This episode was aired during the middle of season 4, but the parts where Roger Sterling is flashing back to when he first met Don Draper would have been an excellent introduction of Draper to the viewers in the series premier. Also, this episode could have been a stand alone mini movie, you would not need to have seen any of the previous episodes to understand what is going on. Not many shows can produce an episode in the middle of their 4th or 5th season that has the feel of a pilot. Not many drama shows halfway into their 4th season can have the feel of a movie where a storyline isn't dependent on previous episodes. And yet, the story of this episode ties in with the rest of the series. This episode had a beginning, middle, and ending. There was no "wait until next week" to see the conclusion of the story. Nor was it a "monster of the week" like the X-files used to do, then nothing from that episode is ever relevant to the series again. Not all Mad Men episodes are like this, and I'm not sure the writers intended any of it. If they did, I doubt many other writers could pull something like this off.
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