Kiernan Shipka was named one of TIME magazine's most influential teenagers of 2013 and 2014 and the only actress on the list primarily known for TV. Keep in mind that it seemed like a shoo-in for Maisie Williams to place on the list, yet she got passed over for a lesser-known actress from a show not nearly as popular as Game of Thrones. (Williams would appear on the 2015 and 2016 lists before turning 20.)
Jon Hamm finally winning the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the show's final season in 2015, getting the only standing ovation of any of the night's Emmy winners.
Almost two years after the show ended, the Heinz ads from Don's pitch in Season 6's "To Have and To Hold" are being used by Heinz for real. Credit is being given to David Miami (Heinz' current ad agency) and to both SCDP and Matthew Weiner.
After quietly observing the rest of the secretaries testing out Belle Jolie's lipsticks, Peggy gives Freddy the wastebasket of the napkins used to wipe off excess lipstick and quips "Here's your basket of kisses", this remark was enough to impress Freddy with her wit and get her on the track to being promoted from secretary. She also starts asserting herself and her individuality.
Peggy: I don't think anyone wants to be one of a hundred colors in a box.
Roger Sterling reading Pete Campbell the riot act in 1.04: "You live and die in this man's shadow, understand?"
Also doubles as a Funny Moment when Pete says, "I won't let you down, Don," and Roger immediately replies, horrified, "Jesus, Campbell. Don't ever say that."
Peggy telling Pete off for avoiding her and treating her like crap at her celebration and after she's been gaining weight.
Betty shooting her neighbor's pigeons in 1.10 after he threatens to kill Sally's dog.
Peggy testing out the Rejuvinator weight loss apparatus and finding out it has more satisfying effects. She manages to get past any humiliation she has and opens the partners' and clients' minds to how women experience pleasure.
Bert Cooper: "Mr. Campbell, who cares?": Bert completely deflates Pete's attempt at blackmailing Don over Don's stolen identity, by pointing out that it really doesn't matter, who Don "really" is, since Don is a great at his job.
Don Draper gets his in the Season 1 finale, during a sales pitch for a slide projector.
Also, to spite Campbell, he promotes Peggy to Junior Copywriter, a great moment for both mentor and mentee.
Season 2
Bobbie Barrett giving Peggy the advice to assert herself with Don and make it in a Male Dominated profession. Peggy goes from referring him to "Mr. Draper" to "Don".
Bobbie: You're never gonna get that corner office until you start treating Don as an equal. And, no one will tell you this, but you can't be a Man. Be a Woman. Powerful business when done correctly. Do you understand what I'm saying dear?
YMMV since out of character and Pete ruined the moment. Peggy, done with the men leaving her out of meetings, marches into one of their get-togethers at a strip club in a very low-maintenance yet sexy hair do and a curve hugging dress with cleavage showing, she was very cool and confident.
Joan schooling Roger on how it's tacky to dismiss Marilyn Monroe and other women like her (esp. Joan), since the world already makes it difficult enough for them to thrive.
Bert Cooper gets Don to join to board of an art museum though sheer force of will (and a tiny hint of blackmail.)
Jane Sterling daring to tell off Joan for being an Alpha Bitch and grilling her over sneaking with the boys to see Burt Cooper's painting, she gets fired until Roger fixes it. Jane had managed to offend Joan and survive.
She also puts a stop to Ken's usual advances on new secretaries without batting an eye.
Gene Hofstadt, Betty's father gets one when he goes through is Obnoxious In-Laws routine with Don and gives him "The Reason You Suck" Speech that some viewers have been wanting to see after Betty found out about Don cheating on her with Bobbie.
Gene: Nobody has what you have. You act like its nothing. My daughter's a princess. You know that?
Joan gets back at Paul Kinsey (course she shouldn't have made her racist remark to Sheila in the first place) after he had humiliated her by revealing that she is not only single, but over 30. She tells him, in front of everyone at the office party, that it shall be Pete going to California with Don and that she'll need his ticket. Cut to a deflated Paul saving face by deciding to join his girlfriend in the Freedom Rides.
Don does it again in the season 2 finale. His agency rival "Duck" has engineered the sale of Sterling-Cooper to a British ad company, a move that has left Duck as the new president of the agency. He tells Don that he has two choices now: either knuckle under to Duck, or find a job outside of advertising since he would have a non-compete clause in his contract. Don waits just a perfect beat, and drops the bomb: "Duck, I don't HAVE a contract."
Peggy at the end: gets a great office, is more assertive, gets an adult and stylish haircut, walks away from the constant guilt-tripping of her family and priest, and then confesses to Pete about their baby and how he lost his chance with her.
Season 3
Campbell vs. Cosgrove, both being assigned the same position. Blue-blood vs. red-blood.
Peggy picking up a man at a bar, basically she had a one-night stand and tried to channel Joan and the men she works with, she succeeds and is more confident at work.
Peggy joining the guys for smoking weed and becoming inspired enough to come up for something for the Bacardi account. She then tells her older secretary not to worry about her, she's in a very good place and will be heading to better places.
I'm Peggy Olson, and I want to smoke some marijuana.
Joan, when critiquing Peggy's roommate ad, shows how cunning she is at advertising.
Peggy's smug smile when the Bye Bye Birdie inspired Patio commercial fails at capturing the charm of Ann-Margret's solo from the film. She's been telling the men about how shrill the singing was and that women won't respond well to an ad that operates from a straight male fantasy and won't relate to a woman who is unconvincingly playing a teenage girl.
Betty finally shows she has balls and confronts her husband about his past life. "You know I know what's in there".
Pretty much the entirety of "Shut the Door, Have a Seat," with the exception of the Don and Betty scenes.
St. John: You're fired. You're fired for costing this company millions of pounds! You're fired for insubordination! You are FIRED FOR A COMPLETE LACK OF MORAL CHARACTER! Pryce: Very good. Happy Christmas!
"Joan. What a good idea."
"Hello, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, how may I help you?"
Don't forget, "Peggy, get me coffee." "No."
Peggy tells Don off when he assumes she'll leave with him for the new agency.
Bert Cooper has another CMOA that's a complete reversal of the "Who cares?" moment in Season 1, when he oh so subtly blackmails Don into signing the non-compete contract ("Would you say I know something about you, Don? When it comes down to it, who's really signing this contract?") Just to put that in perspective, it means that Cooper took the information Pete gave him in season one and filed it away for nearly three years, saving it for when he actually needed to use it. This is what separates the Magnificent Bastards like Bert from the Smug Snakes like Pete.
Joan clocking her rapist husband Greg upside the head with a vase.
Season 4
Don's Kansas City Shuffle to get a rival ad agency to bankrupt themselves and ruin their relationship with Honda.
Peggy's scooter ride in that same episode, looked amazing.
Don ripping his button-down shirt off when he thinks he's having a heart attack. Ok, maybe Jon Hamm should be Superman.
Dr. Miller becoming one of the few women on the show to see Don for what he is and turn down one of his come-ons.
Peggy getting "liberated" in "Waldorf Stories" and winning a game of strip-chicken with Rizzo. Balls. Of. Steel.
And this after Stan made a jab at her physical attractiveness and sexiness, after stripping, he ends up getting a Raging Stiffie. It also starts him on a path of Character Development.
Stan: You're a fruitcake, you know that?
Peggy: And you're chicken shit.
Peggy calling out Don after his post-Clio drunken binge.
Don's full page letter in the New York Times, venomously condemning big tobacco for the death merchants they are, followed by listing all the agencies who will still work with them. Now that's how you change with the times.
Faye calling Don out on only liking "the beginnings of things."
Ken's refusal to use his future father-in-law to create more business for Sterling Cooper Draper Price.
"I'm not Campbell."
The agency later goes after the business anyways, but Roger personally visits Ken after-hours, lets him know that all he has to do is sit out and not interact at all, and they'll still respect his position. Oh, and Ken bargains to keep Pete Campbell off the account (which Roger wholeheartedly agrees to). "As you were."
Joan and Peggy (separate times) telling off Joey (and creatives) for his misogynistic behavior towards Joan. Peggy makes it final for Joey when he doesn't relent, by firing him.
Joan: You will be pining for the day when someone was trying to make your life easier. And when you're over there, and you're in the jungle and they're shooting at you... Remember you're not dying for me...because I never liked you.
Joey:(to Peggy) This is why I don't like working with women—you have no sense of humor.
Carla and Glen have theirs in "Tomorrowland" when Betty fires Carla for allowing Glen in the house to see Sally. Glen tells Betty she just wants to spread her unhappiness unto other people and Carla classily calls Betty out for being a bad mother.
Season 5
Joan telling off her mother for her traditional views on families and how women should conduct their lives, also for fat-shaming her. She then strides into the agency, baby in tow, to point out how valuable she is.
Gail: You know, you're not exactly at your fighting weight.
Joan: Try me.
Pete closing the deal with Mohawk, and rubbing it in Roger's face after Roger had kept trying to horn in on the deal.
From 5x3:
Peggy effectively shaking Roger down for $400 in spite of the fact that he can fire her.
Don responding to his subconscious' attempt to get him to cheat on Megan with lethal force. It's horrifying in context though.
Joan telling Greg to leave and never come back, followed by her finally calling him out for raping her.
Joan: I'm glad the Army makes you feel like a man, because I'm sick of having to do it. Greg: The Army makes me feel like a good man. Joan: You're not a good man. You never were, even before we were married. And you know just what I'm talking about.
In "Signal 30":
Don giving Pete a What the Hell, Hero? speech for cheating on Trudy with a prostitute.
Lane beating the crap out of Pete in a fair fist fight.
Ken, after being warned by Roger not to keep writing, simply starts writing under a different pen name — in essence, making himself like the robot in his earlier story and refusing to allow others to dictate his life.
Cooper telling Don that his "love leave" is over.
Don: It's none of your business.
Cooper: This is my business.
Don and Megan saving the Heinz account at the last minute.
Megan's dad, Dr. Emil Calvet a Marxist professor and writer needling Pete at the awards dinner about what he does all day at SDCP. Pete then tells Calvet what a literary trailblazer he is and that the world would be better off knowing about his work and Calvet is flattered. Pete then says "That Emil, is what I do every day!" After realizing he's been fooled Calvet can't help but laugh.
Don and Peggy having an argument at the Cool Whip testing place and Peggy telling Don to shut up.
What sells it is just how dumbstruck Don was. He was so speechless that he needed a smoke.
Don expertly parrying Betty's attempt to turn Sally against him with his true past, followed by Sally pointedly letting her know how much she failed.
Don giving a Rousing Speech to the SDCP employees to work hard during the Christmas season to get the Jaguar account.
After being taken for granted by Don again, Peggy quits for a higher paying job at another agency and says goodbye to him ("Don't be a stranger.") She takes one final look at the SDCP offices and smiles before stepping into the elevator as The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" plays on the soundtrack.
A slight moment is when Herb says "C'mon let me see 'em" and lunges towards her breasts, she grabs his hand back, then takes her drink and turns around to motion to her zipper (so he can't see her cry). Joan may be giving this man what he wants, but she will always need to have her boundaries maintained.
In "Fees and Commissions" Don and Roger go to Dow Chemical to meet the execs headed by Ed Baxter (Ray Wise), the same man who told him at the American Cancer Society awards that companies no longer trust Don because of the letter he wrote to the New York Times attacking tobacco companies. Don makes the case that SDCP is the ad agency that can take Dow to even greater success:
Ed: But it doesn't change the fact that we’re happy with our agency. Don: Are you? You’re happy with 50 percent? You’re on top and you don’t have enough. You’re happy because you’re successful...for now. But what is happiness? It’s a moment before you need more happiness. I won’t settle for 50 percent of anything. I want 100 percent. You’re happy with your agency? You’re not happy with anything. You don’t want most of it…you want all of it. And I won’t stop until you get all of it.
Toward the end of "The Phantom", Pete calls Howard out for being the horrible person that he is and attempts to beat the crap out of him. The train conductor who breaks up the fight gets one himself for not putting up with Pete's ego and throwing him off the train.
In "Phantom" the shot of the five SDCP partners Don, Roger, Bert, Pete, and now Joan inspecting the empty new floor they plan to lease above their current office with Joan in the center. The very same Joan who opened the season with being worried that she would be fired while on maternity leave is now in control of the agency.
Mrs. Pryce's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Don for giving her back a pittance of the money Lane put into the firm.
The season finale montage, with a preciously rare cliffhanger, in pure Mad Men style suggesting so many things without actually saying'em. The implication being that "Don Draper is back", a la James Bond, with the music from You Only Live Twice no less.
Excuse me, my friend down there was wondering, are you alone? (Don takes an enigmatic look, fade to black)
Roger and Peggy have theirs in the sequence:
Roger is smiling contentedly and the camera pans to reveal he's buck naked and facing the open window with his ass to the audience. Provider of the Female Gaze? Oh that's nothing
Peggy smiling to herself while she takes a drink on her hotel bed, given that she's Copy Chief and this is her first business trip (even flew the airplane for the first time!). She's going places.
Season 6
Joan encountering Herb Rennet, the man she had to sleep with to get SCDP the Jaguar account.
Herb: I know there's a part of you that's glad to see me. Joan: And I know there's a part of you you haven't seen in years.
Trudy: We're done, Peter. This is over. Pete: You want a divorce? Trudy: I refuse to be a failure. I don't care what you want anymore. This is how it's going to work. You will be here only when I tell you to be here. I'm drawing a 50-mile radius around this house and if you so much as open your fly to urinate, I will destroy you. Do you understand?
Roger saving the day after Don loses the Jaguar account without knowing Pete, Joan and Cooper were planning to take the company go public, by getting a meeting with General Motors.
Don coming up with the idea to merge with Ted Chagaugh's agency so they can have a shot at the GM account.
Joan's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Don after he deliberately loses the Jaguar account, which she had to prostitute herself for the agency to get, and calling him out on his selfishness.
Don: Joan, don't worry. I will win this! Joan:Just once I would like you to use the word "we". Because we're all rooting for you from the sidelines hoping you'll decide whatever you think is right for our lives.
In the same episode, there is Joan at a lunch with an exec from Avon who is considering on taking on the agency, when the bill comes she states that she will take care of it. The Joan that started the show wanted the affluent life and the Man to financially support her has become financially independent and she loves the power.
Joan telling Pete that he'd screw her and Joan over and it was better that she squeezed him out of the Avon lunch date.
Peggy's What the Hell, Hero? speech to Joan can count as one, telling Joan off for all the times she's belittled Peggy and her ambitions of becoming "more than a secretary", then later when she makes up a telegram from Avon appear to save Joan from being fired, and then right after that she tells a thankful and speechless Joan "You better hope they call". When one looks at Joan's Alpha Bitch behavior in earlier seasons and remembers that the last time Peggy saved Joan's ass that the latter called her a "humorless bitch" this feels very triumphant.
Peggy (temporarily) taking Don's office in the Season 6 finale. The apprentice has finally surpassed the master.
Season 7
Don's first appearance in the season premiere. Arriving in Los Angeles by plane Megan picks him up at the airport. The shot of her as she gets out of her new convertible, wearing a sexy blue minidress, and it goes into slo-mo to emphasize her long legs as "I'm a Man" by the Spencer Davis Group plays and cuts to Don as the chorus sings ''And I'm an man/yes I am/and I love you so" just before they kiss. A reminder from the show that no matter how bad life gets for Don, it's still great to be him sometimes.
Joan telling off a condescending professor she meets at a business school by stating she knows more than he and what he thinks she knows about the business. He's going to need another pad.
Professor: I don't know if you can answer this, or even understand it. But, what is the difference?
Joan: Actually I can answer that. And you're going to need another pad.
The second is when Joan promotes her to office manager. Yes, it was largely a way for Joan to get revenge on Lou, Bert, and Peggy, but Dawn's promotion is still very impressive for someone who was hired as a way to avoid fallout from one of Roger's racist jokes.
In "Field Trip", Roger displays more conviction than at any other point in the series when he argues vigorously to keep Don in the firm. While Joan, Bert and (especially) Jim Cutler point out how far Don has brought the firm down in the last several months, Roger points out that officially firing him would prove unprofitable (as they would be forced to buy out his shares, something that would take years to recoup), and that he's done too much for them to throw him aside.
After being asked to do menial work under Peggy, and failing to get Bert to consider as a potential client the firm installing the new computer in the office, Don falls off the wagon. Hard. He phones Freddie Rumsen to go to a Mets game but instead Freddie takes him back to his apartment. After he gets Don to sober up Freddie gives him a combination Rousing Speech:
"I mean are you just going to kill yourself? Give them what you want? Or go in the bedroom, get in uniform, fix your bayonet and hit the parade? Do the work, Don."
And Don does, the next day.
After learning from Harry that Cutler and Lou are planning to drive him out of the agency for good before trying to get Phillip Morris as a client, Don crashes their secret meeting at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, essentially pitching himself to Phillip Morris. He convinces them that despite his letter to the New York Times condemning the entire Tobacco industry, he's still the best man to be working for them, given his years of experience creating campaigns for cigarettes and knowledge of the American Cancer Society's lobbying strategies. Afterwards Lou seethes "You're incredible." and after getting into a cab Cutler smirks "You think this is going to save you, don't you?" Don just shuts the door on him and he whistles for another cab.
After the shock of seeing the box Ginsberg gave her contains his nipple that he cut off and that he has clearly gone insane Peggy maintains her composure enough to walk out of her office and take a phone one of the secretary's desk to call an ambulance. She's come a long way from fainting when a lawnmower ran over someone's foot.
Betty: You know what Henry? I don't know, but maybe that's a good idea!
Joan gracefully turning down Bob Benson when he proposes marriage to her so he can stay in the closet.
Bob Benson: Is this what you want? To be near forty in a two bedroom apartment with a mother and a little boy? I know I am flawed, but I am offering you more than anyone else ever will. Joan: No, you're not, Bob. Because I want love. And I'd rather die hoping that happens than make some arrangement.
After all the years where he's stood by letting things just happen, it felt damned good to watch Roger muster up the backbone and cunning to stop Cutler from exploiting Bert Cooper's death to force Don out.
Heck, even Cutler himself gets one. When Lou comes in to complain about some of the recent actions the firm has taken, Jim immediately shuts him up before sending a ticked off Lou back to work.
Sally gets a small one in her boarding school. As new meat, she's the target of resident mean girls...the next scene with her at school they're totally in awe of her. Clearly she gets something from Don after all.
Peggy gets her chance with the Burger Chef pitch. She gets it.
Bert Cooper's song and dance number. Probably the best way to say goodbye to his character.
Also doubles as a great Actor Allusion for Robert Morse.
Season 7b
Ken gets fired because the execs at McCann Erickson still hold a grudge over his leaving back in season 4. Roger and Pete choose not to fight for him and he seems on the verge of a Despair Event Horizon. Then in the last few minutes of the episode he walks into Roger's office and announces that he got hired as Head of Advertising at Dow Chemical. Rather then simply firing Sterling Cooper in revenge, he is going to keep them as Dow's ad company and he is going to make Roger's and Pete's lives hell.
Meredith has become more competent and efficient at her job, much better than her paststate.
Betty tells Don that she is working on her Masters in Psychology from Fairfield University. The melancholy Betty, who was the subject of a psychologist that shared her info with Don and saw herself as merely a pretty face and dissatisfied homemaker, has came a long way. Also a Funny Moment when she says that people love to confide in her (considering the irony).
Megan: I'm going to say a word. Wasn't going to give you a satisfaction of knowing you ruined my life.
Don: Megan.
Megan: Why did I ever believe you? Why did I believe the things you said to me? Why am I being punished for being young? I gave up everything for you. Because I believed you and you're nothing but a liar. An aging, sloppy, selfish liar.
Then later Megan finally tells off her passive-aggressive, devout Catholic Wet Blanket of a sister after the woman blamed her and New York for the breakdown of their parents' marriage. Megan shoots back that it's sinful to be a ghoul and live on other's misery. Their mother was unhappy for a long time and she's finally doing something about it.
Marie taking all of the furniture from Don's apartment for her daughter.
Peggy telling off Don for laughing at her dream of being Creative Director.
Why don't you tell me all your dreams? So that I can shit on them?
In that same episode, Mathis drops on Don, what is perhaps the most apt and brief "The Reason You Suck" Speech ever delivered to Don:
You don’t have any character. You’re just handsome. Stop kidding yourself.
Joan tells off her boyfriend for freaking out about her being a Mom of a young child and about how that was going to cramp their more self-centered plans of touring Egypt and having non-stop sex. She basically pointed out that he was basically wanting her to choose him over her child.
Pete finally giving a good sucker punch to a headmaster, who is withholding Tammy's admission into the day school, over a 200 year grudge between their families.
Meredith telling Don that she demands some information about her job security. Not bad for the resident dumbass.
What's more is that unlike the smarter Dawn and Peggy, she doesn't take a lot of screen time to develop a tougher skin before standing up to him; basically what took half of the whole series for Peggy and 3 seasons for Dawn, she did within a year! Meredith has become the Neville Longbottom of Mad Men!
Joan standing up to Jim Hobart. Telling him off for all the sexism she's experienced from his underlings and revealing him to be the coward and bully he pretends not to be. She even threatens to take her half-million dollars with her (which she does) and threatens to seek a lawyer, ACLU, Betty Friedan, and the Equal Employment Opportunity.
Later when she finds it's better to accept Hobart's deal and leave with half of her million dollars, in a move that befits the name Bittersweet Ending, she takes off with her son's portrait and her rolex. She's going to make some calls.
Betty is reading a book about hysteria, a deliberate call back to when Don had her go to a therapist over her insecurities and shaking fingers, now it's so nice to see her dissect her past life.
Pete's passionate proposal to Trudy to reunite with him and move with him to Wichita. Despite her initial hesitations, they reconcile with a Big Damn Kiss.
After finding out she's going to die in less than a year, Betty still decides to resume her classes at the college and is seen slowly holding on the rail while heading to her classes. This is a long way from the passive and depressed Main Line princess who always expected someone like her husbands or her parents to care for her.
Also her decision to not have the treatments (which would prolong her but not alleviate her suffering) despite what the grieving and aghast Henry and her Doctor say. After spending most of her life being dependent on what men think of her and of being the passive player in her life, she decides to take control of her own life even if it means the end of it.
The series finale leaves most of our main characters on a high or happy note:
Roger seems to have found true love with a woman his own age in Marie.
Joan is starting a successful film production company for advertisers. She is now her own boss.
I can't just turn off that part of myself.
When Joan meets with Ken for lunch, aside from him mentioning that she looks spectacular, there isn't any emphasis on her looks or any ogling from others. Joan has managed to move past being judged first for her looks and is respected as a peer.
Pete and Trudy head off to their new glamorous jet-setting life, literally.
Subverted with Betty, too weak from cancer to do anything but sleep and sit, while Sally has given up her plans to travel to Europe in order to take care of her and her family. Any semblance of happiness is that mother and daughter have in their own way reconciled.
Peggy turns down Joan's genuinely tempting offer to team up on Joan's production company, preferring instead to stay on at McCann and follow through on her dream of becoming the next Don Draper. Not only does she keep the job and looks like she'll be doing well at it, but she and Stan realize their love for each other and start a relationship that may finally work out. Peggy gets the job and the guy.
Peggy facing off with her new boss, who seems to be trying to snatch the Chevalier Blanc account. What Joan failed to do at McCann, Peggy just succeeded in.
Peggy: Call David. In fact, why don’t we go and see him right now? I’m sure he’d love to get involved
Topped off by Don. Having spent the past three episodes fleeing his identity, tossing away his worldly goods, reaching a Buddhist retreat at his lowest spiritual moment, he's last seen meditating on a Pacific-side hilltop. In the middle of "ohm"-ing, and with a chime, Don flashes a big shit-eating grin: he's just dreamed up the famous "I'd Like To Buy The World a Coke" ad which promptly plays out to the show's credits.
. Credit is being given to David Miami (Heinz' current ad agency) and to both SCDP and Matthew Weiner.
