A thought struck me about an inevitable plot point we are all overlooking. It was laid out years ago, but we seem to have forgotten about it. Before the end of the series, Roger Sterling will die.

The Russian writer Anton Chekhov famously said, “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off.” Way back in our first chapter, season 1, Roger suffered two heart attacks. That health scare served a narrative purpose at the time, offering Roger a shot to reform his ways — from which he promptly back-slided. But my sense is that, given the nature of Mad Men storytelling, Roger’s heart disease is not a resolved plot point.

“The Monolith” brought this to mind because of Roger’s struggle, both of will and of force, to remove his daughter from the upstate commune. Yes, giving Roger an overnight stay at the hippie stronghold was a way to take his licentious behavior to its absurdist end and hold a mirror up for him to choose a path. But I think the rift with his daughter is also being played up to add stress to the character.

Combined with his drug use and the ongoing civil war at SC&P, Roger’s heart surely cannot take much more stress. He is also trying to navigate a difficult relationship with a lovechild and the muse he can never have. I have to believe all these factors are conspiring to send Roger to an early grave.

And Roger’s death would serve the greater story as well. Staring at Roger’s ashen face in a casket would certainly shake Don Draper, quite possibly providing the last, great catalyst he needs to get a handle on his own behavior. For a series taking its final bow, a Sterling funeral would be a perfect venue for a showcasing of old faces (where are you, Sal?) and a forcing of reconciliations (Mona and Margaret? Don and Betty? Pete and Trudy? Peggy and Ted?).

With Roger out of the picture, the breakup of SC&P might not come to fruition, but a major restructuring would be in order. Bert Cooper might decide the time has finally come to ride off into the sunset, eliminating both the S and the C, making way for Draper, Olson, and Campbell.

I wouldn’t be surprised for Roger’s third and final heart attack to be the cliffhanger that has us on pins and needles until 2015. And as much as I love the character, it would be a fitting end for the Mad Man most willing to throw caution to the wind.