Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 488 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT I Went To A Garden Party…
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 2009.08.30
Back at the other party, Betty's at the buffet, telling Don she just needs to have a little more food and then they can go. Given her long-standing disinclination to eat, even while pregnant, I'm wondering if this is another subtle example of her asserting control over him. Jane then staggers up, plate in hand, and after she slurs something about the family always being the last to eat, she drops her food, and soon Betty and Don are hauling her to her feet and into a chair. They take it all in good enough humor until Jane tells Betty she knew she and Don would get back together. Betty looks disbelievingly at Don, who assures her he'll take care of Jane. She stalks off (although on second viewing, after the initial shock, she doesn't seem quite as angry as I thought; I'm guessing she remembered that Jane was Don's secretary at the time) leaving a confused Jane to pleadingly opine that Don doesn't like her and say she's really a nice person. I don't know that the show's history really bears that out, but it's not like Don's really being unkind to her here either. Nevertheless, Roger's voice suddenly cuts in and asks what's going on, and Jane, suddenly seeming to grasp what happened, worriedly says she should have eaten something. Don, not really having much more he can do, walks away, but Roger, after loudly asking for a glass of milk to be brought to his wife, asks Don if they can talk, so Don unwillingly pauses. Roger asks what that was, and Don tries to tell him Jane's drunk and leave it at that, but Roger wonders what he did to "get under [Don's] skin." Don tries once again to escape, his stance loudly proclaiming that Roger's deluding himself if he thinks he actually wants to hear what Don has to say, but Roger asks for it once more, saying his mother was right -- she said you shouldn't be conspicuously happy, because some people don't like it. Don finally obliges Roger with his usual economy of words: "No one thinks you're happy. They think you're foolish." Roger nods, but he's hurt more than you might think, and he leaves with a comment about being able to choose your guests that suggests this is the last garden party to which Don will be invited for a while. And while that may not seem like the way to hit Don where it hurts, Don looks regretful as he stands there in the wake of the confrontation. Perhaps it's because this question popped into his mind: Despite all his faults, without Roger, what kind of fun would SC be for Don?