I can really only respect a TV show that mines drama from a mystery if it demonstrates a willingness to solve the mystery at an appropriate time. Too many shows confuse plot twists with progress and secrets with character depth. The whole first season of Mad Men revolves around the question of who Don Draper really is. It's the central mystery that promises to unlock unspoken volumes about the show's main character and how he affects those around him. The season doles out bits and pieces of Don's real self over the course of thirteen episodes in a way that humanizes him without exactly diminishing his power and mystique. This method places just as much importance on who knows what about Don as it does on the content of the mystery itself. "Nixon vs. Kennedy" finally answers just how Dick Whitman became Don Draper and what, if anything, that means for the man as of November 1960.

On Election Night while the secretaries and junior executives party hard at the Sterling Cooper office, an especially petulant Pete Campbell plots what he imagines will be Don's downfall. In "Indian Summer" Pete got his hands on the package Don's step-brother sent to him before committing suicide but Pete's been sitting on the box of photos and trinkets for a solid month. When the time comes to seek a new head of accounts at Sterling Cooper, Don displays an unwillingness to promote Pete. After a couple increasingly confrontational conversations, Pete uses the box as his trump card, blackmailing Don with his true past.

At first Don freaks out, which is something that happens with increasing frequency throughout the season. Once unflappable and austere, Don spends the second half of Season 1 barely keeping his cool under pressure. He had a moment of incredible weakness in "Long Weekend" when Roger had his first heart attack and his reaction to Pete's threats push him even deeper into his secret cowardice. Don shows up at Rachel Menkin's office and pleads with her to run away with him to Los Angeles, a poorly thought-out and ultimately aborted plan that comes out of desperation and a lack of good ideas. Forced to face the music in Manhattan, Don calls Pete's bluff and brings himself before CEO Cooper.

In the meantime, we finally get to learn exactly how Dick Whitman got his new identity. During a particularly sparse period of the Korean War, Dick was dispatched to a distant field hospital populated by only one other man, a congenial army engineer named Lt. Donald Draper. Alone in a pointless and mostly indefensible position, Dick and Don spend a few days digging trenches while a battle rages just a couple miles away. They're only just beginning to bond when a mortar attack forces them into a foxhole. Afterward, Dick accidentally sparks a fire from a spilled fuel tank, killing Don and injuring himself. In the aftermath, Dick switches dog tags with Don's charred corpse, fooling the army officials who recover them and securing himself a new identity. Throughout the whole ordeal, young Dick Whitman is a scared, insecure farm boy, the farthest thing from the powerful executive we see ten years later.

As for Cooper's response to learning that Don isn't who he says he is, it all boils down to a philosophically charged "who cares?" In the midst of a quite possibly corrupt election and a whole business dedicated to misdirection, one stolen identity doesn't even register.

Best Moment: Don's last confrontation with Pete is a master class of subtle acting. Jon Hamm knows exactly how to convey Don's layers of anger, fear and revulsion with just one contorted facial expression.

Notes: Poor Peggy. Even after all this time, she still can't accept that bad people get ahead in her line of work.

Episode Rating: 5/5- "Nixon vs. Kennedy" is nothing but a string of really excellent scenes and amazing dialogue. Television at its best, really.