| Severance | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Production | |
| Season 7 Episode 8 | |
| Air date | 5 April 2015 |
| Written by | Matthew Weiner |
| Directed by | Scott Hornbacher |
| Previous Waterloo |
Next New Business |
Synopsis[]
Picking up in April 1970, Don has resumed his womanizing ways as a bachelor. While at a diner, he encounters a waitress named Diana, convinced they have met before, but she insists they are strangers. Don has a cryptic dream about Rachel Menken and attempts to reconnect with her, only to learn she recently died of leukemia. He tries to offer her condolences to her family, but Rachel's sister thanks him coldly because of his history with Rachel. Don also learns that Rachel has had two children.
Peggy and Joan attend a business meeting at McCann Erickson, during which Joan is sexually harassed; this results in an argument between the two women after the meeting, when Peggy insinuates that Joan gets harassed because of the way she dresses.
Ken Cosgrove's father-in-law retires at Dow Chemicals and his daughter Cynthia suggests that Ken quits his job to focus on pursuing his dreams of being a writer. The next day, Roger and McCann Erickson's Ferg Donnelly fire Ken because of his previous employment with McCann Erickson which ended with Ken badmouthing the company. Ken feels indignant that Roger did not defend him, since the firing was clearly done out of spite. Later, they learn that Ken had been hired as head of advertising at Dow Chemicals and will be actually be a client of SC&P. He crashes a meeting between Pete and Roger, smugly telling them he will be hard to please.
Peggy goes on a date with Johnny Mathis' brother-in-law. The date goes well, and the two make impromptu plans to travel to Paris, but these plans are put on hold as Peggy cannot find her passport. The next morning she dismisses the experience as drunken foolishness.