Mad Men Season 4, Episode 7: "The Suitcase"

Hard to believe we're already at the halfway point of the season, and last night we got quite a juicy episode.

[Last week I neglected to attach my standard disclaimer: I have avoided reading any other recaps, writeups, or other commentary on this episode before writing this, so if I express something similar to thoughts you've read elsewhere, it's entirely a coincidence. If you have not watched the episode, assume there are spoilers ahead and act accordingly.]

It was interesting to realize that after working together in various capacities for five years, there's a great deal that Don and Peggy don't know about each other (and that we don't know about either of them), and though Peggy said she preferred it that way, it seemed that by the episode's end she had changed her mind. I don't think we've ever seen an episode with this much interaction between the two of them, and after some shouting and some consoling, each knows some fairly personal stuff about the other.

The Samsonite campaign that gave the episode its title and served as the focus of the story also gave us some handy metaphors. When Betty first banished Don from the house in season two (suspecting him of having an affair, but having no proof at the time), he stayed at the Roosevelt, essentially living out of a suitcase. Later, when he decided to abandon his business trip in Los Angeles to go off to Palm Springs with the beautiful people, he left his suitcase and all his belongings behind, because he no longer had to pretend to be "Don Draper" with them, or on his subsequent, revelatory visit to Anna.

During last night's scene at the Greek diner, Don talked about his uncle Max, who had a saying about how a man always needs to have a packed suitcase ready. This was still Don in season one, when he tried to get Rachel Menken to run away with him. Later that night, in the midst of his drunk-sickness, Don awakened to a ghostly vision of Anna in his office, carrying a small suitcase (no way to know whether or not it was a Samsonite) and knew that she had died.

Of course, the suitcase also represents baggage, of which Don and Peggy both have their share. When their talk at the bar turned to Peggy's pregnancy and Don asked if Peggy knew who the father was, I thought for a moment that Peggy was going to tell him, but I also got the feeling that Don was not especially interested in knowing the answer; he was more interested in whether or not Peggy ever thought about it, which makes perfect sense given his own past.

Peggy's baggage is also in the form of her family, her rather unimpressive (now ex-)boyfriend Mark, and of course, the even less impressive Duck Phillips, whose drunken late-night visit to the SCDP office in search of Peggy led to a most pathetic excuse for a fight between him and Don (and a hilarious attempt to leave a calling card, of sorts).

I think the boxing match was meant to represent Don's inner battle between his Don and Dick selves, his drunk and sober selves, his humble and proud selves. His comments about the fighters Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston could be interpreted as comments about himself, particularly in the wake of the Clio victory.

Don is at a crossroads, and clearly his life and career could go either way at this point. Now that we have seen just how deeply into the bottle Don has sunk, Duck's miserable attempt to prop himself up with the crutch of Peggy showed us very clearly where Don is headed if he is unable to straighten out. The question still remains as to whether or not Don got that message.