The Suitcase
Encyclopedia
"The Suitcase" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American television drama series Mad Men
, and the 46th overall episode of the series. It aired on the AMC channel in the United States on September 5, 2010. The episode is almost entirely centered around the characters of Don Draper
(Jon Hamm) and Peggy Olson
(Elisabeth Moss
), and the relationship between the two. Critical reception of the episode was very positive, some declaring it the show's best episode. Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss submitted this episode for consideration for their nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Drama Series, respectively, at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
.
(Jon Hamm) and Peggy Olson
(Elisabeth Moss
). A deadline is looming over a campaign for the suitcase manufacturer Samsonite
. As the rest of the office leave to follow the May 25, 1965 Ali vs. Liston fight, Don makes Peggy stay behind to work on ideas. Don does not know that it is Peggy's birthday, and that she is planning a romantic dinner with her boyfriend Mark (Blake Bashoff
). Mark has invited Peggy's family along as a surprise, and when she tells Don, he says she can go.
Peggy, however, is provoked by Mark's surprise, and decides to cancel the dinner and stay to work with Don. Peggy's mother is not happy about this, and Mark, equally annoyed, breaks up with her over the phone. As Peggy returns to Don's office, they have an argument over Peggy's contribution to the successful Glo-Coat campaign, and Don's lack of appreciation for her work. She storms off to cry in the bathroom. Later in the evening, Don calls her into his office to listen to a tape he has found from Roger Sterling
's (John Slattery
) memoirs. The two laugh over the intimate revelations about their co-workers, and go out for a meal. Over dinner, and later drinks, the two share personal information. Peggy says that people make jokes about an alleged relationship between the two, and that her mother believes he was the father of her baby owing to Don's visit to her while she was in the mental hospital shortly after the child was born. This is the first discussion they have had regarding her baby. Don asks, "Do you know who it was?" Peggy replies, "Of course." Peggy does not tell Don that Pete Campbell
was the father and also does not mention what happened to the baby.
Back at the office, Duck Phillips (Mark Moses
) shows up, after earlier having tried to recruit Peggy for a new venture. He is drunk, and wants to defecate on Don's chair. Peggy runs in, finding Duck with his pants down and squatting over the chair, and tells Duck that he's actually in Roger's office. Peggy leads Duck out and Don is shocked to see him in the office. Duck tells a shocked Don that they were "in love." Duck ends up in a fight with Don, who is equally drunk. Duck, older than Don, learned fighting skills while fighting the Japanese in World War II, and overpowers Don. Peggy gets rid of Duck, and as Don asks for another drink, she asks him "how long [he is] intending to go on like this." An embarrassed Peggy admits to Don that she had an affair with Duck because it was a "confusing time for her." Don has to make a call to his friend Anna Draper (Melinda Page Hamilton
), who is dying from cancer. Before he can make the call, however, he falls asleep in Peggy's lap. In his dream he sees a vision of Anna with a suitcase, and when he finds out she is dead the next morning, it is no surprise to him. After a phone call to confirm the bad news, Don breaks down sobbing in front of Peggy. She tries to comfort him when he tells her what happened. Don tells Peggy to go home and rest and to come in later. Peggy, worried about Don, instead goes into her office next to Don's, to stay "close to him." Later that morning, Don has developed an idea for the suitcase campaign based on the Ali vs. Liston knock-out photo. Peggy does not like Don's idea, and Don is annoyed. Peggy realizes that Don's friend has just died and they are both just coming off an extremely emotionally draining night, and she instead says, "it is good." Don takes her hand in his hand for a moment, and the two exchange caring looks before she leaves.
was still called Cassius Clay). The fight is noted for Ali's so-called "phantom punch", that knocked out Sonny Liston
, as well as for a photo of Ali standing over a fallen Liston, one of the most famous photos in sports history. There were speculations at the time that Liston took a fall on orders from the Mafia
. Another sports reference in the episode is found in Peggy's original pitch for the Samsonite ad, featuring football player
Joe Namath
. Namath, a burgeoning player at the time, would later become a highly sought-after product endorser.
The episode also gave the answer to a mystery from a previous episode
: Roger Sterling's reference to a Dr. Lyle Evans. The name caused much speculation among reviewers, and a spike in Google
searches for the name. Rather than a real-life person, Dr. Evans turned out to be a doctor who once performed an unnecessary orchiectomy on Bert Cooper. The episode ends with the song "Bleecker Street" from Simon & Garfunkel's 1964 album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
.
, contributing to The Wall Street Journal
' s "Mad Men Conversation", called the episode "deeply compelling". She highlighted two central lines of dialog: Don's "People do things" as an argument against judgment, and Peggy's "That's not true" as a response to Don's claim that he had lost the only person who knew him. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly
called the episode "a knock-out", and commented on the "remarkable intimacy" of the scenes between Don and Peggy. The Baltimore Sun
' s David Zurawik, after some initial deliberation, concluded that it was "a great episode". He pointed out how it made him care about the fates of both Peggy and Don in a way he had not for a long time.
Jennifer Smith at CNN
found some of the scenes in the episode among "the most powerful of the entire series". She implied that the performances of both Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss were Emmy
material. William Bradley, reviewing the episode for The Huffington Post
, also mentioned the Emmy Awards. He called Hamm's performance "fantastic", believing it was "time for him to win the Emmy as best actor". Moss he found "even more of a revelation...as a young woman coming of age". Entertainment Weekly
' s Karen Valby called it her "favorite Mad Men episode of all time", highlighting the performances of the two main actors.
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
, and the 46th overall episode of the series. It aired on the AMC channel in the United States on September 5, 2010. The episode is almost entirely centered around the characters of Don Draper
Don Draper
Donald "Don" Draper is a fictional character and the protagonist of AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by 2008 Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm. Until the third season finale, Draper was Creative Director of Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper...
(Jon Hamm) and Peggy Olson
Peggy Olson
Margaret "Peggy" Olson is a fictional character in the AMC television series Mad Men, and is portrayed by actress Elisabeth Moss. Initially, Peggy is secretary to Don Draper , creative director of the advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Later, she is promoted to copywriter, the first female writer...
(Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Singleton Moss is an American actor. Her notable roles include that of Zoey Bartlet, the third and youngest daughter of President Jed Bartlet, on the NBC television series The West Wing , and secretary turned copywriter Peggy Olson on the AMC original series Mad Men .-Early life and...
), and the relationship between the two. Critical reception of the episode was very positive, some declaring it the show's best episode. Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss submitted this episode for consideration for their nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Drama Series, respectively, at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted...
.
Plot
The episode focuses almost entirely on the characters of Don DraperDon Draper
Donald "Don" Draper is a fictional character and the protagonist of AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by 2008 Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm. Until the third season finale, Draper was Creative Director of Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper...
(Jon Hamm) and Peggy Olson
Peggy Olson
Margaret "Peggy" Olson is a fictional character in the AMC television series Mad Men, and is portrayed by actress Elisabeth Moss. Initially, Peggy is secretary to Don Draper , creative director of the advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Later, she is promoted to copywriter, the first female writer...
(Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Singleton Moss is an American actor. Her notable roles include that of Zoey Bartlet, the third and youngest daughter of President Jed Bartlet, on the NBC television series The West Wing , and secretary turned copywriter Peggy Olson on the AMC original series Mad Men .-Early life and...
). A deadline is looming over a campaign for the suitcase manufacturer Samsonite
Samsonite
The Samsonite Corporation makes luggage with its products ranging from large suitcases to small toiletries bags and briefcases. It was started in Denver, Colorado, USA in 1910 byJesse Shwayder, as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company. Shwayder named one of his initial cases "Samson", after the...
. As the rest of the office leave to follow the May 25, 1965 Ali vs. Liston fight, Don makes Peggy stay behind to work on ideas. Don does not know that it is Peggy's birthday, and that she is planning a romantic dinner with her boyfriend Mark (Blake Bashoff
Blake Bashoff
Blake Warren Bashoff is an American television and motion picture actor, known for his role as Moritz Stiefel in Spring Awakening. He has also appeared in a number of guest roles on television series, including the ABC series Lost as Karl Martin.- Life and career :Bashoff was born in Philadelphia,...
). Mark has invited Peggy's family along as a surprise, and when she tells Don, he says she can go.
Peggy, however, is provoked by Mark's surprise, and decides to cancel the dinner and stay to work with Don. Peggy's mother is not happy about this, and Mark, equally annoyed, breaks up with her over the phone. As Peggy returns to Don's office, they have an argument over Peggy's contribution to the successful Glo-Coat campaign, and Don's lack of appreciation for her work. She storms off to cry in the bathroom. Later in the evening, Don calls her into his office to listen to a tape he has found from Roger Sterling
Roger Sterling
Roger Sterling, Jr., played by John Slattery, is a fictional character on the AMC TV series Mad Men. He formerly worked for Sterling Cooper, an advertising agency his father co-founded in 1923, before he became a founding partner at the new firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in late...
's (John Slattery
John Slattery
John M. Slattery, Jr. is an American actor and director, best known for his role as Roger Sterling on AMC's series Mad Men. He has been nominated for many awards, and has won two SAG Awards with the Mad Men ensemble....
) memoirs. The two laugh over the intimate revelations about their co-workers, and go out for a meal. Over dinner, and later drinks, the two share personal information. Peggy says that people make jokes about an alleged relationship between the two, and that her mother believes he was the father of her baby owing to Don's visit to her while she was in the mental hospital shortly after the child was born. This is the first discussion they have had regarding her baby. Don asks, "Do you know who it was?" Peggy replies, "Of course." Peggy does not tell Don that Pete Campbell
Pete Campbell
Peter "Pete" Campbell is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by Vincent Kartheiser.-Biography:...
was the father and also does not mention what happened to the baby.
Back at the office, Duck Phillips (Mark Moses
Mark Moses
Mark W. Moses is an American actor, known for his roles of Paul Young on Desperate Housewives and Herman "Duck" Phillips on the AMC series Mad Men.-Life and career:...
) shows up, after earlier having tried to recruit Peggy for a new venture. He is drunk, and wants to defecate on Don's chair. Peggy runs in, finding Duck with his pants down and squatting over the chair, and tells Duck that he's actually in Roger's office. Peggy leads Duck out and Don is shocked to see him in the office. Duck tells a shocked Don that they were "in love." Duck ends up in a fight with Don, who is equally drunk. Duck, older than Don, learned fighting skills while fighting the Japanese in World War II, and overpowers Don. Peggy gets rid of Duck, and as Don asks for another drink, she asks him "how long [he is] intending to go on like this." An embarrassed Peggy admits to Don that she had an affair with Duck because it was a "confusing time for her." Don has to make a call to his friend Anna Draper (Melinda Page Hamilton
Melinda Page Hamilton
Melinda Page Hamilton is an American actress. She played a supporting role in the 2004 film, Promised Land, and the leading role in the 2006 film Sleeping Dogs Lie. She is a frequent guest star on several present-day television programs which include: Star Trek: Enterprise, CSI: NY, CSI: Miami,...
), who is dying from cancer. Before he can make the call, however, he falls asleep in Peggy's lap. In his dream he sees a vision of Anna with a suitcase, and when he finds out she is dead the next morning, it is no surprise to him. After a phone call to confirm the bad news, Don breaks down sobbing in front of Peggy. She tries to comfort him when he tells her what happened. Don tells Peggy to go home and rest and to come in later. Peggy, worried about Don, instead goes into her office next to Don's, to stay "close to him." Later that morning, Don has developed an idea for the suitcase campaign based on the Ali vs. Liston knock-out photo. Peggy does not like Don's idea, and Don is annoyed. Peggy realizes that Don's friend has just died and they are both just coming off an extremely emotionally draining night, and she instead says, "it is good." Don takes her hand in his hand for a moment, and the two exchange caring looks before she leaves.
Cultural references
The Ali vs. Liston bout was a rematch of a February 1964 fight (at which point Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
was still called Cassius Clay). The fight is noted for Ali's so-called "phantom punch", that knocked out Sonny Liston
Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston was a professional boxer and ex-convict known for his toughness, punching power, and intimidating appearance who became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round...
, as well as for a photo of Ali standing over a fallen Liston, one of the most famous photos in sports history. There were speculations at the time that Liston took a fall on orders from the Mafia
American Mafia
The American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"...
. Another sports reference in the episode is found in Peggy's original pitch for the Samsonite ad, featuring football player
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
Joe Namath
Joe Namath
Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...
. Namath, a burgeoning player at the time, would later become a highly sought-after product endorser.
The episode also gave the answer to a mystery from a previous episode
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (Mad Men)
"The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American television drama series Mad Men, and the forty fourth overall episode of the series. It was written by Erin Levy and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. It originally aired on the AMC channel in the United...
: Roger Sterling's reference to a Dr. Lyle Evans. The name caused much speculation among reviewers, and a spike in Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
searches for the name. Rather than a real-life person, Dr. Evans turned out to be a doctor who once performed an unnecessary orchiectomy on Bert Cooper. The episode ends with the song "Bleecker Street" from Simon & Garfunkel's 1964 album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is the debut album by folk duo Simon & Garfunkel, released October 19, 1964. It was produced by Tom Wilson and engineered by Roy Halee. On its cover sleeve the album bears the subtitle: "Exciting new sounds in the folk tradition".The album was initially unsuccessful,...
.
Reception
Toril MoiToril Moi
Toril Moi is James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University. Previously she held positions as a lecturer in French at the University of Oxford and as Director of the Center for Feminist Research at the University of Bergen, Norway...
, contributing to The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called the episode "a knock-out", and commented on the "remarkable intimacy" of the scenes between Don and Peggy. The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
Jennifer Smith at CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
found some of the scenes in the episode among "the most powerful of the entire series". She implied that the performances of both Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss were Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
material. William Bradley, reviewing the episode for The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, also mentioned the Emmy Awards. He called Hamm's performance "fantastic", believing it was "time for him to win the Emmy as best actor". Moss he found "even more of a revelation...as a young woman coming of age". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
External links
- Official episode guide at AMC