The Vanishing Act OR A Hitchhiker's Guide To Donald Draper

As we come much closer to the final episodes, Lost Horizon, again may give us some clues as where we are going. There are still some things that support time travel/alternate reality theory.

Again Christmas Day and Ghosts are a topic of conversation ala A Christmas Carol, as Burt appears again to Don driving across the HEARTLAND, and Roger passes Burt's Ancient Japanese Erotic Art piece onto to Peggy, which points out that despite separation of story, the two characters are inextricably linked.

There may also be subtle reference to The Wizard of Oz. Peggy pictured with a basket and she later puts herself in another kind of shoe (rollers kates), talks of non-talking dogs at the Beer Luncheon-Meeting, Diana being refereed to as a Tornado, a Scarecrow in the feild at the side of the road on Don's journey, and the mentioning of HOME SICKNESS along with characters like Joan fighting for what they believe in seems like such a familiar tale...But it's 1939 Film version that must be given credit, since unlike Frank L. Baum's novels, The characters in Oz are visual doppelgangers/counterparts to Dorothy's own family that she is trying to get back to...

Note: The Other Don has the inherent senses to know this change isn't good for her, so goes to a "travel" agency instead---themes of various travels become present with this awareness, as the novel On The Road is referenced and we see Don travel and pick up another traveler...

This also brings me to look at the final three episode titles. Lost Horizon is a film about people who disappear in a mountain town in China after their plane crashes. Much like the TV show LOST, it's a story about starting over and finding oneself on a spiritual level.

The remaining two titles are The Milk And Honey Route and Person To Person. The Milk and Honey Route may refer to the work of Nels Anderson, titled, Milk And Honey Route; A Handbook For Hobos! Anderson was a sociologist trying to find progressive ways to help those in need.

Person to Person could refer to one of the first TV shows that interviewed celebrities, but more over I think it's an unfinished phrase: Person to Person, Place to Place...and the ides of finally getting in touch with oneself. It all plays to communication and travel.

So when we put these things together along with events that occurred in the episode Lost Horizon we get a few notable ideas

Theme of drifters or drifting. Don going place to place to search for Diana, followed by Don picking up a hitchhiker, hobo, or drifter, furthered by David Bowie's Major Tom all point to the idea that Don may be going missing. Perhaps with a group of people  (farming/commune-like people - finding Jesus-esque...Jeremy Bentham: Not Paul, But Jesus) who can't be found, whether because they are nomads or because they are very well hidden.

So I could easily see a plot where everyone is searching for Don years later, but to further his own story, Don changes his identity again...but will it be the one he let go of or has he stolen someone else's???

In some sense the series could easily not end in time travel at all, as this almost points to a Gaius Balter (Battlestar Galactic re-imaged) like ending, where Don goes back to his roots...

On the other hand, maybe the truth is that maybe it wasn't that he wasn't suppose to be Donald Draper, but that he was just suppose to something different and he could still end the series in bed/on the couach, wishing for something more meaningful, (or a tornado comes),  and then waking up elsewhere--landing safely on the couch.

Another thing to point out was the woman that they cast as Diana's "replacement" or "stand in" is none other than Sarah Jane Morris. The reason I find this amusing is because, I had stated before that I thought the Kodak Carousal pitch, having Don refer to it as a "time machine", was such a similar concept of J.J. Abram's Felicity, in which Ben calls the film canister of The Gold Rush, a "time machine", which Felicity's series ends with a time travel!! The one character that proves to Felicity once and for all that she wasn't completely nuts and did time travle was Zoe Webb, Noel's future wife, whom happens to be in the same institution Felicity goes to. Zoe Web is played by Sarah Jane Morris!!