Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) taking his own life was one of Mad Men's saddest moments, but it was subtly foreshadowed at the beginning of season 5. Lane was introduced in Mad Men season 3 as Sterling Cooper's new financial chief when the Madison Avenue advertising agency was bought by the British film, Putnam, Powell & Lowe. Lane eventually quit PPL and joined Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Roger Sterling (John Slattery, Bert Cooper (Robert Morse), and Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) to form a new agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
Although Lane was generally happy at SCDP, he didn't reap the financial windfall the other partners did. Lane invested $50,000 in the new agency, but he was never adequately compensated for it - even though he guided SCDP during its tumultuous first two years. Worse, as a British citizen, Lane was hit hard by UK taxes and he owed $8,000 to the British government. During Christmas 1967, Lane was in financial peril but thanks to his stewardship, SCDP was financially solvent, so Pryce planned to alleviate his problems by awarding himself a bonus that would cover the taxes he owed. However, the other partners decided to cancel all bonuses and later assign the funds to Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks), who became a junior partner. Left in a lurch, Mr. Pryce then made the grievous decision to forge Don Draper's name on a $7,500 check that issued to himself. Lane saw it as a 13-day loan that he planned to pay back in full.
Unfortunately, Bert Cooper saw the check signed by Don Draper when he looked at SCDP's finances, and he admonished Don, who he believed secretly gave Pryce a bonus. Draper immediately realized Lane embezzled funds from the company and he fired Lane, although Don gave him the weekend to think of "an elegant exit" to save face, and Draper kept Pryce's crime to himself so Lane wouldn't be arrested. But Lane was shattered by the humiliation, which was compounded when he found his wife Rebecca (Embeth Davitz) bought him a new Jaguar. Lane decided to take his own life, although his first attempt to asphyxiate himself by carbon monoxide poisoning failed when the Jaguar wouldn't start. Lane then went to SCDP, typed a boilerplate resignation letter, and hanged himself in his office. His body was discovered by Joan, Pete, Harry Crane (Rich Sommer), and Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton) the next day. Lane killing himself was a horrific tragedy that came as a shock since he was a character beloved by fans. But the beginning of Mad Men season 5 actually teased Mr. Pryce's tragic demise.
In the second half of "A Little Kiss", Mad Men season 5's two-part premiere, Lane found a wallet in a taxi cab that he tried to return to its owner. Lane also became enamored by the photo of an attractive woman in the wallet and he hoped to arrange a meeting with her so he could return the item. Mr. Pryce spoke to the woman on the phone and invited her to come to SCDP to collect the wallet, and he joked, "Well, I'll be here for the rest of my life."
Show creator Matthew Weiner had been building to Lane's death throughout Mad Men season 5 and that line of dialogue was the first clever little tease of Lane's demise. But Jared Harris didn't know his character would die until after the table read for episode 10 when Weiner invited the actor to his office, offered him expensive brandy, and broke the news that Lane was going to die. While he was disappointed to leave the hit series, Harris told EW that it was "to my benefit to go out with a bang rather than a whimper". Harris also found Lane's failed attempt to die in his car because the Jaguar wouldn't start hilarious: "I laughed my ass off. I just fell off the chair laughing". So, behind the scenes, it wasn't all gloom and doom despite Pryce's ghastly death turning out to be one of the most tragic events in Mad Men.
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