The Suitcase (5 Sep. 2010)

Don deliberately delays returning an important call from California, because he knows it's bad news about Anna. Instead, he keeps himself occupied by forcing Peggy to miss her birthday dinner to pull an all-nighter with him for a client.

Director:

Jennifer Getzinger

Writers:

Matthew Weiner (creator), Matthew Weiner

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 Francis (credit only)
Christina Hendricks	...	Joan Harris
Jared Harris	...	Lane Pryce (credit only)
Aaron Staton	...	Ken Cosgrove
Rich Sommer	...	Harry Crane
Kiernan Shipka	...	Sally Draper (credit only)
Robert Morse	...	Bertram Cooper (credit only)
John Slattery	...	Roger Sterling
Mark Moses	...	Herman 'Duck' Phillips
Alison Brie	...	Trudy Campbell
Matt Long	...	Joey Baird
Jay R. Ferguson	...	Stan Rizzo

Storyline

It's May 25, 1965, the date of two milestones. First, it's the much anticipated heavyweight boxing rematch between Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay. All of the guys from the office are planning on watching the fight at the Loews movie theater, making a night out of it with dinner and drinks beforehand, with Roger and Don having work plans with the Ponds clients before the match. And second, it's Peggy's twenty-sixth birthday. She receives an initially intriguing birthday present from Duck, the present which she quickly realizes is less substantial than at first glance. But it ends up not being the greatest birthday for her when she and Don butt heads over the latest campaign for Samsonite, this argument for Peggy an extension of her recent negative feelings toward Don. But working on the campaign, which makes Peggy miss her birthday dinner with Mark (the dinner which for Mark is more important than he initially lets on) and Don miss both his work function with Roger and the fight, leads ...

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 September 2010 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

American Movie Classics (AMC), Lionsgate Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in September 2010 Elisabeth Moss mentions that this is her favorite episode of the show.

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Quotes

Don Draper: That's how this works. I pay you for ideas.
Peggy Olson: You never say 'thank you'.
Don Draper: That's what the money is for!

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Connections

References Thunderball (1965)

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Soundtracks

"Bleeker Street"
by Simon & Garfunkel

User Reviews

The Best Episode of the Season

This was quite possibly an amazing hour of television and a simply wonderful episode. Probably the best episode of the series I've seen thus far and without a doubt my favorite of of the show too. It really had everything. I went from laughing uproariously to literally being emotionally drained moments later. The chemistry between Don and Peggy was so great. Just a really complete, tight and sparkling episode. Truly the best episode of the season. The reason why is the relationship between don and Peggy the way they just know each other she knows so much about him and vise versa and the fact that they have things in common. I was hoping all throughout the series that the writers would've explored the complexity of their relationship between the two. I'm really the one who speculate on these sort of things but really, truly and honestly do think that they would make a good couple. But I respect Matt and co. for not going that route. Jumping the shark isn't how Mad Men rolls. I also like how emotional Don got, you know, like I think it shows how much pain he's in and that he thinks the only person who knew him is no longer here. He feels so alone as does Peggy, so I loved how Peggy was there for him and how when they always seem to have problems there always there for each other. I haven't seen the rest of the season yet, but "The Suitcase" is clearly the most powerful episode of the season. A deep one at best.