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Is <em>Mad Men</em>'s Megan Draper Already Dead? Dun Dun Dun...
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 6, 2013
Modified Jun 6, 2013
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 6, 2013
Modified Jun 6, 2013
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This is the season of conspiracy theories on Mad Men. Who is Bob Benson? Is Megan Draper Sharon Tate? Is Don dead? And now: Is Megan Draper dead? Dustin Rowles of Uproxx went down the rabbit hole and makes a pretty convincing argument that Don's wife has been dead this whole season, a theory that's been batted around certain corners of the internet since the season's first episode, set in Hawaii. (Or Heaven. Or Hell.) Even if you don't believe the hype, it's sort of fun to dip your toes into the dark side, so here are the Cliffs Notes on this latest theory (beware spoilers if you aren't caught up):
- Don has always hallucinated the dead (his brother, Anna Draper), and in this week's episode he not only hallucinated Private Dinkins, but also Megan. Is he dead himself in this scene, while face down in the swimming pool? Is he high and just hash-hallucinating Megan? Is Megan dead and coming to him in a vision? Oh god this is already so tiring.
- In that scene, Megan tells Don, "I live here." Where? The afterlife maybe.
- In next week's scenes, Megan shows up, but you could view her appearances as someone who is already dead. Don seems surprised to see her in their apartment. She's wearing red and black, the colors of violence and death, and also the colors of Lane's tie in the episode where he commits suicide. Also, one Redditor believes it may be a flashback scene.
- Also in the upcoming episode, someone is shown at the apartment door, which Don opens. Rowles wonders: "Could be Dr. Rosen, coming to offer his condolences, or perhaps a detective, coming to ask questions about the murder, or worse: Revealing to Don what he was just informed by the hallucination of Megan. 'Mr. Draper, did you know that your wife was pregnant?'"
- If she is dead, she likely only just died when Don was in California, and one Redditor theorizes that "if she was murdered, it will be more along the lines of the murder of Kitty Genovese," who was killed in her New York apartment complex in 1964, after none of her neighbors called the police. The poster also points out that a NY Times article from that time, called "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police," was written by Martin Gansburg. You know, ALMOST JUST LIKE MICHAEL GINSBERG.
- So if Megan was murdered, who did it? Grandma Ida? Dr. Rosen? Bob Benson? Betty?
The season is definitely heavy on death and the second chances thing, regardless of any conspiracy theories. And in "reality," these characters are probably all still alive and will just go through the normal ups and downs of life until eventually dying, alone, as we all will (spoiler). So let's focus on the living: Why isn't anyone talking about Ginsberg probably being a schizophrenic?
Tagged
conspiracy theory
mad men
megan draper
RIP megan draper
tv
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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