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It's July 1, and Sterling Cooper is informed that three PPL muckey-mucks are coming from London the day for a two-day visit/observation. Everyone is ordered to get their desks in shape, and the boys are all told they'll need presentations prepared for July 3, which is extra-annoying for everyone, as that was supposed to be a holiday. On top of that, the day is Joan's last at SC as Greg is getting the news about the Chief Resident position that night and she is preparing to be a Lady of Leisure. The other girls are planning a surprise party for her, which isn't a surprise for long when Hooker spills the beans. Unfortunately, but not as much of a surprise to us as it is to Joan, Greg comes home in the middle of the night drunk and finally admits that not only did he not get the position, but his boss told him he'll never be a surgeon, at least not in New York. I guess his hands are more adept at forcing himself on women than on surgical procedures. He announces coldly that Joan will have to keep working after all, which is horrific timing considering she's as good as gone from Sterling Cooper now.
The Brits arrive the day with a young guy in tow who seems important, but who no one knows at all. They go into a meeting with Pryce and congratulate him on his good job there, and then reward him by giving him the boot to the Bombay office. At a lunch meeting with the execs they show a restructuring plan that puts this new Brit, McKendrick, in charge of the office with Don and Cooper. Roger is actually left off of the chart altogether, which they claim is just an oversight; they hand-write him back in, but this clearly spells out that the future might not be so rosy for our silver fox. After dropping this bomb the Brits go out to tell the rest of the office, and there's an office-wide champagne toast to the "good" news as well as to Joan for her last day. They give the office the rest of the day to party, so everyone lets their hair down as people are wont to do when drinking glass after glass of champers at 2pm. Smith find the John Deere riding mower that Ken brought in the day before as a token of him landing the John Deere account, and after he joyrides a little he hands the controls over to Lois. Lois, however, is both drunk and doesn't know how to drive, and she manages to lose control and drive straight over McKendrick's foot, spraying all of the boys with blood. Joan, because she's awesome, immediately leaps into action and puts pressure on the wound while shouting directions -- she saves his life but ultimately not his foot. That means Pryce is going to be sticking around for a while after all.
Don was not there for the carnage as he got a call from Conrad Hilton's office requesting a meeting. It turns out that the "Connie" with whom he had drinks at the country club during Roger's Derby party was in fact Mr. Hilton himself. Unfortunately the meeting isn't because Conrad has a funny feeling about how his heirs might turn out to be famewhoring idiots and is looking for advice about how to prevent his children from procreating. Instead, he wants free advice from Don on his ad campaign. Don reluctantly gives his opinion but seems to be on his way to possibly landing Hilton as a new client. He's called out of the meeting when Joan phones to notify him about the bloodbath at the office, and he meets her at the hospital where they have a nice and rather sad goodbye.
Things aren't really rosy for Don at home either, since Sally isn't sleeping without the lights on because she's terrified that baby Gene is her grandfather come back to haunt them all. Betty is wholly unsympathetic and she and Don finally get in a fight about her naming the baby Gene considering that Don and Grandpa Gene loathed each other and it's traumatizing their firstborn. She won't budge on the name, so Don steps up to help his poor daughter and manages to get her to accept the baby as just a baby, and not her crazy deceased grandpa. His job and marriage might be a mess, but it's pretty awesome to see him step up and finally be the parent Sally needs and who he never had himself.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Thanks very much to Lauren S for covering the recaplet for me on Emmy night when my DVR suddenly decided to go on strike. Because of that, I'm pursuing an unusual course for me of charging right into the full recap without having seen the episode before. If I seem more clueless than usual, that's why. Most likely.Don, dressed in casual wear with the paper under his arm, turns Sally's light off, but she sits up: "Daddy, no." He flips the switch back on and asks what she's doing up, as it's 10:30, and she tells him she's afraid of what will happen when he turns out the light. He consents to leave a lamp on for her, gruffly but fondly adding that if she'll pick up the mess in her room, he'll get her a nightlight. He doesn't mention what will happen if she doesn't, but I'm thinking she'll get a scary clown bed like Homer Simpson once made for Bart. After a look of momentary concern over Sally's phobia passes over his face, he leaves...
...and we cut to another source of trepidation, an interoffice memo from Pryce informing the SC employees of a mandatory and imminent meeting on the main floor. After Pete notes that Ken is late and Paul presciently speculates that they're going to be made to work over the holiday (the current date is July 1st), Hooker pompously gets everyone's attention, and a wide shot of everyone assembled lets me see that my guess was correct and Kurt is still working there. Yay! Now if he'll just introduce Sal to the world of gay bars we'll really be getting somewhere. As Don walks in (late to another Pryce-run meeting, don't you know), Pryce, with Bertram and Roger flanking him, announces that the Chairman of the Board of the mother company will be paying them a visit, starting the day and continuing into the one following, which means that the office will be staying open, and it's hilarious to think that this is Putnam, Powell, and Lowe's little way of getting even for the War of Independence, no? Pryce plows through the resultant disgruntled murmurings to announce that they need everyone to continue to operate at "the height of their productivity," and I'm not going to name names but I think in certain cases he might want to set the bar a little higher. Once Pryce is done, Bertram asks Don if he and Roger might have a word, while Joan disgustedly walks off for reasons that have not yet become apparent. When she's gone, however, Olive tells the other girls that they'll "move it" from lunch to the end of the day, and a flurry of exposition follows that tells us that Joan's last day is the 2nd (although, as Lois points out, it now may be the 3rd) and Greg's supposed to find out about the Chief Residency as well. This moves Peggy to go get some money, as she thinks they should buy Joan something, and while I certainly agree she could use the gift I'm not sure even this group's combined efforts could afford the going rate for a new husband. Hooker then accosts Harry and Pete and informs them they'll need to give a presentation on the state of television for Wednesday morning, as well as account updates, and by the way, Paul might want to shave his beard. Paul predictably gets all "Well, I NEVER!" for a moment until a small smile appears on Hooker's face: "That was a joke." HA! Hooker just went waaay up in my book, and the look on Harry's face suggests he feels the same way.
Bertram, Don, and Roger each remove their shoes outside Bertram's office, and after Don snarks about how very subtle the timing of the British brass's visit is, the three of them sit, and Bertram offers his theory: They're coming to see Don. Don doesn't get why that would be, and while Roger sniffs that it's because he "swung around [his] privates in the boardroom with Duck" during the visit the year before, Bertram offers a more nuanced (and admiring) view, that being that they've tracked Don's work and are impressed with his particular "American genius." Roger asks Bertram if he thinks they're going to offer Don the presidency, but Bertram thinks it's more likely to be a "creative umbrella with a dual position in London and New York." The idea of London seems to appeal greatly to Don, and after Roger jokes, "Bye-bye, Don," Bertram sniffs that it's so nice to see the two of them getting along. "I hope you can maintain this pretense when they arrive." Which reminds me of another scene that seemed incongruous from last week -- the phone call from Roger to Don in which zero animosity or awkwardness was displayed. It's not so much the fact of the call -- I'd expect Roger to make it even while angry with Don -- but there was no undercurrent. But Bertram insists they reconcile -- "everyone wants Martin and Lewis" -- and has his secretary make a dual appointment for Roger and Don to get their hair cut. Because when two military men who have been at odds get together to clear the air, it's always best to have straight-edge razors around.
Cut to a shot of Pete's door and a very loud noise, and before I can even start wondering what Pete could be doing in there to cause such a racket, he comes busting out and sees Ken atop a new John Deere riding mower. He brings the thing to a stop and announces that the deal with Deere is done, and then comes over to Pete, Sal, and some new doofus with thick glasses to chat. He learns of the PPL visit and is jazzed that he'll have something so great to report to them, and takes off, hopefully to hide that thing in the break room.
Betty's lying in bed with the baby when Bobby busts in, followed by an unenthusiastic Sally. Bobby tells Betty he's bored, and she replies, "Go bang your head against the wall." I'd make a joke about her being Mother of the Year, but I'm guessing I might do better to hold it back for later in the episode. Bobby asks for and is granted permission to "pet" Gene, and strokes his leg gently, but when invited to come closer and presumably do the same, Sally refuses. Betty then sends the kids off to play, and smiles at her "little pig in a blanket." Now I really want something with spicy mustard on it.
After a close-up of Don getting shaved with a -- wait for it -- straight-edge razor, we see Roger flirting with the mute woman currently giving him a manicure. Don refuses an offer of same, and Roger takes that as a bone-picking opportunity, saying that Don obviously feels that it's not masculine, but his military dad got his nails done. He adds that he had his fourth heart attack while driving, and when he crashed his car into a tree, "the windshield severed his arm." Whether from the heart attack or the accident, he died, so they never put the arm back on. "In the casket, he had one hand. The nails were perfect." Don announces that he doesn't believe the story, and I'm less surprised at that than at the fact that he was even listening, but Roger plays along: "Okay, so he hit another car, not a tree." Heh. He wonders why he's nervous about the British visit, and when Don offers that it's probably because he sold the company, Roger wonders if that's what he did to Don that he's holding such a grudge. Come on, Roger -- you certainly know very well what you did that pissed Don off so much. You may not know why that got to him the way it did, but feigning cluelessness isn't going to help. Seeming to hear me, Roger brings up Mona, saying one day, she started judging people out of nowhere. "I'll tell you right now, Don -- I don't like being judged." The subtext reminds Don of how tiring the effort needed to stay mad at Roger can be, and he offers that they don't have to talk about it any more. That's good enough for Roger, who brightly suggests that maybe Don will have it all now -- money and glory. Don just gives a little "that would be nice" eyebrow-raise, and isn't it adorable when boyfriends reconcile?
Joan gives Hildy some terse orders, and Hildy asks if she's being short with her "because you think it will make parting easier? My mother used to do that." Heh. Before Joan can reply, Hooker comes up and makes an inappropriate remark about how "plain" most of the women on the floor are, and Joan tartly (heh) replies, "Well, we could hire some prostitutes. I know your Prime Minister enjoys their company!" Hooker, after a pause, corrects her that it was actually the Secretary of War, and by the way, she should refrain from bringing the subject up in front of the brass. Joan insincerely apologizes, but Hooker isn't done, suggesting that perhaps they should move her surprise party to after the holidays. Hildy, not one normally to snap at people, raises her voice as she asks why he did that, but Hooker replies, "Mrs. Harris knows everything! I'm sure she was expecting it." Joan, without bothering to confirm or deny that, announces that she's going to go home and make a celebratory dinner for her husband. She then turns to Hooker: "And when you wake up in the middle of the night and wonder what you forgot? Don't call me." She storms out, but her face does betray some hurt at the blown surprise after all as Hildy stares daggers at Hooker. It was probably an old trick even back in 1963, hon, but I'm sure no one would rat you out for putting a laxative into his tea.
Betty's sipping some red wine at the kitchen table when Don arrives home, and when he gives her a kiss, she notes the unusual closeness of his shave. Don smiles that he was ordered to the barber's, although he couches it in terms of the British visit rather than bring up Roger, and she smiles that he looks very successful. As she busies herself getting his dinner together, he asks if she picked up the nightlight, and Betty affirms that and tells him she read Sally to sleep, but she was still "clingy," which is on the list of Betty's Least Favorite Character Traits right under "fat." She goes on that she doesn't remember her being as resentful of Bobby when he was born, and when Don suggests that "resentful" might be too strong, she says that Sally won't go near the baby or even enter his room unless she makes her. After idly inquiring why the British are visiting, she smiles as she says Gene was perfect during the day. Don: "Would you ever want to live in London?" Abrupt change of subject, but Betty will allow it, as after ascertaining that he's serious, she smiles that she would, of course. "I could get a pram and a real nanny." Sure, but all the singing might get on your nerves after a while. Smiling in anticipation, she asks what he knows, but he too-innocently replies, "Nothing." Unfortunately, I have the feeling he may be right.
In the dark, Joan's asleep with a record still spinning uselessly on the turntable, so apparently Greg didn't make it home for the celebratory meal. Which, I'm guessing, is just as well. He bumps into something, waking her up, and she asks where he was. He slurs that he called her at work to tell her he was going out for drinks, but she replies that he's lying. However, being far kinder than he deserves now or ever, she has him come sit to her, telling him she knows he's soused and it's okay, and asking what happened. He tells her he didn't get the Chief Residency, which I'm guessing she had just possibly figured out already, but that's not the really bad news -- he ran into Ettinger shortly before he got the official notification, and he could tell something was wrong by the way he wouldn't look him in the eye. "He sat me down in his office, and he poured a drink and he said...he said I had no brains in my fingers." I'd be laughing pretty hard if not for what this is going to mean for Joan. Joan's confused for a moment, as Ettinger wrote Greg a lot of nice evaluations, but Greg forlornly informs her that doctors don't write bad things about each other. She tries to put a brave face on, saying he can go to another hospital, but Greg tells her being a surgeon, at least in New York, is no longer an option for him. Joan tries to wrap her head around the implications, asking if this all means he's fired, but Greg doesn't want to talk about it any more. "I have another year of residency. You're not going to be able to leave your job." Joan tries to steer the situation out of nightmare territory, saying that ship has already sailed, but he simply tells her to get another one. He starts to exit the room, but she calls him back and tells him he's a doctor, and she married him for his heart, not his hands. That sounds like an even worse deal to me. He tells her he couldn't fake it and go out to celebrate with the others: "I've been sitting in the Dublin House since two." This is enough to get Joan a little misty, and she sends him in to lie down, saying she'll be in to undress him in a moment. Poor Joan. Not only does she have to go back and mother everyone at SC, she has to mother her own fool husband as well.
Don lies awake in bed, an uncharacteristically goofy smile on his face at the prospect of moving to the land of bangers and mash. On the other hand, his five o'clock shadow has reappeared with a vengeance...
...while Sally lies awake as well, looking terrified. The nightlight is like, "This is going to be a barrel of laughs."
After a shot of the main floor, Joan brightly appears to Hooker, who's just been greeting the British ambassadors. He tells them that Joan was the office manager before he (oh, Lord, he's taking her place?) but she's "off to greener pastures." The three men, one of whom is of course Saint John Powell, or Mistah Sheffield if you prefer, the other two being "Mr. Harold Ford" and the youngest, "Guy MacEndrick," greet Joan, and then Hooker takes them on a walking tour of the sights of SC as Joan surreptitiously whispers to one of the girls to let everyone know the Brits are there. Soon, Pete accosts the group, and Powell certainly greets him warmly enough, which suggests to me that he did in fact take notice of his coup with Bronzo, again making last week all the more bizarre in retrospect. MacEndrick is similarly warm, saying he's very impressive and he knows everything about him, but given that he repeats the same greeting to Peggy almost verbatim I'm not completely convinced of his sincerity. Olive, however, is like, "Sincerity be damned -- that dude is fiiine," and while I'm guessing it's been a while for the old girl it's still not like I disagree. I mean, he was on The Tudors. They don't cast ugly.
Cut to the group entering Bertram's office, in which handshakes are exchanged and MacEndrick displays extreme enthusiasm for meeting Don. Probably wants to get a handle on Don's particular American genius at picking up women, not that he needs the help. Powell proceeds to give MacEndrick a verbal tongue bath about both his education (Cambridge and the LSE) and post-graduate career before the group withdraws to have a chat with Pryce, but not before plans for lunch at one in the conference room are confirmed, and MacEndrick undresses Don's brain a bit more with his eyes before leaving. Bertram seems utterly befuddled by the whole interaction, while Roger playfully, and astutely, notes that the suspense is killing Don...
...and speaking of people being killed, the group comes in to see a very nervous Pryce, but not before Hooker enters first and somewhat endearingly reminds him to lose the glasses. Pryce is delighted when Powell and Ford shower him with compliments on his performance, but when he removes the contents of a large box they brought in for him, he finds a large stuffed cobra. I'm going to guess on general principles that that's not a good thing. Indeed, Powell answers his question: "It's for our snake charmer. We're sending you to Bombay." He explains they're hoping he'll work his magic
there as well as he did in New York, but Pryce isn't mollified, sniffing that perhaps he needn't bother finding a place for the gift if he'd just going to be moving again. Ford: "Don't pout. One of your greatest qualities is that you always do what you're told." This moment effectively illustrates a cultural difference between Britain and America, as I think just about all of the latter's males would punch any superior that told him not to pout. In fact, we might still be united with them if George III hadn't told the colonists not to pout over taxation without representation. Pryce feebly tries to argue that his wife and son just got settled in their current locale, but Mr. Sheffield didn't become a big Broadway producer by listening to his underlings' sensitivities, so it's time for Pryce to pack his bags and flute.
In the conference room, Ford has just wrapped up whatever it was he was talking about, and he gives the floor to MacEndrick, who first says they'll miss Pryce, but "our loss is India's gain." Powell looks like he's feeling late for the bar, a sentiment which after the day I've had I can get behind, while Don and Roger exchange uncertain side-eyes about the news before joining in the applause. Heh. MacEndrick then puts the new org chart onto the overhead projector, which has Ford as the head of the place (although it's not clear whether they mean him to stay in New York full time), and a "triumvirate" of people just below -- MacEndrick as the COO, Don as the Creative Director, and Bertram the Chairman Emeritus -- who will oversee three "streamlined" departments, Creative/Art/Copy, headed by Don as mentioned, Accounts, still helmed by Pete and Ken jointly, and Television/Media now being its own entity and run by Harry. Before MacEndrick gets any further, though, Bertram barks that Roger is not on the chart at all, and hilariously, MacEndrick takes another look at the chart like that wasn't completely intentional. For his part, Roger pipes up, "It's true!" like he hadn't noticed either until Bertram said something, which suggests to me that if he ever gets in trouble with the law, he shouldn't argue in his own defense. MacEndrick, however, smoothly motors right past the awkward moment and says he likes open communication instead of memos handed down from on high (way to keep jabbing Pryce out the door), and just like that, he leads the Brits and some of the Americans right on out of the meeting to take the news to the people. Left behind are Don, Bertram, Pete, Roger, and Harry, the last of which asks what the hell just happened. Pete: "They reorganized us, and you're the only one in this room who got a promotion." And good for him, but he'll probably figure out how not to get a raise out of the deal. Bertram puts a hand on Don's arm and apologizes for his "wild imagination," and Don really does look quite bummed. On the other hand, this season has been suggesting to me that he might strike out on his own soon, and given that I love being right I'm glad they kept the dream alive.
Betty sits with Sally on her bed and hands a card she says is from her little brother, offering "my new big sister, the best in the world" a present, which turns out to be a Barbie. It's a nice effort from Betty, but given the year I'm still wondering if we're going to be seeing a production of What Ever Happened To Baby Gene? any time soon. Sally reluctantly looks at the card and petulantly declares that baby Gene can't read, but Betty reminds her: "Babies get fairies to do things. You know that." Hee. When she sees the Barbie, Betty tells her Gene wants to be her friend, and she's very important to Betty too. She gives Sally a kiss on top of her head and leaves, but when she's gone, Sally places the doll against her pillow and looks scared as ever. Well, I'm out of ideas.
MacEndrick is addressing the troops from the same spot from which Hooker and Pryce made their earlier announcement, with Roger now conspicuously absent. After MacEndrick gives a toast to Pryce that could charitably be described as "cursory," he busts out the charm in raising a glass to Joan, who can't take all the emotions pulling at her and bursts into tears. MacEndrick softly says her reaction wasn't his intention, and Joan recovers to step forward when Hooker wheels out a rather large cake that reads "Bon Voyage Joan" with a ship on it. Would have been more appropriate for Pryce, especially since his status as cost-cutting guru suggests he wouldn't travel by airline. MacEndrick wraps it up by saying the presentations will wait until the day, and the afternoon will be dedicated to Joan. Everyone applauds, and through her tears, Joan tells them the celebration wasn't necessary. Hooker, seeming as sincere as he gets, says she'll be sorely missed, but that still prompts Hildy to chime in, "We got you the cake." Heh. Across the room, the core boys wonder what's going to happen, and Ken notes people above them keep getting added in. Pete: "One more promotion and we're going to be answering the phones." He really gets all the best lines, doesn't he? I think I've said this before, but he and Roger should really take it on the road, as long as Roger leaves the blackface act at home. They decide to go schmooze with MacEndrick, which is the best idea they've collectively had in a while. Elsewhere, Peggy awkwardly opines to Don that the champagne is good, but Don, tasting nothing but ash in the wake of the destruction of the London dream that never existed outside his and Bertram's imagination, disagrees. Peggy, understandably given their last interaction, takes this as a comment on his feelings toward her at the moment, leaves him to get something to eat. Geez, Peggy. Don't you know that's the way to not end up embarrassingly yourself horribly at one of these things? Another way to avoid such a fate is to leave early, and along those lines, Don's girl (I hate to keep referring to her in that manner, but have we ever heard her name?) informs him brightly that "Conrad Hilton," the hotel magnate, is on the phone for him...
...and when he picks up, he's informed by a businesslike secretary that Mr. Hilton would like to meet with him. Don's confused, but smartly gets over it and suggests right now as a good time (and he continues to drink the champagne, so maybe it's not so bad after all), and is told to head to the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf immediately. It's not London, but it'll do.
Upstairs, Roger comes in to see Bertram and bitches about the org-chart thing: "I'm being punished for making my job look easy." You just keep telling yourself that, you masculine, well-manicured princess, you. He does admit, however, that MacEndrick has a "spark," and he's a pure account man. Bertram pointedly asks what that job is all about, and then answers his own question: "It's about letting things go so you can get what you want." Roger, not particularly wanting to hear that truth, heads out of the office, but not before Bertram adds some more honesty: "We took their money, and we have to do what they say." And if what they say is that you'll have no responsibilities and can get paid to sit in your office drinking all day without a care in the world? You're just going to have to learn to live with it.
Smitty, Kurt, and that goofball with the thick glasses have an inconsequential talk about the Army, and elsewhere, Peggy pulls Joan aside and endearingly tells her she hopes she doesn't think she never listened to her advice. "It's just...we can't all be you." Aw. Joan smiles and says that she does in fact take some credit for Peggy's success, but their tender moment is interrupted by Smitty taking the Deere out for a spin around the office, Hildy hitching a ride on the back. He pulls it over quickly, and Joan smiles to Peggy that she can't believe she's going to miss this, and in a nice touch, then coughs from the foul exhaust the thing spewed from its pipe. N
ot the most flattering product-placement moment in history, I'd say. Across the room, we see Lois looking a bit unsteady as she hops aboard the Deere, and then Peggy, soldiering forward on the wings of booze, tells Joan she's really glad she got what she wanted, and she remembers how Joan said she could do the same on her first day there. Meanwhile, Lois doesn't look like she's had much experience behind the wheel. Or if she has, people have suffered for it. Peggy starts to tell Joan something else even more touching, I'm sure, but...OH MY GOD! Holy fucking shit, Lois just RAN OVER MACKENDRICK'S ANKLE! Mother of God! Now THAT is not the most flattering product-placement moment in history. By the way, the event happened with a delicious shot of Harry, Paul, Hildy, and that goofball with the glasses getting sprayed with blood and shredded paper. Awesome. And by the way, now I get what the title was all about, to wit: "...and doesn't walk out." The people who do this show are sick, and God love them for it. Anyway, Lois safely crashes the Deere into an office, while Joan springs into action, unrolling MacEndrick's pant leg and sending Hildy off for the first-aid kit as Peggy literally swoons into Pete's arms and everyone else but Ken, who's at Joan's side, stands around uselessly. MacEndrick is continuing to howl in agony and shock as Smitty reports that an ambulance is on its way. Joan applies the tourniquet with assured hands, which I'm sadly sure would make her husband jealous and not proud. But if SC isn't glad to keep her after this, they are the most ungrateful people on either side of the Atlantic.
In the Presidential suite, Don is surprised to learn that Conrad Hilton is actually the old coot "Connie" for whom he fixed a drink at the country club three episodes ago. Nice. Don chides himself for not having recognized him when they first met, but Connie tells him week, the error would have been less forgivable, as he shows Don an advance copy of week's Time cover, on which we see his photo. Don asks how Connie found him, and he says he called around and told people he had a nice long talk with a handsome but unidentified fellow from Sterling Cooper. "Your name never came up. Apparently you don't have long chats with people." Heh. Don asks what he's doing there, and in answer, Connie shows him a couple of print ideas for Hilton on the table featuring a random cartoon mouse. Don is not thrilled with the idea of dispensing free advertising advice, but when Connie implies there might be more to the relationship in the future, he opines, "I don't think anybody wants to think about a mouse in a hotel." I'm guessing the hotel industry in Orlando would disagree. Connie, however, sees Don's point, and confesses that the idea was his. "You got something better?" Don says he might, but he wants a shot at Hilton's business, and Hilton agrees. "But the time somebody like me asks you a question like that, you need to think bigger." Translation: I will bankroll a new ad agency with you at the helm. Or maybe not, but I'm going to keep pushing that one for the moment. Don replies with a story about snakes that's meant to say, "One thing at a time, Grandpa," but before the old codger can dredge up some countering homespun wisdom, Connie's executive secretary emerges from another room and informs Don that he's got an emergency call. I hope they didn't disclose the nature of the emergency, or Connie's going to think twice about bringing his business to SC.
In the aftermath, there's still blood on the walls, although you can see evidence of some mopping having occurred, and Harry is berating Smitty for allowing this to happen, with Ken, Pete, and Paul in attendance. Incidentally, Harry and Paul have stripped down to their undershirts so as not to have MacEndrick's blood quite so close at hand, but the figurative bloodletting continues, as Harry basically opines that MacEndrick would have made the place so much more enjoyable (probably true, from what we saw) and Smitty ruined the whole thing. Roger then turns up and, the events of that day having no doubt exceeded even his wildest fantasies, jovially notes, "It's like Iwo Jima out there!" Leave it to him to come up with a culturally sensitive reference. Paul adds that MacEndrick might lose his foot, and Roger faux-sadly replies, "Right when he got it in the door." Hee. The boys can't help but crack up at that, probably not least because Roger's attitude suggests that they're not all getting fired, and Roger drives (ooh, sorry) that home before leaving: "Believe me, somewhere in this business, this has happened before." Anytime you want to screen archival footage of that, Roger, I'll bring the popcorn.
Joan gets a soda out of a machine in the hospital waiting room (for ten cents, and by the way, you can tell how much more popular the show's gotten by the numerous product placements scattered throughout the episode) when Don turns up. Even apart from the fact that the lower part of her dress is covered in blood, she looks like hell, at least for her, and in a somewhat hoarse voice, she tells him there really was no need for him to make a personal appearance, although when she called him, she really thought MacEndrick might die. But while he's out of danger, he's lost the foot, and Pryce apparently yanked Powell and Ford out of dinner to talk to the doctors. I just hope that when they see MacEndrick, they let him pout over his predicament for at least a little while. In a nicely framed shot, Don and Joan take seats with Joan's bag of presents in between them, and Don tells her that apart from all the mayhem, she's going to be missed. She replies that's nice to hear, especially coming from him (and she addresses him by his given name for the first and only time that I remember), and then, after a pause, Joan speculates that MacEndrick probably felt great when he woke up that morning, "but that's life. One minute you're on top of the world, minute some secretary's running you over with a lawnmower." Like we didn't know Joan was capable of writing copy. Despite the parallel to Joan's situation (or perhaps because of it), she and Don laugh, but they recover themselves when the three Brits emerge from inside. Ford thanks Joan for her quick thinking, and Pryce adds that she may well have saved MacEndrick's life, but Powell somberly intones, "Such as it is." I'm thinking the company just saved a fare to Bombay. Yes, they pronounce his career over, and although Don doesn't quite see that, Ford points out that he can't walk, and Powell adds, "He'll never golf again." Hee. The new plan is that Pryce will remain in his current position indefinitely, and after Pryce tells Joan they'll reimburse her for the dress, Ford and Powell head in to break the news to MacEndrick, who will probably take it fairly well given all the drugs he must currently be on. But it's just too bad Roger wasn't around, or you know we would have been treated to a snappy joke about MacEndrick's severance package. When the two visiting Brits are gone, Joan and Don share a long look of mutual admiration, and she finally allows herself to give Don a kiss on the cheek, which almost -- almost -- causes him to blush before Joan shakes Pryce's hand and hits the road. Once she's left, Pryce gets a Dr. Pepper for the two of them before remarking to Don that he's been reading a lot of American literature lately, and quoting Tom Sawyer: "I feel like I just went to my own funeral. I didn't like the eulogy." Hopefully this is his way of telling Don that all the penny-pinching and general wet-blanketing he's been perpetrating is going to stop, although a tiny part of me wonders if he's also confessing that he slipped Lois a hundred to drive the Deere like Mr. Magoo.
Don reaches his front door and sees the Barbie from "Gene" lying in the bushes, which I confess would make me want to turn right around and sleep in the car. However, he soldiers forward, and upstairs, finds Sally asleep with the nigh
tlight on. He places the doll on her dresser before withdrawing, which turns out not to be the greatest idea when moments later, he hears screaming from Sally's room -- she woke up and saw the doll and figured there were nefarious forces at work. Besides the ones at Mattel, I mean. Don rushes in and holds her, but when Betty appears with the crying Baby Gene, Sally screams again, and Polly barks for good measure. Betty, it will shock you to hear, has little sympathy for the child that should know better than to wake her up, and by the way, his absence in the scene makes me seriously wonder if Bobby is still alive, given that all the racket hasn't stirred him. When Betty and the baby are gone, Sally tells Don that Grandpa Gene's not supposed to be there anymore, but the baby has his name and looks just like him and is in his room, "and I bet when he starts talking, he's gonna sound just like him too!" If that's true, he's going to be working a lot bluer than the kindergarten teachers are accustomed to. Don firmly tells Sally that Gene's a baby and only a baby, and since ghosts don't exist she can just go to sleep...
...but when he rejoins Betty, he confronts her about Sally being scared of the baby because of the name, saying it has to stop. Of course, this didn't seem to enter into his thinking last week, which is why his complaining about the name seemed petty, but anyway, Betty will brook no dissent -- Gene was her father, and that was his name, and passing on names in this manner is what people do to remember the ones they've lost. Don: "He hated me, and I hated him. That's the memory." Betty loudly repeats that Gene is the baby's name, and then Sally enters and apologizes for waking the child. Betty softens and tells her it's okay and everything's fine, and sputter about that one to yourself as Don leads Sally out...
...but not back to bed. Instead, they head into Baby Gene's room, and Don picks his son up, sits down in a chair with him, and has Sally approach. With her dad there to protect her, Sally looks less like she's nearing a creature intent on stealing the breath right out of her, and she even smiles a bit as she looks at her brother. Don tells her he's just a baby, and they don't know who he is yet or what he's going to be. "And that is a wonderful thing." Unafraid of the unknown, is Don Draper, and Bob Dylan's "Song To Woody" kicks up as we go to credits.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why vloggers Val and Beth think the ladies of Mad Men have it good in TV is the Answer.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why vloggers Val and Beth think the ladies of Mad Men have it good in TV is the Answer.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why vloggers Val and Beth think the ladies of Mad Men have it good in TV is the Answer.