Mad Men sprints toward the finish and stumbles a bit on the way

The half-season of Mad Men has ended with a closing segment all too familiar: reorganization of Sterling Cooper, this time sold out to McCann and continuing under Rodger's management independently, the sale making all the partners quite wealthy. I find the corporate dueling the less interesting part of the series, and actually not very credibly presented - these matters take months or years to work out, but in the show they seem to take a ten-minute meeting and show of hands. To me, the season seems to have focused on Don and has left far too much unanswered: His marriage to Megan seems to be over, as she prefers to be in LA with a set much more attuned to her age and to her artistic interests. In others words, to her he's a hunk but a square, and a father figure at that. I think where the final season has to push is Don becoming clear about his background and more focused on his goals and responsibilities, a transformation of Don, similar to the process of therapy in a way: discussing or admitting all the trauma he endured (he touched on that in the Hershey meltdown), coming clean about his switched identity, and then moving on; it appears to me that staying in NYC advertising will kill him. That said, I do like to see the ad pitches and how they develop the concept and sell it to a client - and hope we can see more of that - but the pitches all must be in the service of character development, or, as it happens, of character conclusion as we near the end. Betty and the children played a surprisingly big role in this final episode of the half-season: is that a hint? Megan had almost no role; she may be being pushed aside, on line speculation to the contrary. We all hope Peggy and Joan will find some happiness, right? But why is Ted being brought back to NYC (and into the plot again, after almost vanishing for 7 episodes) - something to do w/ Peggy, or a rivalry w/ Don, or a new element, as he has said he's sick of advertising, yet he's bound to the wheel of fire. Not much of a spoiler, but: Was anyone surprised that Cooper died? But what was with that soft-shoe he performed post mortem? For a moment I thought I was watching an Ally McBeal re-run.