Recap

the condensed ‘mad men’

It’s been nearly a year since the last new episode of Mad Men, and you could use a refresher. And for those who’ve never seen the show and need a crash course before this Sunday’s season-seven premiere, we’ve starred the series’ 13 greatest episodes.

Season One
1960
episode 1

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES

A cool, snappy, effective pilot introducing Don, his mistress, and his family. Secretary Peggy, warned she’ll be a concubine to Don, makes a pass at him and is rebuffed—the start of a beautiful friendship. (She sleeps with Pete instead.)

episode 2

Pete marries. Numb-handed Betty sees a shrink.

episode 3

MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

An old Army buddy calls him “Dick Whitman,” so Don gets drunk on Sally’s birthday, vanishes while fetching her cake, lingers ominously at a railroad crossing, and returns at night with a dog. John Cheever by way of Raymond Carver.

episode 4

Pete fired by Don, rehired by Bert. Creepy kid Glen hits on Betty.

episode 5

Don pays long-lost brother $5,000 to split.

episode 6

Joan and Roger: totally doing it.

episode 7

Sloshed Roger hits on Betty, barfs at the office.

episode 8

Peggy’s a copywriter!

episode 9

Rival ad firm offers Don job (and Betty a modeling gig).

episode 10

Roger heart attack No. 1.

episode 11

Don’s brother hangs himself. Roger heart attack No. 2.

episode 12

NIXON VS. KENNEDY

Pete tries to leverage a promotion by spilling Don’s secret (Don stole a guy’s identity in Korea) to top dog Bert. “Who cares?” Bert says. “This country was built and run by men with worse stories than whatever you’ve imagined here.”

episode 13

Peggy gets promoted, has Pete’s baby.

episode 1

Joan dates a doctor. Don clashes with Duck. Sterling Cooper gets a new copier.

episode 2

Pete’s dad dies in plane crash.

episode 3

THE BENEFACTOR

Don violently gropes Bobbie, the flirty wife of insult comic Jimmy, in a restaurant, in one of the show’s most grotesque moments.

episode 4

Sally mixes Bloody Marys.

episode 5

Joan engaged. Don drinks with Bobbie, crashes car.

episode 6

Peggy parties at strip club. Duck ditched by family.

episode 7

Sal flirts with Ken.

episode 8

Peggy works pro bono for priest. Betty throws Don out.

episode 9

Roger dumps wife for secretary. Don decks Jimmy.

episode 10

Grandpa Gene has a stroke, mistakes Betty for dead wife.

episode 11

THE JET SET

During a trip to L.A., Don falls in with a colony of hedonists and seems more at peace than we’ve ever seen him. A shot of Don in repose mirror-echoes the final shot in the show’s credits.

episode 12

Don visits real Mrs. Draper. Joan raped by fiancé.

episode 13

Sterling Cooper sold. Duck’s goose cooked. Betty: pregnant!

episode 1

Bellhop makes Sal’s pen explode.

episode 2

Grandpa Gene moves in with the Drapers.

episode 3

Peggy tokes. Roger sings in blackface.

episode 4

R.I.P. Grandpa Gene.

episode 5

Eugene Draper born.

episode 6

A GUY WALKS INTO AN ADVERTISING AGENCY

At Joan’s farewell party, an accident involving a riding mower costs Lane’s replacement a foot. Joan springs into action, displaying a battlefield mettle that her failed-surgeon husband can only dream of.

episode 7

Peggy hooks up with Duck. Betty buys fainting couch.

episode 8

Don and Betty go to Rome. Pete beds neighbor’s au pair.

episode 9

Sal fired for not sexing client. Don romances Sally’s teacher.

episode 10

Betty discovers Don’s real identity.

episode 11

Joan whacks husband with vase.

episode 12

JFK blown away. Margaret Sterling’s wedding day.

episode 13

SHUT THE DOOR. HAVE A SEAT

Don, Bert, Roger, and Lane respond to the impending sale of the firm by firing themselves and starting a new agency. Don and Betty dissolve their marriage, and she runs away with Henry.

episode 1

Don gives lame interview to Ad Age, hires prostitute.

episode 2

Glen pursues Sally, creepily.

episode 3

Don visits cancer-stricken Mrs. Draper. Joan’s husband to Vietnam.

episode 4

Pete scores big account from father-in-law.

episode 5

THE CHRYSANTHEMUM AND THE SWORD

Delicate negotiations with a Japanese client are damaged when Roger, a traumatized veteran, refuses to let go of his old soldier’s rage. Don, who spent the preceding few episodes marinating in self-pity, gets his mojo back by outwitting an arrogant rival.

episode 6

Don wins a Clio.

episode 7

THE SUITCASE

Don and Peggy pull an all-nighter to work on a campaign; their embrace distills their complex relationship to a single, lovely image. Don learns of the death of the original Don Draper’s wife, Anna, whom he says is the only person who understood him.

episode 8

Don dates Dr. Faye but won’t take her home.

episode 9

Joan and Roger get mugged, amorous.

episode 10

Joan’s pregnant with Roger’s baby. Roger loses Lucky Strike.

episode 11

Pete’s a dad (with Trudy this time).

episode 12

Don says no more tobacco accounts. Layoffs!

episode 13

TOMORROWLAND

When Betty fires the Drapers’ longtime maid, Carla, Don hires his young secretary, Megan, to watch their kids during a California trip, becomes hopelessly smitten, and proposes.

episode 1

Megan sings “Zou Bisou Bisou.”

episode 2

Megan cleans the apartment in a bra and underwear, and SCDP decides to hire one black employee.

episode 3

Betty gets fat.

episode 4

Roger gives Peggy $410 to work over the weekend (and not tell anyone about it); Peggy and Dawn have a sleepover; Greg volunteers to go back to Vietnam; and Don dreams of strangling one of his former lovers.

episode 5

Lane punches Pete in the face, Ken writes short stories.

episode 6

Peggy gives a hand job to a stranger at the movie theater.

episode 7

Sally accidentally sees Megan’s mother Marie giving Roger a blow job. Poor Sally; that girl just can’t catch a break.

episode 8

Pete falls in love with a Gilmore Girl.

episode 9

Sally finds out about Anna Draper; Ginsberg gets salty about a Sno-cone; and Roger sullies Jane’s new apartment.

episode 10

Hey, it’s Paul Kinsey! And he’s a Hare Krishna now...with a Star Trek spec script.

episode 11

The Other Woman

Joan agrees to sleep with the sleezebag from Jaguar—in exchange for partner position at SCDP. Don throws money at Peggy, but then later, grabs her hand and kisses it while he cries and begs her to stay.

episode 12

Commissions and Fees

Lane hangs himself.

episode 13

Don has a toothache.

episode 1

Don and Megan are in Hawaii, where everyone recognizes Megan from her soap opera.

episode 2

Betty goes to a squatter apartment looking for one of Sally's friends.

episode 3

Don grew up in a brothel. Pete gets kicked out of the house.

episode 4

Joan goes to a funky club, Megan and Don are propositioned for a foursome.

episode 5

Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

episode 6

Peggy and Ted kiss. Too bad she bought that apartment with Abe.

episode 7

Mergers! They're always terrible.

episode 8

The Catch

Drugs are bad. Real bad. Don't do drugs.

episode 9

Don and Betty reunite for one night.

episode 10

Joan tries to win over her own clients, but it backfires.

episode 11

Bob Benson comes on to Pete.

episode 12

Sally visits a boarding school, only to discover it's just as lame and corrupt as everywhere else.

episode 13

Don gets canned after his Hershey pitch goes awry; everyone else considers picking up and moving to California.