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Harry gets in trouble for a snafu involving a poorly-placed television ad, and asks Roger for a subordinate to help read scripts and head off potential problems. Joan (who's almost surely pregnant, not that that's a huge surprise if you've been paying attention to her measurements) ends up taking over the job with not only her usual assured skill but also quite a bit of genuine enthusiasm. However, her success makes Harry look so good that Roger springs for a permanent subordinate, which royally pisses Joan off, although, she keeps it to herself for the moment.
Father Gill encourages Peggy to get more involved with the church, and enlists her for some PR help for an upcoming church dance. He then encourages her to talk to him about anything that might be bothering her, and he almost succeeds, but not quite.
Finally, Betty's being short with Don, which he thinks is due to nervousness about a important upcoming business dinner party they're throwing at their house for the purpose of schmoozing that guy from two episodes ago who did the Cuba campaign, but is of course because of Jimmy spilling the beans about Don and Bobbie. After the party, Betty finally straight-up confronts Don, and although Don tries to deny it and turn things around, Betty holds fast and calls him a liar as well as a cheat. Infuriated by his steadfast refusal to admit his guilt, she searches his things but doesn't find anything, so she changes tacks and asks if Don actually loves her. He tells her he does, and seems to mean it, but it isn't enough, and the day, she calls him at work and tells him not to come home, so Don stays at the office, powerless and alone.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Through a few quick cuts, we see Betty riding her cantering horse. When she dismounts, she looks completely spent, the weight of the revelation that Don's still cheating on her causing her to lean up against the horse for support. The horse is like, "How do you think I feel? And you should hear what my stallion does with the other fillies that he thinks I don't know about." Later, after Betty enters the house, we cut to her starting to get out of her riding clothes as Don, still in bed, comes to. He looks at the clock and asks when she got up, and she replies that she doesn't know before mentioning that he said he was going to fix an outlet in the kitchen that's apparently not working. Don resists, so Betty flatly tells him that he just needs to unscrew the fuse and replace the plug. He smiles that it sounds like she could do it, but she's in no mood for levity, so he gives in. He asks her to sit down, and after she unwillingly complies, he tells her that they have a week before "this party," and it doesn't have to be a big deal, but she tartly replies that she's going to have a house full of people. "I'd appreciate it if you'd take care of the things on the list." If they're making lists now, this marriage is in even more trouble than I thought. He plays the "Birdy" card and assures her he'll fix it, and she thanks him.
Peggy shows up at Anita's, and the energy between them is much more relaxed than we've seen before, which is interesting. Anita tells her that her timing is perfect. "Ma just left." Heh. Apparently Anita's husband Gerry's back has gotten worse since we last saw him, and he even went to see a chiropractor. Anita's worried, however, that the back problem is merely an excuse for her husband to become a shiftless bum. "His buddies from work don't even come by anymore. They think he's a malingerer." I don't know -- if he can't even make it down to the corner bar to see them, it's probably pretty serious. Peggy produces a copy of the new Horatio Hornblower she checked out of the library for Gerry, and then the doorbell rings, and it's Father Gill come to check on his bedridden parishioner. Anita goes to see if he's awake, leaving Father Gill open to mention that he thinks Peggy doesn't seem very comfortable at church. She unconvincingly denies that, but considering that the times we've seen her, it looks like she's been digging her nails into the pews for dear life, I'm going to have to agree. He tells her there are many ways she could be involved, and one of them would be helping out the committee for the CYO (Church Youth Organization?) dance with some publicity ideas. She tells him she's very busy, but he suggests asking her boss if she could do it pro bono, as he'd really like to see the kids show up this time. Anita returns and tells Father Gill that Gerry's ready to see him, so he leaves Peggy to contemplate if there's any way God will let her out of this one.
Duck informs Harry that as of today, he's costing the company more money than he's making it. It seems that in the ABC Sunday night movie, there was a scene with a murderous Russian spy who was referred to as an "agitator" on numerous occasions. "And this led into a Maytag spot, the title of which is 'The Amazing Agitator'." Harry can barely keep from giggling, and it is hilariously ridiculous -- is Maytag worried that people will think that their washing machines are sending information about their domestic habits home to Mother Russia? "They make swans out of their napkins! NOW we have them!" Duck's point, however, is that they're eating this one. "Politics aside, you need to be aware that a client will take any excuse not to pay us." Now he's making more sense. He tells Harry to shape up the department or he'll ship it out, and Harry leaves in a tizzy...
...and outside, he encounters Ken, Paul, and Sal doing absolutely nothing, so he asks for a volunteer to read TV scripts, as there are too many and he has no one to help him. They, however, are unwilling to take time from their busy ass-picking schedule, so they suggest he find someone more junior to kick around instead. Harry smokes in frustration, which should at least keep him awake longer to read.
Duck and Pete come into Don's office, and Duck announces that Heineken was "pleased but confused." Ah, college. Don wonders if that's because Duck doesn't use their product, and Duck replies, "That's why I brought Campbell." Heh, nice. The problem, however, is that there's a lot of competition "at the tap," so the Heineken people think they need to find a way to excite "your average tavern inhabitant." Don asks if Duck explained that there's a market out there that's actually excited about Heineken being imported -- women entertaining in the home. He says that for them, "Holland is Paris -- they can buy this sophisticated beer and proudly walk it into the kitchen instead of hiding it in the garage." Duck is like, I'm just the messenger here, and suggests some research to back up Don's claim, which Don agrees to, including some fancy supermarket-aisle displays. On his way out, Duck tells Don he might not be able to make it Sunday night, but Don points out that Roger thinks it's very important that they sit down with "Crab Colson," who I'll just tell you now is the guy from two episodes ago who was involved in that whole Cuba PR fiasco. Duck explains to a clueless Pete that Crab is with "Rogers & Cowan," and says he'll get the time of the party from his girl again. He leaves, but Pete just stands there until Don looks at him with a "What?" expression, at which he takes off. He's a total weirdo, but maybe his reflexes were slowed by all that imported beer.
Betty's bustling around getting things ready when she notices that one of the dining-room chairs has a loose supporting piece. Unable to solve the problem with some creative jiggling, she ends up hitting the chair against the floor several times until it completely falls apart. Too bad -- that thing would have made the drunk woman's antics even funnier. Bobby and Sally look concerned enough about their mother losing it that they take their eyes off the TV for all of three seconds.
Harry's working away as his shiftless officemate Warren is keeping the faith by doing nothing, although he tries to look busy when one of the girls buzzes in that Roger is there. Harry tries the effect of calling Roger by his given name, which gets a "Crane" in response. Heh. I think it's worse that he didn't even seem to notice. Roger asks what this business is about expanding the department, and Harry says he's checked with other outfits, and they should have a "dedicated man" for broadcast operations -- someone to read scripts, mainly, while he should be more of "the face of the Television Department, for the clients." Translation: "I want to do nothing around here, like all my friends do." Well, that's at least how Roger hears it, as, after a funny bit where he tries to ascertain if he can bum a smoke and realizes that Harry's a mooch in that regard just like he is, he wonders if Harry's "goldbricking," because that's what "Mitch" says. After unsuccessfully trying to get Warren to leave, Harry, sotto voce, says that Mitch isn't happy with Harry's promotion. Roger asks if Harry is, and when he says yes, pointedly replies, "Figure out a way to do the job yourself." When he's gone, Harry tells Warren that he'd better not repeat any of that to Mitch. Aw. He's so cute when he tries to be threatening!
Peggy answers her phone with the formal greeting of "Peggy Olson's office," and it's Father "John" Gill, who asks to speak with her, not realizing that women being copyrighters is one thing, but women having secretaries is going to be a few more seasons down the line. (It seems appropriate to add, "God willing.") Peggy pauses for a couple moments and then brightly answers as herself. We see that Father Gill is holding a flyer that bills the dance as "A Night To Remember," and has a large picture of a man and a woman ballroom-dancing, his hand on the small of her back. He asks if she could take "whatever this is" and turn it into a poster, a request that sounds both counterproductive (it's an off-putting way of referring to Peggy's work) and counterintuitive (why would he want a poster if he doesn't like the concept?). Peggy focuses on the former issue, asking what he means, and Father Gill tells her that the CYO committee is worried about the potential implications of the copy. Peggy, however, thinks it's romantic yet wholesome, and besides, if they don't get the girls out there, the boys won't come either. (She doesn't ask if they'd prefer "A Night To Forget," which shows that she was raised right, at least in certain respects.) Father Gill starts to hem and haw, so her tone turns slightly acidic: "Tell them that this is the way it works, and I know better than them." In a less explicit way than Duck did, Father Gill asks that she not shoot the messenger: "Couldn't you just speak with them? They just want to feel involved." Peggy softens her tone and agrees, and even manages to refrain from rolling her eyes after she hangs up.
Harry's smoking (heh) and watching a "Fresh" deodorant commercial when Joan enters and asks if she can be of assistance. Harry's confused, so Joan tells him that she got a memo from Roger saying Harry needed help with his workload. I'd imagine after his intervention on Jane's behalf, a memo is about the only thing he'd dare to throw Joan's way. Harry sulks, because that's not what he wanted, but Joan doesn't indulge him, saying that they're spread pretty thin. Warren returns from cleaning out the commissary or whatever and gets all tongue-tied over Joan, who at least does him the favor of knowing his name. Harry sighs that he needs someone both to run their commercial scripts past the network for approval and to read the network scripts for him to be sure SC's clients aren't misrepresented. Joan says she doesn't feel comfortable sending her girls out of the building (safety's probably one reason, but having seen quite a few of them I don't know if they could be trusted to find their way back from an unfamiliar place) but she will find someone to read the scripts. Harry confides that he just wants to be able to get home to his pregnant wife at a reasonable hour, and Joan, with a note of curiosity that wasn't there before, checks out the pile of scripts on Harry's desk and asks exactly what the clients are looking for. Harry says they just want to avoid potential problems -- "if a kid's pushing away his dinner in disgust, just make sure it's not Gorton's Fish Sticks. People can't be coughing and dying right before a Lucky ad -- things like that." Joan thinks it sounds interesting, which couldn't be more in character, because what Harry's talking about is having a producer's mindset, and if SC has a Supervising Producer, it is Miss Joan Holloway. After he warns her that Maytag is "very sensitive to communism" (hee), she heads out with the pile of scripts, leaving Warren to bemoan the fact that he can't talk to Joan the way Harry does. "She's so much woman." Indeed, and we'll soon be finding out why.
It's dinner party time, and as Sally hops around for the adults' pleasure, Betty, Carla by her side, looks at the dinner table with satisfaction and hands off her apron. I think the chair at the head of the table is different from the others, which is a nice nod to her little meltdown earlier. Sally finishes up, and after the applause, Betty proudly says that she's going to be Piglet in a production of Winnie The Pooh. "It's all very professional-looking." In attendance are Roger, Mona, Crab, and his boozy wife, who cuts in front of Roger with her drink order. Man or woman, that seems like a good way to lose something. Betty sends the kids to bed as the doorbell rings, and it's Duck, bearing a large bouquet of flowers and apologies for being late. "My date canceled." Betty tells him he should have called, as she might have been able to find someone else for him, and then hands the flowers off to Carla as Don and the kids appear. Duck of course remembers Sally from her trip to the office, and if he knows that she left tanked, he has the good grace not to say anything. He then greets Bobby, who adorably hides behind Don before getting escorted up the stairs by his mother. Duck reiterates his apology to Don, saying he didn't want to come stag. Don doesn't think anyone cares, but Duck isn't so sure. "My wife hated odd numbers." She wasn't in the habit of smashing chairs, then. Duck greets Roger and Mona and then meets Crab and "Petra," with Roger handling the introductions: "Crab, Duck. Duck, Crab." I hope they named these two characters in anticipation of this moment. Don offers Duck a drink, and he opts for tomato juice, to which Petra practically slurs her disapproval. Talk turns to boating, with Crab eventually asking Don if he and Betty are going to join "Willow Oaks" or not. "We're lonely!" Before Don can answer, however, Betty enters and summons them all for dinner, and they head in, with Duck making up for lost time by talking to Crab about Rogers & Cowan. Roger notices, and hangs back to comment to Don, "He does everything you need him to do, you know?" Also, Petra bangs her head into the wall on the way in, settling the question of who's going to be the Party Drunk.
Everyone stands behind their chairs as Betty announces that they're going to be taking a little trip around the world -- they'll start in Spain with gazpacho, then move to Japan for rumaki, and then Duchess County for leg of lamb with mint jelly, accompanied by egg noodles from Germany. Also, there's burgundy from France, or a frosted glass of beer from Holland. Well, Don, apparently she can tell the difference between Paris and Amsterdam. Duck asks if Don brought a case from work, joking that Don will do anything to win an argument, but Betty quickly lets us know that she bought the Heineken. Don adds that he's not allowed even to pick where he sits, which gets an appreciative laugh from everyone except his wife, who looks around warily as she asks what's funny. Duck tells Crab that he wants to be in business with someone who knows his stuff, and explains to Betty that Don thought she was the market for the beer. Betty's like, oh, that is funny. "What an interesting experiment." Yes, that's how every happily married woman thinks of herself. Petra then gives Betty a choice between her sitting down or falling down, so Betty has everyone take their seats while she pours wine for the people that want it. Roger offers a disappointingly canned toast, and then Betty sits with a look that clues us in that whatever Don may know about her demographic, he's still in for a surprise.
Peggy pitches the "Night To Remember" idea, saying that it holds "the wholesome promise of the kind of hand-holding that eventually leads to marriage." The women on the committee disagree, however, with one of them saying she doesn't like how close the boy and girl on the poster are dancing. "Leave some room for the Holy Ghost." Heh. An oldie but a goodie. Peggy reluctantly accedes to Father Gill's idea of them doing a box step, but when the objections keep on coming, Peggy's eyes go dark, particularly when Father Gill wonders if they could "try something else," and the "someone else can easily be arranged" is evident on her face for those of us who know her well. As the meeting breaks up, she and one of the committee members ask to speak to Father Gill, but he tells the latter he'll talk to her tomorrow, so the women file out. Once they're gone, Peggy tells him that he didn't have to agree with the committee -- in fact, he's not supposed to, given that he asked her to do the job based on her expertise. He decides to agree with her now, which seems both wise and easy given that the committee's gone, and that's enough to mollify her. She apologizes if she was disrespectful, claiming that she's very tired, and he somewhat awkwardly tells her that they'll both be prepared time. Heh.
Joan's at home reading scripts when her fiancé comes home with some take-out, noting that the table's not set. Joan apologizes, saying he came back quickly, and goes to get plates. While she does, she asks, in regard to an apparent future plotline on As The World Turns, if it's possible for a person to come out of a coma with no memory of who they are. If the tequila's strong enough, I'd believe it. He tells her people don't often come out of comas, so she smiles that it's probably ridiculous, then, for such a person to have an accent he didn't have before. No more ridiculous than Madonna doing it without the coma, no? Dr. Fiancé wonders what's up with all the reading, and she tells him it's part of her job. Dr. Fiancé smiles: "I thought you just walked around with people staring at you." That's a big part of it. He wonders what happened to her enthusiasm for getting a house in Glen Cove, but she counters that he told her to stop looking. He says that's just until he finishes his training, but regardless, she should be watching those shows instead of reading them, "with a box of bonbons on your lap to soothe your cravings." Now, this show has fooled me before, but given that Christina Hendricks has been wearing so much padding this season that there's a line item in the wardrobe budget for it, I'm going to say this means she's pregnant. She tells him reading the scripts is a hoot, and he says that it's okay, then. Joan: "I'm glad you approve." They seem to be doing well enough with this little dance, but given that it's Joan, I think that if they looked down they'd see they're on a knife's edge. But for now, he sends her to get him a glass of water, which she does without complaint.
Carla is clearing up, and as we pan to follow her, we see a bucket of unopened Heinekens. I wonder if Betty gave a death glare to anyone who tried to go near them. Betty then lets Carla go for the evening, which would be Don's cue to knock himself out with a baseball bat if he had any clue what's coming his way. Carla opines that the evening was a great success, but when she's gone, Betty stalks over and turns off the TV. Don wonders what's up, so she tells him -- twice -- that he embarrassed her. "You knew I would buy that beer." He counters that he uses their life in his work all the time, and he gets paid for that. Well, that may be, but I'm thinking she would have had a better reaction to the Kodak campaign than this. She seethes that everyone went on to laugh. "Must be so funny, being in on it." Of course, she's railing against the advertising world at least partially because she's now directly associating it with his cheating, but I think she's also got to be livid that she takes her marriage and family so seriously, and from what she can tell, the biggest reason he's in it is to get fodder for his job. Not getting what's at the root, though, he tries to make nice, saying that he's sorry, and no one's going to remember the little incident anyway. "You know what they're going to remember? Petra Colson missing her chair." That is hard to argue, but Betty isn't hearing it, saying that she's not going to bed until he tells her why he insists on humiliating her. He tries to bail on the conversation, but she gets over the last of her inhibitions and says she knows he's been having an affair with Bobbie. "How could you? She's so old!" Nice callback to Betty's obsession with youth she got from her mother. Don, of course, knows that it's highly unlikely that Betty has any proof, so he lies to her face. What he doesn't realize is that he's disrespecting her further and causing her to feel he thinks she's even dumber than she thought, and I actually think that this is where he loses her for good, despite their nighttime conversation later. He firmly tells her it's ridiculous, and when she doesn't back down, he asks her what she knows. When she mentions Jimmy, Don spits that Jimmy hates him, and asks what he said. Betty: "So you can pick it apart? Twist all my words?" He tries to bluster his way out of it, even pointing out that he knows how Jimmy looks at her, as if playing up that angle wasn't all his idea in the first place. So he's not only a cheater, but a liar and a hypocrite. Remember how it seemed like he was trying to be a better person at the beginning of the season? That got old in a hurry, huh? She tells him, promo-style, that she knows what kind of a man he is, and when he asks if he thinks he would sleep with "that woman" (okay, Bill Clinton), she replies, "You can't help yourself." He bails out of the conversation without admitting anything but giving her an ugly look, and when he's gone, Betty looks uncertain, but she's known on some level that this day has been coming for quite some time.
Later, Betty opens the door to the bedroom and looks in at Don. He's turned away from her, though, and she disgustedly exits. However, when she's gone, he opens his eyes. Oh, is someone not going to get a good night's sleep now? I'm so sorry!
Betty goes into the kids' room and lies down to Sally. That is so freakin' sad I don't even know what to say about it.
In the morning, Betty's smoking at the kitchen table with the kids, still in the dress she wore the evening before. Don enters with a too-bright greeting, and Sally tells him Betty said the party was fun. Okay, scratch what I said earlier -- that is so freakin' sad I don't even know what to say about it. Seeing that his wife looks like hell, having had no sleep and also clearly been crying, Don does the caring thing: He leaves.
Inside the entrance to SC, Harry is exchanging light talk about his wife's pregnancy with two guys from Maytag. Joan appears, and when Harry introduces them to her, she soothingly asks, "Are we all better now?" Heh. One of the Maytag guys says that the process seems to be streamlined, and then realizes that he talked to Joan on the phone. Harry adds that Joan is handling Broadcast Operations, and they appreciatively leer at her. Now, I don't know, looking at the bigger picture, whether it would have made sense to use Joan on a permanent basis in this position -- it's not like she doesn't have plenty of other stuff to do around here. But you'd think that in making his decision, Harry might have taken into account how "SPROING!" these guys got over her.
Betty steels herself with a drink and goes on a mission to find hard evidence (sorry) of Don's infidelity. First she goes through all the clothes in his (walk-in, sigh) closet, even smelling them. Then we cut to her in his study, rifling through his desk. She comes across a Yahtzee scorecard with "What do women want? Any excuse to get closer. Right Guard" on it. Heh, nice ironic callback. Betty isn't amused, however, and keeps looking.
Pete brings two Heineken guys into the conference room, where Don and Duck greet them. Pete offers them a Heineken, and the guy who's allowed to speak is like, "It's eleven AM!" Good thing Freddy's not around to exhale in their general direction. Everyone takes a seat, and Pete reiterates how their research shows that people are drinking more in the home. They're still skeptical, but Don tells them how they targeted wealthy suburban markets with "woman-friendly end-aisle displays," and what they put out sold well, and to the demographic they expected. Duck chimes in about Betty doing the dinner-party setup while unaware of Heineken's relationship with SC, and the guy replies that it's not exactly scientific evidence. "Although it sounds like you do know your wife." Well, if Don didn't flinch when Betty confronted him, I wouldn't expect him to here, but even if it's not genuine, the "Well, yes I do" smile he has plastered on really should be smacked off by someone. Duck goes on that Betty represents everything they're after -- she's well-educated, rich, and has plenty of time to shop. "And it's important to her that she's the perfect hostess. The perfect wife." He goes on that they'd even like to use her round-the-world menu in selected ladies' magazines, an idea that finally gets the guy to perk up. After a little more pushing, he agrees to the print idea, saying they can start regionally. "See how some strangers' wives feel. You know, ones that aren't about to get divorced." Some of that may have been implied.
Harry is pitching as well, with Joan at his side, telling a client that he should buy airtime on Love of Life. Joan, however, pipes up that she's been reading the scripts for As The World Turns, and they have a "special summer storyline" that will be heavily promoted and absolutely unmissable. "Someone people think is dead is not." This is the promo line, combined with the flashback to that woman confronting Don about his fake identity, that made me think Joan had somehow discovered Don's secret. Excuse me while I take the fishhook out of my mouth and then we can continue. The client's impressed, and Harry's quick to jump on board. The guy skeeves that he loves what Joan says, and the way she says it, but that's the kind of attention Joan's built for. Or thinks she is, at least.
Betty's lying on her bed, still in that dress, and Sally comes in and asks her if she's okay. Betty holds it together enough to tell her that she's just not feeling very well, and Sally shows that her education about her parents' lifestyle didn't end at mixing drinks: "Do you want some aspirin?" Heh. Betty says she just wants to rest a little bit, and sends a worried Sally off to play with Bobby. When she's gone, Betty starts to get up, only to step on some broken glass that came from a wineglass she must have knocked over. She kneels on the floor and looks at it, and sometimes the symbolism on this show is pretty subtle, but this one, much like the chair incident, isn't that hard to figure.
Harry comes in to see Roger, who tells him that he's been getting a lot of phone calls from satisfied customers. Harry, and I had kind of forgotten about this part so good for him, gives credit to Joan, but Roger breezes that her attentions are divided at best, so it would be better to hire someone else. "One-fifty a week, and he has to share an office." Hope it's not with Joan, because that would be a pretty chilly room.
Don gets home and wonders where everyone is. He heads upstairs...
...and finds Betty sitting forlornly on the bed, still in the Dress of Despair. In a monotone, she tells him the kids are in bed. Referring to the mess around them, he asks what happened, and she says nothing. "Nothing happened here. I went through every pocket, and every drawer, and there's nothing." She fixes him with a look that would break your heart, and tells him she would never do this to him. "How could you do this to me?" Betty, you're probably not looking for an answer from me, but I'll take a stab at it: The man has serious sociopathic tendencies. Remember when he disappeared from your daughter's birthday party? Who does that? Don lies yet again that he didn't do anything, and leaves.
Don's down on the couch in the middle of the night when Betty, finally having cleaned herself up, wakes him. She tells him she doesn't want things to be like this, and he returns the sentiment. He tells her again that nothing happened, but she notes that he's finally looking her in the eye. "You never do that. You never say you love me." He denies that, even telling her he says it all the time, but I feel I have to side with her here, having, you know, WATCHED THE SHOW. I mean, it's possible his meaning is that he says it in non-verbal ways, but that's hardly any truer so it's completely irrelevant. She asks if he hates her, and this finally seems to penetrate him, as with a tiny note of desperation, he says he loves her. "I do. And I love the children. I don't want to lose all this." Betty considers this, and then leaves the room without a word.
Father Gill has come to SC to meet with Peggy, and, observing this, Pete asks Ken, "Did we get Miracle Whip?" HA! I do not know how Pete always gets the most hilarious lines, but I can tell you I would love to see Vincent Kartheiser in a comic role sometime. Ken jokes that it makes sense, since Peggy is an undercover nun, and Pete laughs like he didn't bang her in his office that time.
Some young nerdy guy is doing that "tell a punchline with no leadup" TV convention that I loathe so, and once Harry gives the requisite chortle, Joan appears, having been summoned. Harry introduces Joan to "Dan," and says he's going to be in charge of Broadcast Operations. Joan's face freezes: "Excuse me?" Oblivious to the perfect storm that's manifesting right before him, Harry tells her that he really appreciates her having filled in, and asks if she can train Dan right then and there. She gives Dan a quick-and-dirty rundown of what she's been doing, but gets lost for a moment in the middle, probably because she's wondering if anyone would notice if she ripped Roger's tongue out through his ass. If his name weren't on the door, I'd wonder myself. Does he actually do anything? Dan asks if Joan will be around to "help with the details," and she covers up admirably as she says yes. Harry thanks her again, and she leaves. Wow, what a development -- Joan, who always scoffed at Peggy's desire to break through the glass ceiling, is now hitting her fabulous red mane right against it. I hope, for his sake, that her fiancé somehow senses that this is not a good day to ask her why dinner is late.
Father Gill gushes about the wonder of the Xerox machine before telling Peggy that they all know how lucky they are to have her working for them. After she thanks him, though, he wrestles with something for a few moments, and then asks her if there's anything she needs to talk about, as he's noticed she doesn't take communion (which I'm guessing among Catholics at that time was extremely rare). Peggy plasters on a smile and says no, but he counters that God already knows what it is. Peggy: "Well, then, I don't need to talk." Heh. He presses the point, so she has to tell him that she doesn't think he'd understand. "You don't have to live life like the rest of us. Maybe you're lucky." He tells her, however, that by distancing herself from the church, she's distancing herself from everything. "That's why it's called communion. It's not just being with God -- it's being with people." She denies pushing people away, but when he tells her that no sin is too big to bring to God, her armor seems like it's cracking. He drives it home: "Do you feel you don't deserve His love?" She regards him for a long moment with a look so desperate and lonely that it could shake you to your soul, and is about to say something, but then looks at the Xerox machine and goes back into her shell. "Your copies are done." He allows her to get away with this, simply thanking her and telling her he'll see her on Sunday. When he's gone, she looks small.
Betty's trying to get back to the routine of being a good wife and mother, checking on something in the oven and then sitting down in the living room with the kids. Just then, however, Jimmy's Utz commercial comes on. Something unreasoning looks like it's rising in her, and I get the same feeling when I see Jimmy but I think this is a different story.
Don and Duck are continuing their newfound love affair when Don gets buzzed that Betty's on the line. Duck skedaddles, and when Don answers the phone, Betty gets right to it. "Don't come home. I don't care what you do; I just don't want you here." Stunned, he says her name, but she firmly tells him she doesn't want to see him, and hangs up. I know this is serious, but considering all that the women have been through in this episode, I hope cheering isn't too unseemly. Betty determinedly gets back to her household duties...
...while Don just stands in the same spot, eventually managing to hang up the phone. Good thing he's buddies with Duck now -- he can get some tips about the finer points of being booted by your wife.
Joan undresses at home. She sits on the bed and massages her own shoulder...
...while Peggy sits in the bathtub, trying not to let her face shatter into a million pieces...
...and Father Gill finishes up a smoke, takes off his vestments, and sits on his bed and plays the guitar. He sings Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Early In The Morning," and it's a nice little touch that he and Joan and Peggy all disrobed to some degree for this scene, as they're showing us stuff that's underneath...
...but as the song continues, we cut to Don, who doesn't get to undress tonight, which is fitting, because no one ever sees who he is. He takes a Heineken out from the break room refrigerator, opens it, and sits at the table, and it's another brilliant irony that the beer, which they strove to link to marital harmony and bliss, is now the only thing to keep him company after being the catalyst for the possible end of his marriage. As the camera pulls back for a wider shot of the office, with Don almost an afterthought in the corner, the music changes from Colin Hanks's voice to the actual Peter, Paul, and Mary recording, and we go to closing credits.
In case you didn't know, the show is taking a break this Sunday so viewers can watch the Emmys, but it will be back in a week for what looks like another amazing episode. See you then!
John Ramos is a writer and producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.
Joan undresses at home. She sits on the bed and massages her own shoulder...
...while Peggy sits in the bathtub, trying not to let her face shatter into a million pieces...
...and Father Gill finishes up a smoke, takes off his vestments, and sits on his bed and plays the guitar. He sings Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Early In The Morning," and it's a nice little touch that he and Joan and Peggy all disrobed to some degree for this scene, as they're showing us stuff that's underneath...
...but as the song continues, we cut to Don, who doesn't get to undress tonight, which is fitting, because no one ever sees who he is. He takes a Heineken out from the break room refrigerator, opens it, and sits at the table, and it's another brilliant irony that the beer, which they strove to link to marital harmony and bliss, is now the only thing to keep him company after being the catalyst for the possible end of his marriage. As the camera pulls back for a wider shot of the office, with Don almost an afterthought in the corner, the music changes from Colin Hanks's voice to the actual Peter, Paul, and Mary recording, and we go to closing credits.
In case you didn't know, the show is taking a break this Sunday so viewers can watch the Emmys, but it will be back in a week for what looks like another amazing episode. See you then!
John Ramos is a writer and producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.