Sunday's "Mad Men" episode zeroed in on two characters, Don and Peggy, and finally cemented bonds that we'd been led to question at the onset of the season. It appears as if Peggy will remain loyal to Don come hell or high water, and the sentiment is reciprocated. But it's never quite that simple, is it?
Given the task of coming up with a campaign for Samsonite, Peggy, Joey, Danny & Rizzo put together a charades mockup of their idea to put football star Joe Namath in a commercial manhandling a Samsonite suitcase. Watching it unfold in his office, Don thinks it's all wrong. Nobody knows who Joe Namath is, he argues.
Everyone else in the room is dismissed, but he keeps Peggy to admonish her for such amateurish ideas. She rightfully deflects blame to Danny, but Don is hearing none of it, holding her to a standard above the rest. She retreats to her office to find a bouquet of flowers and a "Phillips-Olsen" business card - from her former (gag) lover Duck, of course. As he soon explains on the phone, he's putting a new company together, aimed specifically at women's products. It sounds too good to be true, and is; Duck's got no clients, and the entire operation is just a drunken romance scheme to win her over. She hangs up on him when the boys show up to discuss the Samsonite project.
While the rest of the office BSD's are gearing up to attend the now-legendary Cassius Clay/Sonny Liston matchup, Draper gets a message from Miss Blankenship that he needs to call California immediately. He knows it can only mean one thing: Anna’s succumbed to her cancer, and her niece is calling with the news. He delays returning the call, pouring a drink instead and casting forward a night full of distraction by recruiting Peggy to brainstorm after hours with him on the Samsonite account. What he doesn't know is that it's her birthday - her dedication to the job and upward mobility prevented her from pointing it out.
As a result, her boyfriend Mark and both sets of their parents are left waiting at a surprise birthday dinner for which the guest of honor is a no-show. Exasperated but resigned to follow through, Peggy sticks to the task to the bitter end, which it turns out results in the end of her relationship. When she finally breaks the birthday plans news to Don and he expresses little remorse, the moment blossoms into a throwdown confrontation of epic proportions: she feels uncredited for her work, and points out that it was her work on the Glo-Coat campaign for which Don won the CLIO award. Don's immediate response isn't sympathy and backpedaling, but rather that that's exactly what she gets paid for, so she should stop acting like such a child. She's been in the game for two years, and thinks she should be getting recognition by now. He simply helped put things in perspective. She retreats to the bathroom, unwilling to let him see her cry.
The olive branch between the two arises when Don discovers the tape-recorded notes Roger has recorded for his "Sterling's Gold" memoirs. He calls an angry Peggy into his office, and we learn along with her that Bert Cooper underwent an unnecessary surgery that resulted in the loss of his testicles and the ancient Miss Blankenship was once, long ago, the "queen of perversions" in the office.
Yes, Roger Sterling had his world rocked by the old battle axe.
As for Ida Blankenship, Peggy finally addresses something we've all been wondering: why doesn't he just fire the old battle axe and get somebody else?
Don's response is a home run: "No. Joan knew exactly what I needed, and made sure that I got it."
To make amends for ruining her night (and her relationship, which may actually be a good thing), Don takes the birthday girl out dinner, which leads to intimate personal conversations about each of their fathers' deaths. They blow the joint when Peggy spots a roach, ending up at a sports bar where the subject turns to Peggy's looks. Don tells her she's pretty and datable, which she thinks is ridiculous (not as ridiculous as it once was, Peg - you're growing up). She explains that people think they slept together, that it's even a running joke, because nobody would believe that Don would go for a relatively homely girl - look at Betty, for Christ's sake. She's a talking Barbie doll.
When Peggy gets pushy, suggesting that she can't be as attractive as some of Don's other girls, given that he's slept with his share, the ice gets very thin for a moment.
"You don't want to start giving me morality lessons, do you? People do things," he explains, with vague parental authority. A beat later, we (Don included) discover that her mother believes that he fathered Peggy's baby - because he was the only one who visited her in the hospital - and hates him passionately as a result.
As we circle the idea of Pete being outed as the father, we hear the radio - Liston went down in controversial "phantom punch" fashion. Our attention is diverted. They head back to the office.
They don't get far, however, as Don rushes to the bathroom and pukes violently. Through the "Bllleeeuuuurrrgghhh" sounds we hear Duck calling Peggy's name - he's there, and he's in Roger's office with his pants down, about to take a dump on his chair, thinking it's Draper's office. Peggy stops him.
He's hammered. Don emerges. Duck is furious to find him at the office so late. The two grapple after Duck insults Peggy, and soon Don is on his back calling uncle under Duck's violently aggressive attack. It's a humiliating drunken loss, but ultimately means nothing. To Don, that is. To Duck, it's likely the single greatest moment of his life.
It looks like Peggy's going to leave with Duck at his request, leaving Don to his lonesome defeated, drunken discontent. But she only walks him out, returning to help her boss and confidant, her stern and flawed but loyal defender.
"How long are you going to go on like this?" Peggy asks when he asks for a drink. Our collective jaws drop. He explains that he has to make a phone call and he knows the news isn't going to be good. Before the drink, Don slumps down, his head in Peggy's lap, and passes out while apologizing if he embarrassed her.
The moment you reach a comfort zone, the floor drops out from under you. But every so often a shot right over the plate throws you off entirely, a real moment so raw and full of visceral emotion that you're taking a cannonballl to the heart before you realize what's happening. That's the impact of Don's total sobbing breakdown in front of Peggy the next morning, when he finally makes the call he'd been dreading and receives the news that the one person who truly knew him in the world had passed.
He knew she was gone - the vision of her in the middle of the night (was that a Samsonite suitcase in her hand?) left him with a visibly registered feeling of confirmation that she'd passed. But the full acknowledgement, at the tail end of an emotionally grueling night, put him over the edge in a way we'd never seen before. And I'm sure I've pointed this out a hundred times in previous reviews, but Jon Hamm is one hell of an actor.
After freshening up to resume a workday that never quite ended, Don shares his idea for the Samsonite account with Peggy. As they discuss the fine point, he gives her hand a gentle and loving squeeze. The show of appreciation and solidarity speaks volumes for the future - Peggy has become Anna's replacement of sorts, and he will - to the best of his ability - be a rock for her in return.
In retrospect: Don't miss the moment in the ladies' bathroom when Peggy is interrupted by Pete's very pregnant wife Trudy, and a pleasant exchange leads to a panicked look from the expecting husband as the two girls leave the restroom together, chatting. The mind reels at the plot possibilities of Peggy & Pete's emotions leading them back to intimacy, and Don's inevitable awareness/involvement.
Best season of "Mad Men" yet? Hell yes it is.
Check out my previous "Mad Men" episode recaps from Season 4 below.
Review: Mad Men 4.06 'Waldorf Stories'
Review: Mad Men 4.05 'The Chrysanthemum and the Sword'
Review: Mad Men 4.04 'The Rejected'
Review: Mad Men 4.03 'The Good News'
Review: Mad Men 4.02 'Thank You For Bringing My Keys'
Review: Mad Men 4.01 'Public Relations'
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