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Three Sundays
Three sundays
Production
Season 2 Episode 4
Air date 17 August 2008
Written by Andre Jacquemetton
Maria Jacquemetton
Directed by Tim Hunter

Previous
The Benefactor
Next
The New Girl

Intro[]

Peggy's family entertains a new priest assigned to their parish; Pete and Ken wine and dine an attractive client who captures Roger's attention; the agency staff rallies to prepare for an under-the-gun pitch meeting. "Grin and Bear It" theme.

Synopsis[]

Peggy, hungover and temporarily slipping out of Mass, meets the church's visiting priest, John Gill, who tells her he'll be dining at her sister's place that afternoon.

At the Draper house, Don convinces Betty Hofstadt to skip a barbecue party by getting frisky with her, but Sally and Robert Draper interrupt them. Later, holding cocktails mixed by Sally, Don and Betty slow dance to a Bing Crosby ballad.

Father Gill regales the Olson dinner guests with tales of the Vatican. After the meal, he gives Peggy a lift to the subway, where he solicits help on a sermon. Peggy suggests he make eye contact and speak colloquially.

Meanwhile at a swank restaurant, Roger Sterling and his wife, Mona Sterling, ask their daughter, Margaret Sterling, and her fiancé about their wedding plans. Margaret envisions a low-key event, but Mona advocates something more lavish.

On Monday over lunch, Vicky, a hooker, Pete Campbell and Ken Cosgrove have engaged for a client, introduces herself to Roger as the man's wife. Back at the office, Bobbie Barrett arrives unannounced to propose a Candid Camera-like television show starring her husband Jimmy: Grin and Barrett. After Don suggests a way to resolve any contractual issues, Bobbie gets affectionate. Don protests he has work to finish. "Bullshit," Bobbie replies, locks the door, and prepares to kneel in front of Don.

At home that night, Betty wants Don to scold Bobby for breaking the record player but finds Don's verbal reprimand insufficient. "Do you think you'd be the man you are today if your father didn't hit you?" she asks.

On Palm Sunday, Herman Phillips calls Don. The American Airlines pitch has been moved up to Friday. Don is needed at the office pronto. While the men talk on the phone, Bobby gets burned on the griddle. Betty angrily takes him to the emergency room, leaving Don to take Sally with him to the office.

Herman Phillips wants Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency to present American Airlines with several approaches, but Don, saying he doesn't like "wiggle room," wants his creative team to commit to one concept. Meanwhile, Roger Sterling meets up with Vicky in a hotel room. When he tries to kiss her, she says no until he offers more money.

During a dinner break at the office, Don emerges in the bullpen to say of the recent jetliner disaster: "That crash happened to somebody else. Let's pretend we know what 1963 looks like."

After Don speaks, Sally, who had earlier initiated a conversation with Joan Holloway about breasts and Paul Kinsey about sex, helps herself to a leftover glass of whiskey. By the time Don collects her to head home, she's fast asleep. Roger extends his time with Vicky, paying her to dine with him at the French restaurant Lutece.

On Good Friday, Herman Phillips informs stunned Sterling Cooper staffers that his contact at American was fired that morning. The presentation will take place, though the agency will be, Don remarks, delivering "a stillborn baby". At confession, Anita Olson Respola admits to Father Gill that she hates Peggy. Anita reveals Peggy had a child out of wedlock and acts like nothing happened.

"No regrets, fellas," Roger tells Don and Herman Phillips following the American pitch. "We were in it. That's the important thing." After Herman Phillips leaves, Don comments that Herman Phillips was hired to generate new business, not lose old business, but Roger waxes about the thrill of the chase for a new client.

During dinner that night, Bobby knocks over a drink with his toy robot. Betty demands Don do something, so Don throws the robot against a wall. "Is that what you wanted?" he asks before leaving the kitchen. Betty follows him and they argue about parenting. "I'm here all day alone with them. Outnumbered," Betty protests. "You want me to bring home what I got at the office today? I'll put you through that window," he responds. Betty pushes him in the chest, he pushes right back.

Bobby apologizes to Don for the kitchen incident then asks Don if his daddy got mad. After a few more questions about Don's late father, Bobby says, "We have to get you a new daddy." Don hugs him.

"You have nothing to say?" Betty asks Don in bed. "He's a little kid," Don replies. "My father beat the hell out of me. All it did was make me fantasize about the day I could murder him." Stunned, Betty replies, "I didn't know that." She puts her arm around him.

Outside church on Easter Sunday, the children hunt for eggs. Father Gill wishes Peggy a happy Easter and hands her a painted egg. "For the little one," he says.

Trivia[]

  • Both Jon Hamm and John Slattery had colds during the shooting of this episode. In the season 2 commentary track, Matthew Weiner said it lent to vulnerability to each character in the episode.
  • The book Betty is reading, "Babylon Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a callback to the previous episode.
  • Colin Hanks, the actor who plays Father Gill, was a huge fan of the show before being cast for the role. Before the show aired, he read an article in the New York Times about a show made by one of the people writing the Sopranos and he thought that the idea was interesting. He called his agent and fought to get a meeting with Matthew Weiner, and he said yes. Hanks was called in for a different role, but was given something else in the end.
  • Originally, there was an idea to develop a relationship between Father Gill and Peggy, but Matthew Weiner and the writers decided to go in a different direction.
  • The car scene between Peggy/Father Gill was one of the only location shots during the episode, shot in downtown Los Angeles. Colin Hanks actually drove that car and was proud of it.
  • In the commentary track for season 2, Matthew Weiner says that the Roger/escort storyline is based on a true story, where the underlings set up a client with a prostitute and the higher-up in the firm thought it was his wife.
  • Jon Hamm ad-libbed the “you need to shave” from Don to Sally when Don gets home.
  • Bobby burning his chin is something Matthew Weiner did when he was young.
  • Kiernan Shipka improvised when she starts cleaning up the spill. It wasn’t written before.
  • The church Peggy's family attends actually exists in the neighborhood where Peggy lives. The Holy Innocents Church in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn at Beverley Road and E. 17th St.

Cast[]

Main Star[]

Guest Star[]

Seasons of Mad Men
Season 1 • "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" • "Ladies Room" • "Marriage of Figaro" • "New Amsterdam" • "5G" • "Babylon" • "Red in the Face" • "The Hobo Code" • "Shoot" • "Long Weekend" • "Indian Summer" • "Nixon vs. Kennedy" • "The Wheel" •
Season 2 • "For Those Who Think Young" • "Flight 1" • "The Benefactor" • "Three Sundays" • "The New Girl" • "Maidenform" • "The Gold Violin" • "A Night to Remember" • "Six Month Leave" • "The Inheritance" • "The Jet Set" • "The Mountain King" • "Meditations in an Emergency" •
Season 3 • "Out of Town" • "Love Among the Ruins" • "My Old Kentucky Home" • "The Arrangements" • "The Fog" • "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" • "Seven Twenty Three" • "Souvenir" • "Wee Small Hours" • "The Color Blue" • "The Gypsy and the Hobo" • "The Grown-Ups" • "Shut the Door. Have a Seat" •
Season 4 • "Public Relations" • "Christmas Comes But Once a Year" • "The Good News" • "The Rejected" • "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" • "Waldorf Stories" • "The Suitcase" • "The Summer Man" • "The Beautiful Girls" • "Hands and Knees" • "Chinese Wall" • "Blowing Smoke" • "Tomorrowland" •
Season 5 • "A Little Kiss, Part 1" • "A Little Kiss, Part 2" • "Tea Leaves" • "Mystery Date" • "Signal 30" • "Far Away Places" • "At the Codfish Ball" • "Lady Lazarus" • "Dark Shadows" • "Christmas Waltz" • "The Other Woman" • "Commissions and Fees" • "The Phantom" •
Season 6 • "The Doorway, Part 1" • "The Doorway, Part 2" • "The Collaborators" • "To Have and To Hold" • "The Flood" • "For Immediate Release" • "Man With a Plan" • "The Crash" • "The Better Half" • "A Tale of Two Cities" • "Favors" • "The Quality of Mercy" • "In Care Of" •
Season 7 • "Time Zones" • "A Day's Work" • "Field Trip" • "The Monolith" • "The Runaways" • "The Strategy" • "Waterloo" • "Severance" • "New Business" • "The Forecast" • "Time & Life" • "Lost Horizon" • "The Milk and Honey Route" • "Person to Person" •
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