Packed

"The Suitcase" was another one of those small episodes, where Mad Men slowed down to explore some characters.  I usually am wary of these, but this hour was very satisfying.

It starts like any other.  Harry is passing out tickets for the closed circuit Ali-Liston rematch.  (The first one was a controversial TKO.  This one will be even more controversial, with a phantom punch knocking out Liston.  BTW, a man's name is his own business, but if I were called Cassius Clay, I'd never change it. That's gotta be the coolest name in the world.)  I was wondering if Harry was gonna have a big episode.  He's a regular, but has only been in the background this season.

Everyone jokes around in their non-PC way.  Don comes in, bets on Liston, and leaves, instructing his secretary to book him any place before the fight where these lower-ranking agency members won't be.  Then Peggy and her crew come in to Don's office to demonstrate the Samsonite ad they've come up with.  It bombs, and Don isn't afraid to show his displeasure.  It's consistent with this season--too consistent. We've seen Don being tough with Peggy more than enough, can't we move on?  (Also, Don doesn't like Ali, and doesn't like Joe Namath.  He can see things, but he's becoming an old man.)

Peggy goes back to her office, insulted and dejected.  She gets a call from Duck, whom we last saw embarrassing himself.  He wants her to be his creative director.  Great. Now if only he had an agency. When he fell off the wagon, he fell hard.  We also find out it's Peggy's birthday.

Don gets a call to return--from Calfornia.  We all know what it means--the original Mrs. Draper has died.  He can't bring himself to call the number just yet. Roger comes in to complain about hanging out with Freddy Rumsen and his AA friend--no drinking, which to Roger is a tragedy.  (He's bet on Ali by the way. Bravo, Roger.)  Don doesn't want to come.  He probably doesn't want to do anything, but he'll stay and work on Samsonite.

The day's over, everyone is getting ready to go to the fight.  (Joan tells them to clean up first.)  Peggy meets a preggy Trudy in the women's room.  Trudy loves watching men pounding each other.  Okay.  Peggy's ready for dinner with her boyfriend/sort of fiance.  She's getting old--26--time to get serious?  But Don wants to see her first.  Everyone knows what that means.  She ain't leaving any time soon.

Peggy asks why he won't change her secretary and Don says Joan knows just what he needed.  Rather on the nose.  Peggy wants to leave, but she'll stick around a little.  She gets her new stuff and Don shoots it down, being sort of jerky.  So no one's leaving. (Peggy could get out if she said why she wanted to leave, but she refuses.  Does she really want to go?  Does she actually want to stay with Don?)  They're short with each other, but she calls her guy at the restaurant and says she'll be there soon.  He's got her family waiting too, but it's a surprise.

Don and Peggy work, but it's not pretty. She's got a lot of ideas about showing how tough the luggage is--will they eventually get around to going with wild animals messing with it, like the real ads?  In any case, around now, we realize the whole show is gonna be about these two.  Good.  They've always been the show's central couple. (As a bonus, it looks like a Betty-free episode.)  Roger calls with a little comic relief, then Peggy's boy (who admits her family's there), but we're always gonna return to P&D.

Don continues drinking, and Peggy says she's going.  They have more words.  It gets kind of ugly.  She explains her birthday, but that only makes him sarcastic.  She gets all the way to the elevator before she returns to tell her guy she's not leaving.  She's not really thrilled to be seeing her family.

Peggy goes back to Don and tells him off, while he treats her harshly.  It gets personal about who gets credit around the office.  Don says it all belongs to the agency, which Peggy says means just him. He gets the clio, she gets paid.  Money is thanks.  You're young, I made you, etc.  Much of it with exclamation points.  Peggy runs back to the ladies room and cries.  (Last time she looked in the mirror it was to do Ann-Margret impressions.

Don gos to Roger's office, sees a mouse.  Peggy eventually comes over and Don plays him some of Roger's memoirs.  They are funny, but very personal.  Ida Blankenship, Don's secretary, was a freak.  Roger talks about Burt, who had his testicles removed by Dr. Lyle Evans.

Don and Peggy calm down and start speaking normally again.  She sees the mouse and screams.  They decide to go to dinner.  At a Greek diner, they have a nice discussion, even give away secrets--they both saw

their father die when they were kids, for instance.  They also talk about the ad game, and how close great ideas and awful ideas are.  They're both advertising geniuses in their way, and they both know when you get the good idea, you recognize it.

Next they go to a bar and listen to the very short fight on the radio.  Don loses $100, though some wonder if Liston took a dive.  (Some still wonder that.  I've met people who say they have inside info that the mob told him to do it.)

No one forgets anything on this show. Burt knew about Don's past, and used it a couple seasons later.  Peggy brings up their relationship--everyone thinks she slept with Don, which he doesn't do, except when he made a mistake with his secretary and soon lost her.  Peggy can't really put down Don, since he's the one who visited her in the hospital and learned what really happened.  And said maybe the show's greatest line.

Of course, as close as they are, they still keep secrets.  Don's identity, Peggy's baby's real father.  You wonder if or when these things will spill so everyone knows.

They go back to the office. Well, almost. Don needs to run to the men's room.  Peggy helps him, and stands by while he vomits.  Then she hears another voice.  A drunken voice.  Duck has dropped by, looking for Peggy.  Her two heroes.  He pulls down his pants to leave Don Draper a present!  He needs Peggy, but she just wants him out.  Draper comes in and Duck calls Peggy a whore.  Don takes a drunken swipe and is soon overtaken by Duck who's an actual veteran, not a fake one.  But at least he fought for her.

He sits in his office, alone in the dark.  Peggy enters and apologizes for Duck.  No one knew about the affair, but Don would never call her on it.  He falls asleep in her lap and has a dream about Anna Draper.  She's finally come to see him in New York.  With Samsonite luggage.

It's morning now.  Don awakes, Peggy's still sleaping underneath him. What will the boys in the office think?

He makes his call, talks to college girl Stephanie to get the news.  He takes it hard.  He cries.  I'm not sure if we've ever seen Don cry before.  Peggy wants to comfort him.  He explains the only person who really knew him died.  But there's one other person who really knows him, standing right there.

Peggy goes back to her office to sleep a bit more and is awoken by the office jerks.  She goes back to Don's office--he's freshened up better than she.  It's one of his talents.  He's got an idea--basing the ad on the famous photo of Ali standing triumphant over Liston.  Don calls the photo historic. It is now, but, according to the ESPN special I once saw, the photographer at the time just figured it was a nice shot. I guess Don's still got it.

Don and Peggy hold hands.  She did it in the first season when she was his secretary, but he rebuffed her.  There's a moment, but no kiss.  She means more than that to him.

And we go out with Simon and Garfunkel--the early, folkie S&G--singing "Bleecker Street."