‘Mad Men’ season 7, episode 8 preview: What to expect in ‘Severance’

While there are countless interviews and “Mad Men” retrospectives all over the internet this week in preparation of the series returning to AMC on Sunday, few of them have asked the following very-important question: What’s actually going to happen in Sunday night’s episode? Part of the reason for that is creator Matthew Weiner’s reluctance to share spoilers, and the network typically follows his lead by releasing no sneak peeks, and limiting synopses to just a sentence or two at most.

For a better explanation of that, take a look at what we have for “Severance,” which is the title for the upcoming eighth episode of the season: “Don tries to track down a friend; Joan struggles to solve a problem with an account; Peggy is set up by an unlikely person.” To us, only two out of these three teases are of note. Joan’s story could be applicable to almost any season.

Therefore, let’s look at the other two: Who is the friend Don is trying to hunt down? The hope here is that it could potentially be someone we have not seen in a while, who would offer up some further insight into what he wants out of life now. Megan seems to be drifting away; she’s even drifted from the promotional photo above. Don needs a new start, again, and with a better sense of clarity.

As for Peggy, what would be fun would be seeing someone like Joan or even a Don or Roger connect her with someone who could possess many of her same qualities. While we are not convinced that every character on this show is worthy or deserving of happiness, it is hard to argue against the idea of Peggy getting some. Given her treatment at work, and her treatment especially by Pete in early seasons, she is definitely owed something in return.

Come Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, the curtain will be lifted, and we will be back then with a full take on the episode as a whole. For now, let us know your early predictions in the comments, and head over here to receive some other news and discussion on the show’s legacy. Also, sign up now to gather up some other news on everything we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: AMC.)