Ted asks Peggy, "First day of school. You nervous?" and, in a sea foam suit, she is clearly ready to conquer. But Ted is also dressed to impress, at least for astute Fashion File fans. We know characters often excel at SCDP when costume designer Janie Bryant dresses them in costumes that match the office. (Peggy was literally consumed by her work last season when her dress and the couch were almost identical.) Now check out Ted's ensemble in the conference room: He sports a sharp black suit and a shirt so crisp and white, it must be brand-new. Then there's his tie, which blends beautifully with the room's wood panels, a fact that's highlighted even more by his seat on the cabinet against the wall. Pete may have gotten Ted's chair, but Ted went and created his own throne. (Ted also gets the "Best Dressed" award from me for his flawless aviator jacket and sunglasses, both of which are still quite chic today.)

Other office observations: Peggy's aqua suit is a pastel version of Stan Rizzo's bluish-green work shirt; hopefully their color-coordination means they're friends again. Ginsberg's also got a deep green skinny tie, an accent in his costume that (literally) ties him to SCDP. Meanwhile, the two CGC creatives wear slashed ties and button-ups that coordinate with each other, but nobody else. Clearly, these two agencies aren't a unified team just yet. And check out Joan in her first scene: She's a beacon in a royal blue dress with matching pumps, in contrast to the people swirling around her wearing green. It's a cool visual effect, and also, it shows that blue and green motif again this season. The coat Joan later wears over her cobalt dress is also bright green. Most Mad Men couples break up, but at least blue and green have everlasting love.

Another color getting a workout in this episode is red. It's Sylvia's sexiest shade, and the hue tying her most directly to the prostitutes from Don's childhood. We first see Sylvia in a red-orange quilted robe and a red scarf turban. Her next red infusion, the Saks Fifth Avenue dress, is where things get really interesting. "You are for me. You exist in this room for my pleasure," says Don, and boom! Red becomes the official color of female objectification.

In this interview, John Slattery, (Roger Sterling on AMC's Mad Men) compares directing to football, and describes the strangest thing he's eaten at a dinner party.

Q: Roger seems to have reached a turning point. What do you think he's learned about himself?

A: One thing I think he's learned is that it's too soon to give up on life...socially and romantically, and as far as work goes too. He lost his account. It was a big blow to him and...he had to figure out how to get his feet back under him, and then that led to the experience of him taking LSD. And I think that altered his consciousness a little bit.

Q: What was it like to shoot the LSD scenes?

A: We shot the bathtub scene two different times. I think it started out with something Matthew Weiner didn't like about the wallpaper or some part of the set, and he said as long as we're going to reshoot this, we should think about it differently. We decided that it's a different kind of change of consciousness. It isn't like you had too many drinks or you smoked a lot of pot or something. You're actually seemingly lucid. It's just that you're having this experience that's going all over the place.

Q: Fans are still talking about seeing your rear end in last season's finale. Are you surprised by the reaction?

A: I think it was funny storytelling and surprising... My family, nothing really gets them at this point. They're used to me embarrassing them in all kinds of ways.

Q: What's the strangest thing you've ever been offered at a dinner party?

Peggy and Ted's kiss. The Jaguar and Vicks disasters. The Merger. This episode was so crammed with plot points, you could almost get dizzy -- if it wasn't for costume designer Janie Bryant finding a way to keep us focused through visual cues. How? She doubled up, dressing characters with key connections in similar outfits to help emphasize important themes.

My favorite example is halfway through, when Joan confronts Don with, "Just once, I'd like to hear you use the word 'we!'" She's wearing a jade green dress with short sleeves, buttons down the front, and a slim belt at the waist. A few scenes later, Ted Chaough kisses Peggy, who's wearing a powder blue dress with short sleeves, buttons down the front, and a slim belt at the waist. It's a subtle way to tie them together. While Joan once used her sexuality to get ahead, Peggy did the opposite and relied solely on her intellect. Now, they're in opposite positions: Joan is running the office and even barking out orders to the other male partners, while Peggy's getting kissed by her boss and liking it. It doesn't help that Peggy's actual boyfriend, Abe, is wearing the ultimate blue-collar uniform -- denim overalls sans shirt -- while she's in buttoned-up dresses and super-girly nightgowns. The clash in their relationship continues, and it's reflected in their clothing.

The Graduate, a landmark satirical movie that premiered in 1967, concerns Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), a recent college graduate who loses his virginity to his father's business partner's wife (Anne Bancroft) then falls in love with the couple's daughter (Katharine Ross). Directed by Mike Nichols and with pitch-perfect dialogue by Buck Henry, the film struck a chord with youthful audiences, who related both to Ben's disillusionment with his parents' materialism and his inability to conceive of an alternative. Many reviews praised The Graduate for its sophisticated blend of irreverence and poignancy, and more than a few critics declared it a turning point in American cinema.

Bancroft played the role of Mrs. Robinson with such obvious glee that the character's predatory behavior received more attention than the interior melancholy that prompted it. Reactions varied depending on the reviewer and the publication -- Playboy magazine, for instance, applauded Mrs. Robinson for doing Ben the favor of seducing him, and the movie itself for providing the "funniest moments of anguish ever filmed to commemorate the decline and fall of a boy's burdensome virginity."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the preeminent U.S. civil rights leader of 1950s and 1960s, was shot dead on Apr. 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The assassination, immortalized in Life magazine photographs and contemporary TV news reports, occurred the day after King had delivered a speech in which he described seeing the "Promised Land" of racial equality. Perhaps prompted by the bomb threat that had delayed his arrival in Memphis, Dr. King had also reflected that "I may not get there with you."

Dr. King was in Memphis to support African-American sanitation workers on strike over wages, working conditions, and unequal treatment. Though King had received the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for embracing nonviolence, by 1968 he had become, according to several biographers, dispirited by personal and political setbacks. Dissatisfied with the pace of progress toward equality, some in the civil rights movement were questioning his nonviolent strategy and recent initiatives on behalf of the poor of all races. (Violence had marred a March demonstration in Memphis that King had participated in, and he'd returned to Memphis hoping to lead a nonviolent encore.) Outside the movement, King had alienated some former supporters by his opposition to the Vietnam War, and the FBI had been monitoring his activities for years.

The floodgates of social upheaval open after Martin Luther King Jr.'s murder, but the Mad Men characters don't respond by digging out their raincoats and galoshes. Instead, costume designer Janie Bryant has them respond to the turmoil in more subtle ways -- some by digging into their signature looks and some by completely subverting them.

We begin with Peggy, who's framed in her potential new apartment just like Don's often captured in his office: Facing the window and viewed from back. Peggy's in a snazzy golden dress, and she's looking optimistic and professional. Abe wears a black leather jacket with a pop of red plaid. There's no rule that says you have to dress like your partner to be happy, but in an episode that's all about going two-by-two into a brave new world... Well, when the man and the woman literally don't match up, you have to wonder.

Speaking of literal match-ups, Bobby Draper is having a hard time with them. His cardigan's blue, exploding pattern makes him look like Wreck-It Ralph, trying desperately to bust out of his neat and tidy surroundings, where he's discovered that the appearance of perfection falters if you look close enough. And he's even more conflicted with that blue swirly sweater in the kitchen, when Sally wears a loud red plaid and Betty's in a yellow and purple paisley. Oh, and the kitchen's painted green. If you're not already dizzy trying to navigate the messy dynamics of the Draper/Francis family, you will be just by looking around the dinner table. Something to consider: In the next Francis kitchen scene, when the kids are with Don and it's just Betty and Henry, Betty's costume matches the room perfectly. It's just when she has to be a mother that things seem to go askew.