After an ominous and occasionally shocking fifth season, the Mad Men finale aired Sunday night. (Warning: Spoilers lie ahead.) Season five featured a sultry cabaret performance, a polarizing fat suit, the death of a major character, and fan favorite Peggy Olsen's exit from Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. On Sunday night's finale, Pete's affair comes to a poignant end, Don helps Megan land an acting job, and Peggy quickly grows disillusioned with her new job. As the episode concludes, a beautiful blonde approaches Don at a bar and asks him, "Are you alone?" — cueing a quick cut to black. Was it a satisfying ending to the season?
It was a fitting conclusion: This was a disorientingly low-key finale, says Morgan Glennon at Buddy TV. But that's Mad Men for you: "The show always zigs just when you think it'll zag." Season five was "at turns shocking, traumatic and sometimes even maddening." Such a quiet finish was, in its own way, surprising, and featured several lovely small moments: Peggy and Don at the movies, for example, or Pete's speech to Beth at the hospital. By cutting away before Don answered the question "Are you alone," the writers achieved as much of a cliffhanger as they ever have.
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