Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 950 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Are You Gonna Drop The Bomb Or Not?
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 13 | Aired on 2008.10.26
Betty's riding, which seems like a really passive-aggressive way to abort a child, but she soon has her attention drawn to the fact that Don is waiting for her, hat literally in hand, when she dismounts. She takes a moment before approaching him and asking where he's been, and he in turn takes a deep breath before saying he needed some time to think things over. She counters, "Must be nice. Needing time and just taking it, all on your own terms." She's obviously ready to go toe to toe with him, but he's finally there to be real, as he says he's sorry for what happened. She gets what's going on: "What happened?" He tells her that he wasn't respectful to her, with that statement simultaneously apologizing for everything -- the infidelity, the lying, the taking her for granted, the treating her like a child. She claims victory in their long battle of wills: "Well, now I know I'm not crazy. That helps." Don urgently tells her he can't walk away from what they have together, and he wants to be together with her again. So I guess last week's baptism wasn't so much literally losing the Don Draper identity as getting rid of the parts of that identity that served to isolate him -- going back to when he was excited about having a family, and when he didn't believe he was alone. She's noncommittal, saying things haven't been that different without him, which looks cutting on the page but was actually delivered more with a tone of scientific observation than anything else. He still looks wounded, but changes the subject to the kids, saying he needs to see them. For obvious reasons, however, their offspring are not a subject about which she's feeling chatty at the moment, so she says she can't deal with the situation right now, but will call and make arrangements. She strides off, and Don looks disappointed that that didn't go a little better. On the plus side, his camel overcoat looks dashing.
Pete comes in to see Duck, who's now drinking openly, to Pete's mild discomfort, and confesses the news about the Clearasil fiasco. Duck, after opining that the situation with the father-in-law is a "sticky wicket," tells Pete he's counting on his discretion. That seems a bit like counting on Bai Ling to dress sanely, but Pete's confused and panicked response of "Okay?" is enough to silence any criticism. Duck tells Pete about the merger, and adds that Clearasil would have been in conflict with Lever Brothers (presumably a PPL client) anyway, so Pete actually did the company a favor by refusing to give in to his wife's deepest desire. Well, he doesn't quite put it that way, but given Duck's messy divorce it's probably not too much of a stretch to think he would. Duck praises Pete's "loyalty and enthusiasm" during the American Airlines period, and says he'd like Pete to replace him as Head of Accounts when he moves on to be President of the new SC. Pete's mind is blown that his longtime dream is so close, and Duck cautions him not to say anything to anyone just yet. Pete then asks if Don is on board with his promotion, which makes sense, because if there's anything or anyone that Pete thinks about more than moving up in the SC world, it's Don. Duck scoffs that it doesn't matter, as he's the President, and if Don ever returns, he'll either fall in line or find another profession. "That's why God put non-compete clauses in contracts." But while Roger may sometimes think of himself as God, especially now that he's bagged a piece of ass like Jane at his age, Duck is still going to learn that that they're not quite the same. And he's going to learn that lesson both expensively and hilariously. Pete thanks Duck, but as he leaves, he looks surprisingly conflicted. Maybe he's wondering whether to trust the word of a man whose breath makes a gin mill seem odorless by comparison.