Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A | 425 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em!
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 12 | Aired on 2008.10.19
Don's lying on the couch when Anna drops a shopping bag onto his stomach, saying she bought him some clothes. Honey, you're teaching piano for a living, and he's about to have, as Roger would put it, a lifetime's supply of marmalade. Now's not the time to be worried about evening out the charity. She walks out...
...and then we fade to a flashback, with a Christmas tree appearing in the room. Anna comes back out with a big smile and some eggnog for the two of them, and then Don, with a smile more genuine than I remember seeing from him, presents her with a gift-wrapped box. She declines to open it until the next morning, so either it's Christmas Eve or she grew up as a British servant, and then he tells her there's something else -- he met a girl. Anna jokes, "Another one," so apparently you can't explain Don's rampant infidelity as a game of catch-up. He smiles broadly as he says the girl is so beautiful and happy, and is an educated model from a good family. Anna's thrilled, and Don tells her she's named Elizabeth -- Betty. He gushes that he wants Anna to meet her, and when Anna laughs that he's "in the lavender haze," he shyly tells her he likes the way Betty laughs, and the way she looks at him. This entire scene could just break your heart, because it seems like Betty and Don really were happy for a time, and that the presentation Don gave in "The Wheel" really did come from a sincere place. Don tells Anna that he wants to ask Betty to marry him, which means he needs Anna to grant him a divorce. Anna smiles and agrees, saying she never thought of that, and Don tells her she should hire a lawyer there, and he'll pay for it, and he's also willing to take care of her forever. Anna says he doesn't have to do that, but he disagrees, thinking that he owes everything to her and the real Don. Anna changes the subject, and says that having a family will be good for Don. She sighs that it will probably be their last Christmas together, and Don asks why. "You could be my cousin!" That's a remake of Secrets And Lies just waiting to happen. Anna takes his hand and tells him it's a chance at a whole new life for him, and he kisses her affectionately on the cheek and thanks her...