As recommended by MsCharter & mcbenn75
In a scene that “sticks out the most” in MsChartier's memory, a flashback saw Don deliver a line that according to mbenn75, sets up the Don-Peggy relationship for the subsequent seasons. Knowing that Peggy giving birth to an illegitimate child could lead to the end of her career, Don visits her in hospital and offers a chilling word of advice, “This never happened. It will shock you how much this never happened” Photograph: AMC
As recommended by Lennster & ShermanMLight
In a bizarre look at pre-1970s public norms, the pristine Drapers go on a typical family picnic only to pack up, shake the blanket, and toss their rubbish unceremoniously across the idyllic setting. Mad Men writers have never shied from showing the social and moral anachronisms of the show, but Lennster was surprised by “how shocking that scene was” Photograph: AMC
As recommended by HokeyCokey & ShermanMLight
After spending much of Season 4 struggling to cope with his debilitating alcoholism, Don wins the prestigious Clio Award for one of his ads and celebrates with a weekend of binge drinking and blackouts. He goes to bed with one woman on Friday evening and wakes up with another on Sunday, crudely demonstrating his continuing loss of control Photograph: AMC
As recommended by ShermanMLight & Mongolikecandy
Tomorrow Never Knows, the final track on Revolver, ends up being the perfect soundtrack to illustrate the increasing irrelevancy and distance of Don from the world he has built around himself. He plays the record for the first time after his wife advises him to listen to the last song on the B-side, and Mongolikecandy considers this the moment when he “finds out the extent of his wife's ambition” Photograph: AMC
As recommended by Cosmodemon
To try and get the creative juices flowing, Don and his employees decide to enlist the help of a “complex vitamin super dose” from Jim Cutler's shady doctor. Ken Cosgrove is hit particularly hard by the effects, performing a frantic tap dance while talking about how his job is, quite literally, a tap dance for his clients Photograph: AMC
As recommended by superspartan & daveportivo
Pete and Trudy, in a rare moment of spontaneity, perform their own version of the Charleston. As superspartan says, this is a moment when Pete truly lets himself go and “stops looking for Don's reaction”, showing a complex side to the character usually so constrained by his own and others' expectations. Daveportivo finds the scene “cringeworthy but also so charming” Photograph: AMC
As recommended by gentooman, wildone & zzeb
After his attempts to get her to stay with the company prove frustratingly futile, Peggy hands in her resignation and Don reluctantly accepts. When she holds out her hand for a handshake, an emotional Don refuses to let go until Peggy forcefully removes herself in what wildone calls “one of the most intense scenes ever in a TV show” Photograph: AMC
As recommended by AlleinAllein & WoolenBullit
In one of the most widely circulated two seconds of the show, Vincent Kartheiser plays out some physical comedy with Pete Campbell taking a fantastic fall mid-argument that AlleinAllein says “still makes me howl with laughter” Photograph: AMC
As recommended by jamie12
While the women of the office test lipsticks to help develop a pitch for a client, the men make use of a one-way mirror and settle down with a few bottles of bourbon. Jamie12 thinks that the set-up of the scene “positions the women a bit like wildlife”, giving us an alarming look into the pervasive sexism of the 1960s Photograph: AMC
As recommended by Carefree, LongSnakeMoan & smalltownboy
In a scene that LongSnakeMoan calls the “most pitch-perfect moment in Mad Men”, Peggy finally tells Pete that she was pregnant with his baby and gave it away. In the quiet simplicity of the scene, her resilient response to his confusion is what sets this apart as one of the best Photograph: AMC
