Episode 3.07: Seven Twenty Three

Friday, July 19 through Tuesday July 23, 1963.

Flashforward*
Three unknown locations
Peggy and an unknown man are naked and asleep together.

Betty is lying on a couch we’ve never seen, dreamy and awake.

Don is passed out on a motel room floor. He awakens, we see his face is badly bruised.

Friday, July 19, 1963
Ossining: The Draper residence
We see Don sprucing up, looking great, coming downstairs. There he encounters Betty and the decorator, who want Don’s opinion on the new living room. He makes a suggestion and leaves.

Sterling Cooper: Manhattan
When Don arrives at work he encounters Roger in the elevator. They discuss Ogilvy’s new book, which Roger has in galleys.

Coming to his office, Don sees Paul, Pete, Sal, and Harry hovering around his secretary, Alison’s, desk. They inform him that Conrad Hilton is waiting in his office. Everyone is all aflutter; Don even smooths his hair. When Don walks in we see Connie sitting at his desk, forcing Don to sit in a guest chair. Connie then gives Don the account for his three New York hotels, they shake on it and Connie leaves. The office then bursts into applause.

Draper residence
A Junior League meeting is happening in Betty’s new living room. They discuss fighting the new water tank. They want to appeal to the governor’s office; Betty mentions that she knows Henry Francis, and they encourage her to call him, saying “He’s a big deal.”

Sterling Cooper
The meeting postponed by Connie is taking place; it’s about Jai Alai. The guys ask about Connie but he’s tight-lipped. Pete stays behind to ask to be on the Hilton account.

Draper residence
Betty leaves a phone message for Henry, then calls the kids in for lunch. Henry calls back immediately; Betty looks startled and flustered, sees the kids fighting at the sink, and decides to pick up the call in the office. She instructs them to hang up the phone when she picks up, but of course Bobby hangs up too soon. Henry calls right back and Betty goes into the office.

Henry asks after the new baby, and Betty seems pleased he remembered. Their conversation is flirtatious. They make plans to meet tomorrow (Saturday) at 3:00 pm at Swenson’s Bakery, and then hike to the reservoir that the Junior League is trying to save.

Sterling Cooper
Peggy opens a gift as Pete barges in; they discuss the gifts they’ve each received from Duck. Peggy is really taken with the Hermes scarf. They discuss Hilton, and then Pete tells Peggy he is afraid of Duck and she should send the gift back. She wants to keep it.

In Cooper’s office, Roger, Bert, and Lane congratulate Don on Hilton. Then they all explain to Don that he has to sign a contract if they’re to get the Hilton account. Lane hands him a three-year contract with a $5,000 signing bonus and a raise. Don fights back, Cooper puts his foot down.

Flashforward
In the motel room, Don staggers to his feet, sees his bruised face in the mirror.

Betty is on the couch, her hands explore her own body sensually.

Saturday, July 20, 1963
Ossining
Betty arrives at Swenson’s and sees Henry. They greet each other with an allusion to the notion that they should be, but are not, chaperoned. They discuss the reservoir issue, and then Betty turns the conversation personal, asking what Henry does, talking about college. Henry orders pie and says he is not sure what can be done about the reservoir.

In a local park, Sally’s teacher, Miss Farrell, has a group of kids making camera obscuras to view the eclipse, which is 22 minutes away. Carlton and Don look on.

At Swenson’s Bakery, Henry says he has to leave. As they exit, they encounter two people looking at the eclipse through “a contraption.” Betty stares directly at it, then Henry covers her eyes. Betty is momentarily dizzy. As they walk, they pass Wentworth’s antique store, and Henry says what Betty needs is the fainting couch in the window. She then declines his offer to walk her to her car, since Ossining is a small town.

In the park, all the kids use their “sunscopes.” Miss Farrell is edgy with Don about the possibility of flirtation, but hangs around anyway. Sally calls her away, and Don puts on his sunglasses and stares right at the eclipse.

Flashforward
Peggy in the hotel bed.

Monday, July 22
Sterling Cooper
Peggy phones Duck. She says she intends to return the scarf, and he suggests she come by to his hotel, the Pierre, where he’s meeting with clients, and return it in person.

In Don’s office, Roger confronts him about the contract. He knows that Don hasn’t given it to his lawyer. Don is silent. As Roger leaves, Peggy comes in with art for Martinsons. Peggy asks about Hilton and Don reads her the riot act, bringing her to tears.

The Draper residence
Betty receives a call from Roger Sterling. He asks Betty to influence Don to sign the contract. Betty says Roger is being disrespectful and hangs up.

The Pierre
Peggy arrives at Duck’s room and hands him the scarf. She is late; the Hermes people are gone. Duck invites her in for a drink. They discuss his offer to come to Grey and she turns him down. They shake on it, and then he kisses her and she responds.

Ossining
Don arrives home. Betty sends the kids upstairs. She tells Don about Roger’s call. They argue, and Don walks out with his hat and his drink.

Don is driving, apparently on the Taconic Parkway.

The Pierre
Duck and Peggy are in bed together.

Ossining
Don picks up a couple of hitchhikers, Doug and Sandy. They explain that they are getting married so Doug can avoid the draft. They give Don a couple of phenobarbital (which they call “reds”). At the motel, Don and Sandy are dancing, very high. Doug is drinking beer. Doug and Sandy dance and Don sits down; he sees his father sitting in the corner. Don hallucinates an argument with his father, and when it’s over, he sits, staring. Doug comes over and bashes him in the head to knock him out.

Tuesday, July 23
A motel in Westchester
It’s morning, and Don is looking in the motel mirror and sees the note the hitchhikers left; they have left his car and a dollar in his wallet.

The Pierre
Peggy is in bed and now we see she’s with Duck. He pulls her to him for another go-round; she smiles.

The Draper residence
Betty, in the outfit we’ve seen her in during flashforwards, shows the fainting couch to the decorator, who hates it. It is taking the position of the hearth, which the decorator previously said was the soul of the home.

Sterling Cooper
Peggy and Don arrive work, each a little worse for wear. Don explains his face as the result of a fender-bender; Peggy is momentarily self-conscious about wearing yesterday’s clothes. Alison tells Don that Mr. Cooper is waiting in his office. Again, Don finds his own chair is occupied. Cooper tells Don he’s been carrried on Sterling Cooper’s shoulders and it’s time to pay back. Don signs the contract.

The Draper residence
The door opening awakens Betty from her reverie on the couch; Don tells her “I signed it” and goes upstairs; Betty returns to her thoughts.

*Seven Twenty Three opens, and intercuts, with flashforwards to the final day, July 23, but we do not discover when these scenes occur until the end of the episode.

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