History WMG / MadMen

** Also, the Honda Civic is precisely the car account you would want to have going into the oil crisis. SCDP's execs viewing the Civic account as a mere consolation prize is a case of ItWillNeverCatchOn, and possibly foreshadowing if indeed the show's story takes the firm into the 70s. Between quieting tobacco ahead of the rest of the industry and landing a fuel-efficient economy car account a decade before the oil crisis, SCDP is poised for a huge comeback in the 70s.

And that iconic shot of him smoking in a couch? Shout out to the painting of The Death of Morat w/ a POV from the back and flipped vertically. Just as Morat tends to his chronic condition in a tub, draper tends to his alcoholism, womanizing, smoking and vices at work in that couch. And both die in their respective healing atmospheres (tub/couch)

* It's mentioned off-hand in one of the commentaries that one of the junior executive characters (likely Harry Crane) was going to jump off the SC building early on, but the writers decided they like the cast too much to do it, turning the credits into TheArtifact.

[[WMG: The company will now be Sterling Campbell Draper Pryce]]

The evidence is abundantly clear. When he still lives with Betty in their family home, when Betty goes into his office to snoop through is drawers, there's a copy of W.E.B. Griffin's book, "The Corps," which wasn't published until 1986. The only way Don could have gotten this book is if he traveled to the future and came back with it.

* [[spoiler:Sort of confirmed. He's not Abagnale, but he's completely unqualified for his job and has been relying on his charm to prevent anyone from finding out.]]

At some point in the early 1940's, Dick came into contact with criminal elements. Either he ran away from home and joined a street gang, or he met some criminals through his uncle's prostitution business. Either way, Dick ends up becoming a criminal of some sort. He therefore manages to avoid the draft when he turns 18 (which would be in 1943 I think), either because he's underground and the authorities can't find him, or because his criminal bosses used their influence and some bribery to keep him out of the war.

** Draft age during World War II was 21, not 18. Dick Whitman is able to avoid being drafted into WWII because he is age 19 when the war ends.
** But after he becomes Don, people ''are'' able to track him down.
*** Anna finds him pretty quickly (although to be fair, she's coming from the opposite angle that any of Dick's supposed criminal associates would have done, ie. she's looking for Don Draper as opposed to Dick Whitman).
*** Adam finds him years later simply by recognising him in a newspaper photo. If he can do that, surely any supposed criminal associates would be able to do likewise?

[[WMG: Mad Men is a {{Prequel}} to ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt'']]
The Mad Men ends with Don finding an epiphany at the Hippie Commune. That epiphany is that he should form his own cult and change his identity to Reverend Wayne. Doing so, he can convince women that the Apocalypse is coming traps them in his bunker.

Having heard that Don had run off and was in trouble he raced off, got Don's call to the [=McCann=] traced, and flew off in his plane to Big Sur to save him.

* "Megan" was a really rare name in North America in 1940 (when she would have been born), even less so for a French-speaking household in Quebec. Either she changed her name when she came to New York, or she's Don's counterpart in more ways in one...

[[WMG: In Season 5, the cast will go see ''HowToSucceedInBusinessWithoutReallyTrying'']]

Having heard that Don had run off and was in trouble he raced off, got Don's call to the McCann traced, and flew off in his plane to Big Sur to save him.

He's an award-winning writer who seems to exist on the periphery of the story, yet seems to know everything. Every character on the show has a transgressive double life. Ken's perceived transgression by the rest of the characters at the office is his writing. When he is found out, he goes from writing science fiction stories under one pen name, to writing stories that more resembled literary fiction. In the final episode, it will turn out that everything we see was written by Ken, with his author's voice being someone sort of on the periphery, like Nick in TheGreatGatsby.

That's right, he's pulling the old [[MetalGear Solid Snake in MGS4]] on us. He was crying from it in Season 6. Who knows what's under that patch.

We have a fairly comprehensive account of Don's (rather Dick's) life from his birth till the time he was living in his uncle's whorehouse. And we of course know about his time in Korea and how he faked his death and stole Don Draper's identity. But between these events there is a gap of around 7-8 years at least in Dick's life of which we know nothing. The bulk of WW2 happened during this time-span and we know Dick wasn't drafted into it. So here's my theory to fill in the missing years.

[[When Ted Chaugh left the room while Stan was on the phone in the finale...]]

* At their current ages, Sally will still be too young to drive when Woodstock occurs, and Bobby will still be in HighSchool when the VietnamWar [[{{Conscription}} draft]] ''ends''. The series has already shown a desire to hit on every turning point of TheSixties, thus older kids are needed.

* If anything, it worked the other way around for Bobby who, due to multiple recastings, somehow was no younger than 4 or 5 in 1960 and not yet a tteenager in 1970.

[[WMG: The later seasons of ''Mad Men'' have been an adaptation of ''TheDivineComedy'']]

[[WMG: Harry Crane will go on to be [[{{Archer}} Cyril Figgis]].]]

[[WMG: Bob Benson is [[WolfsRain a wolf]]]]

[[WMG: Bob Benson is [[CatchMeIfYouCan Frank Abagnale]]]]

[[WMG: Harry Crane will go on to be [[{{Archer}}Cyril Figgis]].]]

[[WMG: ''Mad Men'' is an adaptation of ''TheDivineComedy'']]

The Sixties are over. Don is starting to realize that no one really needs him: Sally is independent, Betty is finally over him, and (as far as Don knows) the former [=SC&P=] staff are settling in nicely at [=McCann=]. His conversations with Diana implied that he was fed up with New York. Dick Whitman created Don Draper to escape his dismal life. Now that Don's life is dismal once more, he needs a new identity.

[[WMG: ''Mad Men'' takes place in the past of ''Series/BreakingBad'' and ''Series/TheWaklingDead'']]