Nixon vs Kennedy

Hi Laurel here...This episode we see the office having a party for the election returns, among other things...

After all the higher ups leave (Don, Cooper) we see all of the other office people hanging out for the election returns.  When they runout of booze early on they convince Joan to break into the supply closet of which the only surplus is creme de menthe.  They put it into a 5 gallon water cooler and go to town...with disasterous results.  Many employees stay over, but the ones who didn't come int he next morning to find a disheveled office and green barf in the trash cans.

Also we learn so much about Don's past this episode..it turns out he swapped identities with a fellow soldier who died in a freak accident while they were both at a hospital base camp by themselves.  When the real Don Draper dies, Dick Whitman (who we know as Don) seizes the opportunity to switch dog tags and become a new person...Dick Whitman is dead, Don Draper lives anew.   I get it why Dick wanted to take on a new identity, but I feel like he sort of handles things terribly.  The new Don Draper is assigned with taking dead Dick Whitman home.  When his family comes to meet the casket, former Dick Whitman (who we now know as Don) refuses to get off the train and avoids his former family completely, leaving them to believe he is dead.  When Dick's brother finds him 10 years later (in an earlier episode) Dick/Don just shuts him down and refuses to acknowledge his former brother.  How is he going to handle this with the real Don Draper's surviving family?  Time will tell.

Pete knows all about this due to his snooping into Don's mail..he intercepts a package from Dick/Don's brother with pictures and other evidence about his past.  But when he tries to rat Dick/Don out to Cooper, Cooper's attitude is...who fucking cares?  I don't know if it is because Don has been so successful at the agency or because he is a war veteran himself, either way, the secret identity doesn't bother him.  It bothers him more that snively Pete was a tattletale.

Mark here...I agree with Laurel's assessment of the episode.  One thing we haven't ever mentioned is how good the show is about providing a historical context.  Granted, these guys are all Nixon guys but it's nice to see the way the election plays out.  It's clearly a tight election, and we see the night play out as such.  In the beginning the staff is celebrating (on creme de menthe...ooof!), but slowly the hangover takes over, at the same time as Kennedy is declared the winner.

One thing I missed, which Laurel pointed out to me, was that Don's secret brother commits suicide at the beginning of the episode, before sending him the package that Pete attempts to black mail him with. We don't know yet if Don knows about the suicide.  It's a tragic storyline though, as we learn Don's past.  He clearly wants to be rid of the past he grew up with.  In the previous episode we learned (via his conversation with Rebecca Menkin) that he's the son of a prostitute and a man who passed away...leaving him in the custody of the man's wife.  Understandably (during the times), the wife is none to thrilled to be stuck with young Don.  The brother was the one link left to this life...but clearly the brother didn't grow up able to blend into Don's new life, so Don banished him.  This crushed the brother, as he had held on to his last memories of Don.

Another interesting storyline is when Don's history is going to be revealed (via Pete), before going to Cooper, Don goes to Rebecca and wants to run away.  She has wanted this, but is no fool.  She realizes he wants to run away, with or without her.  This isn't what she wanted, so she turns him away...