I’m sure every show nowadays fancies itself a character-driven show, but Mad Men is moreso than most. While things definitely happen, it’s not minute-by-minute plot-driven — the way Breaking Bad was or Game of Thrones is — since there are skips in time between episodes and big jumps in time between seasons. Instead of focusing on what happens, Mad Men is more concerned with who people are at their very cores, versus how they present themselves to the world.
With a mission like that, there’s plenty of opportunity for character moments — little scenes that really get to the heart of each individual in the big cast. Some, of course, are more enjoyable to watch than others. Here are the times I think the show really allowed each character to be at his or her best: each Mad Men character’s finest hour.
Betty Francis
Betty gets a lot of flack for her skills as a mother, but she did shoot a neighbor’s pigeons when the neighbor hassled her kids. She also gets points for having a cigarette dangling from her mouth while she did it.
Pete Campbell
Pete can often be the worst and his marriage to Trudy was rocky, but man can those two do the Charleston. And it’s a lucky thing, because his second-best moment on the show involved him falling down the stairs.
Sally Draper
Other characters may think they have Don’s number, but Sally’s really the only one that sees through Don in a way that gets him to change his behavior. Maybe that’s because she’s wise beyond her years, since her finest moments have her fixing a drink for Don as youngster, smoking at such a tender age that Betty had to lock her in a closet, and, my favorite, driving a car with her sibling inside well before she was a teenager.
Roger Sterling
I used to have dreams of leaving an office the way that Burt Peterson did (i.e., with maximum destruction). Roger gives Peterson the opportunity to make that grand exit twice.
Jane Sterling
The second Mrs. Sterling doesn’t really get much love, and she’s dispatched with pretty quickly after the marriage, but one of my favorite moments on the show is when she convinced everyone to break into Bert Cooper’s office to see his Rothko, and then dismissed the painting as “smudgy squares.”
Bert Cooper
Skins did it first and better, but, sure, why not. The old man was a miserable wretch, so he doesn’t have anything better.
Lane Pryce
Poor Lane. You get the feeling that he never got to live the life he truly wanted to live. But he did get to do something we all wished we could do: punch Pete Campbell in the face. (His second-best moment? Lane Pryce picks a movie.)
Megan Draper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJzBTekxKWo
Though it’s completely understandable, it’s kind of a shame that Megan didn’t want to stay in advertising. It comes to her more naturally than acting does, as you can see when she single-handedly saves the Heinz account in the middle of dinner.
Ken Cosgrove
Did Ken Cosgrove really do this tap-dance routine, or was it part of Don’s altered imagination? Answer: It does not matter.
Glen Bishop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkdjfnRjqkI
Let’s face it — everything Glen does is amazing, starting with asking for a lock of Betty’s hair. But he really comes into his own when he grudgingly beats up his own friend for getting fresh with Sally. Sadly, I couldn’t find a video of it that wasn’t 10 minutes long, so instead here’s Glen being sour.
Joan Harris, Peggy Olson, and Don Draper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zp3qMGN-8U
Don’s the star of the show, so you’d think he’d have a million little fine character moments to choose from. But, the truth is, Don’s at his best when he’s sharing a moment with someone else. Joan can easily be sour and mean, but she’s at 100% charm when she has drinks with Don on Christmas in what’s probably Joan’s best scene. And while Peggy is my favorite one on the entire show, Don is still the one that brings the best out in her. (And, while it doesn’t involve drinking and smoking, Don’s confessional dinner with Sally is one of the greatest scenes in the series.)
Don’t ask me where Harry is. That guy is just the worst.
Also, she is totally not a dude!
- Happy 10th Anniversary to NBC’s ‘Hannibal!’ - August 29, 2025
- There Are ‘No Exit’ Triangles Everywhere for Those With Eyes to See - April 16, 2025
- The SportsAlcohol.com Podcast: Top Summer Movies of 1984 - December 28, 2024
Great rundown! I can only assume you didn’t include Stan because every moment is him at his finest. I love Stan.
Some of my personal favorites:
– perhaps cheating on her second husband by sleeping with her first would be a stretch to call “finest” but I never liked Betty more than in S6E9’s A Better Half when she and Don hook up at Bobby’s summer camp. The dialogue in that scene made me think she’s the character who’s grown the most self aware over the course of the series.
– Sally is always fantastic, particularly when she’s echoing her mother, but my favorite moment of hers was the simple “I love you” she gave Don in S7E2, followed by one of the best music cues they’ve ever done. I cried.
– when it comes to Don I still think most often of the scene in S2E5 between him and Peggy that flashes back to him comforting her after the delivery saying, “It will shock you how much this never happened.”
So much greatness though. I’m really going to miss this show.
Was the music cue after the Sally/Don scene “This Will Be Our Year?” If so that was DEFINITELY THE BEST.
That’s the one! So perfect
For a show that doesn’t use a TON of pop music during episodes (I mean, they do, and even have mounted a few musical numbers of sorts, so it’s not like the least musical show on TV or anything, but they aren’t wall-to-wall K-TEL hits of the ’60s), they really know how to pick the songs for those end-of-episode cuts to black. “This Will Be Our Year,” “Piece of My Heart”…and budget be damned, I assume, since they ponied up for “Tomorrow Never Knows,” for fuck’s sake.
For the end credits, I really like “Don’t think twice” to end season 1 and I really really like the elevator music version of “Do You Want To Know A Secret” the episode Don reveals his past to Faye and gets Pete to scuttle a military contract to prevent a background check.
I think my all-time favorite credits song is still “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” after Fat Betty eats Sally’s ice cream. So cruel, so so funny
A couple of big agrees with Sara here:
– Nothing can top bird scene for me, but I also love when Betty hooks up with Don at summer camp. My favorite part is when she gives him the cold shoulder at breakfast the next day like it never happened. I like to refer to it as when Betty Don Drapered Don Draper.
– The flashback scene with Don and Peggy is also one of my favorite as well.
I do like Don and Betty being warm to each other in that episode, but I still find it icky that Betty is cheating on Henry.
I do kinda find that on a show where shipping is totally beside the point, I kinda ship Peggy and Stan. I mean, they can just be good friends, I get it, but they’re so adorable together! And Peggy dates such lame dudes! Stan would be so good for her.
Also we just caught up for tonight and so bummed about Ginsberg’s fate, especially because I was kinda loving all the crazy stuff right up to when it gets really fucked up.
This is a great list. A few moments I love more:
Pete smoking a joint, probably for the first time, that he just takes from Stan, with contempt for the whole of the world in his heart. Sabrina and I laughed so hard at it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTHg2ApnkO8
This might not be her best moment (maybe that’s when she either kicked Greg out or hit him with a vase), but I was always partial to Joan playing the accordion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79RpKFNcH0
Roger gets all the best one-liners, so it’s hard to choose just one. I love in the pilot right after he tells Don they can’t fire Pete, he tells Pete Don’s the only reason he still has a job and delivers maybe my favorite line in the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyy_UFPEBgI
Finally, I don’t want to find a clip because it’s chock full of spoilers, but I love in the first season, when Pete tries to expose Don’s big secret and Bert Cooper just says “Who cares?”
I forgot Joan played the accordion! That is great.
It was Zou Bisou Bisou before Zou Bisou Bisou!