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Matthew Weiner has spoken!
On May 20, the creator of
Mad Men sat down with novelist A.M. Wells at the New York Public Library to discuss the show's finale, "Person to Person" which aired on Sunday, May 17. Weiner mentions how grateful he is to have been able to not only do the show, but end it on the right terms. He is pleased audiences mostly liked it and enjoyed it how he meant for us to, noting still that you can't please 100% of people or else you've done something "dumb".
Yes, Don went back to McCann and created the iconic Coca-Cola ad.![]()
Don's last scenes had him tearfully hugging a lonely man at a self-improvement retreat, then mediating and chanting "ohm" on a hilltop. The episode ends with the iconic 1971 "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad, leaving viewers to assume that it was Don's work. Weiner mentions that he had no qualms about ending the show with "the greatest commercial ever made", and that the inclusion of the commercial wasn't just ambiguous just for the sake of being ambiguous. "It was nice to have your cake and eat it too, in terms of what is advertising, who is Don and what is that thing?"
We shouldn't view the commercial so cynically.Weiner has heard criticisms of the ad's inclusion being corny and is a "little bit disturbed" that it was received in a cynical way. He acknowledges that advertising is corny but thinks that "people who find that ad corny, they're probably experiencing a lot of life that way, and they're missing out on something." He points out that as recently as 5 years before the ad (so, 1966), black people and white people wouldn't even be featured in an ad together. He thinks it's reflective of the good feeling of the ad that someone in an enlightened state could channel that into such a "very pure" idea. He remarks that the Coke commercial is the best ad ever made, and reiterates that it "comes from a good place", is ahead of its time and is not as "villainous as the snark of today".
Leonard, the crying guy at the retreat, was "probably the most important role in the series."When the show began, it was still a post-war period in which the word "depressed" was not common at all outside doctor speaks. In addition, men didn't cry or express their feelings unless it was at a fight in a bar or something. Weiner talks about the decision to cast the relatively unknown actor Evan Arnold as Leonard, and how he was particularly looking for someone who was both unknown and could really cry, cause then "we believe it right away that he's invisible". Leonard is an allegory for the every day man, who, whether or not they were actually in war, would feel isolated by all the troubles in the world then: politics, racial tension, the advent of technology, even success. He believes that that isolation would lead a lot of people to crack, and that there wasn't (and isn't) enough empathy in the world.
Don and Leonard's hug had more than one meaning.![]()
Weiner hopes the audience would feel that Don wasn't just embracing Leonard but also Don himself...and also the viewer. He hopes the viewers feel they were heard. He likes the idea that Don came to this place where it was all about
other people and a "moment of recognition".
The Fugitive was the inspiration for Don's road trip.Weiner wanted to see Don on his own, coming into town, becoming anyone. He wanted to portray it like an episode of The Fugitive, a 60s series. Weiner mentions the "netherworld of being on the run" and talks about how he thinks everyone has dreams of committing a crime and subsequently being on the run. "Am I the only one? I think it's very common. You're lying!" he said while smiling.
Weiner knew what the ending would be as early as the Season 4 wrapping.Weiner actually told Jon Hamm very early on about it. He even knew about what would happen to Betty then as well. He points out that people dying from cancer is so common in the US, and reminds us that Betty's mother died in the pilot, and thereby she had a predisposition on top of being a heavy smoker already. "I knew this woman wasn't going to live long, and we love the idea of her realizing her purpose in life right when she ran out of time. ... I think there's a lesson to be learned about the randomness of things."
...but he didn't decide how it'd end for everyone.![]()
Weiner actually didn't know that Peggy and Stan would end up together, and that that had to be "proved" to him. He consulted fellow writer David Chase re: whether or not Peggy should ever tell Pete about their baby as well as Peggy's difficulty with kids. Chase agreed that Peggy would be scarred psychologically.
Joan surprised him the most.Weiner thought Joan was going to go through with the abortion. He didn't think she'd end up "this single-mom feminist, looking for childcare." He remarks that it's "not philosophical" for her: "I'm not demeaning the philosophy of feminism, I'm just saying this woman made a practical decision not to take any shit anymore. ... She biologically loves work." He is grateful to Christina Hendricks for taking the part even though it got her fired by her manager. Weiner notes that representation is "destructive" and that it's good only when it's going well.
There were arguments behind the finale.About money, even though, Weiner notes, that because of Mad Men, AMC went public and made a billion dollars. However, he says it's all good now. He's pleased they got to shot the retreat in Anderson Canyon. "[Executive producer] Scott Hornbacher forced me to get into that fight with Lionsgate to shoot there. 'We can't shoot this in San Pedro, we can't do this in Malibu even.' ... It was a very special place to end of the show."
There's a personal meaning behind the finale title, Person to Person.![]()
As mentioned by Jon Hamm, Don places three phone calls in the finale, to the three women in his life: Sally, Betty and Peggy. Weiner notes that the phone itself is important, and how many important things that happened to him in his life occurred over the phone. He mentions how, before texting and voicemail, it was quite a dramatic situation whenever one answers the phone, if one answers at all.
Weiner didn't realize until recently how much Don liked strangers."He likes seducing strangers, which is just like advertising. ... You're gonna walk down the side of the road, and now we know each other. And once he gets to know you, he doesn't like you. (
Faye said this! "I hope [Megan] knows you only like the beginning of things.") Indeed, Weiner notes that in people like this, the affinity would turn once they "feel exposed", and that's also why Don chose Megan instead of Faye. He hints back to how Don tells Peggy to move forward and how this is Don's philosophy in life.
Weiner wants awards for his cast!![]()
"The actors on Mad Men behave like real people, and it has not been in style. I'm not saying this because they haven't won awards. I just see when I sit through these clips — the big screaming, bulging vein through the forehead, burst into tears, big speechifying, 'I can barely' hoarse voice — actors are voting on it!" Weiner says he believes in a more natural, not showy style because he wants the audience to relate and not feel "pulled out of the show" by over the top acting. "I think a lot of people's issues with pace could've been changed if the actors were screaming more." (
Shoutout to the ONTDers who complain about the slow-ness of the show)
Weiner's shows are not binge-friendly, and he likes it that way.Lastly, Weiner was asked about returning to TV in the future, or, say, Netflix. Even if he were on Netflix, Weiner says he'd try to convince them to roll out the episodes slowly so that there'd be some "shared experience". He loves the waiting in between episodes. "When you watch an entire season of a show in a day, you will definitely dream about it, but it's not the same as walking around the whole week, saying, 'God, Pete really pissed me off.' And then at the end of the week, saying, 'When he said he had nothing, that really hurt.'" He likes letting things sit with people, the period in between the shows. But he does see the appeal of hitting the "next" button right away and getting it all at once.
Sources:
Hollywood Reporter, paraphrased
The more I think about the finale (and show) the more I like it. It was great and a fitting ending. I miss this show already.
