megan > betty, right?

It was a week of agony waiting for the finale of Mad Men to become available OnDemand, but I finally just watched it this very morning. I don't know if I feel vindicated that everything I was dreading came to pass, or if I'm actually really pissed at the writers for being (for the first time, it seems) predictable and prescriptive.

Fucking Megan! I knew it from the instant they slept together: bad news. I have nothing against her, per se. She actually seems like a good person, & slightly intelligent. But Don Draper sleeping with, & now marrying, his pretty young secretary is the MM equivalent of Lorelai and Emily having a fight on Gilmore Girls. Yawn. Didn't he already get out of this marriage last season?

I'm trying to keep it in perspective. Don Draper will not change. He's ultimately a tragic character & we just have to let him keep making the same mistakes. Plus, Peggy hit the nail on the head--why does a pretty face and the news of marriage always trump the hard work that gets done by the less glamorous? Maybe I'm tipping my hand too much here, but the Peggys are always more interesting than the Megans, at least to me. Why do the Megans get all the good plot points?

And sure, he may have had his noble reasons for proposing, i.e. wanting a good mother for his children. She did look quite the picture sitting with the kiddies at breakfast. But maybe what Don really needs is a mommy for himself. All this time I've been pigeon-holing Betty as the petulant child (who seeks refuge in Sally's pink bedroom in this episode, how perfect was that), but as it turns out, Don may be just as big of a baby as she is.

Speaking of baby, woo-hoo Joanie! I knew she didn't go through with the abortion. This I actually do feel really jazzed about. What a frighteningly awesome fuse to lay, Matthew Weiner. This is the kind of twist I've come to expect from you.

Now that my Sunday nights are back to normal (as in watching football in my pajamas), I'm not sure what to expect next season. Part of me is dreading returning to Don's pent-up home life. Greenwhich Village is way more happening than Westchester. I can't help but think that one of these days, Don is going to move to California. CA is like a purifying drug to old Mr. Grey Flannel Suit. Think about it--every time he goes there, he goes totally off the deep end & yet somehow manages to balance the Dick Whitman & Don Draper sides of himself better than in NYC. It's like a successful lobotomy or something. California is Tomorrowland, & we know how Don Draper likes to look to the future. It's just like Bobby said, "I don't want to ride an elephant, I want to fly a jet!" Jesus, is he is father's son or what?