Seven seasons after AMC first introduced us to Don Draper, he is still smooth-talking: smooth-talking his clients, smooth-talking his colleagues whom he doesn’t quite trust and smooth-talking most everything that resembles a female.

But Don of season seven part two has lost quite a bit. Since we first saw him with a wife, a house, two kids, a rising career and a couple of mistresses in the pilot episode, he has lost two wives, his job and from what we can tell from Sunday’s premiere, at least some of his ego.

The Don of this final season has his job secured at Sterling Cooper and Partners, now an “independent subsidiary” of ad-giant McCann Erickson, but everything else in his life is in decay. Even the women he tries to seduce aren’t buying his shtick.

The hollowness of his life is further underscored by the episode’s bookending of Peggy Lee’s somber song “Is That All There Is?” as well as the reappearance of Rachel Menken. One of the biggest reveals of a largely reveal-lacking premiere episode is that Rachel, the “one who could have been” from season one, has died of leukemia after apparently living a full and happy life without him.

It’s enough to make Don choke up at her shiva and possibly – just maybe – turn his life around in the remaining six episodes. If not, Don will surely keep sleeping around, drinking his body weight in old fashioneds and remain as lost as ever. If so, his end is surely destined to be tragic one – perhaps entailing something like the opening credit’s man-falling-from-building animation.

Meanwhile, season seven part two’s premiere showcased two of today’s most beloved female characters coming into more of their own. After years of getting pushed aside, battling male favoritism and blatant sexual harrassment, Joan and Peggy, who both started off as secretaries, are now both in positions of power.

Joan (Christina Hendricks) is rich from being a partner after the company was sold to McCann, and Peggy (Elizabeth Olsen) is taking charge as copy chief. Their triumph is enough to make any respectable feminist cry.

Yet because no “Mad Men” friendship lasts for long, the premiere kicked off what looks to be an epic feud between Peggy and Joan. Apparently, they won’t be helping each other out with each other’s respective problemsome (for their era) dating lives.

Again, only time will tell if Peggy and Joan’s endings are happy ones, or if their ex-beaus’ (Ted Chaough and Roger Sterling) now glorious mustaches will finally lure them back.

We will also have to stay tuned to learn what has become of everyone else not shown in the premiere – Betty, Sally, Michael Ginsberg and Meghan, just to name a few.