Prep pack · temporal graph

Mad Men

About to watch S05E01 · A Little Kiss

Spoiler-free to End of Season 4 · Episode 13 "Tomorrowland"

100% spoiler-free up to the final frame of S04E13. Nothing from S05E01 or later is included. Gold pack · temporal graph at ordinal 52.

Months since last watch

14m

Long gap (passport-weighted): foundational who/where listed first.

Standard

SCDP is an independent agency still proving it can live without the old Sterling Cooper parent.

Don is divorced from Betty and ends Season 4 engaged to Megan Calvet.

Peggy is Don's essential creative counterpart after seasons of earned rank.

Season 4 is Don without Betty's suburban structure: therapy-adjacent collapse, work as identity, and Megan as reinvention fantasy with real affection.

Don's Whitman secret seeds.

Peggy rises from secretarial pool.

Betty marriage strain.

California and identity cracks.

Bobbie Barrett; Peggy's pregnancy secret path.

SCDP forms after London coup.

Betty divorces Don.

Kennedy assassination beat.

Don alone; Megan engagement.

Lucky Strike loss; firm panic.

Peggy as creative partner.

Season bridge: everything above is end of Season 4. S05E01 ("A Little Kiss (Part 1)") has not started.

Cutoff discipline: every fact above ends at S04E13. Do not import anything from S05E01 ("A Little Kiss (Part 1)") or later.

Key events (pre-cutoff)

01Don and Peggy's Suitcase episode cements creative interdependence.
02Lucky Strike departure forces SCDP into existential sales mode.
03Don proposes to Megan; Season 4 closes on their future.
04S1: Don's Whitman secret seeds.
05S1: Peggy rises from secretarial pool.
06S1: Betty marriage strain.
07S2: California and identity cracks.
08S2: Bobbie Barrett; Peggy's pregnancy secret path.
09SCDP forms after London coup.
10S3: Betty divorces Don.
11S3: Kennedy assassination beat.
12S4: Don alone; Megan engagement.
13S4: Lucky Strike loss; firm panic.
14S4: Peggy as creative partner.

Character status cards

Snapshots as of graph ordinal ≤ 52 (S04E13).

Don Draper

Dick Whitman

alive

Creative director; partner

Loc. New York / SCDP

Motivation: Work, reinvention, control the Dick Whitman secret
Emotional state: Post-divorce reconstruction; Megan relationship crystallized
Last known: Season 4 closes with Megan as secretary-turned-fiancee trajectory peak

Allies

Peggy (creative), Roger, SCDP partners

Threats

Identity exposure, alcohol, client volatility

Peggy Olson

alive

Copy chief path / rising creative

Loc. SCDP creative

Motivation: Be taken seriously; make great work
Emotional state: Hard-earned confidence after The Suitcase bond with Don
Last known: Core creative force at SCDP

Allies

Don, Stan (complicated era)

Threats

Sexism, office politics

Roger Sterling

alive

Partner; accounts rainmaker theater

Loc. SCDP

Motivation: Status, pleasure, relevance
Emotional state: Aging playboy anxiety
Last known: Sterling presence through SCDP's fragile independence

Allies

Don, Joan (complicated)

Threats

Irrelevance, health

Betty Francis

Betty Draper

alive

Don's ex-wife

Loc. Suburban life with Henry Francis

Motivation: Stability, image, children
Emotional state: New marriage armor
Last known: Post-divorce life separate from Don's office world

Allies

Henry

Threats

Don's chaos near kids

Megan Calvet

alive

French-Canadian secretary becoming Don's partner

Loc. SCDP / Don's orbit

Motivation: Love, ambition, American life
Emotional state: Optimistic attachment to Don
Last known: Engagement/wedding path sealed at S4 end

Allies

Don

Threats

Don's patterns

Joan Harris

alive

Office manager; partner-track politics later seed

Loc. SCDP office management

Motivation: Power, respect, security
Emotional state: Competent steel
Last known: Keeps the office running through chaos

Allies

Roger (complicated)

Threats

Male partnership structure

Pete Campbell

alive

Ambitious account man

Loc. Accounts

Motivation: Status, win business, outrun insecurity
Emotional state: Hungry
Last known: SCDP accounts hustle continues

Allies

Trudy (home), accounts allies

Threats

Don's shadow, pride

Lane Pryce

alive

British financial partner

Loc. SCDP financial partner

Motivation: Make SCDP solvent; personal dignity
Emotional state: Pressure under money stress
Last known: Financial partner under strain (S4 smoke era)

Allies

partners

Threats

Cash crises, pride

Continuity web

Relationship map

Ink diagram of who is bound, opposed, or entangled as of the cutoff (End of Season 4 · Episode 13 "Tomorrowland"). Click a name to pin. Edge labels appear on focus.

8 figures18/18 ties shownhub: Don (7)

Hover or click any figure to open their tie dossier. Hostile and tense ties carry direction marks. Secret ties are dashed.

Open threads

Can Don stay reinvented with Megan?

high

New marriage vs old patterns is the open personal plot.

Who cares: Don, Megan, Betty, kids

SCDP survival without easy clients

critical

Post-Lucky Strike economics still define partner anxiety.

Who cares: Lane, Roger, Don, Pete

Peggy's ceiling at SCDP

high

How far talent can climb inside 1960s agency sexism.

Who cares: Peggy, Don

Path to now

S4 mid · NYC

The Suitcase

Don and Peggy break open professionally and personally overnight.

S4 late · SCDP

Lucky Strike gone

Agency identity crisis.

S4E13 · NYC

Tomorrowland

Don and Megan's future sealed as the season ends.

World state

SCDP is independent, prestigious, and financially nervous.
Status quo at season end is the baseline for the next stretch.

Constrained desk chat

Temporal RAG over this pack only. No model calls. No post-cutoff index rows exist.

Desk · Cutoff desk open. I only know this show through End of Season 4 · Episode 13 "Tomorrowland". Ask about characters, threads, or events before that line. I will refuse anything later.

Spoiler-free to End of Season 4 · Episode 13 "Tomorrowland"

Close the binder

Was this prep useful?

Your vote stays on this device and helps us rank which packs to deepen next. It does not open a streaming app.

Found a spoiler past the cutoff? Report a leak.