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"Wee Small Hours" is the ninth episode of the third season of the American television drama series Mad Men. It was written by series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner and David Waller, and directed by Scott Hornbacher. It originally aired on the AMC channel in the United States on October 11, 2009.

Plot
Connie (Chelcie Ross) continues to take Don under his wing, becoming a father figure to him and referring to him as his son as they continue to work together on the Hilton account. Don (Jon Hamm) is bending over backward to satisfy Connie’s every need, even his phone calls in the wee hours of the morning. However, because Connie is extremely ambitious and somewhat unreasonable, he has grand plans to put Hiltons all over the world, even on the moon. He was, however, extremely disappointed when Don didn’t deliver “the moon”, which Don didn’t take literally. As for what’s currently happening in history, the Civil Rights Movement is taking off, and we see many of the characters’ reaction to it. As Suzanne (Abigail Spencer) and Don are listening to the radio, Don makes a motion to change the station, but Suzanne tells him not to change it and she looks really proud as she tells him that she’s going to read the speech to her students. Betty (January Jones) on the other hand, is more of an example of the current time. She and her friends were talking about how segregation was uncivilized and she callously said to Carla (Deborah Lacey)that maybe it wasn’t the right time.

Reception
“Wee small hours” didn’t receive any awards, but the ratings were positive. IMDb collected a sample population of 1,278 participants whom rounded to an overall rating of 8.2. According to Noel Murray and Keith Phipps interview from the AV Club it deserved an overall grade of an A-. Mr. Murray said “this episode is largely concerned with power and how it gets exercised”. Mr. Phipps questioned “who has the power and who can speak the truth the same?”. Many comments regarding the episode in regards to its overall quality were like JohnRUS “My guess is that Sal will join Duck, thus helping ease Peggy and Pete over to the dark side. Why else would they have set up Duck's lurking recruitment attempts?”. No negative reviews about the episode, although others questioned Betty's rationale disliking her as a character. Snape Kills Trinity with Roseb says “She picked up that guy at the bar, though, and they fucked in a coat room (or was it a closet?), so the question then is why not with him?”. Hence, not bad nor a fantastic episode to viewers.

Cultural References
When Don picks up Suzanne from her early morning run, Martin Luther King's, I Have A Dream speech is playing on the radio. Suzanne talks about how on the first day of school, she is going to read the speech to the children. She goes on to explain that the children understand what is going on, regarding the Civil Rights Act. At the dinner party that Betty is hosting, she and her friends are talking about how uncivilized segregation is, as Carla, the Draper's maid, is shown in the background. Connie mentions the Marshall Plan and then states, "After all the things we threw at Khrushchev you know what made him fall apart? He couldn't get into Disneyland." A little later on in the episode the viewers see Betty walk into the kitchen where Carla is listening to Dr. King's speech at the funeral of the girls that were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Betty tells Carla that she can leave her program on, but then tells Carla that she thinks, "maybe it's not supposed to happen right now," in regards to Civil Rights.

Production
“Wee Small Hours” was written by Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and Canadian Writer, Dahvi Waller. This episode is one of three episodes Waller has written. The episode was directed by Scott Hornbacher, with this being the first of nine episodes he has directed. According to a AMC interview, Weiner says that this episode is meant to convey a theme of “urges” and “impulses”. He also explains how Conrad Hilton is meant to be a father figure in the episode, and his disappointment with Don not being able to put Hilton on the moon is meant to reflect the harsh relationship Don had with his actual father.