The ad men at Sterling Cooper don't have any idea how daunting a job they all have. As the men who make the faces of the companies they represent, they have to pretend they know about everything, especially things they've never even imagined. "Babylon" is an episode about all the things Don Draper and his coworkers don't understand and how they have to find a way to sell them anyway.

This week's client is the Israel Board of Tourism, shopping around Madison Avenue for an agency that can sell the idea of Haifa as a luxury cruise destination. This is no small task considering the state of political unrest that was Israel in the 1960's. Though the region can't exactly be called at peace today, as of the era depicted in Mad Men the country was constantly on the brink of total war. Seven years after the events of this episode, the place Sterling Cooper has to sell as an exotic getaway was an actual war zone. But the Arab/Israeli conflict isn't exactly Don's biggest problem with the account. He and the boys have to get over their dismissive blind spot concerning Jews before they can even begin to market tourism to Haifa.

Even worse than the executives' antisemitism is their complete inability to see the value of the women in their lives. One of the market researchers is so stunned by mousy secretary Peggy's advertising insight that he likens it to "watching a dog play piano". While watching the office girls through a two-way mirror as they participate in a study about lipstick, the Sterling Cooper men fail to see the potential advertising genius that is literally right in front of them.

But they're not the only ones looking at people who don't have the ability to look back at them. "Babylon" is the episode that introduces Roger Sterling Jr.'s affair with office manager Joan. The two regularly meet at a hotel and it's apparent from the first time we see them together that Roger is utterly clueless about the nature of their arrangement. Joan is a social climber and a thorough independent. Roger deludes himself into thinking he might be able to make Joan into a trophy wife or some kind of escape from his emotionally unsatisfying life, but for Joan the affair is just another stop along her path to success. What should seem glamorous about the affair ends up being little more than sad, a sentiment that applies to so many aspects of the lives of the Madison Avenue set.

Best Moment: I really enjoyed Don's uncomfortable evening at the beatnik club. The show has done such a good job of putting us viewers in Don's thoroughly "The Man" mindset that it's all too easy to dismiss the arty ramblings of the people at the club.

Notes: The book everyone talks about in this episode, Exodus by Leon Uris, was itself a pretty effective bit of marketing. It was the brain child of a public relations professional named Edward Gottlieb who commissioned Uris to write the book for the sole purpose of improving Americans' image of Israel.

Episode Rating: 5/5- Aside from doing a great job of capturing the zeitgeist of 1960, "Babylon" gave us the next step in Peggy's professional evolution and a few really stunning shots (i.e. the closing shot of Joan and Roger waiting for two separate cabs outside their hotel).