Episode Report Card Couch Baron: N/A | 82 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Indian Giver
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 2 | Aired on 2008.08.03
Paul throws a party, which gets the city folk out to Montclair and affords us the chance to see a few new on-screen interactions, and the fact that Paul is dating an African-American woman, a revelation that brings out an ugly side of Joan. An American Airlines plane crashes, which stirs Duck to try to bring American in as a client, with Bertram and Roger's approval. Meanwhile, we learn that Pete's dad was on the plane, and when he finds out, he goes to Don of all people for guidance, in a scene that shows that in some ways, Pete has Don pegged better than anyone. Perhaps affected by the news, Don registers his extreme distaste for the idea of wooing American, both because of the timing and the fact that they'd have to dump Mohawk, which puts fuel on the fire over the clash with Duck, as does Roger's eventual order to Don to cut Mohawk loose.
Carlton and Francine come over to the Drapers' for cards, and when Betty is rather abrasive about a wide range of subjects, Don later calls her out for trying to pick a fight with him. Peggy pays her Brooklyn-accented and Catholic mother a visit, during which we get a quick allusion to the fact that Peggy was committed for a time, presumably during those two months after her pregnancy for which she wasn't around, and that her mother, sister, or both are raising her son. Duck odiously tries to get Pete involved in the American Airlines play, making his state of mind even more fragile, but when he goes to Don again for solace, Don, seething over the Mohawk business, bites his head off undeservedly. The cruelest irony is that the Mohawk president blames Don for dropping them. Meanwhile, Don's reaction to Pete sends him straight to the meeting with Duck and the American guy, and Pete doesn't hesitate to use his personal tragedy to advance Sterling Cooper's cause. In the end, Peggy goes to Mass and grips her son while people take Communion around her. Oh, and Joan is over thirty, and the whole office knows it. Ha!
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