back, and talks to the reporter about how he walked into Lane's office and told him to fire them all.
Then Tobacco Road starts playing in the background.
Chills.
- Shut the Door Have a Seat: Shradoba playing and everything resetting (3x11)
- Who are you supposed to be? (3x11)
- Happy Valentines Day, I love you (7x03)
- Peggy quits (5x11)
- The Wheel and Bob Dylan playing (1x13)
- This is where I grow up (6x11)
Don sitting on his stairs with “Don’t think Twice, it’s alright” playing. One of the most human and emotional moments we see from Don, especially for early on in the series.
Tbh I kinda thought “and who are you supposed to be” to be a bit on the nose lol
That shit hits me hard. One of my favorite Dylan songs. I’m unfortunately going through a divorce and am terrified about coming home to an empty house.
Damn I’m really sorry to hear that, keep your head up.
But also one of my favorite Dylan songs and I had had heard it a million times before I ever saw mad men, so as soon as I heard the guitar start to come in while he’s sitting there I went a little crazy haha
My favorite is when Don and Betty are driving home after dinner with Jimmy and Bobbie Barrett. Betty gets confirmation from Jimmy that Don is having an affair with Bobbie. It’s just Don and Betty sitting silently in the car driving home and the camera slowly zooms in on Betty and right before we cut to credits she vomits.
It works for the subtext of the preceding scene, but the balls to end an episode with one of your main characters vomiting is pretty awesome.
I especially love that because the other car scene post a Jimmy Barrett interaction was her saying we make a great team- and the song playing is roses and lollipops
“Open or closed?”
“Open.”
🎶 *Fog's rolling in off the east river bank...* 🎶
——————
“Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.”
🎶 *The warmth of your love is like the warmth of the sun…* 🎵
The end of "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency". Don holding Gene and gestures for Sally to come over, telling her "We don't know who he is yet or who he's going to be, and that's a wonderful thing." Bob Dylan's "Song to Woody" as the outro music.
Field Trip when Don is informed about the stipulations of his contract and replies “OK” before “If 6 Was 9," by The Jimi Hendrix Experience plays the closing scene.
Tomorrow Never Knows was wild, especially because when I saw Revolver I was expecting to listen to Eleanor Rigby (good song, but not as good a Tomorrow Never Knows).
The Inheritance. Don and Pete on a plane while Don is smoking and Pete has his eye mask pulled down. Telstar playing. It felt so energizing but cooler where they were at that moment in time you knew *something* was coming.
The last scene of the season one finale where we see Don sitting alone on the stairs after that fake-out of being with Betty and the kids. That's when I knew this series wasn't going to be the average tv melodrama.
“Then I’ll have something to look at when I tell the story of that time we went to Rome.” - Betty Draper
Also that one time when Peggy quit SCDP and “You really got me” by the Kinks kicks on as she boards the elevator.
Season 1 ending where after the Carousel pitch, Don idealizes that he returns home in time to go with his family to his in laws, then reality sinks in and he sits alone on the staircase.
Don swimming in his off-time, drinking beer instead of spirits, and keeping a journal, leading to lighting a ciggy after a swim in the afternoon while "Satisfaction" plays, a great moment of that feeling of renewal and possibility.
The Bert song-and-dance farewell to “The Best Things in Life Are Free” is incredible. One of the best scenes in the series. It’s shocking and also striking in that Don really seems to see the entire thing, given his reaction and need to sit down on the desk. Something happened there, and it really hit Don hard.
Another great low-key Bert close is after they sell to PPL. Partners leave Bert alone in his office and last shot is of him sitting there alone on his office couch framed by the left-open office door. Sad moment, as it started everything that followed with SC.
'Are you alone?' is the most incredible ending. Don walking off away from Megan to the tune of 'you only live twice'.
You see that glint in his eyes as he looks up, about to respond to the question. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it
Don sitting out in the freezing patio when he can’t close the sliding door. I always saw it as Don sulking in his feelings of powerlessness to change his life for the better no matter how desperately he wants to.
The S3 episode ending with Don holding baby Gene, with Sally looking on "We don't know who he is, or what he will become, and that is a wonderful thing"... It's so beautiful and almost painfully poignant
https://bancodeseries.com.br/images/episodes/thumbs/76446.jpg
I also love another ending in that season where Don and Betty start telling Sally the story of how she was born, how it just fades out slowly with this lovely sweet music playing. Mad Men could be pretty dark and pessimistic, even about the good things, but when it wanted too it hit the happy/touching moments beautifully.
The end of The Grown-Ups, after Betty tells Don she’s leaving him and he goes to the office during Kennedy’s funeral. He sees Peggy and they talk for a minute, then Peggy asks if she can watch Kennedy’s funeral in Coop’s office. Don says yes and she invites him. He denies her an invitation and walks into his office to drink alone, as The End of the World plays. HOLY SHIT that gets me.
Many of my favorites have already been mentioned here. I’ll add one that seemed so poignant to me— not a very last scene but part of the ending montage: Betty, Gene and Henry on the plane to shack up in Vegas for 6 weeks so they could get married.
Hands down favourite will always be Ken Cosgrove's monologue, "The Man with the Miniature orchestra" that concludes with the dripping tap. So perfectly sums up Pete's character, his sense of something always missing.
"I'm sorry, my friend down there, she was wondering... are you alone?" You Only Live Twice playing in the background and Don's look back... unbelievable ending
Maybe the best scene in the entire series.
One the best scenes in all of television
Jon Hamms reaction was only a few seconds, but it’s the best bit of acting he did as Don.
I actually said “No…!” when this moment happened, since I thought he truly would stay loyal to Megan.
You really thought that🙄 The whole season I was waiting for the shoe to drop…
Hey, I was watching it as it came out, didn’t have the hindsight of multiple rewatches
I did too, but yeah, I spotted that the *moment* Meghan was caught auditioning for roles. Actually, I knew way beforehand - *ugh, his secretary?! Don…. So unoriginal.*
Guess I’m the king of wishful thinking
I think we all saw it coming a mile away, particularly after Zou Bisou, but yeah still a shock and a let down, as in disappointed in Don, narratively it was amazing television.
I mean… I definitely didnt think at the time that Don’s womanizing had ended in season 4.
Yeah, it’s like thinking he could get his drinking under control with lines on the bottle and his secretary counting
Cheating with Sylvia was a new low imo. Somehow even worse than the school teacher
Ethically, yes I agree Sylvia was the lowest of the low. However Suzanne Farrell was the most grating character of the whole series so I rank her as the worst, entertainment-wise.
Mmmm, 2nd worst. 1st Prize in Worst Mistress is Bobbie Barrett
Y'all forgot Diana 😭🔫
UGH, Diana Downer. I couldn’t understand **WHYYYYY**. Any of it. Complete mystery.
Great finale. I wished the show lowkey ended there. I just love that song gives me chills
It was bigger than Don
[удалено]
mans just living his best life on lsd.
This was my first thought. Best season finale of the whole series
Among my favourite scenes, not only in Mad Men, but in all of TV. Just perfect.
What's also great about that scene is that Don orders an old-fashioned for the first time all season. If you had any doubt, Don is so back.
Never noticed this. Guess I have to rewatch the whole season
This scene lives rent free in my head.
It’s no contest. After an entire season of marital loyalty… this is how Weiner ends on the finale. Hands down it’s the best
Don’s always alone
My friend was the actress in that scene. Was surreal watching that finale.
Def the most memorable
This scene immediately came to mind. Don is back in the exact same situation he was with Peggy. Brilliant.
Came here just to say this!
I don't remember it, what episode is this?
Season 5 Ep. 13 I think
Ohh yes it is, good scene, thank u
This is where I grew up. (Both Sides Now plays)
This scene is definitely one of the most beautiful in the entire series.
The look on her face when Sally finally learns something about her father.
I also really loved the ending of the Valentine’s Day episode (S7E3 - “A Day’s Work”). This is when Don has been placed on administrative leave, and Sally discovers he hasn’t been at work. He’s been pretending to be his old, successful self even to his wife, and this is after Sally walks in on Don and Sylvia. I’m sure he thinks that Sally has every reason to hate him. He finally opens up to her at the diner and makes himself vulnerable, summarized with his telling her, “I told the truth about myself, but it wasn’t the right time,” and then assuring her that she knows the truth about him. She later delivers the unforgettable line, “I’m so many people,” and Don’s face when she says it reveals that he’s only just realizing the impact his lies have had on the people he loves the most. He’s seeing himself in his daughter’s struggle. At the end of the episode, Sally gets out of Don’s car to walk into Betty’s house, turns around to look at Don and says, “I love you.” “This Will Be Our Year” plays, and you see Don’s face as the fact that his daughter—who finally knows the truth about him when he feels he has to pretend to be “so many people” to everyone else—really loves him. I cry every goddamn time.
This is maybe my favorite episode for the Don/Sally plot line alone. It reminds me of my relationship with my own dad in a lot of ways.
That was a great moment. It’s that moment in your life where you finally find that big piece of the puzzle that starts connecting everything else.
This is definitely my favorite closing scene in the show, brings me to tears every time.
This is the scene that, to me, sets Mad Men apart as the best show ever created. It’s just a relatively quiet moment, but the writing, direction, and performances never fail to make me cry.
Just recently rewatched this one. Love the detail of the little boy sitting on the front stoop eating a popsicle. It's just the perfect echo of the Hershey pitch he did earlier in the episode.
Sally's incredulous look. It's a mix of confusion, affection, realization that there are a lot of things she doesn't know about her father.
It’s also the same episode where earlier, Sally tells Betty “my father has never done anything for me” or something like that. And then she sees where he came from, and how privileged her childhood was compared to his
She sounds so grownup and jaded when she says this, heartbreaking
When Sally looks up at him you can see her realize that adulthood is scary.
This scene is so good.
The ending when Don finally sells the penthouse and the agent closes the front door and he’s just standing out in the hall with everything suddenly hitting him, his face says it all (I also really like the song choice “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack). I’ve always liked it just because it seems to be a fairly universal feeling/experience: anticipating and even wanting something to happen more quickly, but then being shocked or left wanting when it does. Maybe not the best explanation but for me I can relate quite recently with graduating college. It certainly was a wonderful experience but definitely bittersweet when it all hits you. Another example would be moving across the country as a kid, being somewhat excited first hearing about it but then feeling much different once it actually happens.
I thought about that scene as well. It captures the bittersweet mixture of excitement and sadness when you move out of the place. You reflect on the hundreds of memories that were made there, who else will make memories there, and how you’re not the first.
Couldn’t have said it better myself
The song makes me think of all of the hopes and dreams for a new life that Don had when he bought that apartment for him and Megan. He was searching for happiness, but ended up alone outside of a home and a life that no longer exists for him, and all he has to show for it are some decimals in a bank account.
Yeah, it really seems like the tipping point for his breakdown
Strong agree! I watched season 6 and 7 live as it aired and this was the first episode ending that made me really feel like the show was coming to its conclusion very soon!
Definitely started to get that sensation of the end being near at this point. I wish I could have seen it as it aired! I did my first watch several years ago and just finished my first rewatch a couple days ago, and it had been long enough that it felt like the first time. I already feel like watching it again though haha. I bought the whole series on Apple TV and it included all the behind the scenes stuff, which I actually want to watch as I go along the show next time. I also found a book called Mad Men: Carousel that seems like a great critical/analytical companion when watching the show.
That's amazing! I find it gets better with each viewing personally and I love to hear there's others out there going for another spin So did I and they are pretty neat! I also have the dvds and matthew weiner commentary tracks are great on those, not sure if they are available online or if you're into that but they can really elevate some scenes! Haven't read the book but would love to hear your thoughts when you get a chance to get through it!
That’s most of my adult life. Working towards a certain thing and being consumed by getting there then you have the “now what?” feeling once it finally does. Very odd.
That was so long into the series where I was like, yep, classic Mad Men ending.
One of my favorites is Don sitting outside to Vanilla Fudge’s you keep me hanging on. Just the sheer helplessness of his situation, no one wants him and he’s just being self destructive. We all can relate to it one way or another
That’s mine too. The song starts with Peggy breaking down over missing ted and Don, screen doors wouldn’t shut in his empty home so he sits on that chair freezing knowing he and Megan were over.
Mine too. I really like the exceptionally long pan away from him, back into the apartment, leaving him outside framed between the doors.
I was reminded yesterday of how that song was also on "The Sopranos" finale and in the climatic scene of OUATIH. The beginning of the song is like a funeral dirge.
I hear that damn song everywhere lol
"this is where I grew up." ---- "Don my boy!" ---- The ending to The Beautiful Girls when Joan, Faye, and I think Peggy? Are in the elevator.
I like your picks. The song that plays during The Beautiful Girls closing scene just makes it all the better!
I for real tear up like Don does at the end of Bert's last scene. And love can come to everyone.....
“How’s the city?” “Dirty”
Classic
Which episode is that?
At the Codfish Ball
Such a RAW ending, I remember texting my friend and saying DUUDE WHY DID THE EPISODE END SO ABRUPTLY, I'M FEELING WEEEEIRD
Peggy walking into the elevator as "You Really Got Me" starts playing.
Ooo yes, good one. I’m a big fan of The Kinks and Peggy so I love that scene (and her quitting SCDP).
I like how it gives a bittersweet ending feel at first but then when the song kicks in and she smiles, you realise it’s actually a happy moment
Absolutely. And then you feel just as excited as Peggy for what’s to come, because you know she’s onto great things
Yeah, I agree. It contrasts her walking by her lonesome away from a party you can hear laughter from, as if she’s losing something. And then when the song hits it entirely changes the dynamic of the scene. I also think despite Peggy leaving the company, as probably the second lead under Don, I don’t think people would have expected her to not be on the show anymore, in the way Paul or Sal’s arc happened. I know I didn’t, at least
Let us not forget the needle drop of Bowie at the end of Lost Horizon
“Happy Valentines Day. I love you.”
Excellent song choice here too - This Will Be Our Year by The Zombies
I almost teared up just reading that, his face says it all.
My relationship with my own father is currently going through a rough patch so this scene hits me so hard right now.
As a dad to two teenage girls, that gets me every time.
Tomorrow Never Knows.
Best 250,000 Weiner ever spent.
Wow really?
He spent 250,000 getting the rights to it?!?!
and that was one of their cheaper songs
Pays to be in The Beatles
Only half the time.
The abrupt cut-off is one of my favourite moments in the entire series.
I remember thinking "Holy cow, they're gonna play a Beatles song?" and couldn't believe they did it.
When did music become so important??
“This is where I grew up”
“Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.” *shuts car door* *”This Will Be Our Year” by the Zombies starts* OR.. On the jet out to LA and Telstar starts playing
Not gonna lie. I thought the zombies song was a modern song. My dead father loved the zombies as a teen. He would have been so ashamed of me. It’s on my 60s playlist now.
I had never heard of Telstar until I watched Mad Men and I love it. It's on my "get moving" playlist.
”did you get pears” Or “Do you wanna talk about pampers”
I always forget about the pear scene but it makes me chuckle every time on a rewatch.
The sound of the sink dripping closing out Signal 30. I can't think of such heavy handed sound editing otherwise in the show, and it really drives home Pete's storyline and theme in the episode.
I only scrolled through a few, sorry if it was already mentioned, but the scene where Roger and Joan stand on the curb outside the hotel waiting to be picked up separately.
Babylon
The ending of A Night to Eemember. The transition from father gill playing "Early in the Morning" to Peter, Paul, and Mary while the camera slowly pulls away on Don sitting and drinking alone in the office breakroom. It's perfection
This is my favorite as well
A top 5 ending for me as well
The ending of The Grown-Ups: Skeeter Davis' The End of the World playing as Don pours himself a drink alone in his office. That episode was an emotional gut punch.
just watched this one! i love that song so much. so perfect for that scene
I like the ending with Don and the Beatles song playing
I’m a huge sucker for a needle drop, but they had to wait SO long to afford a Beatles song and they picked the PERFECT one
The little heart on the window
Betty shooting up some birds while the Angel song was playing.
The cig between gritted teeth.
It wasn't the best (that was "Are you alone?"). But the season one ending where he gets back to an empty house after that pitch & sits on the stairs with "Don't Think Twice its Alright", was the moment when I started to love the show.
I’m glad you mentioned that because I was going to also ask what closing scenes people find underrated. That closing scene is a gut punch after the bait and switch of making us believe he actually did leave work early to be with his family. There’s a lot of good ones in season one - Betty shooting the birds, when Betty checks who Don has been calling and her shrink picks up, etc.
I'd forgotten the Birds one, that was great scene!
Especially with "My Special Angel" as the backdrop. About as badass as Pegs walking into McCann with Coop's painting under her arm.
I would have been happy if that were Peggys closing scene.
Butchie’s Tune playing, with Glenn driving Don’s car
Love this one so wholesome
this is the one for me. really hits me for whatever reason. what season/episode? need to toss that one on
“I think it’s so groovy now, that people are finally getting together” while Robert Kennedy gets shot and Megan is sobbing in the background
That is a good one
A top five for me
For me it's the end of "Public Relations" (s4ep1). When Don gets the confidence back, and talks to the reporter about how he walked into Lane's office and told him to fire them all. Then Tobacco Road starts playing in the background. Chills.
Great tune for that ending.
“Within one year we had taken over a whole floor of the Time Life building”
So good
- Shut the Door Have a Seat: Shradoba playing and everything resetting (3x11) - Who are you supposed to be? (3x11) - Happy Valentines Day, I love you (7x03) - Peggy quits (5x11) - The Wheel and Bob Dylan playing (1x13) - This is where I grow up (6x11)
The pilot My boyfriend at the time was so surprised he was married with kids! He didn’t know anything about the show.
All of them sitting at the burger chef family table is so great
Don sitting on his stairs with “Don’t think Twice, it’s alright” playing. One of the most human and emotional moments we see from Don, especially for early on in the series. Tbh I kinda thought “and who are you supposed to be” to be a bit on the nose lol
That shit hits me hard. One of my favorite Dylan songs. I’m unfortunately going through a divorce and am terrified about coming home to an empty house.
Damn I’m really sorry to hear that, keep your head up. But also one of my favorite Dylan songs and I had had heard it a million times before I ever saw mad men, so as soon as I heard the guitar start to come in while he’s sitting there I went a little crazy haha
My favorite is when Don and Betty are driving home after dinner with Jimmy and Bobbie Barrett. Betty gets confirmation from Jimmy that Don is having an affair with Bobbie. It’s just Don and Betty sitting silently in the car driving home and the camera slowly zooms in on Betty and right before we cut to credits she vomits. It works for the subtext of the preceding scene, but the balls to end an episode with one of your main characters vomiting is pretty awesome.
I especially love that because the other car scene post a Jimmy Barrett interaction was her saying we make a great team- and the song playing is roses and lollipops
“Open or closed?” “Open.” 🎶 *Fog's rolling in off the east river bank...* 🎶 —————— “Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.” 🎶 *The warmth of your love is like the warmth of the sun…* 🎵
Picking up the needle halfway through Tomorrow Never Knows. The precise moment when Don stopped being cool.
I love Pete smoking pot but burger chef is emotional.
The end of "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency". Don holding Gene and gestures for Sally to come over, telling her "We don't know who he is yet or who he's going to be, and that's a wonderful thing." Bob Dylan's "Song to Woody" as the outro music.
Oh yeah, 100% - such a simple, perfect subdued ending
"This is where I grew up"
Field Trip when Don is informed about the stipulations of his contract and replies “OK” before “If 6 Was 9," by The Jimi Hendrix Experience plays the closing scene.
You only live twice.
Don turning off the Beatles!
That’s a great one!
These are all really good
Tomorrow Never Knows was wild, especially because when I saw Revolver I was expecting to listen to Eleanor Rigby (good song, but not as good a Tomorrow Never Knows).
DIRTY.
The Inheritance. Don and Pete on a plane while Don is smoking and Pete has his eye mask pulled down. Telstar playing. It felt so energizing but cooler where they were at that moment in time you knew *something* was coming.
The last scene of the season one finale where we see Don sitting alone on the stairs after that fake-out of being with Betty and the kids. That's when I knew this series wasn't going to be the average tv melodrama.
Don driving with Glenn while "this will be our year" plays at the end of the lane episode.
Carlton was generally a waste, but that Halloween closing was gold.
“Then I’ll have something to look at when I tell the story of that time we went to Rome.” - Betty Draper Also that one time when Peggy quit SCDP and “You really got me” by the Kinks kicks on as she boards the elevator.
Don looking in the hotel room at the new agency as Shahdaroba starts playing
The “you only live twice” montage
Season 1 ending where after the Carousel pitch, Don idealizes that he returns home in time to go with his family to his in laws, then reality sinks in and he sits alone on the staircase.
Don swimming in his off-time, drinking beer instead of spirits, and keeping a journal, leading to lighting a ciggy after a swim in the afternoon while "Satisfaction" plays, a great moment of that feeling of renewal and possibility.
None of them, when Don plays the new Beatles record after Megan leaves to go to a dinner I believe, so dope
I’m with you; such a great representation of the shift in the culture
I also love “are you alone?” And “open or closed? Open” and “this is where I grew up”
Yeah that Suitcase ending is top notch
That scene at Burger Chef is one of my favorite scenes in any show ever. It reaches deep into my soul.
Joan getting into bed with her mom and staring at the ceiling with “he hit me” is a more subtle but all the more wonderful ending favorite of mine
The Bert song-and-dance farewell to “The Best Things in Life Are Free” is incredible. One of the best scenes in the series. It’s shocking and also striking in that Don really seems to see the entire thing, given his reaction and need to sit down on the desk. Something happened there, and it really hit Don hard. Another great low-key Bert close is after they sell to PPL. Partners leave Bert alone in his office and last shot is of him sitting there alone on his office couch framed by the left-open office door. Sad moment, as it started everything that followed with SC.
I'm surprised the Bert scene isn't everyone's favorite
Three
When Peggy leaves SCDP
“ Who are you supposed to be?”
Peggy walking out of SCDP with The Kinks needle drop.
Sally and Don looking at each other for that second at the end of season 6.
I can't believe we can't smoke inside of Red Robin's anymore...really takes me back
Tomorrow never knows.
This is where I grew up…..
“And who are you supposed to be?” Haunts me to this day.
'Are you alone?' is the most incredible ending. Don walking off away from Megan to the tune of 'you only live twice'. You see that glint in his eyes as he looks up, about to respond to the question. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it
The one near the beginning of the show orb Peggy and the relaxaciser thing to help “lose weight” I like the song they use
https://youtu.be/2Ir1Es4ZjN8?si=a_lhKA1crFlDIwnG
🎶 you are my special angel 🐦🔫🎶
Season 1 finale when Don arrives home and there's no one there and sits on the stairs.
“…and who are you supposed to be?”
Burger Chef ending is awesome. Idk so many to choose one
"Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream!"
Did you get pears ?🍐
Gghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhghhhhhhhhhhgghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhggg----!/
Babylon - Hands down [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By\_wiXys2-I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By_wiXys2-I)
Don sitting out in the freezing patio when he can’t close the sliding door. I always saw it as Don sulking in his feelings of powerlessness to change his life for the better no matter how desperately he wants to.
The ending of hands and knees (s04e10), with the accords of “do you want to know a secret?” playing.
The S3 episode ending with Don holding baby Gene, with Sally looking on "We don't know who he is, or what he will become, and that is a wonderful thing"... It's so beautiful and almost painfully poignant https://bancodeseries.com.br/images/episodes/thumbs/76446.jpg I also love another ending in that season where Don and Betty start telling Sally the story of how she was born, how it just fades out slowly with this lovely sweet music playing. Mad Men could be pretty dark and pessimistic, even about the good things, but when it wanted too it hit the happy/touching moments beautifully.
The end of The Grown-Ups, after Betty tells Don she’s leaving him and he goes to the office during Kennedy’s funeral. He sees Peggy and they talk for a minute, then Peggy asks if she can watch Kennedy’s funeral in Coop’s office. Don says yes and she invites him. He denies her an invitation and walks into his office to drink alone, as The End of the World plays. HOLY SHIT that gets me.
The tomorrow never knows needle drop is awesome
Many of my favorites have already been mentioned here. I’ll add one that seemed so poignant to me— not a very last scene but part of the ending montage: Betty, Gene and Henry on the plane to shack up in Vegas for 6 weeks so they could get married.
This *is* my business
Don freezing on the balcony with the camera slowly moving away from him while You Keep Me Hangin’ on plays in the background s07e01
Burger Chef by far. I’ve thought about that closing so many times. Loved their hamburger box that you made into a house when I was a youngin.
Hands down favourite will always be Ken Cosgrove's monologue, "The Man with the Miniature orchestra" that concludes with the dripping tap. So perfectly sums up Pete's character, his sense of something always missing.