Last night was the first of the final seven episodes of “Mad Men.” Here’s what happened …
Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk!
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) got a wake-up call from the universe when he learned his former lover Rachel Menken Katz (Maggie Siff) died of leukemia in Sunday night’s mid-season premiere of “Mad Men.”
Don paid a shiva call to the Katz apartment and was knowingly sized up in about two minutes by Rachel’s sister, who said, “I know who you are.” Don, of course, romanced Rachel Season 1 while still married to his first wife, Betty (January Jones). Tears welled in Don’s eyes as he watched Rachel’s two children play on the couch while the family gathered for prayers. Rachel’s sister did not invite him to stay.
Prior to this sad and moving scene, Don was behaving as always, flirting with models who came into the agency, hanging out with a trio of dates plus Roger Sterling in a crummy diner and checking in with his answering service from his empty apartment to see which female he would summon for a late-night booty call.
In his lowest moment, he had stand-up sex with Diana (Elisabeth Reaser), a waitress from the diner, in an alley behind the restaurant. Then she told him: “Next time you come in here, bring a date.”
Don wasn’t the only character in the show to receive a shock. Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton) was fired by Roger Sterling because his new business partners from McCann-Erickson don’t like him. Ken was made to turn over all of his accounts to smarmy nemesis Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), but Ken had the last laugh when he convinced Dow Chemical to hire him. When Ken told Roger and Pete they would now be pitching him, he said with malicious glee, “I’m very hard to please.”
Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and Joan (Christina Hendricks) spent most of the episode dealing with difficult men. First, their clients at Topaz hosiery didn’t want to hear that Hanes’ new, discount pantyhose, L’Eggs, was going to leave them in the dust. Second, when they tried to enlist some help from the creative team at McCann in sorting out the situation, they had to endure one sexist comment after another.
Joan went shopping afterward. Peggy went on a blind date.
Peggy didn’t expect to have a good time with the guy, a young lawyer introduced to her by a younger male staff member, but they hit it off. She drank too much wine and was soon flirting with the handsome blond, who was between jobs and open to anything. Together, they talked about running off to Paris that weekend, but Peggy couldn’t find her passport. She suggested another weekend, but her date had a job interview out of town. Peggy gave up on love and went to work the next day with a hangover.