Mad Men C to Z S4E7 The Suitcase

0:00Hi, I'm Jenna. And I'm Steve, welcome to All Things Mad Men from Chip and Dip to Zuby Zoo. There's so much to love about this amazing show, and we're happy to connect to fans like us who discover new things with each rewatch. Be advised, while we aren't gratuitous with spoilers that can pop up as we discuss character arcs through the final season. Let's get started with Mad Men's C to Z. Welcome to season four, episode seven, The Suit Case. This episode was written by Matthew Weiner and directed by Jennifer Getzinger. If you ask a Mad Men fan to list their top five episodes, they might very abit, but typically shut the door have a seat and the suitcase will make that list. The suitcase is often included on top five lists of television episodes ever. Like most episodes of Mad Men, if you showed it to someone else in isolation and said, this is fabulous TV, you should watch this.

1:02It would not be satisfying. It's all the links in the chain, all the nuance and the connective threads from prior episodes that make this episode so gorgeous. You have to know the characters really well and forgive the darkness and the flaws in them to love it, I think. And all that happens really is that Peggy works late and breaks up and talks to Don, and he loses Anna. So it's just a fantastic character study. I love this episode so much. It's also a rather unique Mad Men episode, because it's really only telling one story that is the interactions between Peggy and Don throughout the episode, rather than jumping around with the ensemble cast. The episode opens with Harry passing out tickets for a closed-circuit TV viewing at a movie theater of the Cassius Clay Sonny List in Fight. So this episode is taking place on May 25, 1965. And this fight is the rematch, because Clay defeated Liston in Miami previously, and after

2:04the fight announced that he was a black Muslim and renamed himself Muhammad Ali. The American public, much of it, was very hesitant to accept that Cassius Clay was now Muhammad Ali. His victory over Liston was a huge surprise in the first bout. So in this rematch, Liston was actually the favorite to regain the title from the loud mouth Muhammad Ali. How anyone can think that, having seen the first fight, boggles my mind, Clay is so much faster, and Liston basically can't hit him in the first fight and gets worn down over the course of several rounds, including famously juicing his gloves in an attempt to blind Clay to gain some sort of advantage to take the fight. In the end, Liston refuses to get off the stool to come out for a belief it's the eighth round. Clay has won the heavyweight title, shook up the world, and has already announced that he himself is the greatest.

3:05For the rematch, Liston is the favorite, and many people are hoping that the loud mouth Muhammad Ali will get his come-upons. Harry makes an ugly comment to Danny about being Jewish when he asks why they have to pay for their tickets. Five years ago, Roger and Don were trying to find a Jewish employee to sit in the meeting with Rachel Minkin, and now Roger is married to Jane who is also Jewish. It's such an example of how ridiculous prejudice is. Before Rachel came in for that meeting, Don was making a comment about not hiring Jewish people, and then several weeks later, he was ready to run away with her. We've also got Miss Blankenship's casual racism, as she makes a rude comment about wanting to see two black men fight. If we wanted to fall in love with Miss Blankenship's quirky ineptitude, hold that thought. The comment she drops is terribly racist. As the team is taking bets on who will win the fight, interestingly, Ken champions the experienced Liston, as does Don, but Pete is for the new younger guy.

4:07Don agrees to join the crew at the palm before the fight, but then he immediately tells the secretary to make reservations anywhere but the palm for him and for Roger. I was going to ask why you think Don avoids social situations in the office so much because he's lonely, but then I thought about spending time with Pete and Harry and Danny and Stan. So, that much of a mystery. I'd probably rather go drinking with Roger too. In Don's office, Peggy Stan Joey and Danny are walking through their Samsonite ad, which will feature a toughness message and a testimonial by Joe Neymeth. In the future, Joe Neymeth will play for the New York Jets and beat the Baltimore Colts in the third ever Super Bowl in 1969. In the context of the show, Neymeth is the bright young star coming out of college, fresh off a national championship and a Heisman trophy for Bear Bryant. I like this commercial run through. They were so smart about this in Madman at the election party when they acted out Paul's play too.

5:07They're pretending to be characters who are not actors and they're unnatural as they're doing it, but not terrible. It's a great touch. I love their performance of this, especially Joey's, even if Don doesn't. He says endorsements are lazy and Joe Neymeth hasn't even played a game yet. I'm with Don on this. I think that commercial looks terrible. I don't find it funny or amusing in any way. I remember in the early seasons when Don expressed dissatisfaction with campaigns like Right Guard and the all-male team would be quiet after that. Peggy isn't. She's professional, but she fights for the work in the face of Don's criticism. I like that she quotes Dr. Faye in her defense too. That Dr. Faye point is that Don says women don't buy suitcases and Peggy shoots back with Dr. Faye says women do buy suitcases. Dr. Faye and her research are revealing truths that old school types like Don Draper, Miss or Ignore, just because it doesn't fit their view of the world or how things

6:09are done, but the facts actually support Faye and Peggy in this example. Don dismisses the rest of the team and says some really condescending things to Peggy. He reiterates it's a no. She's going to have to come up with something else. I'm glad Madman is the way it is, so I don't need more campaigns, but I have to confess I love the creative process and seeing people go from an idea to a finished product. That could be baking or fashion or home remodeling, but it's always interesting to me to see them trying to shape their campaigns even when it's messy. Peggy returns to her office where she sees flowers, a card and a small gift. It turns out the duck is courting her to be the new creative director of a new Phillips Olsen agency. We find out it's Peggy's birthday and she's turning 26, making her birthday May 25, 1939. Peggy shares her birthday with the real-life Mary Wells Lawrence, a notable female advertising

7:09executive who eventually started her own agency, and her life is said to be part of the inspiration for Peggy's character, except Wells was born in 1928. Peggy seems flattered by duck's offer here and duck has an uncanny ability to offer Peggy a new position right after Don has disappointed her, or maybe it's just that Don is often disappointing her. Making it those business cards that say creative director right under her name, it reminds us of her ambition and you can feel her pulling toward that. But I think just like Faye knows better than to go home with Don at the Clio's, Peggy can tell on the phone duck's been drinking, he's lost his job at Grey, this is not a good professional move. It's a great pitch by duck, the cards look great, he's talking about the agency specializing in women's products, and then things start to go off the track. It's clear ducks drinking already at Peggy's basic questions, it's revealed that he lacks a line of credit, he doesn't actually have any clients at the current time, and in fact

8:13Peggy wasn't even aware that he had left Grey who duck dismisses as being beneath him. No matter how satisfying it was to watch Don beat duck in that meeting with the Brits, it is uncomfortable to watch duck self-destructing again here. He says to Peggy, don't you know you're the last thing that made me feel good about myself? And that's so sad for him, and it also makes it clear she's a tool he's using. Very much as Roger uses Jane to try to feel young again, duck sees Peggy as someone who could ignite his youth and his ambition. It isn't love, it's not even terribly personal because any stand-in would do, so it's a relief she knows better and says no to this. And it's such a deterioration over the course of their phone conversation from the initial pitch, which is, oh, she would be this great creative director of this new agency that's going places. And as it unravels, it becomes, you know, now I need you. You make me feel good about myself, and it becomes this selfish pitch by a drunk duck

9:18who probably if he's sober, sober knows this isn't appealing to Peggy, but he just completely unravels. And Peggy's as gentle, I think, as she can be here, but it's pretty clear that duck is drunk and talking out the top of his head. There's no possibility here professionally for him, nor necessarily anything that would interest her personally. She extricates herself from the conversation as quickly as she can at this point, and we can just see duck going into some combination of feeling sorry for himself and getting angry. That is pitch hasn't made any progress with her. The gang of creatives fills into Peggy's office. Joey invites her to lunch with them for her birthday. This sloppy foul mouth crew is her office friend group, and she probably wouldn't have picked them, but she doesn't terribly seem to mind being one of the guys. It has to be better than the first season when she went to lunch and then later told Joan, she felt like she was supposed to be the dessert.

10:20But many of the Mad Men characters experience loneliness even in a crowd. So even though Peggy isn't uncomfortable with them, she can't be her full self here either. Emily, she's being included as part of the gang, and really she is the leader of the group. So it's this funny dynamic where I think in the commentary Matt Winer talks about Stan as being something like an older brother, he strikes me as more of a pesty younger brother, as he's subordinate to Peggy, but he's going to poke her and tease her and give her a hard time. Meanwhile, Ms. Blankenship tells Don he had a call from California from Stephanie. He goes into his office, he looks at the photo of him with Anna, he picks up the receiver, and then he looks away and replaces it without calling. It's a cowardly move. Maybe Anna wants to talk to him, maybe Stephanie needs his help to support Anna in some way, and whatever the case Don hides from it.

11:21Yeah, I agree with that completely. And we actually see the note and on the note, it says urgent from Stephanie. So whatever the urgency is, Don needs to step up here and make the phone call, and he avoids it. And it just brings me back to when Rachel denounces him when he wants to run away with her and says he's a coward of all the criticisms of Don Draper. I think the cowardice is one of the most biting ones from my perspective. He's got all these qualities, and it feels like he's got everything he needs to be better, but he lacks the courage and the willpower to push through the hard choices and the hard moments. And this one, I think, being there for Anna and or Stephanie, it's an awful look for him. Roger comes into Don's office, and Don tells him they're going to the palm while the kids go someplace else, but Roger says they're going to have to go out with Freddie and Cal

12:25Relage from Ponds, and they don't drink. Don was ready to go out with Roger, but now he begs off, saying he has to work on Samsonite. And even without being able to drink isn't even an option for Don, even if as Roger recommends they drink a lot beforehand. And as much as we've been dumping on Don's alcoholism to this point, it seems like Roger is pretty soggy most of the time. And here he drops two drinks just in the course of that brief interaction with Don. You know, I'm starting to think maybe Roger is slightly more functional as an alcoholic or maybe alternatively, Roger doesn't have a real job. So the fact that he's buzzed all the time, he can get away with that in the office. I agree. There's a lot of commentary about Don, but Roger seems to be just as bad. In the creative lounge, Joey stares at Danny and says, I don't know what it is, but when I look at your neck, I wish I had one of those James Bond pens to shoot a dart at it. That doesn't seem to bother Danny at all.

13:27And Peggy always working tries to make a James Bond world traveler thing work for Samsonite as the meeting is wrapping up. Joan comes in and asks the guys to clean up after themselves. Joey walks out, which strikes me as odd because he's the most friendly to Peggy. And this is not a big lift request. But Danny and Stan, she officially stay behind to pick up their beer bottles. And it's their own mess. So Joan's not asking them to clean up after other people. She's just saying, hey, keep your workspace clean. And Joey makes a point of looking her in the eye and announcing that he's not a janitor before he walks out. It's clear he wants Joan to know that she can't boss him around or tell him what to do. Stan and Danny make a different choice and probably the wiser choice in our opinion. Joan has seen a million guys like this move through offices. Just like Pete has a column in the middle of his office, Joan's is not ideally situated here. If she's going to press the partners to let her move the furniture back after a focus group, she's not going to be shy about telling some creatives to clean up their mess.

14:30It seems like it's a small detail that doesn't matter. But all of these details are about, do I have the power in the office to get things the way I like them or not? And every character wrestles with that issue. I also love in this episode that every single scene is a battle of some kind. So it's framed around the clay, Liston fight. And of course, Don and Peggy have this epic conflict. But there are all these other arguments and battles happening throughout the course of the episode as well. In the ladies room, Peggy bumps into Megan and Megan has some compliments to Peggy when she learns it's her birthday. It says that she's doing all right for her age. When Megan asks how old Peggy is on her birthday and she replies, you're doing all right, aren't you? It really feels like she's acknowledging Peggy's success with some admiration. It's not begrudging. It's just kind. And she also asks about any special plans. Peggy says, I'm going to a special dinner at four of the 12 seasons with my boyfriend.

15:36This restaurant opened on the ground floor of Rockefeller Center in 1957 by the same people who opened the rainbow room and tavern on the green. Later when the characters mentioned the oysters that cost $1.65 and look like hockey pucks. And there's this menu called them oysters of Hercules, which you with sword shell carve. This would have been a really nice expensive restaurant for a birthday dinner. And I love how Megan lets Peggy talk about that and have joy about it and it's very genuine. Before long, Trudy makes an appearance. And I think the fandom is usually very generous to Trudy. But my sense in this scene is that Megan is genuine in her good wishes to Peggy. And Trudy's interaction is more of a performance with a little bit of an edge. Granted, Peggy makes a comment about how feeling the baby kick might not be very different from living with Pete. Trudy replies with the truth call out saying, you're really, I always assumed that but it turns out it's true. On her way out, Trudy says reassuringly that 26 is still very young and Peggy was trying

16:40to leave but ends up holding the door for Trudy instead. It doesn't feel as genuine. It's like she's messaging Peggy that it's not too late to get married because of course that's what you want. And I don't think Trudy suspects anything between Pete and Peggy. It's just, Trudy isn't quite sure what to do with somebody like Peggy. That was my interpretation of Trudy's comments there that all women should aspire to get married and they're still time for Peggy. I think this just conveys that expectation and standard in society even if it's not taking into account the individual and their preferences. There's a moment when Pete looks nervous seeing Peggy and Trudy come out of the bathroom together as if they were talking about him. That scene wouldn't pass the Bechtel test because Trudy's talking about her father loving bloods for it, but no Pete, it's not always about you. But knowing Pete and knowing the secret he shares with Peggy, certain nervousness about what those two might be talking about in the ladies room, I buy it.

17:43It makes sense to me. Except that we know Peggy and her discretion and how she carries this with her every single day. It's a little ridiculous for him to assume, suddenly she's just going to start revealing all. He's just nervous that what good can come of a conversation between those two. Back in Don's office, Don wants Peggy to tell him what she has on Samsonite. It's the end of the day when Peggy's got her coat on and looking forward to going out for her birthday, but she needs to satisfy her creative director. The bad news is she doesn't really have anything of great substance and she's not optimistic that she's going to impress Don or get his sign off before she can get out the door. She has a lot of ideas. She presents at least four and he's not taking any of it. I do like the moment where Miss Blankenship mixes up the time difference between California and Peggy says to him, you know, just talk to Joan.

18:45If you get somebody else and Don answers, Joan knew exactly what I needed and made sure I got it. So according to the DVD commentary, Matt Weiner says, Don still feels like he deserves some level of punishment. But Peggy is also experiencing some punishment here because she's ready to go for her birthday dinner and Don is clearly ready to settle in and hash out everything we ever thought about suitcases. In his commentary, Matt Weiner says, Don wants to forestall having to call California. And focusing on work is one way he can do that. Peggy is unfortunately collateral damage in that focus upon work. Then he's so rude. This question, do you think elves do this? She's a bit childish. She stomps away and says, you're just going to change it anyway. And she's right. He will. Now Peggy's coat does come off and she calls Mark at the restaurant to say she'll be late.

19:46I got drawn into his web, she says. So it's like Don has become Conrad Hilton, the petulant boundary breaking boss and Peggy is jumping to his tomb. I'm the only one who can help him with this, she says. The sooner I go do it, the sooner I can come. Peggy also says to Mark that Don's going to go watch the fight tonight. So there should be a natural time limit on how long it can work on this because at some point Don's going to go to the fight. When Mark hangs up the phone, we see he's with Peggy's family for the fancy surprise birthday dinner. Peggy's mother says the prices are very expensive and Mark should let Jerry and Eda's husband pay for all this. Ma, don't cut the kid off at the knees, Jerry says. And we remember Eda is saying Jerry's buddies thought he was a malingerer, so it should not surprise us that he's the guy who fumbles for his wallet when the check comes. Peggy's mom has a talent for pissing off everybody, it seems. Why should Peggy's sister's husband pay for Peggy's self-appointed fiance to make his pitch

20:53and pay for the meal and everything? So I'm kind of with him on that one. Back at the office, Don wants to brainstorm Sam's and Eda's with Peggy and she just wants to be done. Do you like Cassius Clay? He asks. He's very handsome, she says. I don't think so. Don disagrees. And he talks about this disdain for Muhammad Ali, saying, Liston just goes about his business, but Ali's got a big mouth. You're not the greatest if you have to say it, Don says. But maybe if you get a Cleo, you're the greatest. Well, and it also just seems so true to Don as representing that older generation, the resistance to youth. Ali was very unusual in that he was so vocal and charismatic and outgoing and in it's such a contrast who Liston, who as champ was known as this big mean bear who scowled at everyone and everybody was afraid to address him, whereas Ali is jumping around the

21:53ring and pointing at himself and you can certainly see where Don is coming from. It's interesting to me in his criticisms of Ali, but Don's objection seemed to be those generational objections as opposed to some of the racism and hostility that Ali faced due to his politics, his religion and just his share bravado. We also saw that in the first episode this season where the reporter is asking Don questions and he says, it's not polite to talk about yourself. So you can see how Muhammad Ali's bravado might offend his sensibility, but it also seems like a contradiction because we know that Don likes to be the special one with the flair and the flash. So you might think he would have some affinity for this character. Well, and Peggy represents the youth side, right, where she's acknowledging that he's a very good looking man and he seems interesting. And again, we just I think have this generational clash here in difference of perspective on things.

22:58Don suggests three classes of suitcase, featherweight, middleweight, heavyweight. And Peggy says, great, we should do that because then she could go. And this is unusual. She does actually make a comment about the work she can't stop herself, but usually she wants to stay in work and she is trying to get out the door here. The phone rings and Don's worried it might be Stephanie, so he won't answer it. But Peggy does, and it's Roger, he's telling Don he needs to join him. And we talked about noticing Don's drinking a lot this season. Roger has left the restaurant he's at with Freddie Rumsen to go to a bar next door so he can drink. So that definitely seems excessive. That's so subtle. I can't imagine that Freddie and the guy from Ponds will notice at all. Roger is such a man, child. And it's both funny and tragic that he's calling out the fact that apparently the other guy killed someone with a motorboat due to drinking, even as Roger is next door getting

24:00plastered and basically begging Don Draper to come join him. Do you know what gets you over something like that Roger asks about the motorboat? Drinking. Helpful Roger. And Don says, do you think I'd rather be working? I do Roger answers, and that's basically a truth call out right there. I like Don sign off to Roger, he says, goodnight sweetheart, he hangs up the phone. Then Peggy's phone starts ringing, it's Mark, he's been waiting almost an hour. Mark confesses she has to come because her whole family is waiting for a surprise dinner. She apologizes and agrees she'll be right there. I think in that instant Peggy has every intention of going as she tries to walk out of the office she just can't do it. He stops by Don's office and he says, maybe tap your foot so they get the message that she has someplace else to be. And that's when she tells him it's her birthday, she was a supposed to meet her boyfriend for dinner an hour ago.

25:02The whole birthday thing is nice to the birthday person, but instead Don blames Peggy for not telling him. He says, well you don't know when my birthday is, but she does because she was a secretary. And then he tells her she's too old it's time to get over birthdays. But remember when Mr. You're too old for birthdays was leaning in the hallway with Shelly the stewardess whispering that it was his birthday, he was over 26. All he has to do here is apologize and say happy birthday, but he's ashamed so instead he barks and he's afraid about Anna so it's easier if he's working and that's easier if Peggy stays. And Peggy generally prefers to be working too, it's just different tonight. And let's also observe that this whole time that he's working in the office, Don's drinking as well. So he is getting progressively more drug. I agree. I think he had no idea it was her birthday. So he realizes he has been a bit of an ogre here and he is kind of trapped. And like you say, he's got the choice to apologize and say, hey, I had no idea get out of here

26:05or he can double down on, you know, this work needs to be done and you're too old for birthdays and yada yada, he takes the the ladder of course. I think it's that lack of apology and acknowledgement that really sets Peggy's teeth on edge. Go ahead, I'll do it myself, he finally says and she goes to the elevator, the door opens, she looks down and the camera cuts to the restaurant, she's calling Mark. The fact that you're calling means you haven't left yet, I'm not going to be able to make it at all. She tells him Peggy's mom decides to grab the phone for Mark and let's Peggy have it telling her that there aren't so many nice boys lining up for her that she should be grateful. It's typical Peggy's mom behavior. Yes, Catherine Olson is not afraid to dish out judgment and she's echoing what Joan went said to Peggy when she says, I don't know how many nice boys are lining up for you and this idea you should be grateful.

27:06We need to keep in mind Peggy's mother thinks Dawn was the father of Peggy's baby so Peggy working late probably makes her suspect something is going on between them. But that isn't Peggy's reality and the fact that Catherine thinks Mark is good enough for Peggy is a problem just like Anita settled for Jerry. Getting married is enough of an accomplishment she thinks and happiness is secondary. Well this just gets back to the whole conflict between Peggy and her mother. Her mother doesn't see Peggy for who she is, she doesn't understand her and she doesn't for one second try to put herself in Peggy's shoes and see the things that Peggy wants may be different than what she thinks she should want or what she wanted for herself for her other daughter. It's kind of a heartbreaking scene because we can just see all that scar tissue and tension between the two of them. Peggy's not unloading back at her mother but for her mother to do this on the phone in front of her boyfriend, it's family awkward in all sorts of ways.

28:13And it's her birthday and the rule is you're just nice to the birthday person. So please come and enjoy this really happy birthday dinner now. I think this phone call Peggy makes. This is the moment she decides that she definitely wants work more than she wants Mark. Peggy once told Pete very calmly that she could have had him in her life if she'd wanted him but she wanted other things. And I think if Mark were waiting by himself, Peggy might leave work right now. But since she knows her whole family is there and it's not going to be a romantic evening like she hoped. Her mother's going to lecture her and her sister's going to judge her. So Dawn is a coward for not calling Anna or Stephanie. But this thing Peggy is doing is similar. She's avoiding the scene even though people have gone out of their way for her. At least she calls to say she's not coming but it's still avoidance. Well, and I'm going to defend Peggy a little bit on that.

29:13If he's all prepped to propose to her in front of the family and she doesn't want to answer at the very least and possibly is a straight up no to the proposal, I don't think it's avoidance to say, hey, I don't want to set that up for failure and then shoot this guy down in front of everyone. Now combined with the aggravation of talking to her mother as Mark gets back on the phone, it almost seems to me like it's the opposite of avoidance because Peggy seems to provoke Mark when she says, you know, you're using my birthday to getting good with my family. Mark, of course, is getting into a sour mood because he sees that Peggy's not showing up for this big proposal that he's about to enrol and suddenly now they're lodged in a fight in addition to everybody else who's appeared in the scene. Is it clear he's going to propose in this episode or was it just a birthday dinner?

30:13I don't see why you have the family there for any other reason. Yeah, he really doesn't know her at all does he? That's a miss. And maybe I'm wrong, I guess. I'd be curious. It sounds like you don't have that vibe. My thought is he, yeah, he's looking to propose at this meal in front of everyone. Instead, Mark decides, you know what? Forget it. It's been nice knowing you. Happy birthday. So they break up over the phone in front of her family. It's not been a great birthday so far. The next scene is so rich and so epic and just the essence of the show. Peggy has held in so much about Don. He said some terrible things to her and they both know and very important secrets about each other and never discuss them. So it's very cathartic to finally get an episode where they face some of these things with each other. Peggy heads back to Don's office and lets him have it. She says to his face what other people mutter behind his back. She says it's not my fault you don't have a family or friends.

31:15And she says she's only working because of some stupid idea from Danny, a guy you had to hire because you were drunk. They get into a whole creative debate around the Glowcoat ad. This goes back to prior episodes where we've seen that Don has been happy to bask in the glory of Glowcoat. But we know that this whole ad was part of that group effort or at the very least Peggy was an important element for Glowcoat. Peggy's looking to litigate that a bit. It all circles back to who gets the credit. Yes, Peggy really does want to talk about the Clio's that's been bothering her. And Don says there is no Danny's idea it all belongs to the agency. And he's correct but this conversation reveals he did register her upset. It's not just Danny's idea they're talking about, right? It's Peggy's idea. And he does remember she thought of the Glowcoat ad. To me, he's under no obligation to support her when she's in the hospital

32:16after having a baby, but he does that for her. He is under obligation as her mentor to support her professionally. And he only does that occasionally if it's convenient and if it'll simultaneously burn Pete Campbell and that kind of thing. Even though it is a bit petty of her to nitpick about credit, I get it. I think she has a legitimate complaint. Well, and it's not just Glowcoat if we look at her whole rise. It does seem a little odd that Don Draper is the one who saw fit to propel her into a creative career and recognized her talent. But he's very lacking in terms of compliments. He's not sharing compliments or acknowledging her successes. And we can see this build up here and that the dam is broken as Peggy confronts him about it. And I think Glowcoat is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

33:16I think they both have a point, but they're both wrong. Don trying to funnel the credit off to the money to say, well, the money is what that's what that's for. It's avoiding Peggy's point completely. And I think she's absolutely right that if there is a creative partnership, there has to be an element of respect and acknowledgement that just isn't taking place. I've got a soapbox to climb on about this exchange that's been memified so much. It's it's even recognizable by people who haven't seen Mad Men. When Peggy says, you never say thank you and Don yells, that's what the money's for. People reshare that as if he got this great comeback and she's being ridiculous. And I really hate that diminishment for her character because she's voicing a vulnerable honest thing to a man who's not great at emotional intimacy or at expressing appreciation to his team. And I think she's right to feel the way she feels about this.

34:17She's expressing a need for approval from someone she respects. And her respect means something to him. He's screaming, that's what the money is for because he doesn't want to be accountable for anything else because for him, it's easy to throw money at things. It's a go-to behavior. So demanding he be professional and distribute credit where it's due, that's an unwelcome ask because Don just wants to hide from that. It's not unreasonable for her to want that. Well, and Peggy's absolutely correct if we take a broader look at society in the workplace. I mean, study after study has shown that it is not all about the money. So insufficient money is a major source of people leaving employment. But the thing that keeps people in jobs doesn't appear to be the money so much. It's all those other aspects of appreciation, recognition, acknowledgement. And in a workplace where you're well compensated but get none of those,

35:19you're probably looking to go elsewhere. It directly contradicts Don Draper's assertion. So I agree with you this notion that it's simply about the money. Again, it's not that there aren't occasions where that isn't true, but in terms of long-term fulfilling professional relationships, it definitely isn't all about the money. And if you go look in those roles where it really is a money focus, you typically see a lot of abusive behavior and bad behavior that goes on because everything is excused by the idea, well, we're going to throw a big bonus at you or whatever it is. There's a point in this conversation where Don should have stopped. And he keeps going. Several comments passed that point. Peggy starts crying. This is not a thing she does often. But she leaves. She goes to the ladies' room, Bathroom Mirror, that one where she refused to cry in the second episode of the show. It hits now.

36:20I really love Elizabeth Moss' acting at this part of the scene. I mean, she's always excellent. I think she's a fantastic actor. But this scene where she breaks and she gets herself to the bathroom. She holds it together, looks in the mirror, and then it's almost like watching Glass Shatter. We can see her break and now she's weeping in front of it. And as you pointed out, she's held it together through so many lousy circumstances in that office. And I think to share intimacy of this fight with Don Draper and the fact that he's saying these things one on one just to her, to her face and not getting her point, that's what breaks her. And it's that intimacy that just makes it that much harder and cooler to take. It's just a tour de force that she looks at herself in the mirror. I'll acknowledge that Peggy is overly hungry for a recognition. Don's not wrong to say she's young and that will come for her.

37:22But nobody who's young and ambitious wants to hear, oh, just wait your turn. And she's also more than two years into her career if we're counting, so Don got that accusation wrong as well. And if Don threw out the occasional at a boy, I don't think she would need a trophy so much. Their relationship is special because they get so much about each other without words and they don't have to talk about everything. But at the same time, it reminds me of that Simon and Garfunkelsong the dangling conversation. Some things need to be said. When we look at Don's relationship with Anna, she didn't put demands on him and that relationship worked. And Peggy holds Don accountable for some professional things. But their relationship also works because she gets him and she doesn't ask a lot. If she showed the same sporadic approval to him, he shows to her, I think their relationship would be different. We cut from this emotional outburst to Don looking to record ideas for Samsonite

38:24and he needs to find a tape so he can record his ideas. As he looks, he spots a mouse on the floor. Peggy's back in her office quietly working alone and then she can hear Don calling for her. Come in here Peggy. No, she says she's not over this. She's not going to be over this. But she goes. It turns out he got his hands on one of Roger's book idea tapes. In it, we learned that Roger thinks Bert Cooper disliked his jua de vivre that he had a relationship with Ida Blankenship and that Cooper had an unnecessary orkiectomy thanks to Dr. Lail Evans. Peggy is reluctant to make nice and laugh through this whole scene and she's a little bit grussed out by, she says, listening to the tape is like reading somebody's diary. But eventually this treasure trove is too good to stay mad and she laughs. I think this is the classic male apology in our culture. Men apologize by moving on to something else and making an effort to include

39:26the other person and basically change the subject. The apology is unspoken and that can be really annoying to a lot of people, particularly women who want to hear the words. But I think that's exactly what Don Draper is doing here. I like that Peggy resists at first and Don persists. Ida was a hellcat. Cooper lost his balls. It is inherently hilarious. I think it's Roger's term on the tape where he calls Ida Blackenship, the queen of perversions. That deserves its own series right there. And Don invites Peggy to talk. She resists at first. But she's also great at summing up exactly what's bothering her. She says, Mark doesn't know me if he'd invite my mother for a candlelight birthday dinner. And now it means I'm single again. I love how she delivers the word single. But it's also, again, it's a bit of Peggy's cowardice too. Just like Don isn't calling Stephanie.

40:27Peggy knew Mark wasn't right for her. And she stayed with him because it was easier than being alone. I also like the interaction between Don and Peggy, where Peggy says that they do not have personal conversations. And basically says to Don that he likes it that way, he doesn't want to have personal conversations. So it really seems to mark them crossing this boundary. And it's just not a place the two of them have gone previously, with a couple very notable exceptions. The mouse reappears. Peggy climbs on some furniture. Don tries to capture it with a suitcase. Eventually he decides there's got to be another way out of here. Sure, that's metaphor of some kind. So as Peggy's phone rings, and she doesn't want to answer hers either, Don offers to take her out for a birthday dinner. The cheap diner they go to is no forum at the 12 Caesars, but it is at least Greek. And I'm guessing Peggy is having more fun talking work with Don

41:30than she would at a fancy dinner with Mark with her without her mother. The conversation is more personal than we normally get from Don Draper or Dick Whitman. Don talks about flying to Korea. He talks about his uncle having spags packed all the time ready to go. It's a lot of personal detail. Peggy tells him she's never been on a plane. And earlier when they saw the mouse, Don tells Peggy he grew up on a farm. They talk about their parents dying. And all around their conversation is the work. That's the language they speak most fluently. And it isn't requisite. It's just always somewhere on their minds. But having these bits of other things about their lives sprinkled in, this is new and I think this is a relationship the audience has wanted to see for a really long time. That they let their guard down a little bit. That they be natural. That they be themselves with each other. It's surprising how much they don't know about each other.

42:31Because every little factor tidbit they share is unknown to the other. And it's also very intimate. There's one moment when Don Draper reaches across and takes a fry off of Peggy's plate. And that just physically feels very intimate, compared to where they've been and where they were most recently, you know, when they had the argument in the office. Peggy confesses what we've suspected about her for a while. She says, I know what I'm supposed to want, but nothing feels right or as important as anything in that office. And that's so honest. Her work is more important than family, more meaningful than mark to her. And she doesn't know anybody else like her. Don made that comment about how Uncle Mack had a suitcase that was always packed and always ready to go at any moment. So it's an interesting hint that Don, who we know struggles to have a caring father figure in his life, has picked this up from this guy, his stepmother took up with, he says, who runs a house of prostitution.

43:32That's where he gets this idea that running away is always an option. That having that in the back of your mind is a viable way to live, to always be on guard, except when we've seen Don run away, he doesn't even take his case. Well, and also, I think the unspoken part is the sacrifice required, to have no incumbrances to be able to run away at the drop of a hat. There's a price to be paid, and Don Draper pays that price. He's made a choice, and given up so much, I think for most people, it's those incumbrances, which are the richness of life, and now he's basically denied himself those things. Of course, Don can't drink at the diner, so Peggy and Don end up going to a bar, and their personal conversation continues. Peggy mentions that everyone thinks she's slept with him to get her current job. Don healthfully says that there are certain rules he has about work,

44:33and reassures her that she is attractive. Don says to Peggy that she knows she's cute as hell, and she confronts him. It's not aggressive or whiny, but this idea that everybody thinks I slept with you to get the job, and we know that that's offended her. But she's also honest about another layer of hurt. She says, like, the idea of sleeping with you is so funny, so impossible. And when he says, oh, you're attractive, Peggy, not as attractive as some of your other secretaries, I guess. Pretty sassy, and I love it. Like, you know, don't give me your lines, but I see how you act. But she also, a little bit like she was with Freddie Rumson, she confesses this conflict she does feel. She says she's terrible at dating, and she hates it. And it does feel like relationships are more work for her, while her work is not without struggle, but it comes more naturally to her. It's also interesting because I think Don is genuinely trying to be supportive to her

45:36in this moment, and that's not a look we get so much out of Don Draper. So when he says that she's attractive, he's not on the make here in any way. He's trying to be a supportive person. It almost feels like a response to her earlier criticism about his lack of showing appreciation or recognition to her. I saw an interview with Elizabeth Moss while Madman was airing, and she was asked if she thought she and Don would ever get together, and she said, I hope not because every woman he's had an affair with leaves the show. I also think though, for a character like Don Draper, who seems so much like James Bond, he can take any woman and leave her sex is less intimate and less personal to him than this conversation. The fact that Don and Peggy's relationship does have love in it, and not sex makes it so much more interesting to me. I love it too when Peggy says to Don that her mother thinks he was the one who impregnated her.

46:38For all the bad things we've seen Don Draper do, he's not guilty of that particular case. It arises from him being the one to visit her when she was in the hospital. And here again, I think we see Don Draper trying to be supportive and thoughtful, you know, a very personal question of asking her if she thinks about it, the baby she had. Peggy says that she tries not to, she can't escape it, and it comes up, particularly in her moments. I hope this question, do you think about it, is for her? But given that Don was given to a stepmother and later a stepfather of sorts, I wonder if that question is more about himself. Would his mother have loved him if she had lived and kept him in that kind of thing, but initially I read it as curiosity that he has thought about Peggy. He does wonder about her. He does have concern for her. I hope that's true. Peggy never talks about the baby, and in media we're so used to paying attention to what people say to gauge what's important to them. The way she answers this, it comes up out of nowhere.

47:42Playgrounds, in that one word, it carries so much pain, and she has it with her every single day, while Stan is insulting her and Don and her mother are criticizing her, and the world is judging her for what she isn't. You have to respect her for her strength here, even as you can see her pain. I also found it interesting Don knows this incredible secret of hers, but he asks her if she knows who was the father. It shows the limits of his knowledge and the depth of this entire other secret, because not only does she know the father, the father is in the office every single day, and Don has no idea that it's peak. That's something that Peggy has kept to herself. It's fascinating between Peggy and Don because it's such an impersonal relationship, but there's these couple lines that are so personal and so intimate. I accuse Duck of wanting to use Peggy for her youth and talent to prop himself up,

48:46different from Roger and Jane, but still not an equal partnership. And I think Don is a serial user of people around him, but it is different between Peggy and Don. He isn't looking to use her as an excuse to run away like Rachel or a stability shield like Betty or his one safe place like Anna, but because he has some respect for her talent, her respect for his work means something to him, even more so, because she understands good work. She isn't generous with compliments either. Peggy has struggled with trying to please men overtly like Don advised or to be herself. She wants to be loved and respected for her brain, even if it's also nice to be admired for your looks. Don admires her talent and he isn't threatened by her brain. The way women look is important in his affairs, but Peggy sees herself as unique and therefore more special to him, I think. The scene wraps up as the patrons around the bar react to the outcome of the Oli Liston fight,

49:51right away in the first round, Liston has gone down and been knocked out. Although the radio broadcast is confused and it's not really clear what happened, immediately the patrons start to say it was a fix that there's no way such a great boxer as Sonny Liston could be knocked out in the first round. Don realizes he's lost his wager on Liston to win the rematch. They're all yelling, get up, get up just as Ali was yelling at Liston. I like how Peggy is just drinking and she doesn't even care about the results of the fight. She mentioned earlier that her father died in front of her of a heart attack and it was very violent and it's why she hates sports. Peggy and Don head back to the office and now we can see Don is very drunk and Peggy is having to support him. She leads him into the men's washroom and he starts to vomit in a bathroom stall.

50:53Don says the elevator is like a rocket, he feels sick. The elevator is like a rocket because you've been drinking since 9 o'clock this morning Don, but sure, blame the elevator. It's also a nice touch that Peggy had a breakdown moment in the lady's room and now Don has his. The kind thing to do in this situation I think is to leave and not talk to the sick person that she's offering him water and toothpaste and she stands there awkwardly until she hears a voice calling her name. It's Duck. And what an entrance for Duck. He's dropped his pants in Rodger's office and when Peggy asks what he's doing, he tells her that he's leaving draper a little present. Duck is obviously drunk here and Peggy waste no time in telling him this is Rodger's office. That is one of my top five favorite lines across the entire series of this show. Not that Rodger doesn't deserve a little present I'm sure, but it is one of my favorite lines.

51:57Peggy gets Duck to redress and move out of there toward the exit and Duck turns pathetic and right then Don turns up. Duck accuses Peggy of going back to draper, more evidence that Peggy was right. People do believe she slept with Don and then Duck tells Don we were in love, but it turns out she's just another whore. He's so drunk and he's not very logical. This is really a cruel thing to say. And it's just so pathetic for somebody who was trying to woo Peggy to run away and start an agency with him and now he's calling her out as just another whore. When he's the one who showed up in her workplace drunk in the middle of the night looking for her, Don draper gallantly swings at Duck, but he's so drunk he misses by a mile and now he end up in a scuffling wrestling match between Don draper and Duck, but neither man is in condition to best the other, although Duck quickly ends up on

53:00top of Don pinning him. It's such a sloppy brawling exchange. It's the complete opposite of the duel in the Princess Bride or a heavyweight boxing match. There's no repartee or skill here. They're just stumbling around. And when Duck lands on top of Don, he does this claw hand thing in yells. I killed 17 men in Okinawa and our protagonist looks away saying Uncle. So for all the imposing physical presence of Don draper, he's bested here by a man he has contempt for. And Duck's not even overheating Don either. He says he still think you're better than me. And then he has the nerve to say, come on Peggy, let's go. No, no, it's just it's a lot of carnage and there wasn't even a lot more. As Peggy looks back at Don, he's now on his feet and stumbling back towards his office. It's not a great look for the two men in this particular scene.

54:03After Peggy walks Duck out, Don is almost asleep on the couch when she returns. She tries to apologize about Duck, but all is forgiven. He's got more on his mind. He's drunk. He doesn't want to think about the embarrassing fight enemy who is Don to judge people for unwise flings. So I want to give Don credit for showing grace to Peggy about this, but all of it is a shadow because he's thinking about Anna right now. I think that's true. Maybe it's just wishful thinking. I think I do have a sense of him being rather gracious and wanting to stop Peggy from explaining herself to him and making it clear. She doesn't need to do that. I agree with you. He's got other things going on in his life, but I can't help but think there's an element of respect there for Peggy. They're letting her off the hook to say, you know, you have no obligation to explain yourself to me.

55:04Don asks Peggy to make him a drink and she says another true thing. How long are you going to go on like this? Everybody has been noticing he's drinking too much. Peggy cares about him. Don confesses to her. I have to make a phone call and I know it's going to be bad. There's a vomit stain on his shirt. Mr. Clean shirt drawer is dishevelled and it's really ugly. So Peggy makes him a drink. He pats the couch next to him. She sits down. And at this moment on the first watch, I'm hoping so much he doesn't try to kiss her or do anything stupid. I just I don't want that for them. And instead he lies down in her lap and he says, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. And it's this closeness, a confession. It's a genuine apology. And she shushes him and shakes her head almost like if that was true forgiveness in dawn about for Peggy. She's returning the favor. He falls asleep on her lap and she drinks the drink she made

56:10for him. And I think it's it's critical to know because Don Draper doesn't apologize for much. And in this moment where maybe he sobered up a little bit from his scuffle with duck, maybe he's feeling ashamed about his life and some of his choices even as he dodges a responsibility he has, I think this is a notable comment. And I think you can read it more broadly than just the evening. But to the larger point of if he had been more effusive in his praise and recognition and letting people know what a talent she was, then perhaps he could have directly tamped down on just this perception that she slept her way into her current role. And the fact that he didn't do that and he was so resistant to acknowledging that earlier, it seems to me this is him coming around a bit on that particular point and conceding that she does have a point and one unintended consequence in harm he's done to her apologizing for that. I think is a long

57:17overdue in the good gesture from Don Draper. Later that night Peggy and Don are both asleep and Don lifts his head. We hear footsteps and see Anna Draper carrying a suitcase. She's walking without a limp or a cast. She's ghost-like and she gives an approving happy look around Don's office and smiles at him before disappearing. And there's a moment when Don looks at Peggy to see if she saw it too, but Peggy is sleeping. What do you think about this scene? Ever since Star Wars, I always wondered if you were a ghost, did you have to be your old cell for did you get to be your young good-looking self? And despite what Anna can did, he was young and good-looking. So I always thought Obi-Wan kind of got a bad deal that he was still like old Obi-Wan when he was a ghost. So Anna looks beautiful, young and radiant here and happy. I think it's a nice farewell to the character from the series and the farewell from Don Draper's life. It's interesting

58:20to me again because I'm so hung up on Don failing to make the phone call and step up in that moment. And it just shows he knows exactly what that moment was that he's dodged and basically it's come to him in the form of this vision in this moment. There is no avoiding it. It comes to you. I can't help but being a little sad that he dodged it and didn't look out for other people into what point because it's coming and it's found him anyway. I think about Anna as being Don's harbor because she knows more truth about his former identity than anybody else who's still living. But I wonder if her leaving is essential to him moving forward with his new self. That's kind of suggested, I think, by the battle between Listen and Ali in this episode because Don is always fighting to hold Dick Whitman in and Dick Whitman is often fighting to come out. And I wanted Don to integrate his two selves to take Betty and the kids to California and acknowledge his past and rebuild this new life with Anna in it and tell his

59:24kids his stories and share himself with his family. Since he wasn't able to do that, it's now he has to grow up without her. And it's a lot of loneliness Don has had to face in one lifetime. He has a lot of gifts and that can make it hard to feel too sorry for Don Draper. But it is difficult to say goodbye to the people who knew you when, especially when they loved him as much as Anna did. Well, and regardless of the accuracy of Don's perception of Anna in his life, we know how empty his life is. So she is rather exceptional. There aren't a lot of other candidates to play that role. I think that sense of loss for Don is huge and part of it is just that the relative loss is so great for the absence of anyone else. He's burned everything down around him.

1:00:25The next morning, very early, Don wakes again and Peggy is still asleep. He reaches for a cigarette and calls Stephanie. She tells him Anna died and Don can barely keep it together. He starts to lie. He says, I'm sorry I didn't call. I was and then he doesn't let himself lie about this. He asks, did she want to talk to me? And that feels like a tragic repeat of Adam Whitman because if Anna did want to talk to him, the least he could do was to answer the phone and he didn't show up for her. But Stephanie says Anna wasn't really there. Stephanie asks if she can stay in the house and takes some time off from school, Don owns Anna's house. He's struggling and he's not quite ready for her to hang up, but she does. And when Don looks up, he sees Peggy watching him and he bursts into tears. And I love the look on Elizabeth Moss' face in that moment because it's clear this is a version of Don Draper that Peggy has never seen before. She's looking at him very

1:01:31closely and he's falling to pieces right in front of her. We get a truth call out when Peggy asks what happened and Don tells her someone important to him died, the only person in the world who really knew me. Peggy's look to Don about this is kind, but also it's so clear she thinks this is a stupid thing to say, but you know, nobody, that's not true. She tells them and she passes back. Well, and Peggy knows that this person isn't his wife, isn't his father, isn't his mother. So I think it's a reasonable assumption by Peggy. And when she says that's not true, and I imagine she's also a bit perplexed at who could this important person be that Don Draper never talks about himself so she has no idea who she could be. I liked that it didn't seem important to Peggy who it was, but the point is she knows him and he's not alone and she's there reminding him.

1:02:35And I love that. It really feels like they've created a connection through the course of this evening and not a romantic connection, a platonic connection of shared experience. It's a fascinating dynamic that's developed here, especially out of some of the fire and friction that came earlier in the evening. Don pulls himself together and sends Peggy home. But when she's waiting for the elevator, she decides just to go back to her office and sleep instead. Stan and company, hopefully, wait Peggy up with a shrill whistle barking, get to work, it's 1030 maggot. So back to reality. When Peggy goes to Don's office, he's completely himself again, clean shirt, smooth hair. Look at this, he says. He's got the Samsonite suitcase standing over the competition in an imitation of the Liston Ali match. As Peggy comes around the side of the desk to look at what Don is sketched out in terms of a potential Samsonite ad in comparison to

1:03:39the famous photo that was on the cover of the daily news. Don takes Peggy's hand and gives it a squeeze. And there's just such an intimacy between the two of them in this moment. And again, not a romantic intimacy is very touching. In the pilot, Peggy put her hand on Don's because Joan told her the men in the office expected her to be something extra, and Don corrected her. So now Don covering Peggy's hand and looking at her, she nods the exchange this smile. As hard as it is to be in this work relationship with Don Draper, I like how this is easier for Peggy to be real with him, even in the pain and the mess of it than it is to be fake with somebody else like Mark. And because work is more important for both of them, maybe this work relationship is more valued than it would be for most other people. I agree with you, it's so satisfying, it's not a romance, it's not a happy ending. Don's still an alcoholic, Anna's gone, Peggy broke up

1:04:44with a guy on her birthday, but they came through it closer than they were before, and that's worth something to both of them. And I think there's also in the gaze as they look at each other, this sense of discretion and confidentiality between the two of them, they know neither of them are going to share any of what happened with anyone else, it's something between the two of them and they're safe keeping it. The other thing I'll note, and Matt Winer talks about this in his commentary as well. I love the way Peggy shuffles into his office after sleeping on the sofa and being woken up by a little brother stand, and Don Draper is completely put together again. So he's clean, his hair's perfect, he's working at his desk, and it's such a stark contrast to the Don Draper, we've looked at throughout the prior evening. It's just a fantastic conversion and flip, even as we see

1:05:47Peggy shows the signs of what went on over the prior night. I also wanted to make a comment about Don's Samson I add. Peggy has a few reservations, but then she agrees, oh it's good, it's very good. And I would have liked it better if Don had used one of her many ideas and then said something valuing. Instead of just continuing to be the creative hero, she needs to praise. But I know he cannot fundamentally change overnight. So she's back to, I get him, he gets me, I never expect him to be any other way than what he is. Don sends Peggy home, he's going to want 10 taglines for Samson I when she gets back. Open her clothes, she asks about the door as she goes. Open, he answers, and that's a great sign for productive Don, and she smiles as she walks out. The end credits start to roll to Simon and Garfunkel's Bleaker Street.

1:06:51You could write a dissertation about how this song fits themes and madmen. Some of the notable lines include, I saw a shadow touch a shadow's hand, which could be a nod to Anna Draper's goodbye. And there's a line that says $30 Pajor Rent on Bleaker Street. Of course that street is in Greenwich Village where Don lives, and it is supposed to refer to the betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. How much has Don betrayed to be sitting on the money he has today and and was it worth it? But for this episode, the lines, voices from a sad cafe, smiling faces, try to understand. That fits Don and Peggy, so I'm very happy to keep them at the center of this episode. And that wraps episode seven of season four. We are now officially halfway through madmen. Our listener shout out goes to Brenda Sanchez Farrell. We appreciate your positive comment about our show on our YouTube channel and all of our listeners for all your support.

1:07:55That's it for this episode of all things madmen from Chip and Dip to Zoobie Zoo. Visit our website madmenc2z.com to vote for your favorite sterling lines and to share your opinions on our double dip questions for each episode. You can find us on Instagram and YouTube at madmenc2z and please listen like and subscribe. That's what the podcast's for.