Inside Mad Men: Season 7, Episode 9 — “New Business”

Betty is back and so are Bobby. She tells Don that she’s going to get her Masters in Psychology. When Don gets back to his house, Megan calls him to tell him that the movers will be coming to his apartment to move her stuff out. And she asks him for $500.

Roger and his mustache meet with his secretaries to call a client. Harry Crane tells Don that Megan is meeting with him.

Don sees the waitress, Diana, he banged last week in a diner. She’s now working in a steakhouse. Don wants to meet her out of work. Peggy is taking Stan off a job and he’s pissed. Diana calls Don at home. She wants to know how he found her. She tells him she’s from Wisconsin and got a divorce. He asks her to come over. She does. Diana is impressed with Don’s apartment.

Don asks Diana if she wants a drink. She tells him she’s already drunk. He asks if she wants a glass of water. They kiss and they do the freakdance. Afterwards, Diana tells Don she doesn’t want to sleep over, but she doesn’t want to leave. They talk for a while. He confirms that he’s divorced.

In the morning, Diana sees the boys’ bedroom in Don’s apartment. She does to a bed and starts crying. She tells him she lied to him. She had a daughter who died from the flu. Diana tells Don to go to work. She cuddles with Don.

At a casting call, Peggy and Stan meet photographer Pema Ryan. It’s an awkward introduction. Peva is impressed with Peggy.

Don is back to his office at 11:30 where he sees Roger in his office. Roger tells Don to play golf with a client. Roger gives some advice to Don about the divorce and not to settle to pay any price.

Pema tells Stan that she doesn’t like the fact that her negatives are the property of McCann Erickson. She wants to see his work.

Megan is back in New York to see her family and talks with her sister. Don sees Arnold and Sylvia. Arnold makes a comment about bringing the restaurant home. Diana asks Don how many women he’s had in the elevator. He makes a snide remark.

Stan takes pics of his girlfriend to show Pema. Don and Diana cuddle again. While in bed, Don gets a call that Megan is coming and tells Diana that they should leave. She says the next time they meet.

Don forgets he’s playing golf. Pete scolds him.

While Megan is moving out of Don’s apartment, her mother and sister are making snide remarks to each other. Everyone is fighting. Megan goes to have lunch with Harry Crane. As she leaves, she takes one last look at the apartment that was once part of her life.

Pete is being Pete while Don tells him he didn’t want to swing by his apartment because Megan is there. Marie Calvert is negotiating with the movers while they have cleaned the apartment out. The movers want more money. Marie calls Don who isn’t there. She then wants to speak with Roger and demands him to come to the apartment to bring cash.

Peva sees Stan in the darkroom and they kiss.

Roger brings cash to the movers and pays them $180. He then kisses Marie. She asks Roger to take advantage of him. Holy frijoles.

Megan and Harry meet for lunch. She tells him that she hasn’t gotten any work in months. Harry tells her to get another agent. Harry says he can’t believe Don threw Megan away. Harry looks like he wants to make the moves on Megan. She leaves.

Megan goes back to Don’s apartment and is surprised to see Roger and a clean apartment. Marie enters from the bedroom putting on her clothes and is surprised to see Megan. Megan asks why the apartment is clean. Marie says she took what she thought Megan deserved. Roger tries to do the Walk of Shame out of the apartment.

Don is back from golf with some clubs. Harry ties to do damage control, but Don doesn’t care.

Petty sees Pema and wants her to take a look at some pictures. Pema then tries to pick up Peggy by stroking her face and touching her hand.

Don and Megan meet at the lawyer’s office to make the divorce final. She’s angry and starts spouting stuff that Roger warned him about. He writes her a check for $1,000,000 and while she protests for a bit, she takes it, takes off her ring. Don apologizes and she asks him to send her the papers and leaves.

Stan boasts to Peggy that he and Pema kissed. Peggy tells him that she’s not going to give Pema another job. He’s surprised and Peggy tells Stan that Pema’s a hustler and she tried the same thing on her. Stan walks out angry.

Megan sees her sister and finds out her mother is going to leave their dad.

Stan and his girlfriend cuddle in their apartment. Don meets Diana at her apartment and they immediately kiss. The apartment isn’t as nice as Don’s. Diana tells him that one daughter died and she left a daughter back in Wisconsin. She says she doesn’t want to forget her pain and Don realizes that they won’t work and leaves.

Don returns to an empty apartment. End scene. I was expecting him to do a primal scream, but we go to black and credits instead.

“C’est Si Bon” is the song that takes us out.

For some reason, AMC is no longer putting the videos out after the airings on the East Coast, but I’ll add them now some 12 hours after this recap was written. But you don’t care when the videos were released. Here’s Matt Weiner talking about the episode.

Now to the fashion and style of this episode with Costumer Designer Janie Bryant and others.

Here’s the scene in which Don pays Megan to get her out of his life.

Finally, we have the cryptic promo for next week which tells us absolutely nothing.

A new episode next Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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