Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Don Draper enters the season married to Megan, who has become a copywriter at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. His attention wanders from the agency, where Michael Ginsberg’s arrival gives Peggy a talented new colleague and rival. Megan soon leaves advertising to pursue acting, while Peggy, frustrated by being overlooked, accepts a job at rival agency CGC. Roger feels increasingly sidelined; after taking LSD with his wife Jane, they acknowledge their marriage is over. They divorce, and Roger begins seeing Megan’s mother, Marie.
Joan raises baby Kevin while Greg is overseas, then ends their marriage when he volunteers for another tour without consulting her. SCDP’s effort to win Jaguar becomes a turning point: Pete learns the account may depend on Joan sleeping with dealer executive Herb Rennet. The partners approve the arrangement behind Don’s back, and Lane persuades Joan to accept a partnership stake. Jaguar signs, but Joan’s new status sharpens her distance from Don and the other partners. Lane later forges Don’s signature on a company check to pay his British tax debt; Don discovers the theft and demands his resignation.
Lane dies by suicide in his office, leaving Don haunted by his death and by visions of his dead brother. The finale follows the firm’s expansion and the characters’ unsettled lives: Joan blames herself for not returning Lane’s affection, while Pete visits Beth after her electroshock treatment and finds that she no longer remembers him. Megan asks Don to help her land a commercial role, and he changes his mind after watching her screen test. She gets the job; Don drops her at the set, then sits alone at a bar as a woman asks whether he is by himself.