“This is the beginning of something, not the end.”

Stop me if you’ve seen it before: Don Draper’s up to bat in the bottom of the ninth, and the game lies in his hands. He and his team are in an extremely tough situation at the moment, but the fans don’t have to worry because they know he’s going to be able to pull off a miracle game-winner; they know that he’ll work his Don Draper magic and send them all home happy. In the masterful “Time & Life”, however, those expectations shatter on a brick wall, the pieces falling to the ground as Don sits back down in his chair. It’s one of the most essential moments in Mad Men‘s run, and it’s handled beautifully by all involved, a brilliant piece of writing and acting that really begins to signify the impending conclusion of the show.

Essentially, this episode works as a reverse “Shut the Door. Have a Seat”, and it’s a great way to illustrate Don’s slipping grip on the world around him. California’s always been a fantasy land for him, so when the news comes in about McCann Erickson absorbing SC&P, you can see his eyes light up and the gears start to turn in his head. It’s time to move out west, he thinks, and you start to get the sense that Don Draper is going to pull another rabbit out of his hat. Before he can even get into his groove, however, he’s shot down by Jim Hobart, and it’s the first time he’s stopped during a pitch. That loss of control is further illustrated in the beautiful final shot of the hour, one that pulls back on the SC&P partners, leaving them standing in the middle of a company that’s not behind them. At some point, you’re going to have to relinquish control, or you’ll be set adrift.

That idea of control certainly ties in with the rest of the episode, one that’s largely about the legacies we leave behind. “What’s in a name?” Don asks at the end of the episode, and the answer seems to be: “A whole lotta shit.” After all, legacies are what prevent Tammy Campbell from attending Greenwich Country Day, and even though the Campbell/McDonald feuds of the past are out of Pete’s and Trudy’s control, they’re still affecting what’s happening in the present.

We see a similar situation with Peggy throughout this episode, and it all culminates in a wonderful scene for her and Stan in which she laments giving up her son for adoption. “Maybe you do what you thought was the best thing,” she offers up. “I’m here, and…he’s with a family somewhere. I don’t know. I can’t know because you’re not supposed to know.” Peggy’s where she’s at right now because she gave her kid up, but it’s a decision that occupies her mind quite a bit, that causes her to wonder about the life not lived. Her son has a different name now, and there’s a lifetime’s worth of dreams and hopes and accomplishments and failures that will now be tied to that name. Peggy has no more control over that part of her legacy, but on the other hand, she’d have no control over this part if she took the fork in the road.

And thus, Mad Men is able to brilliantly weave in these characters’ personal histories into the workplace, and it helps the show become a grand tapestry of beauty, of complex characters and complex decisions and lives never lived. But it’s the lives not lived that enrich the lives we see unfolding, the lives of the characters whose stories are soon coming to an end.

Three more.

GRADE: A

OTHER THOUGHTS:

-This episode was directed by Jared Harris (aka Lane Pryce)! He did a fantastic job with it, and there are some great shots throughout: the partners taking a drink at the same time, the shot of them sitting at the table transitioning into the shot at the restaurant, and the final SC&P shot. Just a beautifully directed episode. Also, notice how we see four chairs in the screenshot up there? Nice juxtaposition with the five people sitting across the table, and also a nice contrast with the shot of the partners looking out the window after expansion:

– “Peter, you can’t punch everyone.” “Not with that attitude.” And thus, it has been decreed (“The King ordered it!”, if you will): Peter will prove Trudy wrong by spending the next three episodes punching everyone in the show.

-Diana Bauer–Bauer=”peasant” or “farmer”–is gone, but she leaves all her furniture (and two gay guys, apparently) behind. Interesting contrast to the empty rooms we’ve been seeing recently.

-Acker Bilk’s “Stranger On the Shore” is utilized during the Peggy-Stan scene, and it’s been used before in seasons two and six.

-Ken’s loving this right now.

-Meredith, you are the best.

– “You do what you want with your children, and I’ll do what I want with mine!” Peggy’s reaction to that is beautifully and subtly played by Elisabeth Moss. So far, this should be her Emmy submission episode.

– “Maybe she was very young. And followed her heart and got in trouble. No one should be able to make a mistake and not move on. She should be able to live the rest of her life. Just like a man does.” Once again, a nice handling of gender roles and expectations of the times.

– “How the hell did that turn into that?” might just be my favorite line of the episode.

– “In another life, I’d be your chauffeur.” “And you’d be screwing my grandmother.”

-Wow, there’s a “fuck” per episode now. It used to be one per season. They should just drop f-bombs galore in the series finale.

-Dean Martin’s “Money Burns a Hole In My Pocket” closes out the episode, and as always, it’s an apt song choice for the show’s themes.

-Apologies to Jon Hamm for his Blues’ annual early playoff exit.

Photo credit: Mad Men, AMC