Maybe it’s just the cocktails talking, but since this is the season finale, I don’t think there’s any point in going through the episode scene by scene by scene, so let’s just look at the various events that went down, along with their repercussions:

Don and Fay: I think we all knew they were more or less doomed from the moment Don sexed up Megan in his office, but, man, it just got more and more depressing to watch them interact, especially knowing that Fay had basically betrayed her principles for the sake of their relationship. Her speech to him before she headed off on her flight underlined yet again how much she cared about him. I really do think that Don wanted it to work out between them, but as he proved last week with his letter to The New York Times (and, of course, on probably a hundred more occasions in other episodes), he’s a man who does things on impulse, rarely bothering to concern himself with the possible repercussions. I can’t imagine that their final phone conversation will prove to be the last we see of Fay, but if it is, you can’t say she didn’t get the best possible last word, snapping, “I hope she knows you only like the beginnings of things.”

Don and Megan: As soon I saw Don start talking to Megan, I said to my wife, “Oh, God, don’t tell me he’s going to ask her to watch the kids for him…” But, of course, he did. I knew that the fire between them was destined to be rekindled at some point during the trip to California, but, really, did anyone anticipate that it would all go down so fast? Even when Stephanie gave Don the ring, I couldn’t imagine that he and Fay would ever actually make it to the altar, but, Jesus, it never occurred to me that, before episode’s end, the ring would be on Megan’s finger…and, yet, looking back at the episode, it’s very easy to see how Don got so caught up in it all.

First and foremost, Megan loves the kids and the kids love Megan. Don’s initial line when he walks into the room to a French chorus – “You said you didn’t have any experience, but you’re like Maria von Trapp!” – was hilarious, but it still wasn’t as funny as the expressions on the faces of Sally, Bobby, and Don when Megan kept her cool after Sally’s milkshake spillage. On top of that, she’s gorgeous, smart, and respects what Don does, all of which are important qualities. Still, let’s not kid ourselves: it’s the way she handles the kids that seals the deal.

In the midst of post-coital bliss, Megan tells Don, “I know who you are now.” Except she doesn’t. Not really, anyway. But she’ll no doubt find out at some point in the future. Maybe Betty and Fay can fill her in…?

Daddy’s a Dick: I thought it was pretty bold of Don to admit to Sally that the “Dick” painted on Anna’s wall was actually him, even if he did soften it somewhat by adding, “That’s my nickname sometimes.”

American Cancer Society: The thing that struck me the most about the meeting was that, although Pete’s obviously proven himself as a businessman, he’s still a really shitty wingman. (“I have to say, it’s very interesting!” Gimme a break.) I liked the look of “gee, I never thought of that” which appeared in all of their eyes when Don suggested the idea of playing to the sentimentality and self-obsession inherent in all teenagers.

Joan: I loved her line about being promoted to Director of Agency Operations without being given any sort of raise to go with the title (“Well, it’s almost an honor”), but although I’d wondered about whether or not she might’ve kept the baby, I had to laugh when my wife said, “Her husband’s a doctor! How can he not know from her due date that the baby isn’t his?” Hey, nobody ever said he was a good doctor. Plus, who knows what she’s told him about how far along she is?

Ken: For someone who didn’t seem to be much more than Pete’s nemesis for the past season or two, the dude really came into his own this episode. First, he showed serious cajones by standing up to Don and Roger and basically saying, “My marriage is more important than this company,” and although they might not have been happy about it, you could see from Don’s expression and Roger’s actions (which were partially obscured by his quick jab at Ken’s masculinity) that they both respected his decision. On a related note, he proved during his trip to Topaz with Peggy that, unlike Pete, he’s prone to respect and appreciate his coworkers rather than be jealous of them: she clearly showed him up with her knowledge of pantyhose, but in the end, all that mattered to him was that they got the client.

Peggy: Such a rollercoaster this week for Peggy, winning the client, only to find out that Don was marrying his secretary who…ouch…”reminds me of you.” That has got to hurt. You know it’s bad when she seeks solace in Joan’s office…and, seriously, how funny was Christina Hendricks’ delivery of the line, “Whatever could be on your mind?”

Harry: I don’t even know why Harry’s there anymore. He’s in charge of TV advertising, for Christ’s sake. He should be one of the biggest people in the firm, and yet he was relegated to the kind of comic relief we’d come to expect from the late Ida Blankenship earlier this season. Here’s hoping he makes a comeback in Season 5.

Glen: I secretly call him “Li’l Jackass” and I’m confident that he’s a budding sociopath, but damned if that hug between him and Sally wasn’t the cutest thing ever…and damned if he didn’t give Betty the verbal smackdown she’s deserved all season. (“Just ‘cause you’re sad doesn’t mean everybody has to be.”) I hope Sally ended up buying him something after all.

Carla: Anyone who didn’t yell or at least mutter “that bitch” under their breath when Betty fired Carla just isn’t human. Unbelievable. What do you think the odds are that Don ends up hiring Carla back? (Or will Megan just turn into a happy homemaker?)

Betty: Despite the incredibly bitchy move of firing Carla, lest she continue to “poison the well,” it was hard not to feel at least a slight pang of remorse for Betty when she was lying alone on the mattress. After Glen scored his verbal victory, Henry shot her between the eyes with his one-liner: “No one’s ever on your side, Betty.” By the end of the episode, it had gotten so bad that she was even willing to admit to Don that “things aren’t perfect,” and when she visibly flinched when he said that he’d met someone, I got the feeling that we were seeing the opening moments of what will come to be a downward spiral for Betty in Season 5, much like the one Don dealt with in Season 4. Of course, I could be wrong…but, then, we won’t know for another year, now, will we?

See you in 2011, folks!

So, there’s no time for discuss the more interesting than usual casting news that Idris Elba will be taking over the role of James Patterson’s Alex Cross in the upcoming series reboot, that January Jones will try something different from tantalizing and annoying “Mad Men” viewers as Betty Draper and will be taking over the role of Emma Frost in “X-Men: First Class” or that Noomi Rapace, who originated the role of Lisbeth Salender in the Swedish “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is about to be heavily promoted for an Oscar nomination and may be taking on some blockbuster roles in big time American flicks, except that I just did. Instead, I’m presenting the really terrific — and outstandingly creepy — trailer for “The Black Swan” which seems destined for the title of most unnerving ballet film of all time, which I guess is just what we should expect from Darren Aronofsky after all this time. 13 year-old Chloe Moretz has already endorsed it in my recent interview with her. [UPDATE: Anne Thompson has thrown some very cold water over the Nikki Finke/Noomi Rapace story. I’m sure readers of both blogs may be seeing more about this one.]

I think I’ve presented it before here, but what the heck, after the flip is the trailer for the rather strange and very ravishing classic film Aronofsky pretty much had to have been thinking about as he made his film. I hope Mr. Scorsese, whose directing her “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” guides young Ms. Moretz to “The Red Shoes” — I can’t imagine he wouldn’t, seeing as he’s said it’s his favorite movie.

Tonight’s season finale of “Mad Men” was one of those blessing / curse episodes: it took threads from throughout the season, tied them together into a happy ending of cheer-worthy proportions, but just as you start to think, “Oh, man, I can’t wait to see what happens next,” you remember that you’re watching the season finale and that your wait is going to last for the better part of a year.

When we first see Don, he’s a goddamned mess. He looks like crap, he’s been kicked out of his own bed, and even worse, his alarm didn’t go off, leading him to show up late for a meeting with Conrad Hilton. Not exactly the best start to a day, and it only gets worse: Connie drops the bombshell that McCann-Erickson is buying Putnam, Powell & Lowe, and since PPL owns Sterling-Cooper…well, so much for the Draper / Hilton partnership. Given his already rough morning, it’s no surprise that Don quickly descends into mouthing off to Connie about his treatment, leading Hilton to snap back with the suggestion that Don’s being a bit of a whiner. In the end, the two shake hands and depart as…not exactly friends, but still on some semblance of friendliness, at least from a business standpoint.

It’s after this encounter, though, that the ball really starts rolling, and, man, there are some points where you feel like the ball in question is the boulder that chased Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Seriously, this was about as fast-moving an episode of “Mad Men” as I can ever remember. After we have a quick flashback to Don’s childhood, wherein we see that he has some personal experience to abrupt business transitions, Mr. Draper blows into Mr. Cooper’s office and drops on him the bombshell that he’s learned from Hilton. The result, surprisingly enough, is little more than a shrug. (“It makes sense,” says Bert. “All that short-term thinking.”) When Cooper falls back on his “we’ve got a contract” mentality, Don lashes back and suggests that they try and buy Sterling-Cooper back from the Brits, making for an absolutely fantastic back-and-forth between the two of them, delivered with impeccable timing by Jon Hamm and Robert Morse. The buyback isn’t such a bad idea, but, of course, it involves Don and Roger Sterling having to start speaking again, which would seem to lower the odds considerably…and, yet, it doesn’t. Instead, it leads to a reconciliation between the two of them, though not before Morse and John Slattery get their chance to do some verbal sparring, with Cooper offering his “Join or Die” speech and Sterling openly mocking his tactics. Even after returning to speaking terms with Roger, however, Don still can’t catch a break, returning home only to get the word from Betty that she’s moving forward with her plans to divorce him.

The Trio of Power – that’s what I’ve decided to start calling Don, Roger, and Bert – soon reconvene and invite Lane Pryce in for a cup of tea, springing it on him that they know all about the situation with PPL and Sterling-Cooper. He tells them they’re slightly misinformed. Turns out that he’s slightly misinformed, once again getting the shaft from the company to which we’ve consistently seen him giving his all. This time they’ve gone too far, however, and he’s not afraid to let them know it. I gotta tell ya, I almost cheered when Lane began working out specifics with the Trio of Power about a possible partnership. This scene was even more enthralling than the ones which had preceded it, with the Trio more than willing to acknowledge Lane’s worth to them. And as soon as the quartet decided on their new plan of attack – to let Lane fire them and immediately begin working a back-door plan to start their own brand new agency – the tone of the episode officially turned into something not terribly far removed from “Ocean’s 11,” with a “we’re getting the band back together” vibe.

But what do you do when not everybody in the band wants to get back together?

It was only inevitable that we’d get a showdown between Don and Peggy when he invited her to join up with his new endeavor, especially since he couldn’t even be bothered to ask her properly, and given her increased confidence after her time spent with Duck Phillips, I knew she’d view this as the perfect time to cut and run. What I didn’t expect, however, was the heartfelt scene when Don visited her apartment, apologized for spending all of this time believing that she was an extension of himself, and basically saying that either she needs to come along and join the gang or he’s going to annoy her into submission by spending the rest of his life trying to convince her to join him. How you do turn down an offer like that? Answer: you don’t.

At first, it looks like the visit to Pete’s place is going to end as awkwardly as Don’s first meeting with Peggy, given how completely pissed off he is about the way he’s been treated by the firm during his battle with Ken. Like Peggy, he’s riding high on the knowledge that there are others out there who are interested in his talents, but he’s completely shut down by Don’s forthright conversation. Pete wouldn’t be Pete if he didn’t try to play the big shot, but this scene felt arguably as realistic as anything this season, the way he was flitting back and forth between wanting to be the tough guy and wanted a shot to play with the guys whose feet he’s been worshiping at for these past three seasons. (I laughed out loud when the eavesdropping Trudy all but shrieked from the other room in an attempt to get Pete’s attention.) When I saw Roger smirk at the incredible ballsiness of Pete’s actions, though, I knew he’d sealed the deal for himself.

But let’s bounce back to Betty for a moment, who goes through with her threat to visit a divorce attorney…and one recommended by Henry, no less. (I loved the lawyer’s harrumphing about the inappropriateness of the situation, or at least how he perceived it.) So, now, the impression I got from that conversation was that Betty was going to take his advice and go live in Reno for six months, but what’s up with Henry suggesting that she not bother with alimony? Surely she’s earned the right to take some of Don’s money after all she’s had to deal with over the years. Once Roger spilled the beans on the Betty / Henry relationship, however, I wondered for a split second if she was going to survive to see any alimony, anyway. Man, he was pissed…not that he had even the slightest leg to stand on, given the countless times he’s cheated on her over the years. Soon, we have to endure the moment that every parent dreads and every child from a broken home relives for the rest of their lives: the “Daddy’s not going to be living with us anymore” speech. It had to be done, of course, but when you’ve seen one of these speeches, you’ve seen them all.

Back to Sterling-Cooper. From here, it was non-stop excitement until the final credits rolled. Harry is brought into the new fold, with his skepticism over the situation resulting in one of the funniest exchanges of the night.

Harry: Are you kidding me?
Roger: Yes. Yes, we are. Happy birthday.

Watching the gang get all their ducks in a row for their departure was fun. Though nothing was more wonderful than the sight of Joan walking back through the door and into our lives once more, Roger’s request for Peggy to get him coffee came pretty close, and the aftereffects within the office were even better.

If Ken’s annoyance over Pete’s attempts to swipe away clients brought a smile to your face, then Paul Kinsey’s horrified expression at the realization that he’d been left behind was worth a full-fledged laugh. That’s what the pompous blowhard gets!

Alison Brie is so cute, and her delivery was absolutely perfect when she came into the new, presumably-temporary offices of The Ad Men Formerly Known As Sterling-Cooper and said, “Isn’t this exciting?” It is exciting: it offers up a whole new world for “Mad Men” whenever Matthew Weiner deigns to provide us with the show’s 4th season. And with Don saying to Betty, “I’m not going to fight you, I hope you get what you always wanted,” it’s fair to say that, even though his marriage may be over, he’s found some semblance of bliss. Indeed, Season 3 of “Mad Men” ends with, as my wife described it, Don Draper looking as happy as she’s ever seen him, surveying the terrain of his new kingdom. I say he’s imagining what the future will hold for him…which, not coincidentally, is exactly what most of us are doing.

It may be a long damned wait until Season 4 gets here, but, damn, you can’t say that Mr. Weiner didn’t give us one hell of a wrap-up to Season 3.

There would seem to be no more appropriate way to end the final blog of the season than with the same song that played over the closing credits: “Shahdaroba,” by Roy Orbison. I’ve got to admit: I’d never heard this song before tonight. But with that said, count on it blowing up on the iTunes charts tonight. (Hell, *I* just downloaded it…)

In the words of Layne Pryce, “Happy Christmas!” See you next year!

And so it was, though it was already starting off pretty important for a few folks at Sterling-Cooper even before things went dramatically downhill in Dallas.

Roger’s daughter is battling back against her new stepmother, making ridiculous claims about how Jane’s gotten her so wound up that she no longer wants to get married. This sets Mona, a.k.a. the former Mrs. Sterling, into a rant during which she comes across as about as pleasant a mother as Betty Draper, but it’s clear that, once upon a time, she and Roger really were a match made in Heaven. Roger, meanwhile, has his own problems, and in the midst of his annoyance with Jane’s attempts to forge a relationship with Margaret, she locks herself in the bathroom. She tells him to go away. He snaps back, “Or what? You’ll commit suicide?” That’s dark, Roger, but somehow it’s still funny…well, y’know, unless that’s what she actually did.

We got a brief reappearance of Peggy’s roommate, who seemed to mostly show up for purposes of disparaging the relationship between Peggy and Duck Phillips. Later, she gets completely flustered (and we get a big laugh) when Duck invites her off for a mid-day rendezvous and, when she attempts to slip out surreptitiously, Paul unabashedly calls her out by saying, “I know a nooner when I hear one.” Awesome.

Aw, look at poor little Pete, asleep on the couch. Rustled awake by his assistant, his first instinct is to criticize the hot chocolate she’s brought him. That’s our Pete! It’s ice cold in the office for some reason (later, Don complaints that it’s too hot, leading me to believe that there’s some intended temperature-related metaphor going on in the background), and it only gets colder when Lane Pryce calls him into his office to give him some “rather disappointing news”: Ken is being made senior VP in charge account services, while Pete will be head of account management. Pete takes in the information with as much stride as he can manage, though you get the impression that he could well go “American Psycho” at any given moment. He bails out of the office and heads home, where a surprised Trudy immediately begins to play Ellery Queen and work her way through Pete’s assurances that he’s been fired before confirming that he’s just being typically melodramatic. A return to the office leads him into a conversation with Harry, but when Harry reaches over to turn down the volume on the TV on his desk so that they can chat in earnest, a familiar CBS News graphic pops onto the screen…well, familiar to someone who’s watched “JFK” as many times as I have, anyway.

This was an episode where the tension level was racked up a little bit higher for those who are well versed in the television coverage of JFK’s assassination and recognized what was unfolding when. Example: when Duck was watching TV but unplugged the set when he heard Peggy’s knock on the door, it was hard for me to keep from jumping out of my seat, knowing full well what was going to be unfolding in mere minutes.

From this point on, it appears that the episode is going to be less about the lives of our usual cast of characters and more about how they and the rest of the nation are going to be dealing with the emotional repercussions of the fall of Camelot. And so it is, at least to a certain extent: not only does Sterling-Cooper comes to a complete standstill, but I can only presume that dogs and cats are living together, given that we also see the probable Armageddon sign of Betty Draper accepting a sympathetic hug from Sally. Everyone’s utterly taken aback by the events…yes, even Duck and Peggy, once they finally get around to plugging the TV back in. I had to laugh…if humorlessly one…at Trudy questioning whether Pete had been drinking or not, leading Pete to snap back, “The whole country’s drinking!” Watching the Draper kids being completely enthralled at the events unfolding on their TV set, I was immediately reminded of my own experience – not quite as bad, but the closest thing I have from my actual childhood – of Ronald Reagan being shot when I was 10 years old. I didn’t understand, I couldn’t wrap my head around what I was seeing, but I’ll be damned if I could take my eyes off the set.

Margaret’s nuptials continued on unabated, albeit without a wait staff or even a wedding cake, but even though the gang manages to make it to the festivities, that doesn’t mean that half of them…including Jane…don’t end up finding their way into the kitchen to watch a TV and see how things are progressing in the JFK situation. When Sterling dragged them out so that they could witness him give his toast, I once again found myself flashing back to what I knew would be happening, thinking, “No, don’t leave yet! You’re going to miss Oswald getting shot!”

I loved the Betty said “of course” under her breath when Henry Francis walked in the door, but I must admit that I absolutely did not expect the storyline of the Drapers to finish up the way it did. With the way Don stepped up and was helping with the baby at the beginning of the episode and his assurances to Betty while they were dancing that “everything’s going to be fine,” I was fool enough to believe that this was going to be a turning point for them as a couple. It never occurred to me that the show’s own version of JFK and Jackie would come crashing down at long last. In the end, Don was left completely blindsided by Betty’s admission that their marriage was over…not that he should’ve been, really, but it’s clear that he was.

Next week’s the big season finale, and I no longer have any idea what to expect…well, except that, with the unraveling relationship between Roger and Jane and his regular communications with Joan, I expect to see the former Ms. Holloway feature heavily. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. Now that’s good TV.

Betty is packing her bags when the episode begins. Will it prove to be prophetic…? We’ll see, but it certainly doesn’t seem to bode well that A) she and the kids are heading off for a week at her dad’s old place, and B) her last moments with Don involve him…well, not so much lying to her face about his stash o’ cash as unabashedly avoiding giving an answer when she asks if he has any money lying around. But, even so, you can tell she’s still damned well pissed at him, and given all of the confusing information that she’s found out about him through the contents of the drawer, you can’t blame her.

We meet Annabelle Mathis, heiress to a fortune in dog food as a result of her husband’s unfortunately demise at the age of 51…and, boy, the look Roger cut to Don when he was lighting up just as Annabelle was revealing that her husband had died of lung cancer was priceless. Don’s given the opportunity to take a shot at the campaign (apparently, Sterling-Cooper used to have their business, but, per Bert Cooper, “Her father was a son of a bitch”), just so long as he follows two cardinal rules: don’t change the recipe and don’t change the name. What’s the connection between Roger and Annabelle? Well, there was clearly a relationship of some sort back in the day. At first, it sounded like an extra-martial affair, since she asked him if he’s still married, but it’s later revealed that their coupling was quite some time in the past…not that either one of them has forgotten it. It’s to Roger’s credit that, despite the amount of alcohol in his system, he still doesn’t take advantage of the opportunity for post-dinner entertainment that Annabelle offers him.

Speaking of Roger’s extra-marital affairs, Joan is trying to help her husband prepare for job interviews, and in the process, she learns that his father had a nervous breakdown. Somehow, that stands to reason. The next day, she decides to call Roger and, although she won’t ask him for her old job back, she’s not above asking him for assistance in finding a new gig. The two of them have a nice, flirtatious conversation that harks back to earlier seasons, making for one of the most pleasant scenes of the episode, and although it doesn’t entirely pay off for Joan yet, Roger does indeed start making calls on her behalf. Things don’t go nearly as well for Dr. Greg, however, who promptly does an emotional bellyflop during his interview, then comes home and takes his annoyance out on his wife. She, however, responds in turn, clocking him over the head with a vase and leaving him to pick up the resulting broken glass by his damned self. “Oh, shit,” indeed. You go, Joan. But by episode’s end, we’re left wondering if maybe she gave him a concussion, as he returns home to tell her that he’s joined the Army. Just the mention of Vietnam and the throwaway line when he references it, saying, “If that’s still going on…” is a sure sign that he’ll be going over there and probably never coming back.

The dog food test for Calcott Farms goes so horribly bad, with the participants immediately recognizing the name, that Don orders Peggy to turn it off, leading to one of the funniest lines in the episode: “I can’t turn it off. It’s actually happening!” And then…

Oh, but you don’t want to hear any more about this stuff, do you? Let’s get to the real meat and potatoes of the episode: Don and Betty.

As is only to be expected, Don is back in the arms of Sally’s teacher the second Betty and the kids are out of town, but what he doesn’t know is that Betty, in addition to battling with her brother over their dad’s house, is also discussing with her attorney what she’s learned about Don and trying to figure out what her options are. Unfortunately, he doesn’t offer her much in the way of encouragement, basically just telling her that maybe she’d be better off trying to work things out.

As such, she and the kids head home early, and Don gets the living hell shocked out of him when he walks in the door to find them waiting for him. “I, uh, need to go back out to the car. I left my hat.” Nice try, Don. But, of course, the look of horror on his face at that moment was nothing compared to his reaction when she demanded that he opened the drawer of the desk in his office.

The subsequent talk between Betty and Don was one of those scenes where…well, first of all, no matter what he’s done before or since this in the season, it was enough by itself to earn Jon Hamm an Emmy nod. Don did a pretty good job of laying it all on the line for Betty…moreso, I think, than many of us might’ve expected. But, y’know, he’s been holding this stuff in for so long and never known how to discuss it with him wife, and now he doesn’t have any choice. It’s a case where he doesn’t know how she’s going to react and it doesn’t even really matter: it’s just a chance to finally clear his conscience. And by episode’s end, he once again finds himself in a position where he’s decided that, dammit, he’s going to get back on the straight and narrow and commit to his marriage, kicking Sally’s teacher to the curb.

Will it last…? Given his history, there’s no reason to think so, yet this is the biggest secret of Don’s life, and he’s finally opened up to Betty about it. It could prove to be a real game-changer.