The Suitcase

The Suitcase
Production
Season 4 Episode 07
Air date	5 September 2010
Written by	Matthew Weiner
Directed by	Jennifer Getzinger
Previous Waldorf Stories	Next The Summer Man

Intro

Before the Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston fight, the company finds itself in a bind with an upcoming deadline for Samsonite. Peggy and Don find themselves staying late at the office. This is the beginning of an emotional voyage for the both of them as they both reflect on their lives and look to each other for support. Don's fear is realized, and secrets about Peggy are confirmed.

Synopsis

At the beginning of the episode Ken, Danny, Stan, and Pete are discussing the upcoming Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston fight. Harry distributes tickets to watch closed-circuit coverage of the fight and collects bets. Everyone thinks Liston will win because of his weight and his experience. They invite Don along with them to The Palm for drinks. Don bets 100 dollars on Liston before calling the Samsonite team into his office.

Don makes a 300 dollars, wager on Liston. The Suitcase.

Herman Phillips makes Peggy an offer. The Suitcase.

Don confirms with Miss Blankenship that he and Roger have a table to watch the fight anywhere but The Palm. At the meeting with creative, the team pitches an endorsement by Joe Namath. Don calls celebrity endorsements "lazy" and tells Peggy the ad should be "funnier."

Herman Phillips sends Peggy a birthday present. It's a business card for Phillips-Olson Advertising, listing her as Creative Director. Slightly stunned, she calls him to find out if he lost his job. Herman Phillips says that the decision was mutual, though it was obvious he was fired. He wants to meet with her tonight, but she realizes he is drunk and hangs up on him. After the phone call the creative team invites her out to lunch for her birthday.

Don thinks about Anna, The Suitcase.

Stephanie leaves a message with Don's secretary, Ida Blankenship, saying that it is urgent. Don dreads the news he will hear and does everything he can to put off returning the call. Roger comes into Don's office and says their night together has been "ruined" because Freddy Rumsen and Cal Rutledge from Pond's, who are both sober, will be joining them before and after the fight. Don tells Roger that he wont be able to make the fight anyway because of the Samsonite deadline. Roger leaves, sulking.

Joan is agitated by the creative team, The Suitcase.

While Joey Baird, Danny Siegel, and Stan Rizzo work on the Samsonite account, Joan Holloway remarks about the mess they've created. Joey jokingly remarks that "although I am paid less, I am still not a janitor," and walks off, leaving Danny and Stan to clean up the mess.

While Peggy is in the bathroom, getting ready to go out for dinner with her boyfriend Mark, Trudy Vogel walks in. They talk about Peggy's birthday plans, and joke about Pete being a baby. Megan interrupts them, announcing Don wants to see Peggy before she leaves. When he sees Peggy and Trudy come out of the ladies room together, Pete glances at Peggy curiously before heading out with Trudy and the boys.

Peggy runs into a pregnant Trudy. The Suitcase.

Stan and Danny take off for the boxing match before Don can keep them late in the office. Despite Peggy telling Don she was "on her way out" Don insists that she tell him where the creative team is with the pitch. After Peggy unveils several ideas to Don, he shoots them down one-by-one proclaiming he gave Peggy "more responsibility and [she] came back with nothing." Peggy states, under her breath, that it doesn't matter what she comes up, Don will only "change it anyway."

Mark calling Peggy, The Suitcase.

In her office, Peggy makes a phone call to Mark who is waiting at the restaurant with Peggy's family and roommate, hoping to surprise her when she arrives. Peggy explains that she will be late.

Back in Don's office, Don floats an idea about a boxing-themed Samsonite commercial. Trying to get away, Peggy agrees with the idea. Don's phone rings. It is Roger, pleading with Don to join him. Don declines. Peggy's phone then rings. On the other line is an impatient Mark, who reveals that he has her entire family there for a surprise dinner. Peggy apologizes and announces to Don that she had plans over an hour ago for her birthday, Don tells her to "get over birthdays," and says he'll continue the work himself.

Peggy on the phone with Roger after Don refused to come to the phone. Episode: The Suitcase.

At the elevator Peggy uses the payphone to call Mark, and announces she's not coming at all. An irritated Mark threatens to break up with Peggy, but she accuses Mark of trying to "score points with a bunch of people who drive me crazy," and they break up Returning back to work, Peggy tells Don that she and Mark are done, and that Don won "again." Peggy and Don argue about his asking her to work late, Don encourages her to go, and run to Mark; "like in the movies". She accuses him of taking her idea for Glo-coat and winning the CLIO award for his Billy the Kid ad.

Glo-Coat

Peggy breaks down, The Suitcase.

Don replies that he did not steal her idea, he took her "kernel" of an idea and created a fully-realized commercial. "You never say thank you," says Peggy. "That's what the money is for!" he shouts. Peggy runs off and cries in the bathroom.

Peggy gets her birthday dinner, The Suitcase.

Later, Don calls Peggy back into his office where they both listen to recordings that Roger has made of his memoirs. They laugh at a younger Roger having an affair with Ida Blankenship, who he calls "The Queen of Perversions of the highest order" and they listen to Roger's account of Bertram Cooper "losing his "manhood" due to an unnecessary orchiectomy". They reconcile and go out to a diner.

Peggy and Don at a bar, The Suitcase.

Over dinner they share intimate details about their lives, including Peggy's frustration over her relationship with Mark, Don's early life and his time in Korea. They laugh at SCDP's newest employee Danny's idiotic pitches. Peggy shares her dream of one day flying on a plane and her hatred of sports. They discover they both witnessed the deaths of their fathers. Don reveals that he never knew his mother.

Peggy helps a drunk Don. The Suitcase.

They then go to a bar to listen to a broadcast of the fight. Peggy confesses that the whole office thinks that she slept with Don in order to get a promotion. For the first time, she and Don talk about her time spent in the hospital in the interim of Season 1 and Season 2. Peggy's mother Katherine Olson believes Don is the father of her baby, and hates him. Don asks Peggy if she knows who the father is. "Of course I do," she replies. They hear the fight on a radio. The fight is over in the first round in 30 seconds. Liston falls to the mat from Ali's infamous "phantom punch".

Don and Herman Phillips get into a drunken scuffle, The Suitcase.

Peggy gets a drunken Don back to the office, where he throws up in the men's room. While Peggy goes to her office to get a toothbrush and toothpaste for Don, she sees Herman Phillips drunkenly staggering the halls of SCDP. She finds him in Roger's office, about to defecate on one of the couches, mistakenly believing he is in Don's office. Peggy escorts him towards the exit, but Don sees him and blurts out that he and Peggy are in love with each other. Herman Phillips calls Peggy a whore, under the impression that she is sleeping with Don as well. Defending Peggy's honor, Don swings at Herman Phillips, but misses and falls on the floor. Herman Phillips straddles him, and warns him that he killed 17 men in Okinawa. Peggy intervenes, and escorts Herman Phillips out.

Anna's ghost visits Don. The Suitcase.

Returning to Don's office, Peggy admits that she was with Herman Phillips in a confusing time and that she is sorry, Don tells her she doesn't owe him an explanation. He asks for a drink. "How long are you going to go on like this?" she asks. "I have to make a phone call, and I know it’s gonna be bad," he says. Don rests his head in Peggy's lap and falls asleep. After she too falls asleep, Don suddenly awakes and sees Anna's ghost, carrying a suitcase. She smiles, then departs.

When Don awakes at dawn in New York, he finally makes the call to Stephanie in California. In darkness on the west coast, she answers, telling him that Anna has passed away. She tells Don that arrangements are unnecessary as she has donated her body to UCLA, and asks if she may stay in Anna's home. Don agrees. Peggy awakens and overhears the conversation, and Don, realizing this, breaks down, sobbing that Anna was the only person in the world who really knew him. Peggy says "that's not true" as she comforts him.

Peggy and Don fall asleep together, Don taking Peggy's hand. Episode: The Suitcase.

In the morning, Peggy gets up from her office sofa, and visits Don's office, where he shows her an idea for Samsonite based on the Liston Ali fight. "It's very good," says Peggy. Don squeezes Peggy's hand, and tells her to go home and shower, and then come back with ten tag lines. Leaving Don's office, Peggy asks if Don wants the door "open or closed?". "Open," he says.

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
• Rich Sommer as Harry Crane
• Aaron Staton as Ken Cosgrove
• Jared Harris as Lane Pryce (credit only)
• Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper (credit only)
• Robert Morse as Bertram Cooper (credit only)
• John Slattery as Roger Sterling

Guest Star

• Matt Long as Joey Baird
• Blake Bashoff as Mark Kearney
• Alison Brie as Trudy Vogel
• Cara Buono as Faye Miller
• Jessica Pare as Megan Calvet
• Jay R. Ferguson as Stan Rizzo
• Danny Strong as Danny Siegel
• Melinda Page Hamilton as Anna Draper
• Caity Lotz as Stephanie Horton
• Randee Heller as Ida Blankenship
• Audrey Wasilewski as Anita Olson Respola
• Jerry O'Donnell as Gerry Respola
• Myra Turley as Katherine Olson
• Mark Moses as Herman Phillips
• Rachel Style as Veronika
• Lonnie Hughes as Delivery Man
• Steven M. Gagnon as Middle-Aged Man

Quotes

Peggy: "You know what? Here's a blank piece of paper. Why don't you turn that into Glo-Coat?"
Don: "Are you out of your mind? You gave me twenty ideas and I picked out one of them, that was a kernel that became that commercial."
Peggy: "So you remember?"
Don: "I do, it was something about a cowboy. Congratulations."
Peggy: "No, it was something about a kid, locked him in the closet because his mother was making wait for the floor to dry; which is basically the whole commercial."
Don: "Its a kernel."
Peggy: "But you changed just enough, so that it was yours."
Don: "I changed it into a commercial. What were we gonna shoot him in the dark, in the closet? That's the way it work, there are no credits on commercials."
Peggy: "But you got the Clio!"
Don: "Its your job! I give you money. You give me ideas."
Peggy: "And you never say thank you!"
Don: "Thats what the money is for! You're young, you'll get your recognition. And honestly, its absolutely ridiculous to be two years into your career and counting your ideas! Everything to you is an opportunity! And you should be thanking me every morning when you wake up, along with Jesus for giving you another day!"
-- Things get heated between Don and Peggy, in The Suitcase.