Love Among the Ruins (23 Aug. 2009)

Don is brought in to save the day for a P.R. campaign involving the building of the new Madison Square Garden, only to have the rug pulled out from under him. At home, Betty argues with her brother over how to care for their sick father.

Director:

Lesli Linka Glatter

Writers:

Matthew Weiner (creator), Cathryn Humphris,

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 Harris
Bryan Batt	...	Salvatore Romano
Michael Gladis	...	Paul Kinsey
Aaron Staton	...	Ken Cosgrove
Rich Sommer	...	Harry Crane
Robert Morse	...	Bertram Cooper
John Slattery	...	Roger Sterling
Jared Harris	...	Lane Pryce
Talia Balsam	...	Mona Sterling
Kiernan Shipka	...	Sally Draper
Ryan Cutrona	...	Gene Hofstadt

Storyline

There's trouble in both the Sterling and Hofstadt families. With the Sterlings, Roger's daughter Margaret informs him that she doesn't want his wife, Jane, at her wedding, Margaret being ashamed that her step-mother is the same age as her. With the Hofstadts, Gene's Alzheimer's is getting worse, and his wife Gloria has left him. As such, Betty and her brother William have to make some decisions about what to do with their father. William gets some unsolicited and unwanted advice in this matter. At the office, two accounts are on the minds of the executives. One is for Patio Cola, Pepsi's diet soda. Pepsi wants to go with an Ann-Margret Bye Bye Birdie feel. Peggy does not agree with this approach. Despite that, Peggy is feeling in an Ann-Margret spirit in her personal life. The other has Don trying to win the business of the town's new planned multi-purpose facility, Madison Square Gardens. Don gets some bad and unexpected news on this front.

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Plot Keywords:

madison square garden | sex on a sofa | buttocks | family photo | pregnant woman smoking | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 August 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peggy is (secretly) an admirer of Ann-Margaret's performance in Bye Bye Birdie. Ann-Margaret's birth name, Ann-Margret Olsson, is quite close to Peggy's given name, Margaret Olson.

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Goofs

Stolichnaya was not imported to the Unites States until 1972, although from the context of the scene it's quite clear that both the Cuban cigars and the Stolichnaya had been smuggled into the country.

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Quotes

Don Draper: In the interest of time, you want to demolish Penn Station and New York hates it.
Edgar Raffit: Not all of New York - A vocal minority.
Don Draper: Can they stop it?
Edgar Raffit: Well, I think all the hubbub is making it unpleasant for...
Don Draper: [interrupts] But they can't stop it, can they?
Edgar Raffit: Why do you people insist on making us sound like villains?
Don Draper: Your concern over public opinion shows a guilty conscience. What good is that serving you if what is to be done is already under way?
Edgar Raffit: So let's say I don't have a guilty conscience.
Don Draper: Good. And ...
[...]

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Connections

Features Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

User Reviews

That Date...

Margaret Sterling (Elizabeth Rice) is in for a shock. As Roger Sterling (John Slattery) examines his daughter's wedding invitation, he exclaims "November Twenty-third." We get a split-second closeup of of the silvery parchment. The invitation bears the date of November 23., 1963. That places her wedding on the Saturday that John F. Kennedy will be assassinated.

I cannot help but wonder if the series will try to do a treatment of the assassination over an episode or two. It seems so outside the scope of the rest of the show. It seems to prefer interpersonal and stylistic themes over the historical. The series did, however, spend an episode on the night of the Kennedy versus Nixon election.