'Mad Men' Recap: The Suitcase
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Best episode of the season goes to “The Suitcase.” By combining all of Mad Men’s best elements – tension, tragedy, introspection and just a dash of comedy – along with Don and Peggy, the show returned to top form once again.
SCDP is all abuzz over the Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston fight. Basically everyone in the office is attending a screening of the match, except Peggy, who’s going out to dinner with Bland Mark for her 26th birthday. But her special day starts off on the wrong foot when Don trashes the Samsonite ad she pitches with Stan, Joey and Danny and pins all the blame on her. At least someone left her a present on her desk, right? Oh no wait, it’s from Duck. He wants to start a new ad agency with her, despite the fact that he has no clients, was fired and is drunk yet again. Peggy cuts his pleas for a second chance short and later prepares to leave for her romantic dinner. In the bathroom, she runs into a very pregnant Trudy in the bathroom who’s just a tad bit smug (“Twenty-six is still very young!”) and walks out with her, provoking a hilarious Pete Campbell reaction.
Don asks to see Peggy before he leaves. Completely oblivious that it’s her birthday and avoiding an urgent call from Stephanie in California, he demands they fix Samsonite now. Peggy calls Mark – who’s gathered Peggy’s god-awful family as a surprise – to let him know she’ll be 15 minutes late. But of course, it turns out to be much longer as Don shoots down everything Peggy says (which seems to be a theme this season). She keeps trying to leave, Mark keeps calling the office and finally they break up. It’s at that point that the lingering friction between Don and Peggy from last week’s episode explodes. She does something that needed to happen much earlier: calls Don out on all of his bullshit. She yells at him for taking credit for the Glo-Coat ad, drunkenly hiring Danny and wallowing in self-pity from his divorce. He yells right back, forcing Peggy to flee sobbing to the ladies’ room.
The two wave a white flag after laughing together over Roger’s memoir tapes (Ms. Blankenship was “the queen of perversions”). Don takes Peggy out for a late dinner, and then to a bar where they hear the results of the fight. Over the course of the night, the two exchange very personal details. Peggy vents about Mark and dating in general – she knows what she’s supposed to want, but it “never feels right, or as important as anything in that office.” Don talks about Korea and his parents. They discover that both watched their fathers die, and Peggy’s baby is even discussed. It’s all really awesome, but also nerve-wrecking. Are they going to hook up or aren’t they? That question gets tabled when Duck rears his always unwelcome head. He’s stumbled into the SCDP office to get Peggy, who tries to escort him out. But Duck makes the mistake of calling Peggy a whore in front of Don. Don decks Duck, proving that in a Don vs. Duck match, the winner is obvious.
Peggy gets rid of Duck, and an affair almost materializes when she and Don end up on a couch together. They just fall asleep, though. In the middle of the night, Don sees ghost Anna Draper walk across his office with a suitcase (unresolved question: was it a Samsonite?) and finally faces the call. Stephanie tells him she’s gone, and then we see something entirely unprecedented: Don Draper cries. In front of Peggy. It’s both unexpected and perfect, a great final note for Don and Peggy’s development. Mere minutes later, the episode closes with an impeccably dressed Don insisting Peggy leave his door open.
Last season, when “The Gypsy and the Hobo” aired, Jon Hamm gave perhaps his most gripping performance yet. That same magic was present again last night, but Hamm can’t take all the credit. Both he and Elisabeth Moss displayed authentic, astonishing acting – the kind of acting that makes you forget where you are and what you’re doing. The episode was almost designed to remind you that Mad Men’s actors are just as talented as its writers. It’s sometimes hard to believe, but when you have an amazingly crafted episode like “The Suitcase,” it’s impossible to deny.