I decided to compile some of the best scenes, pitches and lines from this drama as I watched it. While I don’t really understand Roger Sterling’s role in the firms, I can’t deny the fact that he is one humorous guy. So here goes, my top favourites (not in any order):
BEST EPISODES
1. “Shut the Door. Have a Seat.” / S3EP13
Come on, you’ve gotta love this episode. It is here where the gang (Don, Bert and Roger) devises a plan to get Sterling Cooper out of the acquisition deal by McCann Erickson and the way of doing so is by requesting Lane Pryce to fire and sever their contracts so that they can set up their new firm.
Turns out this is the beginning of the many changes to the organisational structure and team dynamics for the trio. The start of new possibilities.
Well gentlemen, I supposed you’re fired
Lane Pryce
2. “Red in the Face” S1EP7
In this episode, Pete Campbell just returned from his honeymoon with Trudy and the couple noticed they had two Chip N’ Dip. So, Trudy asks Pete to return the extra one in exchange for cash and oh boy was Pete proud of his Chip N’ Dip.
And later on in this episode, Don made Roger drink lots of alcohol and oysters before pitching to a client. Unsure if he intentionally made the lift to stop but Don and Roger climbed all the way up to Sterling Cooper, causing Roger to puke everything out in front of the clients.
3. “The Grown Ups” / SE312
It is the aftermath of the JFK assassination and granted, America is in shock. But that did not stop the wedding of Margaret Sterling, the daughter of Roger and Mary Sterling. I found this episode particularly interesting because we get to see just how different Pete Campbell responds to the world around him.
4. “Hands and Knees” / S4EP10
It is the one where Don wanted to accompany Sally Draper to the Beatles concert. It was the beginning of the British Invasion.
5. “Blowing Smoke” / S4EP12
Don writes a letter in The New York times blasting tobacco companies when Lucky Strike ended their contract in “The Chinese Wall” / S4EP11. You’ve got to give Don some credit for taking a bold move out there.
6. “Nixon vs. Kennedy” /S1EP12
The team volunteered their services to promote Richard Nixon’s 1960 Presidential elections campaign in hopes of getting more publicity. But unexpectedly, Nixon suffered a defeat that year. , After Pete Campbell let out the secrets of Don Draper when the latter made Duck Phillips Head of Accounts, we finally catch a glimpse of Dick Whitman/Don Draper’s identity theft. Interestingly, Don’s own fall runs parallel with Nixon’s too as we later see Nixon giving his congratulatory speech to Kennedy at the end of the episode.
7. “The Suitcase” / S4EP7
This is a rather heartwarming episode as we get to see a strictly friendly and respectful relationship between Peggy and Don.
8. “Tea Leaves” /S5EP3
The third episode of the fifth season was a memorable one. We see Peggy getting belittled by Michael during his job interview; Betty discovered she has a lump in her throat (We later know in season seven it was cancerous); and Don and Henry actually having some fun at the backstage of a Rolling Stones concert.
And hey, this episode was directed by Jon Hamm himself.
9. “The Hobo Code”/ S1EP8
We see a different side of Peggy Olson in this episode as we later see her sleeping with Pete Campbell in the office early in the morning. She is not the innocent secretary as I expected and it was because of this one-time affair did she later get pregnant with Pete’s child.
What makes this episode stands out is the scene in the switchboard room. As a late 90s kid, I have never seen such telecommunications technology before and it was kinda cool.
10. “The Milk and Honey Route” /S7E13
The saddest part of the whole Mad Men isn’t even when the team part their own ways following their brief stay at McCann Erickson. It is, however, when Betty writes her farewell letter to Sally with instructions on how her funeral should be. I have to admit that I love Betty’s stubborn and fearless personality here when she rejected any sorts of therapy while continuing her studies in Master’s Degree in Psychology.
BEST PITCHES
1. Burger Chef / S7E6
The last shot at Burger Chef really portrayed the working dynamics between Pete, Don and Peggy. Pete has grown to be comfortable with himself and no longer feels threatened by Don’s dominating influence in the aura and Don is giving his informal protege Peggy some presentation tips. They aren’t just colleagues but reliable and trustworthy companions who have stuck with one another since the first office re-branding in S3.
2. The Carousel pitch episode / S1E13
Do I need to comment further?
3. Hershey’s Kisses / S6E13
Don fails to secure the account and got himself put on an open-dated leave of absence. Granted it was a dreaded wait for Don as he awaits the green light from the partners of SCDP but this leave helped Don clear up some long-overdue problems.
4. Lucky Strike / S1E1
’nuff said. This is the account that brought the company to its elevated status.
Advertising is based on one thing: happiness.
Don Draper
5. Belle Jolie / S1EP6
A basket of kisses that brings out the creative potential in Peggy Olson.
FUNNIEST LINES (MOSTLY BY ROGER STERLING)
S4E12
ROGER STERLING: Well I’ve gotta go learn a bunch of people’s names before I fire them
S4E13
DONALD DRAPER : Miss Calvet and I are getting married.
ROGER STERLING: Who the hell is that?
S1E7
BERT COOPER: Stop smoking so much. It’s a sign of weakness. Do you remember how how Hitler got Neville Chamberlain to give him everything at Munich? He held the conference at an old palace that forbidden smoking. And after an hour and a half of not smoking, Neville Chamberlain would have given Hitler his mother as a dance partner.
ROGER STERLING: All I can get from the story is Hitler doesn’t smoke and I do.
S1E10
ROGER STERLING: Damn it. Are we supposed to cry about this? So we lost an account, that means we just have to cut back. Let’s go fire somebody.
S3E13
LANE PRYCE: Well, gentlemen, I guess you’re all fired.
ROGER STERLING. Well it’s official. Friday the 13th, December 1963. Four guys shot their own legs off.
S5E1
ROGER STERLING: We were in the neighbourhood and my mother always said “never show up empty-handed”. Oh, damn it.
S7E2
ROGER STERLING: And why the hell aren’t we in the conference room?
PETE CAMPBELL: Sometimes I think I died and I’m in some sort of… I don’t know if it’s heaven or hell or limbo. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t seem to exist. No one feels my existence.
S7E4
ROGER STERLING: You might want to wear shoes
S7E13
ROGER STERLING: So now I give you something you sit down and listen to me.
S7E14
ROGER STERLING: She is old enough to be her mother. Actually she is her mother
ROGER STERLING: little rich bastard, he really is I guess
DON DRAPER – people just come and go and nobody says goodbye
Cinematic Frame of Mind 
