On November 22, 1963, Margret Sterling prepares for her wedding, unhappy that her father's wife Jane will be attending. Everyone is shocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but Roger holds the wedding anyway, though half the guests don't attend. After witnessing Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination on television, Betty realizes that Don can't comfort her and she has a romantic meeting with Henry Francis. Soon after she tells Don that she no longer loves him. Pete learns that he lost the competition for Head of Accounts with Ken Cosgrove, and after consulting with Trudy he resolves to gather up his clients, and leave Sterling Cooper.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Awful Wedded Life: Jane and Roger are shown to have this with the shouting, arguments, and disrespect. In fact the whole episode features married unhappy couples — the Drapers, Harry and his wife who have reconciled, Pete and Trudy finding common ground, and Joan at home when Greg is at work.
- Margaret dreads this happening to her and Brooks, her fiancee.
- Blatant Lies: Discussed Trope. Betty is still furious about the Dark Secret that Don kept from her.
- Everybody Has Standards: Pete Campbell is disgusted that not only is the Sterling-Hargrove wedding not cancelled, but his bosses and colleagues only resort to Victim-Blaming about the assassination. Trudy agrees with, even stating that Pete's co-workers and bosses don't deserve the effort he has been putting in.
- Betty, who is probably a Republican voter (she having previously expressed her dislike for Kennedy), seems disgusted that the wedding wasn't cancelled and doesn't drop her frosty mood during the reception.
- The wedding itself is half-empty because many people find it tacky or disrespectful to continue with the event after an assassination.
- Half-Truth: Betty tells Don she is going for a drive, giving the impression that the purpose of the drive is to deal with the assassination. She does not say she is meeting Henry.
- Historical Domain Character: Several real people are seen on television news.
- It's All About Me: A more justified example than most; while everyone else we see reacts with appropriate horror and sadness at the news of Kennedy's assassination (except for Don, though from what Pete tells Trudy on the day of the wedding, Don's reaction wasn't atypical), Margaret cries about how her wedding will be ruined, which is fair.
- The Missus and the Ex: Jane Sterling the Missus and Mona Sterling the Ex, with Jane's attendance being of consternation to the bride (Margaret, who dislikes her stepmother). As far as Roger is concerned, with Jane drinking her grief and spending the reception watching news coverage of Lee Harvey Oswald on television in the kitchen, Mona has won this round.
- Later Roger and Joan have a sweet phone conversation while Jane is hungover and Greg is at the hospital working; this conversation is more closer and respectful than any Jane and Roger have had and carries none of the tension of Joan's marriage to Greg.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Peggy is under one of these when she and Duck are watching the television news about Kennedy.
- Old, New, Borrowed and Blue: Margret is upset that Jane Sterling, her stepmother, has bought her some pricey Van Cleef earrings with blue gems because they are "new" and "blue", two separate things that should have been given to her by her mother or her bridesmaids.
- True Blue Femininity: Mona is seen wearing a silvery blue dress to her daughter's wedding that makes her shine, Betty wears ice pastel ensemble that illustrates her Ice Queen mood, and Trudy is seen wearing a vivid blue cocktail dress with matching pumps to wear to the wedding but later changes into a pale blue mohair sweater when watching the Lee Harvey Oswald assassination.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Pete and Harry are so involved in complaining about their lousy jobs that they don't notice the news coverage announcing that Kennedy was shot until the rest of the staff pours into their office to watch the news on TV (Harry's office being the only one that has a TV).
