Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT California, Here I Come…
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 10 | Aired on 10.05.2008
Don walks into SC and starts his work day off by getting the receptionist's name wrong. Not that she cares, from the adoring way she checks out his ass as he goes. He's a bit bemused by the sparseness of the office population (it seems like he's coming in late the same day), however, so he looks around, and on someone's desk (Hildy's, I suppose?) comes across the LA travel magazine we saw Pete reading earlier. He then hears a muffled "Surprise!" coming from the conference room, so he heads off to investigate...
...and when he opens the door, he sees most of the office in there throwing a baby shower for Harry. Joan points out all the gifts they "got" him (they raided the storeroom, as Harry somewhat slurrily points out) -- Pampers, Martinson coffee, Clearasil for when he gets older -- and we see Harry's wearing a big baby bonnet. Hee. Ken also, in anticipation of Harry's diminished sex life, got him some Playboys. Don, with his family falling apart, looks understandably uncomfortable as Harry toasts everyone, and then Bertram pokes his head in: "I just wanted to say happy birthday!" HA! He leaves, and everyone's like, "...yeah." Although given that he doesn't really drink, I can see him wanting to beat a hasty retreat. Harry notes that there's a present that was purchased at Tiffany's from Jane, and Paul adds, "And Roger, I'm sure." Joan does not need to hear much more about that, so she hands the cake knife off to a secretary and goes over to Don, saying she wasn't expecting him until the next day, and asking how everything is. Don could pretty much address both points by telling her his father-in-law tried to have sex with his wife, but that's not the sort of thing you want to bring up at a party, so he asks if he can borrow Joan for a moment, and the two of them leave the room. Peggy then cuts a piece of cake and hands it to the person who's stepped into the space they just vacated -- Pete, who thanks her rather demurely. I'm not buying -- will someone please chaperone those two?
As they enter Don's office, Joan runs down his upcoming schedule, but Don tells her to clear his week. Roger then enters, and after a minimal exchange about the family emergency, Don tells him he's leaving the next day to go to the Rocket Fair, and if he's doing this as an escape it does seem likely that he's given up on Betty taking him back. The crosscurrents in this scene are of course fascinating, what with the Roger and Jane thing out in the open and Roger and Joan's history and Roger knowing about Don's imploding marriage. Joan sits stock still as Roger tells Don that California sounds great for him -- "sunshine, bikinis" -- but aren't they already sending Campbell and Kinsey? Don: "Not yet." Heh. Roger tells him Pete's got to go -- "I've held his hand through thirty phone calls." Don doesn't reply, so Roger tosses Paul to the wolves by bidding Don bon voyage, adding that Joan can hold down the fort. Joan gives him a look that's equal parts anger at his familiarity, bitterness that he took away the one job around here she truly loved without even realizing it, and contempt that he actually went ahead and left his wife of twenty-five years for a woman who's basically her replacement. Don's tuned in and is on Joan's side for reasons plentiful and obvious, and Roger, sensing the chill in the air, takes off. Don then asks Joan to send a memo to Paul explaining the change in plans, and it's all Joan can do not to lick her lips like some fabulous pregnant predator right there. I mean, I have to amend my previous statement -- this is the job she truly loves. Don is clearly the worse for wear, as he's atypically slugging coffee in the afternoon, and Joan's reward for his generosity is to tell him to lie down and take a nap. "I'll keep the drunks away." If you want to be efficient, I'd just padlock the conference room.