NPR featured a good story on Matthew Weiner and the final, (irritatingly) 2-part season of Mad Men. If you ever suspected that little thought when into the show’s plot lines you were right. Weiner already said that he never seriously considered how to end the show until the end of season 4, but as of today he still doesn’t have the clearest picture yet on how to end the series:
I added an extra episode because I didn’t want to have a six-episode run; I mean, seven is going to feel short enough. I had a plan with the writers for these 14 episodes that goes across them together, but there’s going to be 10 months between them on the air. So right away I’m like, ‘Ugh, I need two premieres, two finales, really, because I want people to come back…’
“…And it actually didn’t seem like enough episodes for what we had to do. I’m writing Episode 12 right now. … I actually haven’t written the last two.
I’ve always been fascinated by the show for it’s loose, over-arching story lines. It’s not a plot-driven show at all, and it exists at a time when TV audiences seem to be craving nothing but long, serialized, major-event-fueled dramas and thrillers. But Mad Men is more intent to focus on the subtleties and nuances of life. There’s episodes where horrific, violent things happen, but they appear only in passing as just another moment in a character’s life. The entire episode doesn’t derail and focus on that one event and its repercussions. I admire the show for this reason, and find it refreshingly original. It’s irritating that after only seven episodes I have to wait another year to finish the overall story, but at the same time I’m not anxious to see Mad Men leave the air forever.
Baltimore Traitor 
Posted on May 1, 2014
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