Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT California, Here I Come…
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 10 | Aired on 10.05.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Trudy wants to adopt a child, but Pete won't hear of it -- until Pete and his brother go to see their mother on some legal errand and she registers her rather bigoted distaste to the idea. Pete rather gleefully tells her about her financial straits, but later, he drunkenly wonders aloud to Peggy if it might be better if he died. This maudlin line of thinking comes about because Pete and Paul are taking a business trip to California, and he'll be flying on a jet plane for the first time since his dad went down.
Meanwhile, Betty calls Don with the news that her father had a stroke. Don accompanies Betty down to see him, where we meet Betty's brother William for the first time. While Gloria insists that the stroke was nothing serious, Betty's chagrined when her father confuses her with her dead mother, and also tells her that this isn't the first event he's suffered. In addition, her dad makes it clear that he doesn't trust Don. Don and Betty have to pretend that their marriage isn't in jeopardy, but when the guest room door closes, Don sleeps on the floor -- until Betty wakes him in the night and they totally do it right there. Betty then learns from her family maid that her father is only going to get worse, which seems like about all she can handle -- but she still won't take Don back, looking even more resolved that she's doing the right thing on that front than before.
Things take a turn, though, when Helen's son Glen, the one who took a lock of Betty's hair, shows up again, having run away from home. Glen clearly wants to stay with Betty, both because his home life is miserable now and because he's inappropriately drawn to her, but Betty betrays him by calling his mother to come get him. Helen comes by to give Betty a talking-to, only to have Betty be the one to tell her exactly how things are. Betty then confesses that she might be on her way to sharing Helen's divorcee status, and Helen sympathizes, saying that the hardest part of the whole thing is realizing you're in charge. And it does look like that's going to be the case, as Don takes Paul's place on the trip to California, seemingly resigned to his marriage being over. If only he didn't hate Pete so much, he'd probably have a really good time.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!In Don's office and in front of the whole Creative team, Pete reads from a long list of companies, all of whom will apparently be represented at an upcoming aerospace conference in Santa Monica. Paul, who's going on the trip with Pete, is excited that they'll be so close to Pasadena, despite Pete's assertion that its residents are "just people with TB," because it has "jet propulsion laboratories. And Ray Bradbury." Paul does strike me as a Fahrenheit 451 kind of guy. I'm just surprised we haven't seen him give Harry more shit about his new involvement with television. Don sternly tells them it's a business trip (although Pete is allowed to play business golf), and Crab Colson guarantees that there will be some astronauts out there. "Every scientist, engineer, and general is trying to figure out a way to put a man on the moon -- or blow up Moscow, whichever one costs more. We have to explain to them how we can help them spend that money." I'd push for the former option as being easier to sell. I mean, everyone with a TV will get to see a moon landing, while if you blow up Moscow, only Alaskans will have a birds-eye view. Paul starts pompously babbling, only to have Don cut him off: "Campbell, you do the talking. Kinsey, you do the listening." Paul looks bummed, as he should, because when Don's using Pete to show you up your stock has plummeted indeed. (Uh, sorry.) Peggy pipes up that Don wanted her to remind them about "the Congressmen," and Pete thinks she's referring to the fact that they control the money, causing Don to correct him with much irritation: "No. They are the customer." He goes on that they want aerospace in their districts, so Pete needs to let them know that SC can bring those contracts to them. At Pete and Paul's uncertain looks, Don snaps, "Did you read anything that [Peggy] prepared?" The answer is clearly "no," so Don adds, "Maybe I should send her." Perhaps, but she doesn't have the golf handicap to replace Pete. And as for Paul, that's going to go down so exquisitely that I will beg you not to screw with it.
Pete's reading a travel guide to LA as Trudy comes to bed and solicitously angles for an invitation, promising that she'd stay out of his way. He, however, tells her if she's there, it will make him "look less serious in the office." It's always a challenge to parse the rationalizations upon rationalizations that are 99 percent of what makes up Pete Campbell, but this time I honestly have no idea what he's talking about. Just say "People don't bring their wives to these things," which itself is code for "We're all going to be hitting on stewardesses and waitresses, and I know you don't like/do that" and be done with it! Trudy lets it go easily enough, musing that she could go down to see her parents in Rehoboth, and this paves the way for her to tell Pete that her parents are "concerned." Pete warily asks what about, and Trudy, with that naked sadness she gets whenever her lack of fertility is the subject, answers, "Nothing's happening." Pete asks why she insists on making him angry before he goes to bed, and she doesn't answer but I'd imagine it's because it's fun to get him all steamed when he's wearing those cute little pajamas. Anyway, Trudy is talking about adoption, and says there are some very reputable agencies, but Pete doesn't want to hear about "someone else's child," saying it's not natural. Trudy refuses to give up, saying she felt that way at first too, but she knows that Pete would fall in love with the baby they pick, and by the way, they're ideal candidates. Pete, his resolve starting to weaken, puts an arm around her and asks if her parents think he just says no to everything. Trudy, breaking my heart as no one else on this show seems to be able to: "We're not related by blood, and you love me." She may not be a Joan, or a Peggy, or a Betty, but this season, she's going to get what she wants, I tell you what.