Betty wakes up on an odd-looking couch. Peggy wakes up with a man. Don wakes up in a cheap motel with a broken nose. Now let's step back a few days.
Betty's just redecorated the living room, and is working with the Junior League of Tarrytown to preserve a reservoir in danger of being drained and replaced by warehouses. She uses her connection with Governor Rockefeller's advisor Henry Francis in the hopes that he can give the issue a higher profile. It's obvious he's attracted to her, but it's innocent for now. He brings her attention to a Victorian "fainting couch," with which she promptly spoils her redecorated parlor.
Peggy is still mulling over her offer from Duck. She makes her intentions clear to Don, who is not impressed. Ultimately, she just ends up having sex with Duck and staying at Sterling Cooper.
Don is the one in big trouble. He continues flirting with Miss Farrell while her students use pinhole projectors to look at a solar eclipse (isn't it supposed to be July?). PPL wants Don to sign a contract for three years, and he gets more and more pressure from the other partners — and his wife.
Don drives away, picking up two hitchhikers trying to dodge the draft for Vietnam. They drug him with reds, but much to their surprise he doesn't fall asleep, so they just knock him out. When he wakes up, his wallet is empty. He returns to the office bandaged and bruised. Bert Cooper threatens to expose his true identity, pushing Don to finally sign the contract.
This episode contains examples of:
- Foreshadowing:
- Roger Sterling: (to Don Draper) ...If you let all the blokes at Putnam, Powell & Lowe relax for three years, maybe we could put your name out front. After mine. And Cooper, probably.
- By the end of season three, the name of the firm will be Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
- Hot for Teacher: The classroom fathers have this for Miss Farrell and Carlton Hanson confides to Don that Francine was a kindergarten teacher before they had kids and that there was something enticing about her with those children.
- How We Got Here: This episode starts out with Don waking up with a broken nose in a motel room, Peggy with a man, and Betty on a Victorian Fainting Couch and goes on to show how these characters found themselves in those positions.
- Idiot Ball: Don picks up a random pair of hitchhikers, accepts drugs from them (while driving) and then accompanies them into a motel. He's lucky that a broken nose and an empty wallet are all that happened to him.
- Outlaw Couple: The newlyweds Don picks up turn out to be a robbery team.
- Pick Up Babes With Babes: A variation where Miss Farrell's class is preparing to watch the eclipse where a few classroom fathers show up (usually not involved with their children or children's school) to check out and flirt with Miss Farrell, which includes Don.
- Title Drop: July 23rd, 1963 is date Don signs the contract.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Don is really at his worst all season in this episode - he storms out of the house when Betty confronts him over refusing to talk about the contract with her, then he makes Peggy cry when she asks him to be put on a new account.
