Here’s Where the Story Ends

Edited to add:  There are no spoilers in this; however, the links below do contain spoilers.

With the Mad Men finale on Sunday, we’ll learn what Don Draper’s fate will be.  But I already know how it will end.  Sort of.  At least according to my dreams.

If they are correct, there are three possible outcomes for our protagonist:

1. Don reveals that he wants to live as a woman. In the final scene, he is wearing a fuchsia dress with a pussy bow, a long, black wig on his head.  He’s sitting at a fancy vanity table putting the finishing touches on his make-up.  He admires his look in the mirror and then flashes that Don Draper smile we all know and love, only this time it is framed with the perfect shade of Belle Jolie lipstick.  Perhaps we’ll see Don again on Transparent.

2. Don visits an antiques store and realizes his true calling. The owner wants to retire, but his son doesn’t want to take over the family business.  Don experiences a moment of clarity, and in the last minutes of the series, we see him as the new proprietor, smiling and happy has he assists an older, wealthy lady with her questions about a Chippendale secretary.

3. Don finds his true love. Before the credits roll, Don is asleep in a bed with a dark-haired woman whose face we cannot see.  As the first light of dawn saturates the room, bathing them in ethereal light, Don turns over on his back, a tangle of white bed linens falls to the side, revealing his nakedness.  It will mark the first time AMC has allowed full-frontal nudity on its network.  Don—and the entire female viewing audience—let out a contented, satisfied sigh.

Or maybe he’s D.B. Cooper.  Or he’ll fall (or jump) out of a window.  Or die with Pete in a plane crash.

How do you think Don’s story will end?

 

It’s anybody’s guess.