Harry sells tickets to the closed-circuit screening of the Cassius Clay/Sonny Liston boxing rematch. Don bets $100 on Liston.
Peggy, Stan, Joey, and Danny act out a Samsonite commercial built around football quarterback Joe Namath. "Endorsements are lazy," Don criticizes. Don accepts Danny's "toughness" angle, but rejects the execution.
Duck sends Peggy a birthday present of business cards for “Phillips-Olson Advertising,” naming her Creative Director. Peggy asks if Duck is drinking. "Peg, I'm fallin' apart," he admits.
Miss Blankenship notifies Don about an urgent phone message from Stephanie in California. Don lifts the receiver, but doesn't dial.
Roger laments to Don that the teetotaling Freddy Rumsen and Cal Rutledge of Pond’s will be joining them for fight night. Don cancels with Roger in order to work on Samsonite.
At workday's end, Peggy primps in the ladies room. Mark is taking her to the Forum of the Twelve Caesars restaurant for her birthday. Trudy, pregnant and showing, walks in. The two laugh over Peggy's joke about Pete behaving like a baby.
Don catches Peggy before she leaves and asks to see the Samsonite revisions. "I gave you more responsibility, and you didn't do anything," he says, unsatisfied with the work. "We're gonna do this right now."
Peggy calls Mark at the restaurant to say she'll be late. Mark updates the surprise guests, who include Peggy's mother and sister.
Peggy pitches more Samsonite ideas. Don ruminates about Clay and Liston, proposing a boxing-oriented commercial. Peggy agrees the idea is "great" and prepares to leave.
Roger, sneaking a cocktail, phones and begs Don to join him. Freddy and Cal are boring, and "self so-righteous" about drinking. Don declines.
Mark calls the office. "Damn it, Peggy, I've got your whole family here," he blurts. Peggy apologizes and vows to leave immediately.
Peggy informs Don about her dinner plans. Don tells her to "get over birthdays." She can go, though, and he'll tackle Samsonite himself.
Peggy phones Mark to cancel the evening. Her mother grabs the receiver and scolds her. Peggy accuses Mark of trying to "score points with a bunch of people who drive me crazy," and they break up.
"You win," Peggy tells Don. She's stuck at the office, she says, "because of some stupid idea from Danny, who you had to hire because you stole his other stupid idea because you were drunk."
Peggy complains further about receiving insufficient credit for her Glo-Coat contribution. She gave him "a kernel" that became a commercial, Don argues. "You never say thank you," says Peggy. "That's what the money is for!" he shouts.
Peggy runs off and sobs in the bathroom.
Later, Don summons Peggy back into his office and plays back a tape of Roger’s memoirs: Roger refers to the young Ida Blankenship as the "queen of perversions," and reveals that Bert Cooper's testicles were unnecessarily removed.
"Stay and visit," says Don. Peggy resists, but then reflects, "We're supposed to be staring at each other over candlelight, and he invites my mother? He doesn't know me."
Don takes Peggy to a diner. "I know what I'm supposed to want," she says, "but it just never feels right, or as important as anything in that office."
Peggy and Don stop at a bar to listen to the fight. Her coworkers think she slept with Don, says Peggy, but also make jokes "like it's so funny because the possibility was so remote." It's not that she isn't attractive, Don explains, but he has to abide by rules at work. Peggy alludes to Allison. "You don't want to start giving me morality lessons, do you?" he asks.
The talk turns to Peggy's baby. Her mother, says Peggy, thinks that Don is the father. "Do you know who it was?" Don asks. "Of course I do," Peggy replies.
The fight ends in the first round, with Clay knocking out Liston. "No one goes down like that," declares a bar patron.
Back at the office, Peggy escorts a stumbling Don to the men's room. He drops to his knees and retches.
Outside, Peggy spots Duck slipping into Roger’s office. Duck squats over a chair with lowered pants to "leave Draper a little present."
When Duck spots Don – his shirt soiled – he calls Peggy a whore. Don swings a fist at Duck but misses. Duck wrestles Don to the floor. "You still think you're better than me?" Duck asks.
"You don't have to explain," Don later tells Peggy. He asks for a drink. "How long are you going to go on like this?" she asks. "I have to make a phone call, and I know it’s gonna be bad," he says. Don rests his head in Peggy's lap and falls asleep.
In the middle of the night, Don opens his eyes and sees the ghostlike presence of Anna carrying a suitcase. She smiles at Don, turns, and then fades away.
At daybreak, Don calls California and learns that Anna has died. Crying, he describes Anna as "the only person in the world who really knew me." Peggy rubs his back. "That's not true," she says.
Peggy sleeps on her office sofa until Stan blows a whistle mid-morning. She walks over to Don's office. Don shows her a Samsonite concept based on Clay's stunning victory. "It's very good," Peggy says.
Don holds Peggy's hand for a moment. "Go home, take a shower, and come back with ten tag lines," he says.
Source: AMC.com
Written by MichaelDeBoey on Oct 29, 2015