Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 390 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT The Devil You Know
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 9 | Aired on 2012.05.13
At the Francis family kitchen table, Sally is working diligently on her family tree project. After Betty confirms that Megan and Henry get branches off Don and her, respectively, she sorts through Bobby's homework and comes across a short mash note to Don from Megan on the back of a drawing Bobby made in the city. After a long moment, she dismisses Bobby and upon some further consideration, lightly tells Sally, "Don't forget your Daddy's first wife." Oh. Ohhhh. I suppose Betty doesn't know that the kids visited Anna's old house, but this is still beyond the pale, especially since she's using Sally to fire a shot at Megan, the effectiveness of which will not quite be what she guesses. Sally gives Betty the chance to take it back, saying "Elizabeth Hofstadt Draper Francis" is already on there, but Betty chomps on a celery stalk as she says she should just put Anna Draper down as deceased. Sally won't be put off so easily and asks who Anna is, but Betty counters that Megan should have told her so she can ask her for explanations. Betty stalks out, but not before crumpling up Bobby's picture with the note on the back and throwing it in the trash for bad measure. I'd love to see the lead Weight Watchers woman's face if Betty's honest about this little episode. That would send even her straight into a box of Mallomars.
In the conference room, Harry's complaining about his office, which I thought he tacitly agreed not to do? Guess it's Roger's fault for paying cash without a contract. Pete, Ken, Peggy and Ginzo are in attendance and then Don and Stan join them with artwork for the two ideas discussed earlier. They both play well in the room, but Pete eventually calls Ginzo's idea as funnier although he plans to take them both to the client. Ginzo, that self-preservation instinct apparently somewhat ephemeral, is rather tone-deaf in his celebration and after Don withdraws in a manner I would not describe as non-threatening, Ginzo crows, "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair." Stan, continuing to win my heart: "You should read the rest of that poem, you boob." Peggy's smirk matches my own...
...and then we're in the Draper apartment, with Don just leaving to take the boys out somewhere. Sally's obviously in a mood (Don's "Have fun" to Megan is just the right amount of pointed) and when they're alone, Megan calls her on being so nasty. Sally shoots back that she's a phony -- and who's Anna? Megan's taken aback, so Sally presses on, saying Megan acted like her friend, but she really just does whatever Don says. After unsuccessfully trying to get Sally to reveal her source (although surely she must know), Megan tries to explain to Sally that she didn't think it was her place to tell her about Anna, as Sally is a little girl and "it's complicated." Sally: "Fine. Just keep digging yourself deeper." If I could carry this girl around with me, it'd make my job a lot easier. Deciding to act, Megan hotly informs Sally that, despite whatever Betty may have told her, Anna and Don got married as an act of convenience and they never lived together and never had kids. She goes on that back then, "it was the only way to help each other out," prompting Sally to retort, "Then why did he marry you?" For pre-Thanksgiving, it is awfully cold in New York. Megan finally does the sensible thing and tells Sally to talk to Don, but Sally snaps that she doesn't want to. "And don't tell him I asked." Damn, setting Megan up to fail her again. This may be little-girl shit, but it's Betty-grade little-girl shit. Pursuant to that, as Megan goes to leave the room, Sally sneeringly asks if she's going to make herself cry. Megan, hurt, merely tells Sally that she is her friend before making herself scarce. When she's gone, Sally looks like that was less fun than she figured it would be. Well, kid, practice makes perfect.