For more proof that we’ll be debating the ending of Mad Men until the apocalypse hits, look no further than this interview Jon Hamm did on The Rich Eisen Show. According to Hamm, Don Draper would not be alive in 2017, because he would have definitely left Esalen to resume his boozing, smoking, self-destructive ways. “There ain’t no way that guy’s getting to his 80s without a massive lifestyle shift, which maybe he did at the end of the show, but I don’t think that stuck,” Hamm suggested. “I don’t think that Zen moment of understanding of anything really stuck. That leopard is not changing his spots.” Fair enough, especially since we can probably assume Don raced back to New York to pitch the Coca-Cola ad after his meditation session.
Still, it is fun to wonder what Don might have thought about the Trump era. He’d probably be okay with the rampant sexism, but frustrated with the lack of eloquence. All we know is Harry Crane would be 100 percent on board.