Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Ad-ios, ad-ieu and good buy.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 10, 2015

A lot of newsprint and/or bandwidth have been utilized to discuss that last view of Don Draper fans of Mad Men were greeted by before the show signed off with one of the most iconic ads from 1971. A lot of the discussion, including some by Don himself (i.e., Jon Hamm), has focused on what Don’s enigmatic smile meant or whether the segue was a suggestion that Don had come up with the iconic ad (whose identity won’t be spoiled here, though my hunch is virtually every Mad Men fan already knows what it is). I’d like to actually entertain a somewhat different approach toward this final view of Don, no matter what the psychological intent was or the editing may have intentionally or unintentionally conveyed. There’s a simple but salient fact about this last image of Don that, to me, anyway, traces back directly to Mad Men’s initial presentation of the character of Don Draper. Here, in our last moments with this enigmatic, charismatic, commanding, incompetent, duplicitous, honorable character, we see him—fully frontal, so to speak, with a clear view of Draper’s quizzically smiling face. Contrast that with the repeated trope (used especially in some of the series’ opening episodes and also quite redolently in the credits sequence and even in the show's general iconography, including perhaps ironically its ads) where a camera would push in to the back of Draper’s head, i.e., a view which either consciously or subconsciously suggests a certain mystery and unknowability. I mentioned this very trope back in the Dark Ages of DVD when I reviewed Mad Men’s first season on that format (for another site), as I felt it perfectly encapsulated the series’ initial gambit of dealing with Draper as something of an International Man of Mystery. In fact much of Mad Men’s early plot machinations surrounded Don’s supposed “secret identity”, a conceit that tended to be subsumed later by the psychological turmoil Don experienced in his “(not so) secret identity” as Don. Over the course of the ensuing several seasons, Draper at times seemed to have (or at least convey) a firm grasp on who he was and where he was going, but at least as often (and maybe more often), he seemed confused, not sure of his place in the world (or at least the world of advertising), and unable to navigate his roiling relationships with both his coworkers and especially romantically with a parade of both wives and lovers. But here in these final moments, show creator Matthew Weiner seems to suggest, at least subliminally, that Don may finally have a clue as to who he is and what he’s here for. It’s particularly ironic that Weiner communicates that idea by letting the audience see Don, unadorned and at least relatively vulnerable, as if the character himself were saying, “It’s okay now—take a look. I’m fine.”

For those wanting a refresher course on Mad Men's fairly convoluted story so far, our reviews of previous seasons can be found by clicking on the following links:

Mad Men: Season One Blu-ray review

Mad Men: Season Two Blu-ray review

Mad Men: Season Three Blu-ray review

Mad Men: Season Four Blu-ray review

Mad Men: Season Five Blu-ray review

Mad Men: Season Six Blu-ray review

Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 1 Blu-ray review

Matthew Weiner is on record as stating he wished his major characters (or at least most of them) could finish things out at least a little happier than they were at the beginning, and without ticking off a laundry list of the at times overstuffed cast list of the show, it’s fair to say that on the whole, that’s exactly what these last few episodes offer. The interesting thing about several arcs is not that they’re neatly wrapped up (there are in fact certain plot threads left dangling), but how several major characters find at least a moment of grace and contentment, even if it may well be ephemeral and transitory.

As the show moves out of the iconic sixties into the perhaps somewhat less epochal seeming seventies, Mad Men subtly alters the landscape, especially for some of the incredible women characters like Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) and Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks). It may only be mere coincidence that the one woman seemingly stuck back in the sixties (or perhaps even the fifties), Don’s ex-wife Betty (January Jones), has one of the sadder arcs.

What’s interesting and perhaps portentous for the character of Don is how precipitously close he comes to crashing and burning again, before apparently (emphasis on apparently) finding some sort of Transcendental salvation. In fact much of the last few episodes seem to be pointing in one direction for Don, with perhaps a less than artful path presented to his hillside nirvana. Still, over the course of its several seasons, Mad Men has repeatedly offered characters that somehow behave in odd ways, but who always have seemed largely real. Chalk that up to a triumph of marketing, or at least to really savvy writing and performing.

Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This has consistently been one of the nicer looking series on television (and on subsequent Blu-ray), especially due to the often cool and convincing production design. These last episodes continue the tradition of excellent recreation of a time period, with great fine detail offering excellent views of fabrics in costumes and elements like upholstery or other material. Colors are often bold and quite provocative, in that early seventies' manner. There are however recurrent issues with splotchy yellow artifacts afflicting the image, and not necessarily in only overly dark scenes. These may not prove that problematic for some viewers, but they were consistent enough that I felt a slight diminution in video score was appropriate.

Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again elements like source cues offer Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 2's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with some of its most consistent surround activity, though some of the bustling office activities also provide good immersion. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly and is always well prioritized on this problem free track.

Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One:

• Audio Commentaries:

  Severance - with Matthew Weiner, Jane Bryant and Scott Hornbacher

  New Business - with Matthew Weiner and Tom Smuts

  The Forecast - with Matthew Weiner, Jennifer Getzinger and Jonathan Igla

  Time & Life - with Matthew Weiner and Erin Levy

• Generation Boom: Baby Boomers (1080p; 25:47) is devoted to this roiling generation.


• Earth Day 1970 (1080p; 2:42) looks at one of the defining moments of the dawn of the modern ecological movement.

Disc Two:

• Audio Commentaries:

  Lost Horizon - with Matthew Weiner and Semi Chellas

  The Milk and Honey Route - with Matthew Weiner and Carly Wray

  Person to Person - with Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm

• Unmarried Professional Woman (1080p; 29:43) addresses what might be called the "Mary Tyler Moore Syndrome" of some of the women characters in this season.


• Laurel Canyon (1080p; 2:43) is a brief tour of what this piece calls "Los Angeles' Haight Ashbury".


• Advertising Timeline (1080p) is a gallery charting the history of advertising in the 1960s.

Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mad Men may not have gone out with a bang, so to speak, but it also didn't end with a whimper, instead offering a few moments of relative peace for several major characters while also refusing to promise that any of them would experience a real happily ever after. Mad Men has consistently been one of the best written and acted shows on television, and it manages to complete its story with a fair amount of nuance and effectiveness. Fans should be delighted that this last release has great commentary tracks along with some appealing featurettes, and Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 2 comes Highly recommended.