With the third season of “Mad Men” having come to its glorious conclusion, it’s out with the old and in with the new. In “Shut the Door. Have a Seat,” Don Draper lost everything familiar and came out on the other side bruised but chastened, down but not out, surrounded by associates yet more determined than ever to reestablish family. If Season 3 was about knocking Don down to size (and then ultimately to the ground), this season finale was about him starting to pick himself up again.

Unlike many episodes of “Mad Men” in which tone dominates action, tonight’s finale was chock full of action. As such, tonight’s edition focuses less on carefully arranging the pieces and more on razing the whole elaborate construction down to the ground. And thank God Matthew Weiner realized the stale nature of the show long before its audience did: the repetitious, humorous use of “Again?” is describing the second sale of Sterling Cooper metatheatrically emphasized that the show was already going back to that well once again in order to break new ground.

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