4) (TIE) Waldorf Stories (Season Four, Episode Six) and The Suitcase (Season Four, Episode Seven)
“Waldorf Stories” Written By: Brett Johnson and Matthew Weiner
“Waldorf Stories” Directed By: Scott Hornbacher
“The Suitcase” Written By: Matthew Weiner
“The Suitcase” Directed By: Jennifer Getzinger
Mad Men has won four Drama Series Emmys, yet as the most ardent of the show’s fans know, there are sparks of humor all around. “Waldorf Stories” and “The Suitcase” stand out as two of the series’ funniest episodes, as well as two of its best. Since they were aired in back-to-back weeks, have a lot of elements in continuity between them and are of a sterling quality, it only makes sense to place them on this list together.
These episodes focus on the show’s most fascinating relationship, between Don and Peggy. Peggy feels slighted by her creative director, believing she deserves a lot of credit for coming up with the genesis of the commercial that wins Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce a Clio. She tries to keep her thoughts independent but gets bothered when Don asks her to cordon off her weekend in a hotel to spend with new art guy Stan Rizzo.
In “The Suitcase,” which takes place a couple of weeks later, Don is disappointed with her lackluster work on Samsonite. She skips her own birthday dinner to stay at the office and pitch late into the evening. As the tensions flare, she rips into him for taking advantage of her talent. He punches back. They both end up in a stalemate, frazzled but invigorated by the greatness they see in the other.
Both “Waldorf Stories” and “The Suitcase” show how much Peggy means to Don, something he rarely tries to show. In the former episode, she helps him out of a botched pitch, when he accidentally sells a terrible line to the folks at Life cereal – one that he rejected earlier that day from hack copy wannabe Danny Siegel (Danny Strong). In the latter, she tries to take care of him after he has far too much to drink.
He aspires as she perspires (or is it the other way around?). Despite their cordial flirtations toward the end of “The Suitcase,” we know nothing is ever going to happen between them. Their relationship is strictly professional. Both characters have a lot of baggage – making the subject of episode seven rather fitting – but it pays off to see how well these two creative geniuses complement each other. He ultimately keeps the door open, an optimistic end to a penetrating and deeply funny duo of episodes.
The laughs are abundant here, from Danny’s pathetic portfolio to Roger’s uncensored musings for his book, Sterling’s Gold. Oh, and don’t forget the drunken crusades of one Duck Phillips, including a priceless moment when he spills ice all over his suit. Directors Scott Hornbacher and Jennifer Getzinger nimbly balance the tragic and the funny, crossing as Joan would say, “from lubricated to morose” with panache.
The two episodes also show the worst of Don’s downward spiral, a central feature of season four. In “Waldorf Stories,” he loses tracks of time and misses a responsibility to be with his kids. In “The Suitcase,” he drinks to forget about the news that has come in from California, that Anna has passed away. Meanwhile, “Waldorf Stories” also shows the eager side of Don in flashbacks where he tries to convince Roger to give him a job. It is up to one’s interpretation if Roger even offered him the gig or that Don took advantage of his future boss’s drunken state and then pretended he was hired. Either way, it is a sharp detour from how Peggy slowly moved up to be Don’s second-in-command.
Best Scene: The heating point of Don and Peggy’s bout is one of Mad Men’s most iconic moments. Hamm and Moss have rarely been better.
Line of the Hours: There are too many to pick from: Stan’s “Who claps for themselves?” Peggy’s “Let’s get liberated.” Miss Blankenship’s “If I wanted to see two negroes fight, I’d throw a dollar bill out the window.” Trudy Campbell’s “I want a rare steak and I want to see those two men pound each other.” But, at the end of the day, it’s all about this exchange:
Don: It’s your job! I give you money, you give me ideas.
Peggy: And you never say, ‘Thank you!’
Don: That’s what the money is for!