Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep10, “The Color Blue”

There’s one major event that happens in this episode: Betty finds the keys to Don’s locked desk door in his home office. She opens it and rifles through the contents of his shoebox, finding the only documents in the world that connect the dots between Dick Whitman and Don Draper. The rest of this installment is basically window dressing. There’s some stuff about Kinsey and Peggy vying for Don’s praise, the agency is throwing a 40^th anniversary party, and Don meets the schoolteacher’s brother (which gives him flashbacks to Season 1 and his brother, Adam). The other notable item is Lane is told PP&L is putting Sterling Cooper up for sale, which will set the rest of the season into motion. That summarizes the entire episode: It’s basically a setup for bigger and better ones to come.

Best Scene: Toward the end of the episode, Peggy and Kinsey have to meet with Don about Western Union. Kinsey’s lost his great idea, but right there in the room Peggy improvises and comes up with the campaign spontaneously. Kinsey is left in shock; it’s the moment he realizes Peggy really is better at this than him. A lot better.

Best Line: Bert: “40 would be an insignificant year, were it not the average lifespan of a man in this business.”

Grade: C+