Despite Todd VanDerWerff cover at the AV Club creaming himself about “The Suitcase” and rambling on while repeating the same concept just about five times in a single review, it wasn’t one of Mad Men’s strongest efforts. It wasn’t bad, by any stretch of the imagination, just not classic.

The last two weeks, though, have seen the show ape a severely different tenor than it had been accustomed to. Prior to this episode in “Waldorf Stories,” the show’s run time was dedicated to watching Don get wasted, which provided an opportunity for the character to come off in a way viewers might not have expected. It wasn’t comedic, but there was a dour air of slapstick running through everything.

Everyone’s a bit more sober this time around – Roger especially and he’s none too pleased about it. But with a looming deadline and Peggy’s b-day dinner, there were ample opportunities for the show to exercise some dramatic muscle.

Pretty quickly, a pile of story lines present themselves: that birthday and work, obviously. But then there’s the relationship Peggy’s in and the Ali-Liston fight everyone’s clamoring about, even Trudy in her pregnant glory (and no, I have no idea why she went into the bathroom to wash her hands and chat with Peggy).

As to be expected, though, Peggy bows to Don’s whining about her work, misses her dinner and gets into a bit of verbal sparring with her boss. The most bizarre thing about all of this is that Don goes from smarmy, asshole boss to buddy in something like fifteen or twenty seconds. The tape he uncovers of Roger dictating his memoirs is obviously amusing – and revelatory in terms of Don’s secretary – but why wasn’t he working on the pitch?

That aside, “The Suitcase,” even with it’s odd tone and scant variation on setting presents an interesting moment in American pop culture as well as in Peggy’s life – both professional and personal.

Best Moment: There wasn’t anything really standing out over the course of the show, solid as it was. Watching Roger wallow in a phone booth was pretty amusing though.

Notes: Although we find out Don’s friend in California died, there’s not too much else in this episode that contributed to the overall arch of the season – where were the Draper kids?

Episode Rating: 4.25 (Severing ties with what’s become a traditional Mad Men episode goes a long way towards making this particular entry a good one. Just not great.)