Are you as big of a Mad Men fan fanatic as I am?

Captivated from the first episode I’ve loved and cherished every minute artistic detail of this sublimely rich series. I’ve tried to absorb each tiny detail and nuance. I wanted to extract the maximum pleasure and make it last longer, like a morsel of quality dark chocolate, slowly savouring it, letting it leisurely melt with the warmth of my tongue, wishing it would go on forever.

“A TV series is like a lover: you remember it by the way it says goodbye.” Richard Ouzounian 

In reality ….I’ve been mourning the end of Mad Men since the beginning.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Please, please no Dexter fiasco! And no “non commitment” ambiguity ending like The Sopranos.

I need this ending to be perfect.  

Beautiful, sad and poetic.

I need the ending to live up to the love I’ve had of the series from the beginning. Who will ever forget the iconic bold ad posters, that foreboding image in silhouette?

Or the ominous imagery and haunting music of the opening sequence?  

Mad Men Main Title Sequence from Steve Fuller on Vimeo.

Mad Men propelled vintage style into the limelight with its immaculate well researched costumes of the era.  

 

The detailed swoon worthy (often authentic) midcentury sets incited midcentury home decor to take off, driving up demand and prices at vintage shops worldwide.  

 

I never would have thought such a slow paced period drama based on unique individual character development, not action, the subtext at times more important than the actual dialogue would make me yearn for Sunday nights.  The succinct soul searching writing of Matthew Weiner’s brilliant script captured the sweet sad emptiness that we all feel at one time or another in our lives.  Through the hilarious one line zingers of Roger to the philosophical poignant insight into the human condition as captured through the eyes of any one of the lead characters I have learned so much from watching Mad Men over the past eight years. Each episode was a hearty meal for thought which often left me hungry for more and wondering…

What is happiness? When are we truly satisfied? Do we even matter?

When a TV series can stir such questions and reflection within ourselves it is worth watching and sharing.

 

10 Important Life Lessons I Learned From Watching Mad Men

1.  The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence. Be grateful for what you have now.

 

2.  You are the only person that can make your dreams come true.

3.  You can’t change people. They have to do that on their own.

4.  Happiness is elusive. Enjoying each moment is what counts.

5.  Worrying won’t help anything.

 

6.  It’s the journey that counts, not the destination.

7.  Things can turn at the drop of a hat.  Change is the only constant in life.

8.  Success doesn’t bring happiness.

9.  Everyone makes mistakes, you’ll get over it. 

10.  You can only strive to please yourself in life. 

 

There are so many truly great quotes from this series I could have easily included another 25 here. Don’t take my word for it…watch it from the beginning, or like my husband and I decided, savour the series all over again on Netflix.