Gabe, you are spot-on in your assessment that the theme of last night’s episode was family. More specifically, it’s an analysis of the myth of family. “The Strategy” not only exposes that myth, but also its reflection in the generational rift among our heroes.

Those of a certain age or place in society — the executives of Burger Chef, for example — have a conception of a happy, nuclear family with clearly defined gender roles: Dad earns the bread, Mom bakes it. The fast food phenomenon threatens that dynamic, devalues Mom’s place in the home. The conservative, status quo reaction is to turn fast food into a treat from Mom that pleases Dad and the kids. But Peggy, who has always had upheaval in her home life and, recently 30, hasn’t yet settled down with a special someone, calls out the cultural deafness of selling an idea that no longer exists.

In fact, Peggy is deflating the entire mythology by asserting that the picture-perfect family was never real in the first place. Ironically, Don and Pete find themselves on the wrong “generational” teams. Don deflects Peggy’s question about whether he ever sat around the table with his family; as we know, Don’s childhood was spent in a whorehouse and his own ideal, married-with-children scenario was largely a sham. Meanwhile, Pete, who is younger than Don, ascribes to the family myth because of his moneyed, conservative upbringing, even while his own family bears no semblance to the Rockwell painting in his mind.

As the 60s are becoming the 70s, it’s clear that SC&P is going to need a more progressive approach in order to survive. Simply purchasing a computer won’t save the firm, and retrograde thinking like that of Lou Avery, Bert Cooper, and Jim Cutler won’t get the job done either. It’s adapt or perish for the SC&P team, and I predict the final defeat of the firm is already in the cards.

That last bit of tea-leaf-reading demonstrates that I always find myself trying to unwrap the riddle of each episode’s title. “The Strategy,” like most weeks’ titles, offers an on-the-surface answer but also unveils some thematic element that can be teased out of the content. Sure: Peggy, Don, Lou, Pete, and Stan are jostling over what advertising strategy to adopt for Burger Chef. But think of all the other strategies playing out under our noses.

To my eye, the central question of strategy in this episode is figuring out Don’s motivations for each action he takes and word he says. Throughout the series, and especially throughout this season, Don has proved to be playing a chess game to get to the top of his industry. For much of this week’s show, it seemed as if Peggy was the pawn Don was moving around the board.

Don was obviously manipulating Peggy by proposing pitching the Burger Chef ad from the kids’ point of view; Peggy knew it, too, and called him on the move. But I think Don was another step ahead, knowing Peggy would catch on. Don’s constant scheming kept me on red alert throughout what should have been a heartwarming scene between Don and Peggy. Is Don just winning Peggy’s trust so he can reclaim the corner office?

Gabe hinted at another strategy: Megan’s exit strategy. Clearly, she has checked out of New York. Her proposal of a meeting on neutral ground makes me wonder if she might have a divorce lawyer on retainer somewhere in North Dakota, waiting to ambush Don with papers to sign.

In the meantime, Cutler takes another step in enacting whatever vague strategy he and Avery are conspiring on. And Roger’s walkout on the partners seems to be another step in his own exit strategy; Sterling just doesn’t fit in at this agency anymore.

This episode was mostly solid, but I felt it lacked the artistic direction and writing of the past few editions. I also found the final five minutes to be atonal, rushed, jarring. I was sure the episode was concluding when the strains of Ol’ Blue Eyes floated through the SC&P, and the nonsense with making Harry Crane a partner seemed disjointed and unexplained. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the partner meeting scene was originally intended for next week’s or last week’s show but had to be re-edited out of overlong episodes.

Nonetheless, the “second” final scene of the week was redemptive. Strategies and families come together as the Burger Chef team sits around the dining room table of the rising generations. And that final scene of the Draper Olson Campbell (LLC?) family was made all the stranger by Peggy’s complicated past with Pete. Will these three complex, dynamic personalities be able to coexist and collaborate toward a shared goal of advertising supremacy?