Like most aspects of Mad Men, Matthew Weiner’s finale is wide open for interpretations. We can either think that Don Draper actually created Coca-Cola’s famous 1971 commercial, that it was just a reflection of Don’s state of bliss or that it was created by someone else. Jon Hamm has his own interpretation and he shared it on Monday, the day after the finale aired.
In his interview with The New York Times, Hamm said he believes that Don realizes that he is an advertising man and he came up with the famous Coke ad.
“There’s a way to see it in a completely cynical way, and say, ‘Wow, that’s awful,’” Hamm said. “But I think that for Don, it represents some kind of understanding and comfort in this incredibly unquiet, uncomfortable life that he has led.”
Hamm also shared his thoughts on the way the lives of other characters wrapped-up. Even though he wasn’t working with them on a day-to-day basis during filming of the second half of the season, he still knew how Peggy and Joan’s stories ended.
“I liked the misdirection of Joan striking off on her own and inviting Peggy to come along and Peggy having the confidence to say, ‘That’s what you want to do, not what I want to do,’” Hamm explained. “Selfishly, I think if she took anything away from being mentored by my character, it was that — her confidence in her ability to say, ‘There’s something better out there for me, and I’m going to stick it out here and try to find it.’ The romantic stuff with Stan is nice and warm and fuzzy, but to me, Peggy’s larger resolution was in the penultimate episode when she walks into McCann, the cock of the walk, and takes what’s hers.”
Mad Men ran seven season and came to an end Sunday night with the episode “Person to Person.” The series won the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy for its first four seasons.
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