Another good episode. I was surpised at the end when Peggy sat down in Don's office, she didn't first reach back to smooth her skirt before sitting and just kind of plopped down. I thought women back then would smooth their skirts to help insure less wrinkling. But, maybe this is part of her character and I am missing that. Maybe she was in a good mood after her hot night and didn't care! I love how she left him, no expectations! Kind of like Samantha from "Sex and the City." Very progressive move for the time, I'd say. Yea, Peggy!

Brilliant... Best lines of the night go to Bertram for saying something like- "Didn't you call us here for a meeting?" followed by, "If you expect me to walk down this hall every time we loose a client I'll wear the carpet out, this is an add agency."

I think Peggy is exploring methodologies for how to get more of what she wants... and her best model is Don. I think Betty was sincerely touched by Don's handling of the situation with her dad.

Would like to hear opinions on: Don's touching the grass while the teacher danced barefoot, what Peggy meant by, "If this were a movie or a play we wouldn't do this?", and Don's advice to Peggy on "keeping some tools in the tool-box."

In the last episode, remember when Don was soothing his wife? He mentioned something to the effect of "you are on a beach...you reach under your deck chair and run your hand through the cool sand". I think it is related to that.
I also remembered Betty saying Sallie was using tools "like a little lesbian" when she broke Don's suit case. I wonder if Don's comment to Peggy about "leaving tools in the tool box" was a reference to her behaving like one of the guys. She is the only woman on the show that doesn't swoon over the men.
I too, thought of Sex and the City. Peggy is into her career and will use the young girl act to behave like the othe ad men. Go Peggy!!!

I think the touching of the grass kind of made Don feel carefree, with all the stress that he has been dealing with at home and at the office. Did anyone else notice that Rogers daughters wedding is taking place the day after the Kennedy assasination? The wedding invitation is for Saturday the 23rd of November, 1963. I have been trying to place the exact date that the 2nd season takes place, I first thought that it was around June or July 1963, but Rogers mention of the tightrope walker that died the week before during dinner with the Madison Square Garden representative takes place April 1963, so that nails the time down. I like the mention of the upcomming 1964-1965 Worlds Fair by Don.

Don appears to be taking his marriage and his family much more seriously now. When he realized how much Betty wants to help her father, he took charge and the situation changed. We shall see if it is actually for the better.

Loved the whole scene at the elementary school Maypole festival. To me, Don viewed the barefooted teacher as a free spirited soul, almost like a foreshadowing of the events and culture of the decade that is yet to happen.

Keep up the great writing Matt-this show is a must see.

Excellent writing and a continuing, very good story line. But isn't anyone ever actually happy about something???? Stress and strain are on the faces of everyone all of the time. Maybe that's how we really were and just didn't realize it at the time.

This is one of the best written, best acted series in the history of TV. Love the way the writers have captured the zeitgeist of the 60s.

The show can be overanalyzed though. Think Don was merely lusting for another young beauty. Don't see it as any foreshadowing.

clues as to time line led me to believe ep1 was march,31 and ep2 end of april early may [maydayish]. what a bummer for margaret. i'm hoping season goes to feb when the beatles toured usa ,the english knew we needed uplifting after assassination. will mona scratch jane's eyes out or will it be margaret. how long do we give roger's marriage?

Timeline - they were dancing around a may pole - makes it May, in my humble opinion...

Go Peggy indeed! I loved her "I work for a jerk" line, playing into his assumption that she was a secretary.

My husband thinks Peggy and Don are going to have an affair. I just can't imagine it but you never know.

Overall, I felt there was just sooo much going on this episode - I'm going to have to watch this one three times.

Nice catch on Don rubbing his hand on the grass and connecting that to his beach description for Betty.

Most telling line in the episode: "Why did you (PPL) buy us?" and the new bean counter's inability to provide an answer. Will SC partners try to buy back their agency? Will that put financial pressure on them -- and strain on their families? Roger's new trophy wife isn't gonna like that!

And thanks for the catch on the wedding date and connection to Kennedy. It'll be an interesting way to get character reaction to the event. Wouldn't miss that wedding for the world -- Mona and her date, angry bride, evil stepmother, father with a bad heart and too much stress. It'll be great for November sweeps!

And yes, a Maypole dance is pretty much only done in May. lol

BTW, hated Lane Pryce's wife, Rebecca. What a snot. Love the actress, Embeth Davidtz, late of HBO's "In Treatment."

Peggy is such a great character. She sees what she wants and what she doesn't want. I don't think she wants a traditional married life, with or without a career. But she obviously wants an emotional life and still frets over "why boys don't like her" (e.g., her conversation with the gay Russian consultant before the Dylan concert). She's hurt by her male colleagues' reaction to the Bye Bye Birdie clip, which she sees as phony and shrill. So she goes to a crowded downscale bar, finds a nice but not particularly challenging young man, and dumbs down her conversation to fit in. I think it was her way of getting control or feeling a little power. During the scene in the bar, I did think, "Why would she pick up a kid?" But then it occurred to me that they're probably the same age. Peggy just seems so much more mature.

At the office, Peggy tries to convince Don that Ann-Marget is a male image of women. And she again criticizes the movie clip as shrill and phony. Don isn't buying it. But then he goes to the school fair and sees a naturally beautiful young woman--barefoot, dressed is soft white, loose hair ringed in flowers. She's laughing and dancing unselfconsciously--the opposite of the Bye Bye Birdie clip. I think he's struck by the simple sensuality of the teacher. Thus, the fingers brushing the grass. (Don is nothing if not sensual--that's why he fools around.) The next day he goes into work and the first thing he sees is Peggy. He gives her the look he always gives people when they annoy him by being right. And then he and Peggy go into his office and sit down together.

I think this is the start of a much stronger working relationship between Don and Peggy. And stylistically, it might be hinting at a movement away from the hard-edged, atomic-age design of the late 1950s toward the softer, more feminine youth-culture design of the 1960s. That last part's a bit of a wild guess, though.

Peggy provides us with a special view into the early 60s. She was the new hire in the series premiere, and it's fun to see her poke and prod at the roles of woman in society, in the workplace, motherhood, sexuality, religion and more. Don is enough of a visionary to see that Peggy is one too. In that last scene in Don's office they are emerging as creative and professional equals. And Don's fingers through the grass at the maypole dance?... it might be less about desiring the earth girl and more about realizing that Peggy was right about how the Patio soft drink ads do not speak to her, and larger, that ads targeted at women will soon have to truly target their individual needs and wants (Thanks Rosemary for that last insight).

Great post AK13820. This is a show you have to watch more than once for sure as there are so many things you can miss. I thought this was one of the best shows. Weiner is absolutely brilliant there is no doubt about it. All his symbols . To me the touching of the grass meant he was touching her. She was young, free, sweet and innocent and he was so mesmerized by that. I also thought that when Don came to work and saw Peggy after her sexual encounter the night before she looked different to him. Her energy was different and I thought she was wearing a very bright red lipstick which I don't remember her wearing in the beginning of the show. I could be wrong and I will watch it again but something struck him, her energy was different and he gave her a look. I Have wondered as one of the writers posted on the top too if she was going to have an affair with Don. She is intellectually stimulating to him and he would find that very attractive. Just a guess. I love love love this show and hope it again wins an emmy for best show and Don and all the others win too.

I am a HUGE fan of this show and always recommend it to everyone, but I thought last night's show was not only slow moving, but also moving in an uninteresting direction. I believe the show is trying too hard now to achieve the same aura it had in the beginning.

I disagree with Mediaman who said that Don is taking his family more seriously. I think the main reason he reamed out Betty's brother and took her father in was because he feels himself losing control of everything in his life. At work he has become an inferior which he has never been throughout the show; and the earlier scene in the car with Betty, she tells him that she's inviting the father over, to which he responds something like "Why did you bother asking" even though she never asked a question. I think Don feels that he is losing control and so he needs to feel superior again; this could also explain the reasoning for his sexual encounter in the first episode where he took control. Any thoughts?

I also think the toolbox line was imploring Peggy to stop acting like a guy and embracing the fact that she's a woman.

Oh how I envy you all. I missed last night's episode. : ( boo hoo! Does anyone know if AMC will air the full 2nd episode "Love Among the Ruins" here online like they have the season premiere? Or am I just *%$@ out of luck?

Oh how I envy you all. I missed last night's episode. : ( boo hoo! Does anyone know if AMC will air the full 2nd episode "Love Among the Ruins" here online like they have the season premiere? Or am I just *%$@ out of luck?

I think Don is sick of listening to his wife whine about her brother and his wife and the treatment their father is/isn't receiving. So, in usual Draper fashion he took the bull by the horns and resolved the situation. Remember the lunch with the Madison Square Garden guy?
Peggy is trying despartely to get her 'legs' under her, so to speak. She's definitely coming out of her shell, watch her closely in the meetings and with Don, much more confident.
The maypole scene appeared at first to be going to a flashback but now thinking about it some, I think Don wants to escape, like back to California? Where everything is 'new, clean and full of hope'. mmmmm, I wonder.

this episode airs again tonight @ 10:30 eastern time

Yes...the tide is turning and the Ann Margaret-type will give way to free, unfettered hippie types. Don may get on that bandwagon at work with the Patio account. Do you think Patio will be Fresca?

Did anyone notice that Roger's daughter's wedding date is the day after the Kennedy assassination? We can only wonder how Mad Men will handle this historical event.

Patio was a Pepsi product - Fresca was a Coke product.

Patio becomes Diet Pepsi a few years later. Coke waited to see how well (or badly) a diet drink went over before introducing its own version.

I noticed Peggy not smoothing her dress down before sitting, also. Now, about the Maypole scene. When Don dropped his hand to touch the grass, wasn't there a can behind his hand? Was it Patio? I was thinking there was AND he was putting 2+2 together about the drink and the teacher. That it was THAT kind of look that Peggy was talking about...subtle seduction...not blatant like with Ann-Margaret. His wheels were spinning about business.

A great episode, SO much is unspoken. I was hypnotized by the great music that accompanies the Maypole scene and is played again over the end credits. I'm sure it was written by David Carbonara, but I don't see Season 3 music available, only 1 and 2. Anyone suggest how I can get ahold of this fabulous piece of music? I also agree with whoever said Peggy "tools" are her masculine qualities, (including her intelligence), and to downplay that if she wants to be perceived as "feminine" - remember, this was pre-women's lib. Her one-night-stand (if thats what it is) reinforces to us the audience, that Peggy is way ahead of the curve in her sexual politics. Bravo Peggy!! Bravo Mad Men!!

I am so tired of Betty's bad moods. I know she's had a lot to deal with but she is downright mean to her kids ALL THE TIME. Maybe the new baby will lighten her up, but for now she has become a one-dimensional character IMO.

Love Peggy and her brave struggle against female sterotypes (the guy in the bar assuming she was just a typist). Hope Don continues to value her.

I would assume a wedding on Nov 23rd would be cancelled, considering the effect Kennedy's assassination had on the country. Who would want to go to such a celebration so soon after such a national tragedy? Is it a delicious kind of payback for her not wanting her father's new wife at the wedding? Wonderful little plot point.

I thought this was another great episode. We were commenting at work how bitchy Betty is with her kids and we remembered how that was with our Moms with us. Over stressed and lots of kids and husbands who were rarely home...

Peggy, Peggy, Peggy. I laughed when she went into Don's office and said "ready to talk about Pampers" and I thought she better be careful or she'll be buying Pampers for herself again. I agree I think Don saw a glow on her face after all he put that glow on many women so he knows the look. Did anyone notice how she copied the same line Joan used with the men in the office. "It's so crowded in here, I feel like I'm on the subway" She also got a laugh from the bar guys. So is it just me or has Joan's "bubbies" gotten bigger this year? She could knock someone out with those.

And finally that hypnotic scene with Don caressing the grass looking at the young teacher. This show is like moving piece of art. I was mesmerized by it.

I keep waiting for them to visit Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique". With Peggy's burgeoning independance, I would expect to see a copy of it on her desk or in her apartment.

I love this new show. Does anyone remember or know the name of the song playing while Peggy was sitting in the bar after just meeting her new love interest? It's an oldie, so pretty. Thank you.

When Joan & Betty approach the sect'y at the office and she says "Hello Mrs. Draper", Betty doesn't offer her hand, say hello but she closes her eyes subtly & nods downward. Very snooty if you ask me.

Love how Roger's wife says to him in front of daughter about a compromise "you and JUNE can host a table"...deliberately not saying JANE. Funny!

Why did Don stop in front of Peggy's office and stare at her with no words spoken, yet it seems much was spoken?

LOVE how Don screamed out the door at the kids "CUT IT OUT!!!!" when they were acting up in the other room, so real!

Why would Don's coat be "covered in soot"??

Sassy,he takes the train out of Manhattan every evening. Don might get soot on his coat at the station when he gets off the train.

Sorry everyone that I have not been on to comment. For some crazy reason, Vista decided a couple of weeks ago that I could access the AMC website and everything on it except for anything having to do with Mad Men! So I have a lot of ideas stored up to contribute.

Hi to Auburn Annie, Dry, Zerelda, and Chelsea. I have been reading what you think, and I'll weigh in later. Isn't it great to have the show back?

.....Hi kathiemarie.....Good to see you!

To Marleigh, I caught that song playing in the background, it's called "To Be Loved", by the Pentagons. It's played occasionally on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 5. One of my all time favorite Doo Wops. (Just looked it up to get the singing group, it came out in 1961.)

Don told Peggy to remember that she was a problem solver and to keep some tools in her tool box. I think he was telling her in his own way,that he will be needing to rely on her in the future for more important things. Just a guess..

Hey there kathimarie.... it's called techy torture troubles, right DryM?

Thanks Kathimarie, makes sense!

There's no music post? I'd love to add on to my Mad Men playlist.

i think by the tool box remark don meant that she does not have to use everything she has for every job, use only the tools needed to do the job at hand, the other tools may be need later when appropriate [if ever maybe]