While last week found Mad Men fans all atwitter with theories that maybe—just maybe—Megan Draper was a sort of Sharon Tate character because she wore a t-shirt, this week’s theory is even crazier. Over on Uproxx, writer Dustin Rowles has made a compelling argument that Don’s darling wife is actually already dead, ignoring the fact that that’s totally crazy and outside the purview of what would normally happen on Mad Men, but, hey, that’s what theorizing on the Internet is for.
In his argument, Rowles notes that Don has a history of hallucinating the dead, like when he saw his brother Adam during a bout with a hot tooth. Also, if Don died, even for a second when he fell in the pool during this past Sunday’s episode, “A Tale Of Two Cities,” then maybe a good deal of what he’s seen this season has taken place in the afterlife. As Rowles notes,
During the hallucination, in addition to finding out that Megan is pregnant, Don asks, “How did you find me?” Megan responds, “But I live here.” The “here” is not California; it can’t be the party. She’s clearly not actually there, but she could be in the afterlife. A few seconds later, Draper sees a dead Private Dinkins, who says, “I heard you were here.” Again, “here” is in the afterlife. “Dying doesn’t make you whole,” he tells Don, which is when Don realizes that death won’t fulfill him, it won’t bring him the answers he seeks. He has to get out, back to the living because “everyone is looking for you,” as Megan suggests. That’s when he is pulled from the pool and returned to life, away from Megan, Private Dinkins, and that place where the doorman was briefly after he died. It’s a perfect bookend to the opening scene of the season.
Rowles goes on to analyze the trailer for next week’s episode looking for proof that Megan’s still alive, but as anyone who’s ever tried to make heads or tails of a Mad Men trailer could tell you, that’s a fool’s errand. Either way, though, it’s a compelling argument, or maybe a totally bat shit crazy one.