A new day. New ideas. A new you.
The stories of Don Draper, his family and his co-workers conclude.
Don calls Sally from Utah, where he's witnessed Gary Gabelich's Blue Flame break the land speed record at Bonneville. Sally gives Don the news about Betty's diagnosis and states her desire to have the family stay with Henry. Phoning Betty next, Don implores to have his children live with him. However, Betty insists upon leaving them with her brother and his wife, stating they need stability and "a woman in their lives", things that Don cannot provide. Making his way further west to California, Don reunites with Stephanie, who takes him with her to an oceanside spiritual retreat further up the state's coastline.
Back in New York, Ken has a business proposition for Joan — producing adverts. She offers Peggy a partnership in a film production company she is starting. Richard is displeased with Joan's professional ambition and leaves. Roger tells Joan he is marrying Marie, and he wants to will a large part of his estate to his and Joan's son, Kevin.
Stephanie abandons Don at the retreat after receiving troubling feedback about leaving her child with his paternal grandparents. Stuck there with no means of leaving for several days, a distraught Don calls Peggy in her office. Peggy pleads for him to return home and to his job, insisting McCann Erickson would gladly take him back and there is work to be done with the Coca-Cola account. Don then confesses many of his wrongdoings to Peggy and confides that the main reason he called was he never bade her goodbye. After Don hangs up, Peggy discusses her disturbing call with Stan. When the discussion turns into another argument, Stan reveals his true feelings for Peggy, who realizes she loves him, too. She then reveals she turned down Joan's partnership offer.
That evening, Don attends the retreat's confessional seminar and breaks down in commiseration with Leonard, a fellow attendee who feels unloved and unimportant at home and at work.
The episode (and the series as a whole) ends with a montage of the fates of the major characters:
- Pete, Trudy, and Tammy board a Learjet that will take them to their new lives in Wichita.
- Joan operates her new business, Holloway Harris, from her dining room while her mother looks after her son.
- Roger and Marie sit in a cafe in Paris during their honeymoon and muse about an elderly couple seated nearby.
- Sally is doing the dishes in the kitchen of the Francis residence while Betty smokes a cigarette at the kitchen table behind her.
- Peggy, hard at work on an assignment, receives a loving embrace from Stan.
- Don, seated in the lotus position, is meditating and chanting at the oceanside retreat when a half-smile comes to his face. The show then smash cuts to the groundbreaking 1971 "Hilltop" television advertisement for Coca-Cola, created by McCann Erickson; the setting and some of the costumes parallel those of the people around him, implying that he will be instrumental in crafting one of the most famous commercials of all time.
This episode contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Joan cracks up when Roger reveals that his fiance was introduced to him via Megan, and is old enough to be her mother.Roger: In fact, it is her mother.
- Later, Marie laughs when Roger refers to her as his mother to a waiter.
- Ambiguous Ending: Don performs yoga with members of the commune, smiling widely and at peace. The scene then cuts to the famous "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" commercial. Given that the clifftop setting for Don's meditation resembling the setting of the commercial and the woman at the reception desk was dressed very much like a character from the commercial, it's strongly implied that Don created the iconic ad. This interpretation was later confirmed by
Word of God. - Anger Born of Worry: When Don calls Peggy at the office, Peggy's first response is to shout at him. Not because Don's absence left her in a lurch, no, but because she was scared that something might have happened to him.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Stan gives one to Peggy after she tells him that she's staying at McCann. Although stunned, Peggy realizes that she loves him, too.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Marie can act a bit high-strung and erratic, but it becomes clear that she and Roger actually do share a connection on an emotional level, given their final conversation and the news of their marriage.
- It's implied that Joan and Peggy have truly became friends in the end of the series.
- Joan is surprised when Richard suggests she hates her Mom.
- Before they came together in a romantic relationship, Stan and Peggy had a bitter argument and came a long way since "The Waldorf Stories".
- Back for the Finale: Stephanie, who takes Don to the retreat and leaves him there.
- Benevolent Boss: Roger kept Meredith employed as long as he possibly could as a second secretary in hopes that Don would resurface sooner than later. Once the jig was up and he was forced to let her go, he did it in a kind, gentle way that seemed out of Roger's depth before.
- Big Damn Kiss: Between Stan and Peggy.
- Bittersweet Ending: For pretty much the main cast:
- Joan starts her own production company, but she is without a romantic partner or a business partner.
- Peter goes off to start a new career in Wichita, KS, in a new relationship with Trudy and his daughter, but will likely never see any of his former coworkers again.
- Roger settles into semi retirement with Marie Calvet, a far healthier relationship than before, but has essentially given up on being an active partner again or having the same relationship with Don as before.
- Peggy after a decade of struggle and being told to accept either career or a social life, finds herself achieving both with a promising career at McCann and starting a relationship with Stan Rizzo. However, she also has to move on from Don and let him find his own way.
- Don is stripped of practically everything in his life and has a nervous breakdown, but is finally forced to confront his inner demons and seems to be on the road to some form of inner peace and acceptance. Not to mention it is implied he goes on to create one of the most famous ads of all time.
- Career Versus Man: Presented to Joan, who chooses her career. Subverted with Peggy, who gets both.
- The Confidant: When Peggy asks Don why he thinks that he deserves to suffer so much, Don chooses to unload a number of his past mistakes onto her, including the fact that he took another man's identity. Peggy is too worried for Don's well being for it to even register, however.Don: I messed everything up. I'm not the man you think I am.
Peggy: Don. Listen to me. What did you ever do that was so bad?
Don: I broke all my vows. I scandalised my child. I took another man's name and made ... nothing of it.
Peggy: That's not true.
Don: I only called because I realised I never said goodbye to you.
Peggy: I don't think you should be alone right now. - Diagnosed by the Audience: In-Universe. Eddie, Ken Cosgrove's young son; when Ken meets Joan for lunch and she asks about how the kid is doing, Ken doesn't say he's fine, as one would expect.Ken: He's a little weird, actually. I think there might be something wrong with him.
- Disappeared Dad: When Roger inquires about Greg's reaction to the truth about Kevin's conception, Joan replies that it wouldn't mean much to Greg, seeing as how he's now remarried with a family of his own. Roger then asks if that means that he does know the truth, to which Joan replies no, it's because "he's a horrible person".
- Don is considered to be this by Betty.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Peggy might not be entirely satisfied with McCann, but, as Pete points out, she's easily set to be the head of the creative department within a decade, which will lead to her finally earning the full respect of her peers. Plus, after being forced to choose between her work life and love life for so long, she finally gets both when Stan and her start up a relationship.
- Also Don's implied creation of the Hillside Singers Coke ad would seem to imply a creative renaissance for him after the recent turbulence in his personal and professional life. He's also still got friends back in New York, including Peggy and Roger. Although the latter marrying Megan's mother will no doubt lead to some awkward situations.
- Easily Forgiven: Peggy tells Don that, for all of the hell his absence put them through, McCann would welcome him back with open arms. Depending on one's interpretation of the ending, where the famous ad for Coca-Cola is played, it's possible that she was right.
- Failed a Spot Check: Don tries telling Stephanie the same speech he used with Peggy about forgetting her child. He fails to realize that Stephanie has different priorities than Peggy.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: By the end of the series, the main cast has gone their separate ways likely never to meet again. Pete has flown off to a new life in Wichita, KS. Peggy remains at McCann/Ericson and starts a new relationship with Stan. Roger has settled into semi retirement and a healthier relationship with Marie Calvet. Joan has started her own production company. And Don finds himself taking his first steps towards inner peace- along with possibly developing the most famous ad of all time, catapulting him to greater heights than before.
- Foil: Leonard to Don. Both are well-to-do businessmen with families who are suffering identity crises. Both have found themselves in an Esalen-style retreat where they seem to be the most out-of-place individuals amongst the more spiritual attendees. Both have terrible opinions of themselves who believe everyone around them takes their existences for granted. The main difference is that Don is a dapper man of mystery whereas Leonard is more of a straightforward everyman.
- Heroic BSoD: Don suffers from one after he realizes how running away from his problems made everything worse.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Don and Leonard. Whether or not they end up becoming loved for who they are is up to interpretation, but they at the very least recognize each others' situations and hug out their sorrows.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- Peggy worries during her phone call with a despondent Don that he's going to commit suicide. It seems to be a nod to the fan theory that, based on the title sequence, Don would leap to his death in the final episode.
- Meredith keeps bugging Roger about that at the beginning of the episode, when there's been no word from Don for what seems to be months.
- Lost in Translation: Roger's poor French, touched on in "Waldorf Stories", gets another airing. When Marie speaks to him in French, he only understands the word "suitcase" (admittedly, she's speaking quickly and in Quebecois French, rather than Parisian French which is what Roger likely 'learned') and later on in the Paris cafe he refers to her as his mother, not his wife. She laughs.
- Love Epiphany: Peggy gets that she was in love with Stan all along after he confesses his feelings to her.
- Man Hug: Don gives one to Leonard during the support group meeting.
- Manly Tears: Don gives them during the Man Hug, and at other points throughout the episode when he's dealing with his feelings of loneliness.
- Meaningful Echo:
- Peggy and Pete's final conversation has her use his catchphrase of "a thing like that".
- Don's speech to Stephanie about how easy it is to forget her unpleasant past is almost word-for-word the same advice he gave Peggy at the end of the first season.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Don's desperation over the phone gets Peggy really worried.
- Promotion to Parent: Sally takes charge of the responsibilities that Betty entrusted her with. She tells Don to let Gene and Bobby stay with Henry for consistency's sake (despite Betty's wishes that they go to her brother and sister-in-law), and helps Bobby cook dinner later on.
- Race for Your Love: Midway through Peggy's telephoned Love Confession to Stan, it's revealed he bolted out of his workstation and to her door (obvious rush) to hear Peggy say "I Love You" face to face.
- Rule of Three: Don makes three phone calls to the three most important women in his life: Betty, Sally, and Peggy.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Peggy and Stan, though it's more "heated arguement in person, one of them storms off, then they make up over the phone". Stan lampshades this entirely before finally declaring his love for her.
- Spoiled Brat: Roger jokes that Kevin, who is busy watching TV, is a "rich bastard". He then realizes that, technically, that's more accurate a term than he originally meant.
- True Companions: A lampshaded subversion. Harry is annoyed that Peggy won't go to Pete's goodbye lunch, but Peggy notes that they never really did that sort of thing before.
- Wham Line: The last scene of the series: in the middle of meditating, a "ding!" is heard as Don smiles to himself, the implication being that he just came up with a new ad. And what is immediately heard right after this?I'd like to buy the world a home,
- Will They or Won't They?: The episode settles the status of a number of couples on the show. Notably, this includes Peggy/Stan (They Do), Roger/Marie (They Do), and Joan/Richard (Don't).
- You're Not My Father: Stephanie eventually subjects Don to this, wondering just what he planned on fixing by interjecting into her life.
- Sally doesn't tell this directly to Don, but she warns him that she and her two brothers are better off with Henry when Betty dies of her cancer.
