Slide #11

Don Draper (Jon Hamm)
All of which, of course, sets up the central conflict of this season: Don Draper redeeming his image as a Korean war deserter and possible "coward" by singlehandedly taking on Walter White and the Mexican cartels. You see, "Mad Men" wasn't delayed for a year and a half because Matthew Weiner was being snotty about his contract. It was being delayed because Matthew Weiner has a grand vision for how this show was always meant to wrap up. He remembers how disappointed people were in the "Sopranos" finale, and he has no intention of letting his show conclude in a way that's even remotely ambivalent or lukewarm. "Mad Men" will end the way it was always supposed to: with Don fighting Bryan Cranston in a lightning storm on the roof of Madison Square Garden. When you think about it, it's the only way.
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