So, the next episode is titled "The Suitcase". Obviously, suitcases are a huge symbol in Mad Men, and I can't wait to see what this episode will unfold. I'm not entirely sure what suitcases symbolize in this series, although I have a few theories (which I won't bore you with).

Here are a few instances of suitcases being used in MM (in no particular order):

-Don disappears in California. His lost/abandoned suitcase is delivered to his home in Ossining. He shows up at Anna's with a paper bag filled with a few belongings. Sally is locked in the cupboard by Betty, with Don's suitcase.

-Betty tells Don over the phone that she has been dreaming about suitcases. If I'm remembering correctly, this is around the time of her father's stroke.

-Don and his mistress (the teacher, I can't recall her name) are about to go away for a weekend. She is left in the car while Don runs into the house to grab something. Don finds Betty at home, unexpectedly. The mistress walks home with her suitcase when Don doesn't return to the car

-Samsonite is one of the advertising accounts. Peggy takes it over from Freddy after his "accident". This is a big thing for her. Dr. Faye is also involved with the Samsonite account at the new firm.

-Sally destroys the hardware on Don's suitcase just before he leaves on a business trip. He has to borrow a suitcase from Betty's brother.

-there was a scene where Betty bought "time" to have a chat with Don up in their room, using the excuse of having trouble getting the suitcase out of storage.

I'm sure there are many more examples; these are just a few off the top of my head.  I'd love to know if anyone else has been as obsessed as I have with this suitcase theme. We could go for the obvious "baggage" analogy, but I'd like to know if anyone has any other examples or thoughts on the subject/analyses/theories out there!

P.S. I just googled Samsonite (yup, I'm kind of a geek that way ), and I found out that they were also tied in with LEGO! That seems big. Apparently the 60's, and in particular the mid to late 60's, was a huge growth period for LEGO. Cool. Man, I love this show. I'm envisioning a scene showing Baby Gene playing with a set.

Good observations about the recurring suitcase theme... I hadn't picked up on that, other than that suitcases accompanied travel.


My mom had a matched set of those Samsonite suitcases in powder blue, a gift from my grandfather (a commercial airline pilot) from before she even married my dad.  They were a big deal to her at the time, and we used them well into the 80's.  Identical to the one that Anna's ghost carried.

Very bittersweet. Anna's bag was packed and she was ready to go. Just dropped by to say goodbye to Dick.

Funny that one of Peggy's rejected ideas (elephant stepping on a suitcase) later became a real commercial.

Funny that one of Peggy's rejected ideas (elephant stepping on a suitcase) later became a real commercial.

I think that's more than just funny. She actually has rather good ideas for commercials. The last scene where Don shows her his idea (which isn't very good at all) she asks the right questions about it and his only reaction is: 'Why are you shitting on this?' Then Peggy says: 'Sorry i'm tired. It's good very good'.

Peggy says that suitcases represent something (was it travel, excitement? New beginnings?) but they also represent someone leaving and separation (obviously Anne--but also Don leaving his family).  Not that that makes a good commercial.

It makes me wonder if the writers for the show use the same sort of brainstorming techniques as Creative uses on the show.

I would say suitcases represent all those things, the positive aspects of travel (didn't they pitch ideas for an airline previously?), as well as the more bittersweet or sad ideas of separation and leaving.  I guess from the perspective of someone using a suitcase, you think about what you are going to put in it... it's usually important things that you will need wherever you are going.  So in a way the suitcase represents the most important elements of you, that you take with you wherever you go.  And thus it is important that those things be protected.

But in the context of the show I would say it more represents the idea of moving on.  Especially with that last scene with Anna and I suppose when Betty's father died.  When Don goes back to California, he is revisiting his past, not moving on so he is separated from his suitcase.  Betty making the excuse they couldn't get the suitcase down perhaps was a reference to the the two being unable to face the truth of the matters at hand and move on...

According to wikipedia:

I can not stress enough how much I LOVED this episode.  It really made a leap from "Who is Don Draper?" to "Who knows Don Draper?", and Peggy has filled in that gap.  I kept saying, every time they got physically close to each other DON'T DO IT!  I didn't want them having some physical moment to bust up their mental closeness.  The suitcase as a metaphor shows up a great deal in this show as mentioned above, I think, but in this episode it hit you over the head with all the meanings it could bring. 

What I loved  most was that Peggy was able to voice "it" that she had had a child, and that it was a part of her every day, and that in the office, Don is the only one who was there with her during that time.  That must be a load off for her to be able to speak about it. Funny that her mother "thinks you are responsible." That tells me Don did some detective work to find out where she was, the mother would have laid him out flat if he had spoken to her.

I have to watch it again, although I can probably already recite it verbatim... I was listening so closely to every single moment.  The writers on this show are amazing!  I can't wait to see what direction they go in now!

Peggy and Don have forged a strong bond.  If DD came into the decade with Roger as his confidant and buddy, he will go out with Peggy.  I too hope they do not "ruin it" with sex.  DD did say he had "rules."

Think of how Don turned "the wheel" into "the carousel." It went from something utilitarian into an expression of love. There was no such magic for suitcases. Certainly suitcases can be sold as a way to travel to wonderful places, but it seems in this episode, and as Drapery points out brilliantly up top, the suitcase has come to signify something bad or sad. It doesn't signify beautiful destinations, but rather departures. In the end, they ignore what the suitcase means and focus on its strength and durability. They don't try to candy coat it and tell you that suitcases aren't about goodbyes and, eventually, death. They only promise that damn thing won't open till you get there. Interestingly, this episode had all kinds of things opening up and spilling out at inconvenient moments. Don throwing up. Don and Peggy both crying. Duck farting. The suitcases were not holding, but the spillage was pretty interesting.

Excellent pre-episode prognostication Drapery.

I must say this was the most anticipated episode to me it was like “what a wonderful gift?” In fact, this episode was beyond doubt solid bullion…..Complete perfection. And thanks to likes of Jon Hamm, Elizabeth Moss, I really felt this episode and every other members of the cast of this astonishing drama.... lets see what’s on next Sunday!

It's very common for dying people to have visions of someone carrying a suitcase, so in our popular imaginations, it seems that we often make an association of a suitcase with moving on.

Loved this episode (best ever?), and love the observations and analyses in this thread! I've a feeling we haven't seen the last of the suitcase symbolism.