USA TODAY International Edition
‘ MAD MEN’ TURNS 10 OUR FAVORITE ‘ DON’ MOMENTS TELEVISION
On July 19, 2007, viewers met the cocktail- sipping movers and shakers of Madison Avenue in Mad Men, Matthew Weiner’s slow- burning, spellbinding view of 1960s New York, as seen through the eyes of advertising anti- hero Don Draper ( Jon Hamm). The landmark show picked up 16 Emmy Awards, including three for best drama, throughout its stellar seven- season run, making stars of Hamm and Elisabeth Moss and putting AMC on the map as a formidable cable network. Ten years later, USA TODAY’s Patrick Ryan looks back at our favorite episodes.
1 ‘ THE WHEEL’ SEASON 1, EPISODE 13
Mad Men’s very best episode is set on Thanksgiving, when Betty ( January Jones) wrangles with Don over his refusal to go to her family’s house for the holiday and anguishes over his suspected cheating. Don, too, takes stock of his family and infidelity as he pitches a campaign for Kodak’s Carousel projector, flipping through photos of his newborn children and wedding, musing about the passage of time and nostalgia. “It goes backwards and forwards,” he says in the sentimental spiel. “It takes us to a place where we ache to go again.” The episode ends as Don imagines coming home to Betty and their kids, delighted that he’s agreed to spend Thanksgiving with them, but instead he returns to an empty house. Capping off the show’s first season, “The Wheel” solidified Mad Men’s status as not only a “Peak TV” game- changer but an all- time masterpiece.
2 ‘ THE SUITCASE’ SEASON 4, EPISODE 7
This episode almost exclusively features Peggy ( Elisabeth Moss) and Don, who keeps her at the office on her birthday to chew over the looming Samsonite luggage campaign pitch, much to the frustration of her meddling mother and boyfriend. An argument over Peggy’s contributions eventually leads to whiskey- laden laughs and intimate dinner conversation, during which they make personal confessions and deepen their bond. The emotional crux comes early the next morning, when Don finally works up the courage to call his “niece,” Stephanie, whom he’d been avoiding, to hear the inevitable news that the widowed Anna Draper died of cancer. Don breaks down and cries over losing the last piece of his former life, and Peggy attempts to comfort her stoic, tormented mentor at his most vulnerable.
3‘ THE OTHER WOMAN’ SEASON 5, EPISODE 11
Mad Men has deftly tackled gender politics, but never better than in this fifth- season episode, which hinges on an executive’s piggish proposition to sleep with Joan ( Christina Hendricks) or risk the agency’s loss of the Jaguar account. Joan’s empowered but painful decision to spend the night for a lucrative paycheck — and too- late tip from Don that not all male partners approved the compromise — is heartbreaking. Later, Peggy anxiously tells Don that she is moving to another agency, and triumphantly smiles as she walks out the door to The Kinks’ You Really Got Me.
4‘ THE ARRANGEMENTS’ SEASON 3, EPISODE 4
It’s been hailed as Mad Men’s quintessential episode, and for good reason. This hour offers a little bit of everything we love about the drama: humor, as Peggy tries on a flirty, fun- loving persona in her quest for a new roommate; nostalgia, as Sal ( Bryan Batt) pays homage to Bye Bye
Birdie in his failed Patio Cola campaign ( and unwittingly outs himself as gay to his wife); and death, as Sally’s ( Kiernan Shipka) child’s- eye view of life is shattered by the unexpected passing of her grandpa Gene. Their dangerous driving lessons were only the beginning of Sally’s recalcitrant chain- smoking years.
5 ‘ THE STRATEGY’ SEASON 7, EPISODE 6
Midseason finale “Waterloo” is among Mad Men’s most adventurous hours, ending with a fantastical song- and- dance number by a now- deceased Bert Cooper ( Robert Morse) and a flock of secretaries. But the previous episode, “The Strategy,” packs a bigger emotional punch, as Peggy leads the charge on the familycentered Burger Chef campaign. In a boozy late- night brainstorming session, Don and Peggy hash out a campaign that turns into a frank rumination on family dynamics, aging and loneliness. What should be an eye- rolling slow dance to Frank Sinatra’s
My Way is an unexpectedly tear- jerking culmination of their complex relationship.
6‘ THE GYPSY AND THE HOBO’ SEASON 3, EPISODE 11
Dick Whitman couldn’t stay dead for long. After learning about Don’s real name in Season 1’ s “Nixon vs. Kennedy” — which flashes back to the Korean War and his stealing the identity of Draper, a fallen soldier — Betty finally discovers his hidden past and confronts him. In a rare emotional moment, Don lets down his guard and tearfully confesses everything about his troubled childhood and dead brother, as Betty charily but sympathetically tries to offer comfort. It’s some of the show’s finest acting from both Hamm and Jones.
7‘ MEDITATIONS IN AN EMERGENCY’ SEASON 2, EPISODE 13
The miracle of life is anything but in Mad Men, which surprised Peggy in Season 1 with a baby she put up for adoption. She eventually tells the child’s father, Pete ( Vincent Kartheiser), about it in an uncomfortable encounter after he confesses his love. “I could have shamed you into being with me, but I didn’t want to,” she admits. “I wanted other things.” The episode also opens with another unexpected pregnancy, as Betty learns she has a third child on the way after Don confesses to adultery. Her desire for an abortion and the stigma surrounding it from her doctor and friend — who unconvincingly console her that it’s a blessing in disguise — are devastating.
8‘ GUY WALKS INTO AN ADVERTISING AGENCY’ SEASON 3, EPISODE 6
Mad Men’s most darkly comedic episode will always be remembered for its blood- spattered office party, in which a drunken secretary riding a John Deere lawnmower severs the foot of London account executive Guy MacKendrick before smashing into a glass wall. But it’s Peggy’s moving exchange with Joan that makes the hour, as she finds the words to thank the departing secretary for her sage advice and inspiration as a subtly powerful force in the workplace.
9‘ THE DOORWAY’ SEASON 6, EPISODES 1 AND 2
Fans were left scratching their heads when Don proposed to Megan ( Jessica Paré) in Season 4’ s startling “Tomorrowland,” and their conflicts about her acting aspirations grew tedious in Season 5. But this sixth- season opener shows the allure of the new Mrs. Draper — a vivacious, freshly minted soap star who’s recognized by fans during their Hawaiian getaway — while also exploring Don’s fear of death, as he witnesses his doorman suffer a heart attack and attends the funeral of Roger’s ( John Slattery) mom. It’s no coincidence that his beachside read is Dante’s Inferno, which comes full circle in the Season 6 finale as Don revisits his personal hell: the dilapidated whorehouse where he grew up.
10 ‘ SHOOT’ SEASON 1, EPISODE 9
Weiner wasn’t kind to January Jones in later years — her “Fat Betty” arc in Season 5 is unquestionably Mad Men’s most egregious story line — nor were critics too complimentary about her acting abilities. But this firstseason episode is an impressive reminder of just how good Jones can be with the right material, offering a glimpse into Betty’s once- promising career as a model and the pressure, particularly from her mother, that she felt to settle into the role of an acquiescent housewife. The final shot of an indignant Mrs. Draper picking off pigeons with a BB gun remains one of the series’ most iconic moments.