'Mad Men' Season 1: Episode Guide

The Cast of Mad Men

Frank Ockenfels / AMC

Get caught up or refresh your memory on the happenings at the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. Indulge in the stories of those mad men and the women who surround them with this ​Mad Men Season 1 episode guide.

01
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1x01 "Pilot" (Original Air Date: 7/19/07)

We're introduced to Don Draper (Jon Hamm) as he sits in a swank New York City bar smoking a Lucky Strike. Don works as the creative director for Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. He leaves the bar and goes to the home of sexy artist Midge (Rosemarie DeWitt). He suggests they get married, but Midge says she doesn't make plans.

At work, Don saves the Lucky Strike campaign when he suggests that they advertise the cigarettes as toasted. His new secretary, Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), is shown around the agency by Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), the head of the secretary pool. Peggy goes to the doctor for contraceptives, and that night sleeps with copy editor Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) after Pete's bachelor party.

Mrs. Menken (Maggie Siff) meets with the agency about her father's department store. The men do not like the idea of a woman telling them what to do and she ends up leaving. Don apologizes to her over dinner and then goes home to his wife, Betty (January Jones), and their two small children.

02
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1x02 "Ladies Room" (OAD 7/26/07)

While working on an ad campaign for Right Guard, Don tries to figure out what women want. He wonders what is going on in Betty's head and after she has a small car accident because her hands went numb, he agrees to let her see a psychiatrist. He talks to the psychiatrist later that night.

Peggy gets lunch with copywriter Paul Kinsey (Michael Gladis), and then later complains to Joan that whenever anyone takes her to lunch they expect her to be the dessert. Joan says that she's the new girl and she's not much, so she should enjoy it while it lasts.

03
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1x03 "Marriage of Figaro" (OAD 8/2/07)

On the train a man calls Don "Dick Whitman" and Don responds to his old acquaintance. At the office, Don and his co-workers meet with Mrs. Menken. She asks if any of them have been in her store and they give excuses. Don says that none of them have been in the store, but that will be rectified that afternoon. That afternoon, Mrs. Menken shows Don around the store. She notices that his cufflink keeps coming off and gives him a new pair. They go to the roof, where the guard dogs are kept and Don kisses her. Afterward, he says he is married and she is upset.

At home, Don builds a playhouse for Sally's (Kiernan Shipka) birthday party. Helen Bishop (Darby Stanchfield), the single mom who just moved to the neighborhood, comes to the party and the other ladies are uncomfortable around her. When she goes outside, they notice that she is very close to Don, and Betty immediately goes out and tells him to get the cake.

Don doesn't return from getting the cake until way after the party ends. He brings a puppy for Sally.

Peggy is happy to see Pete return from his honeymoon, but he makes it clear that he is married now and she cheerfully says that the other night never happened, but as he walks away, her eyes fill with tears.

04
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1x04 "New Amsterdam" (OAD 8/9/07)

Pete's wife, Trudy (Alison Brie), really wants an apartment. Pete asks his parents for help, but they deny him. Trudy asks her parents and they agree. Pete is very uncomfortable with buying such an expensive apartment and borrowing the money from his in-laws, but Trudy insists. Things get really bad for Pete when Don fires him after Pete pitches an idea that Don didn't know about to a steel client. Don goes with Roger Sterling (John Slattery), one of the partners, to talk to the other partner, Bertram Cooper (Robert Morse). Bert won't allow Pete to be fired because Pete's family connections can help the agency. Robert tells Pete he was fired, but Don fought for him to stay.

Betty helps Helen by babysitting and is disturbed when Helen's son, Glen (Marten Holden Weiner), walks in on her in the bathroom. Glen says she's pretty and wants a lock of her hair, which Betty gives him.

05
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1x05 "5G" (OAD 8/16/07)

The other copy editors are jealous when Ken (Aaron Staton) gets a story published in a national magazine. Pete writes a story and expects Trudy to meet with her ex-boyfriend in order to get it published.

Peggy overhears Don talking to his mistress and asks Joan what to tell Betty, who has shown up with the children for a family portrait.

A man named Adam Whitman (Jay Paulson) wants to see Don and Don looks troubled. He goes out to find a young man who calls him Dick. Don goes outside with Adam and Adam says he thought Dick was dead, but he saw his picture in the paper. Later Don meets Adam at a café and then later at Adam's house. Don acknowledges that Adam is his little brother and gives him $5000 to leave New York.

06
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1x06 "Babylon" (OAD 8/23/07)

In between her secret hotel rendezvous with Roger, Joan gets the secretaries together as a focus group for lipsticks. While collecting the trashcan full of blotted tissues, Peggy calls it a basket of kisses. They decide to have her come up with some copy for the campaign.

Don remembers his childhood. He is scared by the screaming and then is introduced to his newborn brother. Don says, "He's not my brother," and his father says, "Sure he is, you have the same father."

After a meeting at the office with the copywriters about how to make Israel a tourist destination for a cruise line company, Don calls Rachel Menken and asks to meet. After lunch, Rachel goes home and calls her sister, saying she met a man that their father would hate.

Don goes to see Midge, who persuades him to go to a performance at the Gaslight. Don hates the performance but sticks it out to be with Midge.

07
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1x07 "Red in the Face" (OAD 8/30/07)

Roger wants to spend the weekend with Joan, but she is off with her roommate. He manages to get Don to invite him for dinner, but after some drinking, makes a pass at Betty, which she rejects. Don blames Betty, saying that she had been flirting all evening.

Betty sees Helen in the grocery store and starts a conversation. Helen says that she wasn't going to say anything to Betty, but she was concerned because she'd found a lock of Betty's hair in Glen's treasure box. They continue a tense conversation until Betty slaps Helen and then walks out.

Bertram Cooper arranges for the Nixon campaign to meet with them, and Pete offers to help Peggy with the copy she's writing for the lipstick campaign.

08
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1x08 "The Hobo Code" (OAD 9/7/07)

Peggy goes into work early and Pete is there. They hook up in his office, then at the office party that night he tells her he doesn't like the way she is dancing and he walks out. She tears up.
The office party was to celebrate Peggy's victory because the client liked her lipstick copy. The boys even shared a drink with her at the office.

Salvatore (Bryan Batt) captures the interest of the new phone receptionist, Lois (Crista Flanagan), but he doesn't seem interested, and in fact seems interested in one of his male clients, though he doesn't act on the man's advances.

Bertram gives Don a bonus, though Don doesn't really understand why. Don goes to Midge's to take her to Paris, but she is more interested in getting high with her friends. Don gets high with them and comes to the conclusion that Midge is in love with one of her friends.

Don remembers a hobo from his childhood who taught him the hobo code. Don explained to the hobo that his father's wife was not his mother, that he was a whore's child. After the hobo works and Don's father doesn't pay him, the hobo leaves a mark that the man who lives here is dishonorable, which makes a big impression on Don.

09
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1x09 "Shoot" (OAD 9/13/07)

Jim Hobart (H. Richard Greene), the head of a larger ad firm, wants Don to come work for him. He sends him gifts and even hires Betty as the model for a Coca-Cola campaign. Don decides to stay with Sterling Cooper and Betty loses her job, not knowing that Don had anything to do with it.

Men in the office comment on Peggy's weight gain. Pete gets more and more upset until he punches Ken.

Betty is excited about her modeling shoot, but when they tell her they don't need her anymore, she tells Don that she decided not to continue so she could be home for her family. The Draper children love to watch the neighbor release his pigeons, but are horrified when their dog catches one. The neighbor threatens to shoot the dog. Betty goes out with a BB gun and shoots at the pigeons.

Pete's idea to keep Nixon ahead is to fill up the advertising spots with laxative commercials so that Kennedy can't get any air time. Sterling and Cooper both love the idea.

10
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1x10 "Long Weekend" 9/27/07

Peggy has a conversation with Pete about not knowing whether or not he likes her.

Betty and the kids go on vacation with Betty's father and his girlfriend. Betty is disgusted by the whole situation as if her dead mother has been forgotten.

Roger hopes to spend the weekend with Joan, but Joan goes out with her roommate, who tells Joan that she is in love with her. Joan doesn't acknowledge what Carol (Kate Norby) had said.

The gang talks about the Nixon campaign and how to make it better, then they have a meeting with Rachel Menken and her father. Rachel talks her father into going with the agency's ideas.

Roger hires twin models without a second look at the others. While Don is in one room turning down the advances of Eleanor (Megan Stier), Roger is in another, having sex with Mirabelle (Alexis Stier). Mirabelle runs out and Don runs in to find Roger having a heart attack. Don tells the girls to call an ambulance and leave. As they take Roger to the ambulance, he is asking for Mirabelle. Don slaps him and says his wife's name is Mona.

Don calls Betty and tells her that Roger had a heart attack, so he won't be able to join them on vacation. Betty understands.

Don goes to Rachel's house and she at first thwarts his advances, but finally gives in. After they have sex, Don tells Rachel that his mother died in childbirth. She was a prostitute, so they brought Don to his father and his father's wife. His father died when Don was 10 and Don was raised by his father's wife, who'd taken up with another man.

11
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1x11 "Indian Summer" (OAD 10/4/07)

An air conditioning salesman comes to the door and Betty says she's not interested. He asks for a drink of water, and she hesitates but then lets him in. Between sips of water, he talks about air conditioning and wants to see the bedroom. Betty begins to lead him upstairs but then asks him to leave. When Don comes home, she tells him about the salesman and Don is upset that she let a stranger into the house. Later, while she's doing laundry, she leans up against the washing machine and has a fantasy about the salesman.

Peggy is asked to write copy for a weight loss belt that doesn't seem to work. When she uses the belt, she becomes aroused and quickly takes it off. The next day, she tells Don, without actually coming right out and saying it, but he understands. He says that is a benefit and she should continue to work on the copy. She comes into the meeting and presents copy to Don and the team, and while it's not perfect, they seem to like it.

Bert is concerned about the Lucky Strike campaign and in order to appease the client, Roger comes in for one hour. Joan puts makeup on his face to give him some color. During the meeting, Roger has another heart attack and is taken to the hospital. Bert makes Don a partner.

Pete hopes for a promotion and sits in Don's office. The mail guy brings a package addressed to Don from Adam, which he had sent just before committing suicide. Pete takes the package home.

12
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1x12 "Nixon vs. Kennedy" (OAD 10/11/07)

Pete looks at Don's package that he'd taken from the office. Trudy gets up and tells him to give it back and that it's not his. Pete tells Don that Don should hire him as the head of account services, then later brings in the package and threatens him by saying that he knows Don is actually Dick Whitman. Don panics and goes to Rachel's and asks her to run away with him, but this upsets her because she realizes that it's not that he wants to run away to be with her, he just wants to run away. Don regains his composure and goes into Bert's office, followed by Pete, to say that he's going to hire Duck Phillips (Mark Moses). Pete speaks up and outs Don. Bert tells Pete to leave and tells Don he can fire him if he wants but to keep an eye on him.

Once Don leaves, the office has a party to watch the election returns. Don goes home and Betty is surprised to see him. Peggy also leaves the office and is dismayed when she comes in the next day to find the office in shambles. She calls the police, and a custodian and elevator operator are fired. Don finds her in his office crying because she got two innocent people fired.

Don remembers when he was in the war. He was private Dick Whitman and his lieutenant was Don Draper (Troy Ruptash). After an attack on the two of them, Don pointed out that Dick peed himself, which caused Dick to drop his lighter. The gas on the ground ignited, killing Don Draper. Dick removed and switched the dog tags and then woke in the hospital as he was given a purple heart. He was asked to deliver the body, but stayed on the train and watched as the body was delivered to the people who had raised him. Dick's little brother, Adam, sees him on the train, but Dick ignores Adam.

13
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1x13 "The Wheel" (OAD 10/18/07)

Betty gets disturbing news from her good friend, Francine (Anne Dudek) that Francine's husband is cheating. She found out when she saw the phone bill. Later, Betty gets her own phone bill and calls a number that is frequently on it. Her psychiatrist answers. At her next appointment, Betty says that she thinks she'd be happier if her husband were faithful.

Don tries to find Adam and learns that Adam had hanged himself. Feeling sentimental, Don puts together a nostalgic campaign for Kodak, using his own photos. Despite disappointing Betty by saying he wouldn't be joining them for Thanksgiving, he rushes home to go with them, only to find the house already empty.

The new head of advertising services, Duck, gives a speech to the ad execs, which Pete takes very seriously. He gets his father-in-law to buy an ad campaign for the company he works for, Clearasil, in exchange for him and Trudy beginning a family. Don says that Peggy would be the perfect person to write the copy, which upsets Pete. He says, "She's not even a copywriter."

Peggy is surprised when Don promotes her to junior copywriter and Joan takes her to her new office, which she will share with a man. Peggy has terrible stomach pains and goes to the doctor who says, "You didn't tell me you were expecting." Peggy is shocked and gets up to leave, but has more pain, and then delivers a baby boy, whom she doesn't hold or even look at.