Mr. Campbell, who cares?
On election night (November 8, 1960), Sterling Cooper's employees have an all-night office party to watch the presidential election results, hoping for Nixon to win against Kennedy. Pete discovers Don's real name is Dick Whitman, and that Whitman officially died in the Korean War in 1950. The next day, when Don tells Pete that Duck Phillips will become the new head of accounts, Pete tries to use this knowledge to blackmail Don into giving Pete the job and tells Cooper — who chooses not to believe him and orders Don to fire Pete or have him show his loyalty. Don chooses the latter and remembers his past in the Korean War -– including the accidental death of Lieutenant Draper and Private Whitman's subsequent switching of identities in order to escape from his past. He then comes home and disappointedly watches Nixon's concession speech.
This episode contains examples of:
- Accidental Murder: Subversion. Dick Whitman didn't really kill Don Draper, but when he dropped his lighter, the flames caught onto some leaked gas that spread, causing Draper to stumble away while trying to stomp it out. This put him in a dangerous position when their location was bombed again, and he was consumed in a blast that burned him beyond recognition. And so Dick took his identity and became Don.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Ken smiles somewhat at Paul's potshot aimed at him.
- Amicable Exes: Paul and Joan come to be these, at least for the duration of election night.
- Attending Your Own Funeral: Variation: After more or less stealing his identity, "Don" is tasked with bringing "Dick"'s body back to the states. Although he can't bring himself to exit the train to present the body, he can see out of the train window his family observing the casket. Adam spots him.
- Blackmail: Pete threatens to expose Don's identity if he doesn't make him Head of Accounts. Don, deciding it isn't worth having this held above his head, pulls the trigger and has Pete reveal the truth to Bert. Unfortunately for Pete, not only does Bert (apparently) not believe him, he says that he wouldn't fire Don even if he did.
- Book Ends: The episode opens with footage of people preparing to vote for the Nixon/Kennedy election being shown on television. The episode ends with Don watching Nixon's concession speech on television.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Don Draper notes that Dick Whitman wet himself during one of the bombardments.
- Brutal Honesty: Joan doesn't put up a facade when Paul asks her if she liked his play, instead honestly answering "no".Paul: The meaner you are, the more I like you.Joan: I know.
- Cassandra Truth: Adam spots Dick on the train, and points him out to his parents, each of whom thinks he's either hallucinating or acting foolish.Adam: (looking at the train) There he is! I see him!Mrs. Whitman: (turns to Adam, but not the train) Who?Adam: Dick! He's on the train! I see him!Mrs. Whitman: (turns Adam back to the casket) No, he's right here.Adam: (turns back to the train; sadly) But I saw him. I saw him in the window over there.Mrs. Whitman: (harshly) Stop it. No more of that.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Dick Whitman has been masquerading as Don Draper for ten years.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance:
- The enthusiastic support of the young staff of Sterling Cooper for Nixon over Kennedy plays as this to modern audiencesnote . Not only would Kennedy win, but he would be remembered as perhaps one of the most iconic American figures ever, while Nixonnote is remembered as one of America's most infamous presidents. Justified as Sterling Cooper has been been providing advertising services to the Nixon campaign, so wishing their client a successful campaign is as much a point of professional pride for the staff as a personal political stance.
- Ken Cosgrove demanding Allison reveal the color of her panties before pulling her skirt up for himself in front of a full office would get him fired and blacklisted, if not arrested, in present day. (To be fair, the other women in the office don't seem too impressed in 1960 either.)
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Word of God says it's Truth in Television, based on a real practice called "scuttling". In the real version, they would have removed the panties to present the color to observers.
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- Didn't Think This Through: Rachel calls Don out on this when he suggest running away with him, and Don notes that Pete clearly is suffering from this regarding his blackmail.
- Pete makes an outlandish-sounding accusation against Don, which he does know to be true, but has no actual way of proving thanks to his giving the documents that proved it back to Don before thinking to try blackmailing him. Sure enough, instead of being outraged by Don's actions, Bert says that he has no reason to believe Pete's accusations given that he hasn't done anything to substantiate them — and as the kicker, adds that he wouldn't have fired Don regardless.
- Do with Him as You Will: Bert decides simply to send Pete back to working on his accounts, before turning to Don and telling him that Campbell's fate is up to him.Bert: Don, fire him if you want. But I'd keep an eye on him. One never knows how loyalty is won.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Peggy has been crying privately in Don's office, wondering why she's treated so hostilely.Peggy: I don't understand. I try to do my job. I follow the rules. And people hate me. Innocent people get hurt, and and other people - people who are not good - get to walk around doing whatever they want. It's not fair.
- Foregone Conclusion: The result of the titular presidential election is this to the viewers, but not to the characters, who mostly cling to the belief that Nixon's going to beat Kennedy.
- The Glasses Come Off: Harry takes them off while talking to Hildy.Hildy: I've never really seen your eyes before.Harry: There they are. Just the two of them.
- Hangover Sensitivity: The guys are pretty dazed after drinking during election night and implore Peggy to keep her voice down.
- Heel Realization: Paul seems to realize how much of a fool he can be during his conversation with Joan.
- Hideous Hangover Cure: Ken and Paul are seen drinking some kind of substance to get over their hangovers, remarking that it's not for the taste.
- Insult Backfire: Joan notes that Paul really loves to be called Orson Welles.
- It's All About Me: Upon learning Don's secret, Pete expects Don to make him Head of Accounts to keep him quiet or, if Don refuses to play along, tell Bert Cooper to fire Don for the sake of the company. In turn, Pete is unable to process Don deciding to tell Bert Cooper personally that he's giving Herman Phillips the accounts position, and is just dumbstruck when Bert Cooper doesn't care about Don's lie.
- It's All My Fault: Peggy finds out that two people got fired after she made a call about her missing items. As she points out, they weren't even at the office to steal her items on election night.
- Karma Houdini: As Peggy pointed out, she deals with her co-workers' crap and two guys got fired for a theft they weren't there to commit, while whoever stole her items got away scot free.
- Morton's Fork: Duck notes the situation he's in when Cooper asks who he voted for.Duck: If I say Nixon, you'll think I'm buttering you. If I say Kennedy, you'll want to reform me. So, uh... I'll say Nixon.
- Put on a Bus: Rachel makes her last appearance as a main character (as much as she ever was one), cutting off her relationship with Don.
- The Reveal: We see just how Dick Whitman came to be Don Draper in a flashback.
- Shout-Out: Peggy is compared to Broderick Crawford for her ferociousness at finding out who broke into her locker the morning after election night.
- Stock Footage: Of various newsreels during Election Night in 1960, as well as Nixon's concession speech.
- Take That!: In-universe version. Paul's play has the main character referring to another one named "Cosgrove" as a hack and boorish natural. Harry immediately starts cracking up.
- Tender Tears: Peggy, crying alone in Don's office, both because she inadvertently got people fired and because she feels unappreciated by others.
- Wham Episode: This is the one where we find out how Dick Whitman became Don Draper.
- Wham Line: Bert Cooper's line to Campbell upon hearing about Don's secret, as seen above.
- Rachel's line that she uses when breaking up with Don, seen below, can also count as one.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Rachel calls Don out on wanting to drop everything and run away without thinking things through. It causes her to see through Don and the true nature of their relationship.Rachel: You don't want to run away with me. You just want to run away. You're a coward.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: When Don calls Pete out on his bluff, the latter wonders if he thinks this trope is in play.
