Trama

Don Draper is shaken when his past life comes back to haunt him. After his picture appears in a local newspaper, Adam Whitman, a man who claims to be his younger brother, approaches him. Don, or Dick as his brother knows him, initially denies everything but in the end admits to having taken on a new name. He refuses however to have anything to do with him and tries to buy his silence. When one of the ad men gets a short story published, Pete Campbell is frustrated that his own stories have yet to see the light of day. When his wife approaches an old beau to see if he will publish the stories, he has an interesting proposition for her.—garykmcd

Don and Roger are in a featured newspaper article about an advertising award they won on the company's behalf. That publicity ends up being unwanted publicity for Don, as he receives a visit at the office from someone from his past who saw the story's accompanying photo, a past that not only does no one at the office know about, but that even Betty does not know about. While Don tries to figure out what to do about the situation - he ultimately doing the only thing he feels he can do about it - he in turn places Peggy in a precarious situation, that precariousness based largely on what Peggy mistakenly believes Don is doing at that specific moment. The product Don develops for one of Sterling Cooper's clients, Liberty National Bank, is a metaphor for what he would like for his life in light of this problem. Meanwhile, Ken is happy to show and tell everyone at the office that he has just had a short story published in the Atlantic Monthly. Although initially outwardly happy for him, most of the other junior executives are quietly or not so quietly jealous, which brings out the wannabe writer in many of them. That jealousy soon becomes more open, Ken who has an appropriate response. One of those wannabe writers is Pete, perhaps the most jealous if only because he and Ken have the same job, this story which has given Ken a perceived upper hand in their parallel climb up the corporate ladder. Pete asks Trudy for a favor in the matter. The favor is difficult enough for Trudy to oblige, but it's the follow-up which may be more problematic for their marriage in showing where their differing individual priorities lie.—Huggo

Following a ceremonial dinner at which he and his boss got an award called the Newkie, consisting of a horseshoe nailed to a plaque, Don and Betty Draper come home drunk and fall asleep in their clothes, then wake up at 8 AM with tremendous hangovers. Ominously, when Don goes into the bathroom and closes the door, the vibration makes a nail come loose on his award and causes the horseshoe to turn 180 degrees.

Don is late for work, but everyone compliments him on his award. Someone says there is a photo of him in an advertising journal. Don says it is a good thing no one reads it. Peggy tells him some people have commented on his lateness by saying his award has gone to his head. How rude, Don says off-handedly. Don has a meeting scheduled with his account executives, but only one, Ken Cosgrove, is there. Ken has been showing Peggy the short story he just got published in the Atlantic Monthly. He tells Don about it. Peter Campbell and Paul join the meeting and are surprised to learn that Ken is a writer let alone that he has published something. Ken tells them about the plots of his two novels, and Paul ruefully comments, Those ideas aren't even stupid, and asks if he can read the manuscript of one of the novels. Ken agrees. The meeting officially begins as they discuss a client, a bank that is giving away toasters to new customers. There is more or less general agreement that this give-away idea is not only stale but targets women who rarely control the family purse strings. Paul and Don come up with the idea of private (Paul's word) or executive (Don's word) accounts for men, obviously geared toward men who want to keep some of their finances away from their wives.

After the meeting, Peggy tells Don he has a call from Bix Beiderbecke. This turns out to be Midge who tells Don she used the late trumpeter's name because she wants to play the horn. Peggy picks up the phone without remembering that it is still open to the line Don is using. She overhears Midge ask Don to come over and ravish her immediately. Peggy carefully re-cradles the phone. Don comes out of his office and tells Peggy he'll be gone until after lunch.

The account executives, other than Ken, gather in Pete's office. Pete and Paul are especially self-pitying and jealous of Ken's success. Pete complains that Ken's father is just a salesman, to which Paul retorts, what difference does that make? But when Pete observes that Ken has been published in a national publication, which his own father reads, Paul agrees, That hurts.

Later in the episode, Ken is regaling the secretarial pool about his novels. Paul walks in and says he read one and it is good. Saying that he would like to give his girlfriend a copy of Ken's story to read, Paul takes the magazine from Ken and tears out the pages, folds them, and puts them in his breast pocket. Later still, when the two men are alone, Paul apologizes for his behavior, explaining that he just never thought that he was in competition with Ken. You lost, says Ken.

Don and Midge finish making love, and, as Midge points out, Don waits until that moment to complain about Midge calling him at work. But Don allows that he likes coming to see her, and she comments that he seems like two different people and that he becomes a different person as soon as he comes into Midge's apartment.

At a general meeting, Sterling compliments Ken on finishing something and makes several of his usual comments implying that nobody at the agency really ever does any work. Accounts from previous episodes, including the Lucky Strike cigarette one, are mentioned, so we know these are still on-going. Sterling says they will have to wait until after the November elections to see whether the government is likely to take any action against the tobacco industry. The meeting is interrupted by Peggy with a message for Don. A man named Adam Whitman has arrived and is asking for Don. Don looks stunned. He leaves the meeting and confronts Adam who says, It really is you, Dick. He says he is Don's brother, and he works as a janitor. He found the advertising journal with Don's picture in an office trash can. He had thought Don/Dick was dead. Don tries to deny he is Dick, but Adam does not believe that. Don promises to meet Adam at a coffee shop at noon. Don goes back to the meeting but is so distracted that he almost doesn't respond when he is called upon.

Don meets Adam in the coffee shop. Adam reveals that Don disappeared after the Korean War and that his mother has now died. Don comments, she wasn't my mother and she never let me forget that. Adam says that after his mother died Dad passed, too. Don does not indicate whether he has any feelings about that. Adam says that, back in 1953, he had thought he saw Dick/Don in his uniform peeking out of a window. He always suspected his brother was still alive. He wants to know why Don left, but Don only says he couldn't go back. Don finally admits that he missed Adam, but he won't tell Adam anything about his life now. When Adam says he wants to be in Don's life again, Don says, no. He gets up to leave and says that this meeting never happened.

Meanwhile, Betty and her two children arrive at the office because there is an appointment with a photographer for a family portrait. Peggy panics and seeks advice from Joan about what to do. Joan persuades Peggy to tell where she suspects Don is, which is with Midge. Joan says Peggy should not have told that about her boss but promises she'll never tell. She also advises Peggy to keep it simple and just say she forgot to remind Don. Let him come up with his own excuse. He'll have one.

Peggy awkwardly entertains Betty. At one point, Betty makes the remark that Peggy knows Don better than she. Peggy does not say anything. Don returns and says he was at the printers. Peggy tries taking the blame, but Don plays the gracious boss. When he walks out with his family, Peggy is considerably relieved. She later discusses it with Joan, telling her that this seems like an odd job. Joan says that this is the greatest job, apparently reveling in the intrigue.

Betty tells her neighbor and best friend that Don's forgetting that they had an appointment leads her to doubt he puts her very high on his list of priorities. They agree that their husbands behave infinitely better in the suburbs than they do in Manhattan.

Don and his team meet with the banker and tell him their idea about private executive accounts. The banker does not completely reject the idea, but he laughs. When Don asks why, he explains: 1) Many men already have such accounts, there just hasn't been a name for it; 2) advertising the existence of such accounts might only bring up embarrassing conversations between husbands and wives.

Pete and his wife,Trudy, discuss his short story, which is about a hunter and a bear. Trudy thinks it is odd because the bear seems to be talking. Pete explains that the bear is not talking; that is just what the hunter thinks the bear is thinking. He would like her to help get it published by using her connection with Charlie Fiddich, who is in publishing, even though Pete knows that Charlie is her ex-lover. Trudy is clearly hurt over being essentially pimped out to Charlie, but she agrees to go see him. Sure enough, when she meets with Charlie he propositions her, but she pleads for him to drop it.

Don receives an envelope from Adam. It contains a photo of Dick/Don in his uniform with a boy, presumably Adam. With it is a slip of paper from a hotel with a note from Adam telling Don his room number is 5G.

Trudy reports to Pete that his story is to be published in Boys' Life magazine. Pete is disappointed. They'll probably put it next to an ad for exploding cigars. He whines that his story is good enough for the New Yorker and accuses Trudy of deliberately holding him back. Trudy says she could have gotten it into the New Yorker. Pete asks why didn't she. She asks how he could put her in that position. Pete just pouts, evidently not picking up, or not caring(?), that Trudy is implying that in order to get his story published in a better magazine she would have had to sleep with Charlie.

At the Draper family dinner table, Betty is talking about her parents' summer home in Cape May and how it is so far away from New York that Don is hardly ever there. She asks Don why he is preoccupied, and he says he is trying to decide whether he must go back to the office tonight.

After dinner, Don calls Adam and tells him he will come see him in 25 minutes. Don opens a desk drawer and puts an open briefcase on top of the desk. He reaches into the drawer and begins to remove something. Don brings the brief case to Adam's room in a very modest hotel/rooming house. Adam is ecstatic, noting that Don looks more like the person he remembers than he did during their earlier meetings. Don asks whether Adam has anyone in his life; specifically, he asks about Abigail and Uncle Mac. Adam says they are not in his life, without saying explicitly whether or not they are dead. Adam comments on Don's success and says they always said Don was too smart for his own good. Then he recalls that Mac always said Don was too soft. But you aren't soft, are you? No, says Don, I'm not. Don explains that he has a new life and it only goes in one direction: forward. He opens the briefcase and gives his brother five thousand dollars. (Known in slang as five grand or five G, just like Adam's room number.) Don tells Adam to take the money, leave New York, and never contact Don again. Anguished, Adam says that this isn't what he wanted from Don. Don tells him, This is all that I can give you. He tells Adam to go back to thinking that his brother is dead. He urges Adam to reflect on the fact that with five thousand dollars (a lot of money in 1960) he could make a new life for himself. Don allows Adam to hug him, but Don breaks it off first. You going to be OK? Don says. Adam nods. When Don gets home, Betty tells him she knows that Don is uncomfortable about having to use her parents' summer home. He says, I just don't like the way your father looks at me. She replies, Well, you took away his little girl. Betty then suggests that they buy their own summer home, perhaps closer to New York. But Don says that he likes going to Cape May. Besides, we're not that flush right now. It's nothing to worry about, but maybe we can afford to buy a summer home next year. Uncharacteristically, there is no ironic song on the sound track at the end of this episode.