While at dinner with his fiancee and her parents, Ken Cosgrove, Accounts, runs onto a former colleague at BBDO who lets slip that Lucky Strike is coming to their agency. Ken leaves dinner and goes to tell Pete Campbell, who is camped out in the maternity ward as Trudy has just gone into labor. They call Don, who calls Lane in London. Together with Bert, they bring Roger into the office. Roger already knows this is a done deal, but to save face he pretends to call Lee Garner, Jr. in front of them. They send him on a trip to patch things up, but he only pretends to go, telling no one but Joan, who he feels is the only person who knows him. Joan tells him that their romantic relationship is over.
Peggy is blissfully unaware of this as she runs into Abe at the beach and they sleep together, but that ends the following day when an emergency staff meeting is held and everyone goes into damage control. Losing Lucky Strike is a sign that the agency is going under, and other clients might leave under that assumption. Cue Don giving his second-least convincing speech about taking the agency above and beyond. He keeps losing clients, he breaks his Clio (which is later repaired by Megan), and it isn't long before Don and Pete crash a funeral for a rival agent. Don tries to get information on clients out of Faye, but she refuses. Megan shows an interest in Don's work and they have sex in his office. That night, Faye comes through with insider info on Heinz vinegar, sauces and beans note .
Pete tells his father-in-law the news. Tom tells him to save himself. To his credit, Pete sticks with SCDP, even when Ted Chaough tries to poach him.
Peggy makes a pitch for Playtex and Stan thinks she's sex crazed... and she doesn't realize she has lipstick on her teeth.
A despondent Roger goes home, where his oblivious wife gives him the first box of his newly-published memoir.
This episode contains examples of:
- All Men Are Perverts: Played with during Peggy's Playtex pitch — she thinks that the client who makes eye contact and licks his teeth is this, but he's actually trying to tell her that she's got lipstick on her teeth. Played straight with Stan, who — if we're being charitable — mistakes Peggy's stress for a come-on.
- Captain Oblivious: Jane. She has no idea of the stress Roger's under at work, but is delighted that his book, Sterling's Gold, has been published.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Stan shows truly Skewed Priorities here. With the news of SCDP losing Lucky Strike, he knows that any mistake — like getting turned down by Playtex because Peggy happened to have lipstick on her teeth — could spell doom for the company. It's in his best interest to make sure her pitch succeeds. But, because she turned down his romantic overtures, he lets her risk everyone's jobs, including his own.
- Failed a Spot Check: Peggy, who doesn't realise that she's got lipstick on her teeth when she does the Playtex pitch.
- Jerkass: Stan, very much in his pre-Took a Level in Kindness phase. He could've warned Peggy about the lipstick, and very specifically chooses not to.
- Mood Whiplash: Just after finding out that he has become a father, Pete goes to a funeral with Don and Freddy in an attempt to drum up business.
- Phoney Call: Roger successfully pulls off the 'talking after hanging up' variant — in front of Don, Ken, Pete and Bert no less — after finding out that they know about Lucky Strike taking their business elsewhere. He then caps this by pretending to travel to Virginia to try and reason with Lee Garner Jr., although he's actually hiding in a New York hotel that's far enough from the office that he won't accidentally run into anyone from SCDP.
- Secret-Keeper: Joan becomes this after Roger confesses his deception to her.
