Happy news, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce fans! “Mad Men” is coming back this weekend!
The current deal between AMC and showrunner Matthew Weiner allows for two more seasons — the fifth and the sixth — the last the show’s cast are signed on for. It’s widely regarded that “Mad Men” will continue for a seventh season but Weiner says that if it does, that season will be the show’s last.
With that in mind, what should happen in the last three seasons of “Mad Men”? Metro puts on our drama caps, and thinks:
Season 5 (late 1966-summer 1967): Bert Cooper has retired from Sterling Cooper Draper Price, leaving the firm floundering with no direction. Stressed, Don lashes out at his new wife Megan, who is struggling to juggle her responsibilities and her expectations. After watching “The Graduate,” Peggy moves the firm in a more youthful direction, to great success. The season climaxes with Don’s trip to California during the Summer of Love, where he has a spiritual awakening while smoking marijuana in The Haight and listening to “Itchycoo Park.”
Season 6 (January-November 1968): After Joan’s husband is killed at the Battle of Khe Sanh, Roger proposes; the combination of shock, grief and guilt causes Joan to run away with her and Roger’s child, leaving the firm floundering with no direction. Stressed, Don lashes out at Megan, who still struggles to juggle her responsibilities and her expectations. Pete becomes inspired by Martin Luther King, and Peggy with Robert F. Kennedy. Their ideals are shattered when both men are assassinated.
Don escapes to California, to relax and find himself, but an attractive undergrad gets him mixed up in Berkeley’s radical movement. Shaken by a close call with the law, Don returns to New York, just in time for the 1968 election. The staff, young people firmly on the side of Humphrey, celebrate; their jubilation turns to disgust the next morning, when Nixon wins. Don heads back home to Megan, to the tune of “Lay Lady Lay,” only to find that she has left him.
Season 7 (January-December 1970): The firm is in high spirits as client Joe Namath upholds his guarantee that the New York Jets will win Super Bowl III. In the ensuing celebration, Roger has a heart attack and dies, leaving the firm floundering with no direction. The stress of Roger’s death causes Don to lash out at at Sally and Bobby, who struggle to juggle their new adult responsibilities with their youthful expectations.
Sally begs Don to let her go to Woodstock — he refuses, and goes himself. While relaxing in the company of naked, dirty festival-goers, Don is struck by their similarities to the hobo from his youth. Truly, he has found a place where man can be free. Upon returning home, Don changes course and allows Sally to stay with his friends in California to attend the Altamont Free Concert. The series ends with Don finally at peace, playing touch football with Bobby as Betty drives Sally to the airport, all accompanied by “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
