'Mad Men' 101

Don Draper
Jon Hamm
Last Season
Don realized the importance of family too late: First his brother hung himself, then his wife and kids left for Thanksgiving without him.
Up Next
Further exploration of Don's work-vs.-life struggle and his dark past. ''There are still a lot of holes in this guy's life,'' says Hamm. ''A lot of gray area.''

Betty Draper
January Jones
Last Season
After learning that her shrink had been conferring with Don, Betty tearfully confessed to a neighbor's kid that she has no one to talk to.
Up Next
Betty takes up horseback riding and makes new friends. ''She may be in therapy,'' says Matthew Weiner, ''but not with that therapist.''

Pete Campbell
Vincent Kartheiser
Last Season
Pete was humiliated when his blackmail plot against Don failed, and again when Draper teamed him with Peggy on the Clearasil account.
Up Next
''His ambition has not been thwarted, but it's been stalled,'' Weiner explains. Adds Kartheiser: ''He's still coming undone.''

Peggy Olson
Elisabeth Moss
Last Season
Peggy got promoted to junior copywriter the same day she gave birth to a baby boy.
Up Next
We'll find out if the ex-secretary kept her son, and see her settle into her new job. She no longer loves Pete, but ''they have to work together,'' says Weiner. And that tension ''is building toward something.''

Roger Sterling
John Slattery
Last Season
The agency's boozy, womanizing partner suffered two heart attacks and vowed to mend his ways.
Up Next
Roger is back in good health. But, according to Slattery, ''I don't think he's going to change his spots. I hope he doesn't. What if a guy like that turns over a new leaf and becomes a real bore?''

Joan Holloway
Christina Hendricks
Last Season
Sterling Cooper's busybody office manager fell apart when she learned that Roger, her lover, had a heart attack.
Up Next
Joan still relishes attention at the office, but her tense dynamic with Peggy has shifted. ''There's some funny stuff that we do in the first episode,'' hints Hendricks.

Salvatore Romano
Bryan Batt
Last Season
A date with a male client convinced Sterling Cooper's witty, dapper art director that he was not ready to come out of the closet.
Up Next
''He's coming to grips with who he is. In that day, there were no options,'' says Batt. ''I love the idea of him being tortured for a long time.''

Ken Cosgrove
Aaron Staton
Last Season
The young account executive got a story published in The Atlantic Monthly. Pete socked him when he called Peggy ''a lobster — all the meat's in the tail.''
Up Next
If there are more lewd comments about the steno pool, he'll deal. ''It's not surprising to me, the things the guys say,'' Staton says.

Paul Kinsey
Michael Gladis
Last Season
The aspiring playwright, whose drama Death Is My Client got an informal staging during an office party, was rejected by Peggy.
Up Next
A beard. ''I grew it for a play in New York,'' Gladis says. ''Matt Weiner saw it and said, 'Don't shave until I tell you to.''' Intriguing!

Harry Crane
Rich Sommer
Last Season
When the media buyer hooked up with Pete's secretary, his wife threw him out.
Up Next
The first episode reveals whether or not Harry's wife takes him back. If not, there may be more shots of him in the office in his tighty-whities. ''We're trying to fit one of those in each episode,'' jokes Sommer.