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In the week leading up to the Mad Men premiere The Wire will be revisiting some of the show's most important characters. Today it's Peggy Olson, secretary turned copy chief and the show's not-so-secret protagonist.
Where She Was
Peggy has always been our Virgil guiding us through the Hell of Sterling Cooper. Joan may initiate Peggy—telling her to evaluate her body, showing her how to butter up the switchboard ladies—but Peggy is the character with whom the audience can relate. Though she is a Madison Avenue neophyte, chided for dressing conservatively, she is certainly not an innocent. Peggy wants to play the game that is expected of her by people like Joan, but it is evident early on that she will not achieve success in the manner that is expected of a secretary. She is rebuffed when she puts her hand on Don's to ostensibly thank him for defending her to Pete Campbell, the man who she later invites into her bedroom when he shows up at her door drunk. Why does Peggy invite Pete in? Does she see another strange, lonely kindred spirit in creepy Pete? Is it attempt to stand up to his earlier taunts, putting herself on the same playing field as him? Is it her way into the sex culture of the office? Is it simply that Peggy is more adventurous than she let on?
Big Moments
Season 1, Episode 6, Babylon: This episode is the first time it becomes absolutely evident that Peggy's fate is not as a secretary. When the creative team needs inspiration for the Belle Jolie lipstick campaign, they have the women of the office brainstorm by testing out the product. Peggy is the thoughtful outlier, and after she hands Freddie Rumsen a "basket of kisses," she is assigned to write copy for the campaign.