Our Mad Men season 7, episode 2 recap breaks down the events of tonight’s storyline including a lot of juggling for Joan and Pete’s rebellious ideas.

The episode begins with Don getting a late start on the day. Unemployment leaves him tremendously bored and living the life of a bachelor; he’s eating Ritz crackers for breakfast/lunch on a Thursday afternoon.

That night he’s visited by Dawn who updates him on what’s been happening at SC&P. While she’s happy to help, she refuses to accept money for offering him inside scoops about the company.

Valentine’s Day

At the New York office, Peggy is greeted by flowers from Ted – or so she assumes. She sends a cryptic message to him via his secretary. Later, a conversation between two secretaries (one Peggy’s) reveals that the flowers weren’t actually for her. “Who would send her flowers?” they say. The secretary who’s not Peggy’s advises the other to keep pretending they’re hers, because that’s their job.

Peggy ends up not enjoying the smell of them (“It smells like an italian funeral in there”) and gives them back to her secretary Shirley who accepts them with a smile. Later when the flowers are still on Shirley’s desk, Peggy asks that they be thrown out. When she starts to throw them out herself, Shirley steps in and admits they’re from her fiancé. Peggy yells at her and tells her to grow up for not being more forward about them from the beginning.

Liar, liar

Sally loses her handbag while with her friends, and rather than accepting money from her friends for the train ticket, she insists she has to go find it because her address book is in there. She goes to SC&P looking for her father (presumably for help? The reason isn’t clear), still believing that Don works there. She goes into Don’s office but is greeted by his replacement Lou, who doesn’t want to break the news her dad is on leave so he forwards her to Joan who isn’t in the office either.

She heads over to Don’s apartment and waits for him to arrive. When he gets home from his lunch meeting with a couple other ad agencies he’s surprised to find his daughter. She asks for money for the train but Don decides to drive her so they can spend some quality time together. Since Sally could’ve just accepted money from her friend, was she looking for an excuse to see him again?

On their drive back some small talk is brought up about the funeral Sally attended before they get in a fight about their respective lies. Sally wants to know why Don has been replaced in his office but he won’t come clean. Meanwhile, Don’s curious about why she was in New York (we saw she was shopping).

They stop for dinner where more awkward small talk ensues. Don decides to admit what happened with him at SC&P, and the truth makes Sally open up a little more at least in terms of speaking to him.

Deciding to have a little fun, Don takes one look at the check at the restaurant and decides he and his daughter are going to bond by doing a dine and dash. “Really?” she asks. He lays down some cash instead of going through with it.

Obviously pleased with her father after an honest evening, as he drops her off at school, she says, “Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.” Don likes this a lot.

Office shuffle

Lou is pissed off that Sally came by the office while Dawn was out taking care of a task for him, and he asks Joan that Dawn be placed somewhere else in the office. He doesn’t want to deal with Don’s problems. When Bertram sees that Dawn has been placed at the very front of the office – where people can see her from the elevator – and complains about it, Joan grows angry over the fact that he’s being racist.

As if that weren’t enough, Peggy comes to Joan later and asks her secretary be removed. This obviously upsets her because she’s been stressed enough for the day. A moment later, Jim comes in from the other door in her office – symbolic of the two gigs she’s handling at once – and thinks it’s unfair she’s handling the staff and accounts, so he suggests she works upstairs and only on accounts. Joan takes Jim up on the offer.

Another new agency?

Communication errors during a call between the two offices causes stress on both sides. When Roger tells Pete he can’t go to Detroit to handle Bob, Pete grows upset about working for SC&P and feels useless. “Sometimes I think I died… I don’t seem to exist.. No one feels my existence,” he says to Ted. Pete then suggests they start their own agency so they can be working for something more purposeful. Ted isn’t all too interested in this idea.

Other notes:

– Pete is growing closer to his real estate agent Bonnie even if she keeps work a priority.

– Don goes for lunch with Dave from another firm. They’re greeted by one of Dave’s competitors named Jim. Both seem interested in hiring Don even though he’s still contractually attached to SC&P.

– Hershey went to a competing agency.

What did you think of tonight’s ‘Mad Men’ episode?

Mad Men season 7, episode 3 airs Sunday, April 27 at 10 p.m. eastern/pacific on AMC. Check out a preview below: