S4E7 – The Suitcase

Mad Men Men

Want us to talk about "The Suitcase," widely considered one of the greatest episodes of any television show ever? Well, that's what the podcast is for! That's right, this week we dig into the seventh episode of the fourth season of Mad Men. And listeners, it's a knockout.

In case this is your first time digging into our podcast, we recap Mad Men from the perspective of a first-time watcher, someone who only watched the show once while it was airing, and a superfan who watches excessively instead of having a functional social life.

Discussion Points:

• Why is "The Suitcase" such a widely regarded episode and what went into its writing?
• Does this episode live up to the hype?
• Does this qualify as a bottle episode? Or at least bottle episode-adjacent?
• Does this episode better resolve the tension between Don and Peggy compared to the Season 3 finale?
• What does Peggy truly mean to Don personally and professionally?
• Is this really the halfway point of the series?
• What goes into the ownership of a creative idea?
• How well does the episode balance emotion and comedy?
• What's your stance on Ghost Anna?
• Does anyone truly know Don?

Extra credits:

Matthew Weiner created Mad Men, which aired on AMC from 2007 to 2015. Jennifer Getzinger directed “The Suitcase” and Matthew Weiner wrote the script. The show stars Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Robert Morse, and many more. Our intro music is “Mad Men Men” by Tom Davidson, which is an original remix of the show’s opening theme “A Beautiful Mine” by RJD2. Podcast illustration is by Jon Negroni. Our podcast hosts include Jon Negroni (Podcast Editor of InBetweenDrafts), Will Ashton (cohost of the Cinemaholics podcast), and Michael Overhulse (a guy who’s addicted to working at startups).

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