Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 4 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Are You Gonna Drop The Bomb Or Not?
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 13 | Aired on 10.26.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.So the "emergency" in the episode title is the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is just coming to a head and colors the actions of most everyone in the episode with themes of confession, absolution, and doing things they'd never otherwise do. Father Gill tells Peggy that she needs to unburden herself and reconcile with God if she doesn't want to go to Hell, and while she's initially unimpressed with his potential-apocalypse-fueled fire-and-brimstone talk, after Pete gets drunk and confesses to Peggy that he wishes he was with her and that he loves her, she in turn reveals that she had his baby, although she leaves out some important details when she tells him she gave it away.
Don returns and goes back to work, where there's emergency accounting happening in preparation for the merger, and the junior execs of SC are wondering what's going on. Pete comes in to confess the Clearasil disaster to Duck, who tells him about the merger and offers to make him his replacement as Head of Accounts in the new SC order. Pete gets unexpected kudos from Don, which is the impetus for him to prove his ultimate loyalties by ratting Duck and his plan to be the new President out to Don. Don holds his cards back and gives Duck enough rope to hang himself before announcing that he won't be a part of an agency run by Duck. Duck and his blood-alcohol level flip out in front of the buyers, in stark contrast to Don's cool self-assuredness, so it's not clear whose future holds what.
Finally, Betty learns that she's pregnant, and given her current situation, it's not surprising that she's none too thrilled, but it's kind of a shock when she investigates the possibility of having an abortion. She gets the name of a guy from Francine, but Francine also counsels her against the idea, so Betty tries to do things the old-fashioned way by bouncing on a horse in an effort to induce a miscarriage. Speaking of surprises, Don returns to Betty and finally admits to having the affair, but tells her in no uncertain terms that he wants to be with her. She puts him off, and then gets drunk in a bar and finally has sex with someone else, although I certainly can't blame her, considering her choice of partner is Captain Awesome from Chuck. However, Betty gets a heartfelt letter of apology from Don telling her how much he loves and needs her, and she takes him back. On top of that, she reveals her pregnancy, and with the prospect of birth signifying the rebirth of their relationship, we end the season.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Couple bits and pieces before I get started: Two episodes ago, the Pembroke I linked to was the wrong one -- it should have been the (now-defunct) sister school of Brown, which makes a lot more sense geographically. And last episode, I was so focused on the hair of the mother in the artwork that I completely overlooked the obvious, which is that it was completely imitative of certain iconic Catholic imagery (either Christ or the Virgin Mary, depending on who you ask). That's ten times funnier and makes a hundred times more sense, given both the pitch and Peggy's storyline this season, so I am sorry for overlooking that. This show is so great, and although I'm probably in the minority I enjoyed this season even more than last, but man, from a recapping standpoint I am glad to have a break. Or I will be, as soon as I get through the intricacies of this week's offering. Here goes:
We open on a closeup of a framed needlepoint of a doe and her fawn, and the baleful eye that Betty is casting its way will add up very soon but for the moment makes it seem like she's the only person in the world who didn't cry when Bambi lost his mother. Betty's in an examining room in someone's house, that someone being a friendly older gentleman who seems to be her gynecologist, who enters and informs her that the spotting she had the week before was not caused by her horseback riding -- she's pregnant. Betty greets this news with a level of enthusiasm that could be used as inspiration by anyone whose life's dream is to resemble a block of wood. The doctor starts to run down the changes she'll have to make to her life, including stopping riding, and suggests she simply take it easy: "That's what husbands are for." Without informing him that that's precisely the problem here, Betty tells him she can not have a baby at the moment. That declaration hangs there for a long moment before the doctor says that if they're talking about what he thinks they're talking about, there are "alternatives," but given that she's a wealthy married woman, he can't believe she'd even consider such a drastic measure. "That is an option for young girls, who have no other options." Well, it's progress from The Cider House Rules, at least. Betty merely sits in silence, so the doctor takes her hand and assures her that as soon as she tells her husband and friends, she'll stop worrying. He steps out for a moment, and instead of undressing for her examination, as he requested, she leaves, grabbing her coat on the way. I'm glad it was hanging on a hook, because seeing her handle a coat hanger at this particular moment would have been more than a little uncomfortable.