If last week’s Mad Men was a prize fight that proved Don Draper was still the champ of SCDP, this week’s episode showed that Don was willing to take on a rematch, and he wasn’t going to lose.

But, Don wasn’t the only one at SCDP that’s been lost lately.  The episode’s title, “The Christmas Waltz,” refers to a song that starts with:

Frosted window panes
Candles gleaming inside

Will our lost characters be able to clear the windows to see what’s gleaming inside?

Lost:  Lane Pryce

The episode started with Lane Pryce’s attorney informing him that he owed Her Majesty $8000, or he faced jail time.
Lane lost himself, and did everything possible to find the money.

He conned the bank into extending SCDP’s line of credit, and he forged Don’s signature on a check he used to repay the money.

Lane loses himself in debt and Don Draper.

Lost:  Don Draper

Meanwhile, Peter Campbell announced that SCDP was back in the running for Jaguar, but they only had 6 weeks to create their pitch.

Don was skeptical and said that it was a lot of work to do in a short period.

Pete responded:

Yes, you may have to say past 5:30.

Don replied:

I’d live here if I thought it was more than a pipe dream.

Has Don lost his love for the game?

Lost:  Paul Kinsey

Meanwhile, the show’s biggest lost soul, Paul Kinsey returned, searching for Harry Crane.

Harry was reluctant to meet him, but finally agreed only to find that the once lost Kinsey had found himself by becoming a Hare Krishna.  Harry, Hare, Hare, Harry.

Harry doesn’t comprehend Kinsey’s actions and believes that Kinsey is trying to recruit him to the Krisha movement.  But, he sticks around once he meets Kinsey’s Krishna love interest, Lakshmi.

Harry is skeptical of the Hare movement, but is moved by Kinsey's new girlfriend, Lakshmi.

It turns out that Kinsey simply wants to give Harry a spec script he wrote or Star Trek, and he wants Harry to get it into the fight hands.

Still Lost: Don Draper

That same evening, Don and Megan attend a play where one of the characters says:

But now, for no reason I could think of, the ad was making me sick.

Don does not like this jab at his profession and pouts all the way home.  When Megan confronts him and says that he’s grumpy over the jabs at advertising, Don says:

Well, no one’s made a stronger stand against advertising than you.

Ouch.  Bitter, Don?

Lost:  Joan Harris

The next day, Joan is served with divorce papers, and finds herself lost by having been beaten to the punch.  She yells at the secretary who allowed the messenger to serve her the court documents, and Don removes her from the situation.

They leave together and go test drive a Jaguar because you can’t pitch something you don’t understand, right?
Don and Joan spend the day together, stopping off for a liquid lunch.

Don and Joan are a match made in heaven that are better off apart.

Joan reminds Don that he loves what he does, and Don reminds Joan that she’s pretty much awesome.  The sexual tension is there, but Joan continues to be the only female at SCDP that Don has not shown the Draper.

After a day of drinking and driving a Jaguar, Don goes home to find Megan angry at him.  She throws a plate at the wall and wastes a perfectly good serving of spaghetti.

Megan tells Don that he used to love his work, and he says that it’s different now, as in, now that she’s gone.

Megan clears the frost from the windows so Don can see outside again.

And Megan drops the knowledge on the lost Don Draper:

You loved it before you ever met me.

The Mad Men Moment:  Don Draper Finds Himself

Remember earlier when Don said that the Jaguar account was a pipe dream?  Well, now he’s thinking about tail pipes on Jaguars.

As the partners announce that the staff will receive Christmas bonuses, Pete Campbell tries to boost morale by telling the staff that SCDP has a chance at Jaguar.  He is met with polite silence.

Don Draper takes off his jacket to show the crowd why he is their leader, and they applaud. Bring him your finest meats and cheeses.

And, that’s when Don came out punching and showed why he’s still the champion.

Last year at this time, whether you knew it or not…
The survival of this company was on the line.
And I look at the faces in this room who have given their all to this tenuous recovery and I say:

Prepare to take a great leap forward.
Prepare to swim the English Channel and then drown in champagne.

There are 6 weekends between now and the pitch.  We are going to spend them all here.
We will celebrate Christmas here.  We will ring in the new year together, and in the end we will represent Jaguar, and it will be worth it.
Every agency on Madison Avenue is defined by the moment they got their car.

When we land Jaguar, the world will know we’ve arrived.

And, just like that Don Draper is back.