Continuity desk · Vol. 01

Prepisode

Everything you need. Nothing you shouldn't know.

Prep pack · temporal graph

Mad Men

About to watch S01E08 · The Hobo Code

Spoiler-free to End of S01E07 "Red in the Face"

100% spoiler-free up to the final frame of S01E07. Continuity pack (season knowledge + staged narrative + relationship web). Nothing from S01E08 or later.

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

Standard

1960s Madison Avenue; Don Draper's stolen identity (Dick Whitman); SCDP and the American sell.

You are resuming mid-Season 1. Hard cutoff: S01E07 (Red in the Face). Nothing from S01E08 or later.

Season 1 - early path (through E1). Board is set; season-end outcomes are not assumed.

You are still early in Season 1. Prior seasons (if any) are fully in force; this season's finale geometry is not.

Don's Whitman secret seeds.

Peggy rises from secretarial pool.

Focus on who wants what, who is allied, and which institutions are pressuring the cast.

Mid-Season 1: conflicts have escalated past setup. Re-check alliances and locations on the relationship map.

Betty marriage strain.

If a fact only lands in the season finale, it is not in this pack yet.

Season 1 path through S01E07: E1 "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" → E2 "Ladies Room" → E3 "Marriage of Figaro" → E4 "New Amsterdam" → E5 "5G" → E6 "Babylon" → E7 "Red in the Face".

Recent stretch to re-anchor: E4 "New Amsterdam" → E5 "5G" → E6 "Babylon" → E7 "Red in the Face".

Cutoff discipline: every fact above ends at S01E07. Do not import anything from S01E08 ("The Hobo Code") or later.

Key events (pre-cutoff)

  1. 01Season 1 through E1: early markers only.
  2. 02S1E01: Context beat: Don's Whitman secret seeds.
  3. 03S1E01: Context beat: Peggy rises from secretarial pool.
  4. 04Season 1 through E7: mid-run markers.
  5. 05Season beat: Don's Whitman secret seeds.
  6. 06Season beat: Peggy rises from secretarial pool.
  7. 07Season beat: Betty marriage strain.
  8. 08S01E01: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
  9. 09S01E02: Ladies Room
  10. 10S01E03: Marriage of Figaro
  11. 11S01E04: New Amsterdam
  12. 12S01E05: 5G
  13. 13S01E06: Babylon
  14. 14S01E07: Red in the Face

Character status cards

Snapshots as of graph ordinal ≤ 7 (S01E07).

Don Draper

Dick Whitman

alive

CD

Loc. Sterling Cooper

Motivation
Advance personal and factional stakes
Emotional state
Hardened by recent events
Last known
Whitman secret; Betty marriage

Allies

Roger, Peggy rising

Threats

exposure, Betty

Pete Campbell

alive

Ambitious

Loc. Accounts

Motivation
Advance personal and factional stakes
Emotional state
Hardened by recent events
Last known
Blackmails Don early

Threats

Don

Peggy Olson

alive

Secretary to copy

Loc. SC

Motivation
Advance personal and factional stakes
Emotional state
Hardened by recent events
Last known
Rises; pregnancy secret path

Allies

Don

Threats

sexism, Pete

Betty Draper

alive

Wife

Loc. Ossining

Motivation
Advance personal and factional stakes
Emotional state
Hardened by recent events
Last known
Beautiful cage

Allies

kids

Threats

Don's affairs

Roger Sterling

alive

Partner

Loc. SC

Motivation
Advance personal and factional stakes
Emotional state
Hardened by recent events
Last known
Affairs and accounts

Allies

Don

Threats

heart, change

Joan Holloway

alive

Office manager

Loc. Office

Motivation
Advance personal and factional stakes
Emotional state
Hardened by recent events
Last known
Power without title

Threats

men

Relationship map

Continuity web

Relationship map

Ink diagram of who is bound, opposed, or entangled as of the cutoff (End of S01E07 "Red in the Face"). Click a name to pin. Edge labels appear on focus.

6 figures10/10 ties shownhub: Don (5)
FROZEN WEBDon D.5 TIESPete C.4 TIESPeggy O.3 TIESBetty D.3 TIESRoger S.3 TIESJoan H.2 TIES

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

Open threads

Story continues from cutoff

high

All facts above end at S01E07. S01E08 is not included.

Who cares: you

Path to now

S1 through E7

Progress marker E7

Season 1 - mid path (through E7). Major mid-season pressures are live; finale deaths/resolutions are not assumed.

S1 through E7

Current season path

Last episode watched: Red in the Face. Next: The Hobo Code.

World state

  • Status quo at season end is the baseline for the next stretch.
  • Treat later-season institutional collapses as unknown until you pass them.
  • World pressure at mid-Season 1 is the baseline for the remaining episodes.

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 S01E07 "Red in the Face". Ask about characters, threads, or events before that line. I will refuse anything later.
Spoiler-free to End of S01E07 "Red in the Face"

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.