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Mad Men Episode Guide Page
Episode Description
• Season 1
1 1-01 101 19/Jul/07 "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"
By Suzanne
In 1960, ad man Don Draper is working hard to come
up with a new ad campaign for Lucky Strikes cigarettes. He sits in a bar
where others are drinking and smoking, having a good time. He's writing
down ideas furiously on a napkin. He even asks the "negro" bus boy why he
smokes Old Golds, and the man tells him that they gave that brand to him
in the war, and he got hooked. He just loves smoking, he tells Don. Don
writes that down. Don then visits his girlfriend, Midge, who writes for
a greeting card company. She is a very modern girl. He chats with her
about his problem with Lucky Strikes, like he did with the bus boy.
Reader's Digest and others are saying that cigarettes can kill you. They
flirt and have sex. Don suggests they get married, but Midge likes their
current arrangement.
Almost everyone, especially the men, smokes and drinks throughout the
episode, no matter where they are or what they're doing. Most of the
women wear skirts or dresses (except Midge). Everyone in this episode is white except
for the one bus boy.
In the morning, Don awakens hung over and goes into his office, where he
changes into a new shirt (he has a neat stack in his drawer, all white)
while Roger, his boss, chats with him about their upcoming meeting with
Lucky Strikes. They also have a meeting with Menken Department Stores, a
possible new client. Menken is Jewish, so Roger wants to find them a
Jewish employee to make them feel more comfortable, but they can't think
of any.
Meanwhile, ad man Pete, who is not as good socially as Don, is getting
married, and all of the other young guys are looking forward to his
bachelor party. They all flirt with the young girls at the office, and
make passes at them, including the new girl, Peggy. Joan shows Peggy
around. She will be Don's new secretary, but Joan and Peggy share the
job for the moment. Joan gives Peggy lots of advice about how to act and
dress on the job, and Peggy appreciates it. Everyone keeps telling Peggy
to wear shorter skirts and show off her legs. Don meets Peggy, and then
later, Pete meets Peggy, too. Pete makes lots of lewd comments to Peggy
and asks her where she's from, so Don apologizes for him.
Don takes a nap, so Peggy awakens him for the meeting with Menken. Don
is surprised to find that Menken is a woman (the daughter of the owner),
Rachel. They don't get along at first. Their ideas and their manners
collide. Don gets annoyed and leaves the meeting, saying that he won't
let a woman talk to him that way. Pete tries to suck up to Don. Don
advises him to be nicer to people so he won't end up alone with no
friends. Later, Pete and the other guys invite Don to the bachelor
party, but he declines.
Peggy goes to get birth control at a doctor recommended by Joan. He
lectures Peggy on how she shouldn't be slutty as he examines her (even
though it's clear that he may have slept with Joan).
Art director Sal shows Don the picture he drew for the Lucky Strikes
campaign. A handsome man is lying on a deck chair in a bathing suit,
smoking. Don suggests that he add a sexy girl instead. Sal tries to talk
like a macho guy, but it's kind of clear to the audience that he's gay.
Don and Sal get a visit from a German woman in their research
department. She suggests that people smoke because they have a death
wish. Don thinks it's nonsense and that it can't be used in the
advertising, so he throws her ideas away.
At the Lucky Strikes meeting, they are all worried about how to sell
cigarettes when everyone knows now that they cause cancer. At first, Don
can't come up with any ideas. Pete tries to sell the death wish idea,
but no one goes for it. As the client, Lee Garner, and his son, are
walking out the door, Don realizes that the ads can say anything they
want about the cigarette now because all of the cigarette companies are
in the same boat. He asks the Lucky Strike executives how the cigarettes
are made, so Garner tells him how it's done, and Don settles on the
phrase "It's toasted" and explains the whole idea. It makes everyone
happy, particularly Roger. Don chastises Pete for using the German
woman's ideas when he had thrown them out.
Peggy flirts with Don, but he makes it clear that she's
just his secretary. He also gives her a hard time for letting Pete pick
through his trash. She admits that Pete went into the office, saying
that he left his pen there, so she had no idea what he did.
Roger asks Don to try again with Rachel Menken, so Don and Rachel meet
at a bar. He charms her a bit, especially when he reveals that he
doesn't think love exists. Don earnestly describes how he lives life as
if there's no tomorrow. Later, Don goes home and we see that he has a
beautiful young wife that welcomes him home with a kiss, and a promise
of more; and two young children that he clearly adores.
Pete's party is at a strip club (the stripper is fat and does not get
naked). Ken has found them girls, but they are not the type that will go
very far, so Pete is disappointed. After he gets very drunk, he shows up
at Peggy's place in Brooklyn. She lets him in, and it's clear that they
are going to bed.
Main Photo from
http://disparue.org/
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