It was written by series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner and Tracy McMillan, and directed by Michael Uppendahl.
As the company faces financial problems because of its limited client base and expensive new office space, Don Draper's personal life becomes ever more chaotic.
Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce intends to throw a scaled down Christmas party to save expenses.
A newly sober Freddy Rumsen returns and provides the client Pond's Cold Cream in exchange for a job.
Peggy is especially thrilled to have Freddy back, until she finds his copywriting ideas to be uninspired, dated and insulting—causing her to tell him that he is "old-fashioned."
Since Lucky Strike represents 73% of all SCDP billings, the party must be changed to a lavish affair catered specifically to Garner.
Garner gets drunk and becomes increasingly unpleasant, ultimately publicly humiliating Roger by forcing him to dress up as Santa for the office.
The next day, the office is in shambles after the party, and Don and Roger commiserate over having to degrade themselves to appeal to Garner and their clients.
[10] The fourth season of Mad Men opened to universal acclaim from critics, gaining a score of 92 out of 100 on the review aggregation site Metacritic.
[12] Moira Macdonald, writing for The Seattle Times, found it "not an entirely satisfying episode", though she enjoyed little details, such as the subtle development of the relationship between Don and Peggy.
[13] In the same vein William Bradley, writing for The Huffington Post, considered the episode good, "but not one of the classics, and a step back from the season premiere."
Bradley warned against reading too much into Don Draper's decline, reminding readers that Weiner "likes to toy with expectations.