Anticipated

Weiner on Mad Men's Finale

“The show is about consequences.”

Mad Men’s devoted fans huddled around the TV last night to watch the finale of its fourth season, which was “about consequences” and “following things to the next step,” director Matthew Weiner says. But the show isn’t like The Sopranos, Weiner says—Mad Men “is not a story about, crime doesn’t pay.” It’s a story about Don Draper’s difficult life, especially this season, after his divorce from Betty, when he was making mistakes, drinking too much. “That episode was all about people doing the right thing for the wrong reasons,” Weiner says—Midge painting to get money for heroin, Betty moving the family because she’s jealous of her own kid. And why are there so few black characters on the show, set in 1965? “That is the world they move in. It’s like saying, well, you’re telling a story about baseball, where’s Jackie Robinson? I’m like, Jackie Robinson is Jackie Robinson because he was one person, and this story is not taking place in that other universe.”