“Mad Men” Season 4, Episode 10

• Michael Yarish/AMC
• Joan deciding she has enough babies in her life already.

If (like me) you’re a fan of Mad Men’s lead-in, Rubicon, you may have wondered (like me) how Don Draper would do in the role of that series’ hero, a high-level intelligence operator caught up in a major conspiracy. After this week’s episode, we know: not too well!

Yes, Don stumbles into his own paranoid conspiracy this week when Sterling Cooper Draper Price enters into a $4 million contract with North American Aviation, an aeronautics manufacturer involved in “defense, cutting-edge technology, and, of course, the moon.” With classified government material at stake, the whole team is subject to background screenings by smooth-talking G-men who want to know, among other things, if anyone has reason to believe Donald Draper isn’t who he says he is. At this point, more than 2 million weekly viewers have such reasons, in addition to ex-wife Betty and office frenemy Pete Campbell.