The Hobo Code (6 Sep. 2007)

Pete Campbell and Peggy Olsen start an office romance. Peggy's copy for the lipstick account goes over well and the men in the firm congratulate her. A new telephone receptionist, Lois ... See full summary »

Director:

Phil Abraham

Writers:

Matthew Weiner (creator), Chris Provenzano

Stars:

Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jon Hamm	...	Don Draper
Elisabeth Moss	...	Peggy Olson
Vincent Kartheiser	...	Pete Campbell
January Jones	...	Betty Draper
Christina Hendricks	...	Joan Holloway
Bryan Batt	...	Salvatore Romano
Michael Gladis	...	Paul Kinsey
Aaron Staton	...	Ken Cosgrove
Rich Sommer	...	Harry Crane
Maggie Siff	...	Rachel Menken (credit only)
Rosemarie DeWitt	...	Midge Daniels
Robert Morse	...	Bertram Cooper
Paul Schulze	...	Hobo
Ian Bohen	...	Roy Hazelitt
Alison Brie	...	Trudy Campbell

Storyline

Pete Campbell and Peggy Olsen start an office romance. Peggy's copy for the lipstick account goes over well and the men in the firm congratulate her. A new telephone receptionist, Lois Saddler, takes a liking to Salvatore Romano but his own interests seem to lie elsewhere. Don Draper gets an unexpected bonus from Bert Cooper and wants to take Midge on a surprise trip to Paris. She seems too involved with her beatnik friends however. Don reflects on his unhappy childhood and in flashbacks he reveals some life lessons he learned early on when a hobo spent the day working on the family farm in exchange for a meal.

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Plot Keywords:

proposition | twist the dance | girdle | dinner | closeted homosexual | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 September 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

American Movie Classics (AMC), Lionsgate Television, Weiner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

47 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The $2500 bonus check Don gets is roughly equivalent to $18,000 in 2011 dollars.

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Goofs

At one point Don takes a picture of Midge and Roy. Later when Don reveals the photo, the angle of their bodies to the camera and their distance from each other don't match the shot.

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Quotes

Don Draper: I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie, there is no system, the universe is indifferent.

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

"The Twist"
(uncredited)
Written by Hank Ballard
Performed by Chubby Checker
record playing on the jukebox during Peggy's celebration party at P.J. Clarke's

User Reviews

Life lessons

After several hints in earlier episodes, this is the one that finally spills (most of) the beans on the show's ongoing mystery: Dick Whitman. While not providing all the answers (that wouldn't be any fun, would it?), The Hobo Code is an essential part of Matthew Weiner's bigger picture, and therefore stands out as one of the top moments of Mad Men's inaugural season.

Not that the Whitman subplot is everything. In fact, it is but an effect of something else, namely Don receiving a bonus and being turned down by Midge when he suggests they go to Paris together. At this point, he looks back on his childhood, growing up on a farm and having to deal with family problems on a regular basis (apparently he and his brother don't share the same mother). One day, a hobo (Paul Schulze) showed up and offered to work for Dick/Don's father to pay for a meal, and that experience sticks in Don's mind to this day. Back in the present day, it's all about office romances: Peggy and Pete pick up where they left off at the beginning of the series, and a new receptionist has a thing for Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt), unaware of the fact that his interests lie elsewhere.

The Hobo Code is an important episode because it provides some much needed answers, temporarily closing the book on the season's major subplot, and at the same time plants the seeds for other story lines, with the new focus on Salvatore in particular proving a bold move that is bound to pay off in a riveting fashion.

Furthermore, the episode is interesting as far as external references are concerned, given that, aside from Weiner, two major contributors have past associations with The Sopranos: the hobo is excellently played by reliable character actor Schulze, who famously appeared on the gangster drama as Father Phil Intintola, while director Phil Abraham, best known as a cinematographer (he won an Emmy for the Mad Men pilot), also got his big break on the streets of New Jersey. And people are still wondering why the show is frequently hailed as "the new Sopranos"...