It was clear from the start of Mad Men that Don Draper is a dangerous man – particularly if you're a woman who falls under his spell. But a review of the body count in Don's inner circle suggests that he might actually be lethal. Dick Whitman/Don Draper's reign of mortal terror began on the day he was born, when his mother died in childbirth. And depending on your standards of culpability, Don has been in some way responsible for at least three other deaths that we know of. Even when it's not his fault, death seems to follow him wherever he goes, to claim the life of someone in his physical or emotional proximity.
Three of the women who loved Don were given a deadly cancer diagnosis by the time they were (roughly) 40: First Anna Draper, who died of an unspecified cancer in season four. Then Rachel Menken, who died of leukemia at the start of the final season. And of course, in possibly the series' biggest shocker so far, Betty Draper was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in Mad Men's penultimate episode, and will be forgoing treatment.
As a recent Jezebel article pointed out, we actually should have seen Betty's death coming from the very beginning. The first season of Mad Men is dripping with clues that Betty would meet a tragic end. As the Jezebel story pointed out, the series premiere "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was all about the health hazards of smoking, and Betty – who Don have given the nickname 'Birdie' – lights up again and again throughout the season (as usual.) In both season one and season three, numerous references are made to Bye Bye Birdie: In season one, Pete Campbell recommends the Broadway show to clients; and the season three episode “Love Among The Ruins” opens with a shot of the 1963 film adaptation.
But in retrospect, perhaps the most significant season one foreshadowing was in the episode “Babylon,” which takes place on Mother's Day. Don prepares breakfast in bed for Betty, but is overcome with a flashback/hallucination as he is climbing the stairs to bring it to her. He slips and falls, not unlike the way Betty did in last week's episode when she was on her way to class. And when did that episode air? Mother's Day! Coincidence? Maybe, but probably not. Throughout season one, Betty is struggling to come to terms with the recent death of her mother, who seems to have prioritized beauty and sex appeal over all else. In another scene from "Babylon," Betty complains that the actress Joan Crawford is aging terribly, and says by the time she reaches a certain age she would prefer “to disappear.”
Back to Don Draper as Grim Reaper: In the penultimate episode “The Milk and Honey Route,” Don confessed that he contributed – accidentally – to the real Don Draper's death. And an argument can be made that he also contributed to the suicides of both Lane Pryce and his brother Adam. Though Lane absolutely dug his own hole, it was Don who exposed his fraud (he had forged Don's signature on a check to give himself an unauthorized bonus) and forced him to resign. Lane was dead by the next morning. Don (or Dick's) brother Adam wanted desperately to reconnect after discovering him still alive, but Don shunned him – offering $5,000 to get out of dodge and out of his life forever. Adam later hung himself, like Lane.
In the season six premiere, Don meets Private Dinkins, a soldier on temporary leave from Vietnam, at a hotel bar while in his Hawaiian honeymoon. The solider invites Don to give away his bride at his wedding ceremony the next day. Later in the same season, Private Dinkins appears as a ghost in Don's hallucination, but it's easy to believe he's really dead. Speaking of hallucinations, Don strangled former flame Andrea Rhodes to death while in a fever dream in season five. And while it is pretty likely that it was in fact all a dream, that scene has always stuck with me – because we have never heard from or about Andrea Rhodes again, and because Don later spills red wine on the carpet in the exact same spot where halluci-murdered her.
Of course, there's a popular school of thought that Don himself will die before Mad Men is over, and at this point, I can't comfortably rule anything out. As the vagrant says to young Dick Whitman in season one's "The Hobo Code": “If death was coming anyplace, it's here, kid, creeping around every corner.” It does seem likely that there will be another death before Mad Men comes to a close, even if it's a metaphorical death – destroying either the Don Draper or the Dick Whitman identity once and for all. But no one is safe from the unstoppable Don Draper killing machine.
