| A Little Kiss, Part 1 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Production | |
| Season 5 Episode 01 | |
| Air date | 25 March 2012 |
| Written by | Matthew Weiner |
| Directed by | Jennifer Getzinger |
| Previous Tomorrowland |
Next A Little Kiss, Part 2 |
Intro[]
Pete and Roger go head-to-head for Mohawk Airlines. Don appears happier as a newlywed. Megan plans a surprise party. Peggy has a hard time with a client. Joan adjusts to motherhood.
Synopsis[]
The episode opens on Memorial Day Weekend in May of 1966. We see into the offices of Young & Rubicam, a rival firm of SCDP, where outside the window on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, African-American civil rights protestors are protesting for equal employment rights. Upon seeing the protest, young executives throw water bombs out the window and display counter-protest signs from their office windows. Soaked and angry, the protesters and journalist come up to the reception floor and catch the Young & Rubicam employees in the act.
Protesting for Equal Employment Rights, A Little Kiss.
Wandering through Don's new apartment looking for the bathroom, Sally stumbles upon Don's bedroom. There she catches a glimpse of the newlywed Megan Draper, wrapped in a bed sheet. Don cooks breakfast for Sally, Bobby and Gene, and they give Don his 40th birthday present: a badger-hair shaving brush. Sally explains to Bobby that they are giving Don his birthday present now since they will be back with Betty on Don's actual birthday. Don drops them off later that day at Betty and Henry's new house in Rye.
Bobby, Gene and Sally giving Don his birthday present, A Little Kiss.
Pete rides the train to work, where he encounters Howard Dawes. He tells Howard about Trudy and her bout with the baby blues after their daughter, Tammy was born. Howard advises Pete that there's a time in a man life where instead of getting the 5:25 train home, he takes the 7:05. Back at the office Caroline, who is manning both Roger and Don's desk per Joan's orders, is told by Roger to spend more time at his desk and not Don's.
Joan and Kevin, A Little Kiss.
Joan, although exhausted, is settling into her new role as a mother to a baby boy named Kevin. Her mother Gail Holloway is temporarily living with her to help care for Kevin while Greg Harris is away. Gail prepares to go out to get formula for Kevin and takes a 10 dollar bill from Joan's purse. This prompts Joan to snidely ask, "Are you buying his formula or yours?". In an attempt to defuse Joan, Gail offers to take Kevin with her, offering Joan some well deserved rest. Joan accepts with relief.
Roger flirts with Pete's secretary Clara. Pete catches him and sends him away. He berates Clara for letting Roger hang around her desk and voices his suspicions that Roger is trying to sneak a peek at his calendar. And on that cue the new Mr. and Mrs. Draper arrive at the office, late.
In a quick status meeting, Roger shows Don and Pete a newspaper article talking about the water bomb incident, and that Y&R's reputation has fallen to the bottom of the barrel on Madison Avenue. Don suggests that they should run a mock ad touting SCDP as an equal opportunity employer, just to further Y&R's embarrassment.
Don completely smitten with Megan, A Little Kiss.
Megan comes into Don's office to gather her work for the day. He tries to persuade her for a quickie in his office but she refuses, knowing people will gossip if she stays any longer. Still, Don tells Megan to open her blouse, and she teasingly calls him a dirty old man as she leaves the office. Pete arrives and he reveals to Don that he has a meeting with Mohawk Airlines, even after SC dumped them for American Airlines (Flight 1). Just as he expected Don most desirable client would be American Airlines, because as Don says "they stood us up" (Three Sundays), Pete thinks likewise he has a chance with Mohawk. Don prefers not to assist to the meeting remembering how badly the Mohawk executive, Henry "Hank" Lammott, received the news that SC was dropping them when Don personally delivered it to him at the time.
Megan is then seen working alongside Peggy and the other creative team members as a copywriter. Megan asks Peggy for her help with planning Don's surprise birthday party, by going through Don's Rolodex. Peggy hesitates, but Megan insists, and Peggy helps her by crossing out clients and people Don has fired.
Peggy helps Megan arrange Don's party, A Little Kiss.
Back at her apartment, Joan is resting on the couch when Gail and Kevin return. Gail questions whether it is really the best thing for Joan to return to her job at SCDP when her husband is a doctor. Joan claims that she doesn't want to break her promise and that the company needs her.
Arriving at his scheduled meeting with Mohawk Airlines, Pete unexpectedly finds a tipsy Roger already having drinks with the client. Roger intentionally uses his charisma to outshine Pete. Angered by this, and by the realization that Roger snooped at his schedule, Pete passive-aggressively puts a fake appointment with the executives of Coca-Cola on his calendar, setting Roger up to go to a false meeting at 6:00 am.
Peggy's pitch falls short, A Little Kiss.
Diligent and prepared, Peggy makes her "Ballet of Beans" pitch to the Heinz executives, but the pitch initially falls flat and Don immediately promises the client they will work up something better. Enraged that Don didn't stand up for her presentation, even after Don explained to her that because Heinz is unsolicited business they have not pitched for (Chinese Wall, Blowing Smoke), Heinz has every right to make them work - Peggy vents to Stan that since marrying Megan, Don has changed, and she is not liking the new kinder and calmer Don Draper.
On the evening of the surprise party, Megan presents her birthday gift to Don: She performs a French ye-ye song, "Zou Bisou Bisou", and dances provocatively to entice Don. The guests clap and whistles, especially Harry Crane while Don is increasingly embarrassed. Megan and Don greet their guests and Peggy snarks at Don about having to leave the party early to rework the Heinz pitch. Jane and Roger seem unhappy with each other and make jabs at each other for not looking as in love as Megan and Don. The only guest not in attendance is Joan. Roger reveals to Don that he is relieved, since if Joan were there, he wouldn't hear the end of it from Jane.
Megan serenades Don, A Little Kiss.
Megan and Don after the party, A Little Kiss.
After the party, a tired Don, reclines on the bed fully clothed. Megan asks if he enjoyed the party. He tells her not to waste money on such things because he doesn't care about birthdays anymore. He mentions never celebrating birthdays growing up and points out that he has technically already been 40 for the past six months. Megan observes that "nobody loves Dick Whitman", revealing that she knows about Don's past. Don must have told her before the wedding, learning the lesson from his first marriage, when he made the mistake of not telling Betty, but later, when Betty accidentally learned about it (The Color Blue), had to deal with the negative and ultimately most severe consequences (The Gypsy and the Hobo, The Grown-Ups, Shut the Door. Have a Seat). Unfazed by his demeanor, she teases and kisses him, wanting to talk about the party. He declines and insists on going to sleep, so she leaves the room. She then stands out on the balcony alone and sullen.
Trivia[]
- The Y&R paper bag/water bomb incident happened in real life in May 1966.
- In this episode, the French ye-ye song "Zou Bisou Bisou" is featured when Megan Calvet sings it to Don Draper at her husband's surprise party. The song was originally recorded in English by Sophia Loren and later converted to French by Gillian Hill. Because Jessica Pare's rendition of it was so sexy, it became an instant hit and it's now available on iTunes and as a limited edition vinyl single. You can buy it here.
- Ralph Nader is briefly mentioned over a problem with Oldsmobile. He had, at the time, started writing about consumer safety issues, and especially, relating to American automobiles with his 1965 book, "Unsafe at Any Speed".
- Don tells Sally to "give Morticia and Lurch my love", probably referring to the Addams Family castle-like look of Betty's new house in Rye. He refers again to this feeling in "Mystery Date", where he likens the house to a "haunted mansion". A further joke is the fact that Lurch is the manservant of the Addams Family, not Morticia's husband. The original "Addams Family" series aired during 1964-1966.
- Don tells Megan he's been 40 for half a year already, which is a continuity error. Lieutenant Don Draper was 9 years older than Dick (born 1917 versus 1926).
- Howard Dawes' wife asking him what he does all day could be a reference to Matthew Weiner's first film, called "What Do You Do All Day?".
- The set used for the Mohawk Airlines meeting scene was actually the main floor of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, specifically the place between Roger and Don's office. It was redressed for the scene.
- Roger saying "my mother always said never show up empty-handed" and ruining the surprise for Don was inspired by something that actually happened with Jon Hamm. He showed up a month early to a surprise party, and he said that exact line to the person that answered the door. It worked.
- In the surprise party scene, the group Megan is in was laughing because one of the guys was doing a Minnie Mouse impression.
- In the season 5 commentary track, Jessica Pare says that her favorite part of rehearsing the "Zou Bisou Bisou" scene was that Matthew Weiner would go through the whole dance routine as Megan and do all the moves.
Cast[]
Main Star[]
- Jon Hamm as Don Draper
- Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson
- Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell
- January Jones as Betty Hofstadt (credit only)
- Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway
- Jared Harris as Lane Pryce
- Aaron Staton as Ken Cosgrove
- Rich Sommer as Harry Crane
- Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper
- Jessica Pare as Megan Calvet
- Christopher Stanley as Henry Francis (credit only)
- Jay R. Ferguson as Stan Rizzo
- Robert Morse as Bertram Cooper
- John Slattery as Roger Sterling
Guest Star[]
- Alison Brie as Trudy Vogel
- Peyton List as Jane Siegel
- Embeth Davidtz as Rebecca Pryce
- Mason Vale Cotten as Robert Draper
- Charlie Hofheimers as Abe Drexler
- Larisa Oleynik as Cynthia Cosgrove
- Christine Estabrook as Gail Holloway
- John Sloman as Raymond Geiger
- Matt Riedy as Henry Lammott
- Jeff Clarke as Howard Dawes
Co-Star[]
- Beth Hall as Caroline
- Alexandra Ella as Clara
- Irving Green as Troy
- Meghan Bradley as Julia
- Taylor Emerson as Robbie
- Steven Lee Allen as Jack Wyler
- Devin Skrade as Chip
- Brian Jack as Earl
- Dominic Dierkes as Lou
- Algerita Wynn as Woman
- Angela Sargeant as Other Woman
- Evan London as Eugene Draper