9th
Is this the same joint where Don mistakenly suggested Roger get a divorce?
After a season wrought with expectant disaster - between all the doomed wedding dates, unfortunately appropriate bedtime reading, and imperialistic Italian visits - did the Roman empire really collapse last night? The season has focused on deconstructing and destroying “Don Draper,” stripping him of his freedom and power at work (contract) and at home (that whole not-my-real-name thing and wife no-longer-loves-me thing). He was all set-up for the uppercut of Sterling Cooper’s sale and Betty’s divorce, ready for a second-act knockout akin to Han Solo’s carbonite binge.
Instead, Don Draper looked again to his past and rejected it. Rather than giving in to familial and societal pressures, dooming himself to a life of servitude or horseshoes to the head, he becomes the type of man his father wasn’t: independent. He showed up to Poppa Connie’s a man who blames circumstance (*cough* Campbell *cough*) but left Donald Draper, a man ready to assert his will and control his destiny.
Last night, it was the Roman empire of Sterling Cooper that fell, the son of Sterling finally acknowledging that he had merely inherited his fortunes. But it was PPL playing the violin as Draper led the barbarous hordes ransacking the office riches.
On a purely television series note, like Molly, I was reminded of The Wire last night as one of the only other shows I can think of that would change the playing board like this at the end of the season. Last night’s destruction of Sterling Cooper was not Lucy & Ricki heading to LA. The setting and the dynamics have changed; we have entered a brave new world where the show is different but distinctly retains its identity.
Roger will drink too much, Don will weave his tales, and Peggy will still sneak away for a quick nooner.
