Some thoughts about last week’s “Mad Men, in which Don attended Rachel Menken’s funeral and boned a stranger in an alley, Peggy nearly flew to Europe with a stranger, and a relative stranger from McCann Erickson made Roger fire Ken Cosgrove.
There are only six episodes left, and the fact that the series jumped from July 1969 to April 1970 in the middle of a season established (for one thing) that the series is not exclusively about the 1960s. Will tonight’s episode be set in 1974? Will the one after be set in 1981? Before the last episode ends, will we see new actors play adult versions of Sally Draper and Glen Bishop? Shows as disparate as “Six Feet Under” and “Parks and Recreation” have employed decades-spanning fast-forwards in their series finales. Is it possible “Mad Men” intends to extend a similar conceit over its final seven episodes.
Before I saw last week’s installment I was asked if thought the show would bring back Paul Kinsey; I was quick to answer no. Kinsey had already returned in a fashion so memorable I doubted the show would be able to top it. But now that the show has broken loose from the 1960s, I could see more interesting evolution ahead for the former Sterling Cooper copywriter.
The welcome return of Maggie Siff as department store heiress Rachel Menken lent another thought. Perhaps the plan over these final seven episodes is to update us on all the characters who, like Rachel, appeared in the very first episode way back in 2007. Not only Kinsey, but also artists Sal Romano and Midge Daniels, and tobacco giant Lee Garner. (Maybe even “Last Man on Earth” star Kristen Schaal as Nannette?)
AMC says of tonight’s “New Business”:
Don receives unwanted advice from Roger; Peggy and Stan do not agree on an account's personnel; Harry requests Don's blessing.
Journey To “The Force Awakens”!! 
Journey To “The Force Awakens”!!
