“Mad Men” reached its mid-season finale with a shocking and richly satisfying ending.
Original cast member Robert Morse, who played Bertram Cooper, the eccentric co-founder of the Sterling Cooper agency, died while watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. His death sent shock waves through the agency, which has been in state of crisis nearly all season. Prior to Cooper’s untimely departure, there was yet another attempt, largely advanced by Jim Cutler (Harry Hamlin), to boot Don Draper (Jon Hamm) from the office, this time due to a breach of contract.
With Bert’s death, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) no longer has the votes to block Cutler. Through a series of manipulations, he arranges to have rival agency McCann Erikson buy Sterling Cooper Partners for a 51 percent stake in the agency–with the stipulation that Don stays as well as LA-based Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm), who is on the verge of quitting.
The partners stand to make so much money off the deal that even Cutler reluctantly raises his hand in favor.
Who would have thought that Roger Sterling, dissolute, cynical and clearly played out in Bert’s eyes, would save the day? It was one of several surprises in a season that has often seemed lackluster and disjointed, without the momentum fans were expecting from “Mad Men’s” final episodes.
Besides the McCann Erikson deal, the “Mad Men” team was going after the Burger Chef account and Don shocked Peggy (Elisabeth Moss, excellent as always) by deciding she, and not he, should make the pitch. Coming the day after moon landing, Peggy is able, despite her nerves, to deliver an eloquent presentation that shows Don’s mentoring all these years was time well invested.
The July 1969 moon landing was the unifying element of the episode. All the major characters sat transfixed in front of their TV sets, much in the way they in the episode where JFK’s assassination gripped them, but this time, the sense of ordinary people being witness to historical events was something they could be proud of.
Not everything was sunny, however. It really does seem that the marriage between Don and Megan Draper (Jessica Pare) is on its last legs. When Don still thinks he is about to be fired, he calls his wife and asks her if she wants him to move out to LA to be with her. Her silence on the end of the line speaks painful volumes, but Megan is well rid of him.
All the performers were in fine form. Besides Moss, the best line of the night belonged to the always sarcastic Betty Francis (January Jones) who told a friend that since her divorce from Don, “I’m starting to think of him as an old, bad boyfriend.”
As a tribute to Morse, who starred in the musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” creator Matthew Weiner gave him the best possible sendoff: a song-and-dance number. In the last scene, while Don walks out of the office, he hears a familiar voice call his name. He turns around and it’s the ghost of Bert, shoeless as always, there to tell him something about life. Morse, with a little help from some secretaries, sings “The Best Things in Life are Free” and then disappears forever behind an office door.
It was a perfect ending. And made us want to come back for the last seven episodes. Next year.