Mad Men Season 6 Finale Review – “First of all, there are a lot of sharks…”

Don Draper is finally being put in a time out for his bad behavior. And it’s about time!

Jon Hamm as Don Draper. AMC

But let’s back up, and enjoy that line we got about poor Dot. Pete and his brother were inquiring about their Mother’s extremely bizarre, mysterious disappearance off a boat and the person on the phone wanted to point out, “First of all, there are a lot of sharks.” Meaning, she’s lost to the water and her chances of survival weren’t good. This seemed like such a big story that I can’t help but wonder how much of it will be dragged into Mad Men season 7… after all, Pete likes grudges and vendettas. Plus, what if Dot only faked her death to get away from her sons and to stay with Manolo? Or did Manolo really off her and not realize how little money she had?

This segues nicely to Bob and Pete. Bob bested the latter in such a brilliant move with Chevy that we have to tip our hates to him. We’re only going to be seeing more of Bob, he’s got his own account with Chevy now, of course! Bravo. He’s lied to get to where he is, but he’s pretty good at his job. Just like Don.

We might forget to even question this…but will Don and Megan get divorced? I think so. Megan wants to go to L.A. and she knows her marriage is over. But is she brave enough to follow through on that? She doesn’t need more proof to know that Don has checked out of their marriage.

When it comes to Sally, it doesn’t matter if she spills the beans about what she saw. It was such a huge moment, but now it hardly matters. She’s been kicked out of boarding school, so she’ll be around next year. And she seemed impressed by her Father’s honestly of showing his kids where he grew up as a kid.

Don spent the episode being selfish, especially in trying to take Stan’s job. (Which eventually went to Ted.) After a gloomy pitch to Hersey (which is selfish because he wanted to tell his story, even if it cost them business) the other partners decided he needed to take a few months off of work. Don finally has consequences. And without work to go to, he only has family.

A family he’s entirely pushed out of his life and lied to.

As much as I’d love to think he’s going to spend time bonding with them, I suspect he can’t stay still and will try to embark on his own new work path.

We’ll have to wait until season 7 to find out what happens next. But share your theories below.