Season 4 of Mad Men saw a makeover for the critically acclaimed AMC period drama. With a new office, new partners, and new employees, Don Draper's (Jon Hamm) advertising kingdom underwent the same turbulence as the ongoing political and social movements of the 1960s. Inside the new quarters of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, the independent offshoot of Sterling Cooper, the rising star was undoubtedly Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), who fully transformed from a timid secretary to a creative visionary in the copy division. Peggy also became Don's ultimate foil, and the pair's dynamic relationship, the heart of Mad Men in its later seasons, culminated in Season 4, Episode 7, "The Suitcase," widely regarded as the show's high point.
Showrunner Matthew Weiner turned business negotiations and advertising jargon into a work of theater, and the novelistic characterization and narrative depth perfectly complemented the rich dialogue. The writing could be witty, biting, flowery, and dark in any scene. As a chamber drama across six seasons of exceptional television, Mad Men thrived on intelligent and nuanced characters using words to wage war on morals, values, and ethics. This creative approach peaked in "The Suitcase," the series' cherished entry in the canon of bottle episodes, a subgenre of TV episodes set primarily in one confined location with minimal primary characters.
In "The Suitcase," Mad Men's exact halfway mark, which aired on September 5, 2010, while most of the office is off to see the second match between famous boxing rivals Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston, Don and Peggy stay behind to finish an ad campaign for suitcase manufacturer Samsonite. Throughout the night, as Peggy abandons her dinner plans with her boyfriend and family, the creative director and copywriter undergo a grueling workshopping and drafting session. These overworked ad executives find themselves fighting, revealing touchy secrets about their pasts, and ultimately connecting on a more personal and deep level than we'd previously seen.
During their most heated exchange, Peggy reprimands Don for failing to give her proper credit for an award-winning ad campaign for Glo-Coat. Feeling generally taken for granted and unappreciated for her hard work, Peggy learns the sobering truth about corporate America and Don Draper's mindset when her boss shouts, "That's what the money is for!" It's a line that sends shivers down Peggy's spine, and the impact of this poignant remark still lingers today, as this moment has endured as both a meme and a talking point when dissecting the greater thesis of Mad Men. This line, delivered with stirring conviction by Jon Hamm and received with stunning awe by Elisabeth Moss, is equally pointed in its direct meaning and abstract enough to be analyzed for eternity.
Throughout Mad Men, Don and Peggy represented the apex of character foils in the Peak TV era. In "The Suitcase," viewers witnessed the clash between Don's cynicism and suppressed emotionality and Peggy's idyllic relationship to her work. Don, as is the entire apparatus of capitalism, is not interested in the compliment business. In his worldview, money unquestionably buys happiness. We've watched Don's soul corrode over the previous three seasons, with his personal life and self-satisfaction crumbling even as he continues to thrive as a creative visionary. "That's what the money is for!" more or less confirms that Don treats his professional life as a soulless endeavor, and as long as the biweekly checks keep clearing, everyone should feel content in this capitalist society. The employees of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce sell happiness, but they're incapable of indulging in it themselves.
Mad Men's most important line is also a depressing indictment of Don's transactional approach to human relations. As he operates at a reticent tenor, he longs for a better life, one akin to the quaint, rural landscape of his time as Richard Whitman. Peggy, who has brilliantly climbed up the corporate ladder and proved herself as a gifted voice in the marketing field, expects to be embraced at a fundamental human level. To some extent, she wants to be viewed as an equal to Don, but his scathing critique of her plea for gratitude indicates that they will never be companions.
"The Suitcase" served as a crucial inflection point for Mad Men and its two marquee characters, as each began feeling more disillusioned about the American Dream and hope for emotional fulfillment from their profession. However, it also brought Don and Peggy closer together, and the show's back half saw them connecting to a profound degree. Above all else, the episode proved that long hours at work can do a lot to your psyche.
