Peggy's DOB.  Anna's Date of Death.

Never caught the parallels of Peggy and Don touching hands from that first episode to this one. Genius.

I'm not ashamed to say this episode made me cry, such great art.

This episode has deep emotional brilliance. There's desperation, grief, regret, ignorance, broken gender roles, intelligence, assumptions, and eventually relief.

The last line in the show is also telling. As Peggy is leaving Don's office the next morning she asks him if he wants the door to be kept open or closed and he says he'd like it open. I don't think it's a stretch to say that this is a metaphor for their relationship and how he would like for his relationship with Peggy to have a more open dialogue as they move into a new chapter.

This show is an absolute masterpiece.

This episode is my favorite too, I always like when Don and Peggy getting alone each other. it's some kind of relationalship that higher than romantic love.

Best show ever
I’ve watched all 7 seasons several times over and I find new things in every episode every time.

Drawing the parallel between the two handholding scenes was brilliant. I never noticed that before.

A noteworthy piece of info about this incredible episode is that it is the exact middle of the show's run.

Thanks again for making this

I just love this episode of television so much. I felt that Mad Men was one of those very few television shows that didn't lose its way, and really stuck the landing. But its pinnacle was here, in this perfect middle episode of the middle season of the series, the story's emotional heart. One thing I really appreciate about Mad Men is that what characters say is never the whole story, and certainly not a truth that the writers are trying to convey. "That's what the money is for!" is such a great line, but it tells you more about Don, about the nature of the business, about Peggy's frustration with the world that segregates professional accomplishment from personal acknowledgement. To Don, Peggy is still a child begging for a pat on the head, and it's true. But we have to remember that Don is also a child that grew up without any pats on the head, and resents it when anyone else acts entitled to them. Personally, I consider it more mature to accept that we all could do with one of those from our bosses, our mentors, our loved ones from time to time. Don's anger about it is really just him taking his own neglected childhood out on Peggy.

Meanwhile, Peggy is blaming Don for her own unwillingness to admit she's just not interested in this boy she's been dating. Don has a cloud hanging over his had, but so does Peggy, and I think she can sense it, the assembled forces of conformity waiting to spring the marriage trap. She feels so guilty for not wanting what everyone insists she should want that she's in denial about it. Just like Don's phone call, she's been making excuse after excuse to avoid that dinner, and doesn't even realize it. And so she's blaming Don.

What really makes this episode so tender and moving is that where the show goes from there, pushing them both past their anger and blame to find they're both comrades, both outsiders in a world where no one knows them. No one else wants to know them. Everyone around them has their own agenda, and a designated place for Don and Peggy to fit into that agenda. And everyone's shocked when Don and Peggy don't fit into their expectations. Much as I agree with Don's secretary that he treated her abominably, she's no different from Peggy's boyfriend, or Duck, men who have their own idea of who Peggy is supposed to be, and are horrified she doesn't fit the role. The episode lets them open up to one another about their feelings of alienation, not directly, but it's clear to both of them that they're kindred spirits. In their overpowering loneliness, they've found one another.

Mad Men is about the gap between who the world expects these characters to be, and who they really are. It's only when they're stripped of their facades, and stand naked in front of one another, that they can find compassion for each other, as well as themselves. That's where this show takes us.

I remember when I rewatched the series and realized that the suitcase is probably the best episode. Such an amazing turning point in both their lives, portrayed in such a compellingly realistic way yet at the same time it's incredibly symbolic and poetic. The best way to describe this show is that it truly transports you to the lives and environment of its characters.

'That's what the money is for'  Is for me also the best line in the whole show.  - It also describes what a toxic job is... meaning if you do not have recognition OR money then quit

I just watched the episode last night and I was blown away. This is the best character pay off for following it for 4 seasons

People dont talk much about john hann acting!
Man he did so well

That's what the money is for!! Encapsulates what Don is all about. Still will not forgive him for making Peggy cry with that.  best episode-> when the dead ex-wife's ghost walks into his office carrying the suitcase and smiling at him. 1 of the best moments in tv history.

It's nice seeing Pete's great grandson finally doing a review on his family tree

This is my favorite episode and I think it’s the middle episode of Mad Men.

I love the GoT putdown. Mad Men truly is a pure character development show and a goddamn masterpiece at that. Something GoT tried in the beginning and went off the rails into a Micheal Bay movie. Mad Men stuck it out the whole way through. You don't see one gun fight, explosion or any real physical violence aside from Pete getting his ass kicked and Don punching someone in a bar. It's wondering what the character's motives and desires are that shape each scene and the interaction so beautifully. Each episode scrapes away a little more and more and it is so well done.

I've always felt that Peggy is just as important of a protagonist as Don is to this show.