It interesting how much the tone of a scene can change depending on who is in the room.

Don and Sally are eating dinner when the neighbors knock on the door. It’s Arnold and Mitchel, father and son from an apartment next door. Already it’s intense. Just yesterday Sally walked in on her father with the neighbor’s wife having sex. Now the men of the house are over. Do they know? Finally after what seemed like a full minute of silence, Arnold, the father says why he’s there. His son wants to thank Don for a favor Don had completed. Now the air is unbearable. We’re just watching Sally, waiting for her to scream. Don’s stunned, not sure what to do with Sally in the room.

This is one of the tensest scene I saw in Mad Men. Sally had been known to have a short temper. It wouldn’t be unlike her to say something about the affair. But also, the scene was from her eyes, her point of view. Her father was disguising. Then to make things worse, the neighbor boy who Sally had a crush on begins to appraise Don. Eventually Sally storms out, and Don can breathe. And we look at Don like a pathetic father.