Plot

Roger Sterling throws an expensive party with his new wife, Joan throws a dinner party, Peggy and Paul get stoned while working on an ad campaign, and Don's daughter Sally steals money from her grandpa.

Several members of the creative team - including Smitty, Peggy Olson and Paul Crane - are at work on a Saturday trying to come up with new slogans for their Baccardi campaign. It's rough going however and fresh ideas are rare. Paul contacts an old university friend and they smoke marijuana in his office. Once again Peggy surprises all of them and shows that she is as adventurous as they are. The rest of the staff are at Roger Sterling's lavish party. While the surroundings are sumptuous, a few of the guests are uncomfortable with Roger's singing performance. Betty Draper has an interesting encounter while Jane Sterling gets pie-eyed. Joan Holloway hosts a dinner party for husband Greg's boss and a colleague. She reveals her own hidden musical talents. Betty's father claims that someone stole $5 from his money clip, but no one takes him too seriously.—garykmcd

It's the weekend, but not many are feeling like it will be a relaxing time. Peggy, Paul and Smitty are forced to work to come up with creatives for the Bacardi Rum account. Beyond making their work atmosphere be like a vacation to match the creatives, Paul calls in his old Princeton colleague, Jeffrey Graves, for some chemical inspiration much to the consternation of Olive, Peggy's new officious secretary. Supposedly having a better time are the Drapers, the Campbells, the Cranes, Bertram and Ken, who are attending a garden party hosted by the Sterlings. Don and Betty in particular don't want to be there, they feeling like it is work more than a social outing. Jane, wanting to fit into her new social circle, causes a bit of problem by the end of the evening. And Joan and Greg are hosting a small dinner party of their own for Greg's medical colleagues and their wives. Joan does whatever she has to to seem the perfect hostess and to show Greg to his best advantage. Meanwhile back at the Draper house, Gene, Betty's father, has moved in. Sally is the unknowing culprit causing a bit of a stir for her grandfather and by extension everyone else in the house.—Huggo

"Mad Men" - "My Old Kentucky Home" - August 30, 2009

It's the advent of the weekend and everyone is about to be scattered to the four winds with four storylines:

Don and Betty, Pete and Trudy, Harry and Jennifer, and Cosgrove are going to a lawn party hosted by Jane and Roger.

Bacardi wants more "situations" for its rum commercials by Monday so Kinsey, Smitty, and Peggy are going to have to work on Saturday to come up with them.

Joan is hosting an important dinner party for her hubby's boss, the chief of surgery Ettinger, his colleague, and their wives.

Don is not psyched about going to the party but Betty bought a new dress so she's in. (It's a white lacy number that, in her current state, she says makes her look like an opened umbrella). They decamp to the grounds of the swanky club at which the party is being held and arrive and meet up with the other Sterling Cooper types, all eager to make good impressions on the Drapers. The ladies wander off to take a tour of the place. Pete sidles up to Don and points out several big muckety mucks from Dupont and Pan Am. Don counsels him not to hand out his card and wanders off.

Later, they all watch as Roger Sterling, in blackface, serenades his new young bride with a rendition of "My Old Kentucky Home." Everyone seems to be enjoying it but Don who wanders off yet again, this time to the bar inside.

An older genteman in a white tux stands behind it and Don orders an old fashioned. It turns out the man is not the bartender but a guest at a wedding in another part of the club and he too is trying to get a drink but can't figure out the bar. He hates weddings, he says, with all their expectations. Don admits he's not a fan of his function either since he's essentially at work. He hops over the bar and starts making them their drinks - it's very involved with several kinds of liquid and the mashing of something, mint maybe?, straining over ice and a orange twist.

The older gentleman, who is named Connie, explains he's never really comfortable at these swanky events since he essentially comes from nothing. Don concurs and recalls as a young man working as a valet at a road house where rich people would come blow off steam. Since the owners wouldn't let him use the bathroom he used to relieve himself in people's trunks. Connie has a good laugh at this and Don points out the valets at this club are probably doing the same things to their cars now. (When asked where he comes from Don says Pennsylvania by way of Illinois and says his family was in farming.) They laugh and toast.

Still later Betty is waiting outside a rest room as an attractive man approaches. He says he wishes she was waiting for him. She is in fact waiting for Trudy and the man is waiting for his date, since you can't come to these things stag. (Although Cosgrove did and is regretting it). He asks her what it's like to be pregnant. She says she's never thought about it, mostly uncomfortable. He says it's the martinis talking but asks if he can touch her belly since he hears the baby moves around. She allows it. He places his hand gently there and they stand a moment. She laments that "she" isn't moving. He removes his hand as Trudy and his date return and they head off their separate ways.

Later still, Trudy, Pete, Don, and Betty sit at one table as Trudy laughs saying she told Pete that with "this set" they might run into one of her old beaus. Pete points out they haven't. Harry and Jennifer screw up the courage to go over and make sure everyone knows they're having a good time, awkwardly. The band starts playing the Charleston and the Campbells and Crains hit the dance floor. Betty begs off.

Roger Sterling arrives with the man from before and introduces Don and Betty, who pretends they haven't met. The man apparently works in the governor's office. Bert Cooper brings up the scandalous news that Rockefeller married Happy earlier that day. Betty is appalled since Happy's divorce is only one month old. This means, says Cooper, that Rockefeller has basically committed political suicide and that now Goldwater is their only hope. They all turn to watch as Pete and Trudy take over the dance floor with their vigorous and happy looking Charleston. (And Allison Brie and Vincent Kartheiser really do cut a rug.)

Later still Don and Betty are getting a bite to eat from the buffet- Betty promises they can leave after this- when a very drunk Jane comes up behind them and fumbles for food. She trips and Don and Betty help her up. As they get her seated she says to Betty that she knew she and Don would get back together. Instantly livid Betty stalks off as Don tries to deal with Jane. She grabs he shirt right above his crotch and wonders why he doesn't like her. Just then Roger arrives and wonders what's going on. He asks someone to get his wife some milk. Don starts to leave but Roger stops him and asks him what's up. Don says simply that Jane is drunk. Roger wonders what it is that he did to get under Don's skin. He then muses that his mother was right, that conspicuous happiness makes other people uncomfortable. Don points out that no one thinks Roger is happy, just foolish.

Later still, Don spies Roger and Jane slow dancing on the dance floor. He has Betty's wrap and purse and is looking for her. He finds her off in the distance by some trees on the lawn. He approaches her and they kiss. He drops her things on the ground and they kiss more deeply.

Joan, after having had an extremely cordial but obviously fake run-in with Jane at the office, is prepping for her dinner party. She's laying out place cards on her perfect table with her hair in a scarf as her hubby vacuums. He comes over and appraises the table and says that his boss needs to be at the head of the table. She points out that it's his house so he sits there, she sits at the foot and then it's boy-girl on either side. He wonders says who. She says Emily Post. He says it's important for his boss to sit there. She says he won't have his boss and colleague's wives thinking she doesn't know etiquette. He says he doesn't want a fight. She says he should stop talking then. After a beat she comes up with a solution. A buffet at which the guests can then seat themselves. He thanks her and heads off to shower she says "hey!" and he comes back and kisses her.

Later, before dinner the three couples banter, there is the older chief and his wife, a younger doctor and his pregnant wife, a nurse. The nurse spills the beans on a "code pink": when there's an attractive unconscious female patient on the floor. The ladies go into the kitchen to check on the roast. The other two women compliment Joan's place. She says she did what she could. The older woman tells her that she'll look back on this time of scrapping financially with a smile. She remembers when Ettinger was a resident she worked as a kindergarten teacher and made three times as much as him. She tells her that whatever she does, not to get pregnant. The pregnant woman scowls. The older woman says she tried to tell the nurse that but... The nurse tells Joan to do what she feels like doing. The older woman praises Joan all night and says her husband is lucky to have her.

Later, after dinner the men begin talking shop. Ettinger praises Joan's husband's colleague and his steady hands during a Pneumonectomy. The two of them realize that this may be a slight to Joan's husband. She wonders why they look apologetic and he sheepish. The younger doctor says everyone has bad outcomes sometimes. (Maybe Joan's husband isn't the best doctor?) He looks at the other two doctors and says he doesn't like to trouble Joanie with "this stuff." The older woman says no shop talk. The pregnant one then suggests charades. Her husband points out that she's terrible. This hurts her feelings. Joan's husband saves the day by asking Joan to play and sing for them and hauls out her accordion. She seems to covering her embarrassment while simultaneously telegraphing her annoyance. She claims she hasn't played in ages and then busts out a perfectly played and cooed rendition of "C'est Magnifique" that slays her audience.

Back at the office Kinsey, Peggy, and Smitty are trying to come up with ideas for Bacardi. ("Bacardi-licious!" "Bacardi-lightful"). They are frustrated by their lack of progress. Smitty doesn't want to drink since it will make him sleepy and wishes they could get high instead. Kinsey dispatches Peggy to get the blender so they can have rum "frappes." She tells him to go get it, still clearly resentful that now that she is an equal she is still being asked to do things because she is a woman.

Peggy wanders off to get the blender and can't believe that her new secretary Olive, an older woman, is in on Saturday. "When you work, I work," says Olive, who is really there because plans fell through with her family.

Kinsey and Smitty keep talking about pot - apparently Kinsey wrote his amazing thesis on the stoics high- and Smitty wonders if Kinsey can't get some. He can, from an old Princeton buddy who is now essentially a drug dealer. The three of them smoke while Peggy naps in her office.

She comes out and Olive hands her a sandwich and tells her she knows what the boys are doing and that she shouldn't go in there. Peggy goes in there. Kinsey's Princeton buddy immediately starts to hit on her. Kinsey says she doesn't want to smoke. Peggy says Kinsey has no idea what she wants since all he ever asks her about is brassieres and make-up. The Princeton buddy says he wants to know all about what she wants but first needs her name. She looks at him dismissively and then back at Kinsey and says "My name is Peggy Olson and I want to smoke marijuana." Kinsey and Smitty are impressed.

Later, while high they each do their own thing. Kinsey eats, Peggy lays back, Princeton starts baiting Kinsey about how he never calls him. They bicker and Kinsey goes to throw him out. Princeton gets in a final jab saying Kinsey can't sing either. Kinsey tells him to take it back. He won't. As Princeton is leaving Kinsey says he quit the "Tiger-Tones" because he had mono. Princeton harrumphs and tells Kinsey to sing now and let Smitty and Peggy judge. He does a chorus "Hello My Baby, Hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal!" (You know, the Michigan J. Frog song). He's not great but he can carry a tune. Peggy and Smitty applaud. Case closed. The two Tiger-Tones than harmonize like old friends.

Later Peggy is still trying to work on ideas as the boys have gone off on their own trips. Kinsey is babbling about how they're all going to die and how they almost did during the Cuban missile crisis. Smitty, who is now openly hitting on her to no avail, suggests going on the roof. Peggy dismisses this and then gets actual inspiration for the Bacardi ad, a hammock, between two clotheslines - the original staycation I guess. She goes to the door and tells the boys to go home saying "I'm in a really good place." She heads back to her office and a disapproving Olive hands her her purse, which she points out Peggy left unattended in her office. Peggy says no one's around. Olive says she knows what Peggy was doing in Kinsey's office. Peggy realizes, or thinks she does, that the older woman is worried about her future. She leans in to her and tells her not to worry that she knows what she's doing and she's gotten this far- to an office with her name on the door- and that she will get everything the older woman wants for her. She then asks Olive to get her the Dict-a-phone and a glass of water and she can take off, and then compliments her brooch. Olive seems a little confused but also somehow pleased by Peggy's speech.

In the night's final storyline we see how grandpa Gene is being integrated into the Draper household. Sally has taken to reading to him at night. On Saturday afternoon as Don and Betty are preparing to leave, Sally goes to visit him and he's in the rest room. She notices his money clip on the dresser and goes and takes five dollars from it. He notices immediately and starts to make a stink about it. Don and Betty wonder if he might be confused and not know how much money he had. Gene wants his five dollars. Don tries to offer him money and Gene gripes that Don thinks that money is the answer to everything. Don says nope, just this one thing and tells Betty he's ready to go.

While they're gone Carla and the kids look around the house. As she goes through his room, Carla thinks he suspects her. He says he knows it's not her- he knows Sally took it- and calls her Viola. She says her name is Carla. He wonders if she knows Viola. She points out that not all black people know each other.

At dinner Carla tells Gene he has to eat. He tells he she's not the boss of him. As Sally approaches, she peeks around the corner to make sure no one's looking and throws the five dollars into the room before her and pretends she's just found it. Carla holds her breath. Gene lets it slide. Later, at bedtime she pokes her head into Gene's room and says goodnight real quick. He barks at her to get back in the room. She comes in and sits down nervously. He hands her the book and tells her to pick up where she left off.