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Wow, things are heating up. In small matters, Sally gets a hangup, prompting Betty to call Francis and ask if it was he, and he tells her it wasn't, and not to call him again unless she's serious about seeing him. Also, there's mention that the family is finally selling Gene's house. Moving on to bigger stuff, Paul pitches an idea to Don for an Aqua Net commercial, but when he shoots it down as too wordy, Peggy modifies it to his liking, for which Paul chews her out in private and then challenges her to do her own work on the Western Union account and see who comes out on top. We get to see them both in action, and let's just say if what we see of Paul is an accurate representation of his typical day in the office, he's even more pathetic than I realized, but he does come up with an idea that pleases him greatly – except he passes out without writing it down, and in the morning he can't remember it. When he tells Peggy about it, she's sympathetic, but also unwittingly pulls another idea out of him that flies. Teamwork!
Don is still seeing Suzanne, and often, so he's there when her epileptic brother turns up, sending Don fleeing into the night, and this and other points of evidence make it clear that she's not going to play the game quite as privately or as detached as Don would like, but he doesn't run away permanently just yet. Instead, he offers to drive the brother up to Massachusetts, but the brother, knowing his condition won't let him hold down the new job Suzanne found for him, bails, but not before Don, as an act of atonement for how he treated his own brother, gives him his card and tells him to call if he's ever in trouble.
There's a party at the Waldorf for SC's fortieth anniversary, and Bertram and Roger would rather reminisce about old times than actually attend, although Bertram's the one of the two that actually decides not to go. Meanwhile, Pryce's wife has had it up to here with New York, and chews him out for apparently liking it. Pryce is then shocked when he gets a phone call from the British brass telling him they're putting SC on the market, and they'll need all hands on deck, as part of the party's purpose is to garner interest. Pryce displays some sharper people-reading than you might expect in convincing Bertram to attend, and then confesses the news about SC being up for sale to his wife, much to her glee. Considering the traffic they had to fight to get to the party, guess you can't blame her.
Don gets his bonus and stashes the cash away in his study, making me think he's still planning for a getaway at some point. And he may need it sooner than he thought, as Betty finds his keys due to a laundry oversight, and invades the locked drawer of his study -- in which she finds all of his Dick Whitman/Don Draper/Anna Draper memorabilia and evidence. She waits up to confront him, but he doesn't come home. When he calls her the day, she tells him she's not going to the party, but she can't bring herself to confront him yet, and eventually backs off. The entire family attends, and after Roger gives him a long and rousing introduction fit for, say, JFK, Don gets up to give the closing speech as Betty stares at him, many emotions playing on her face. You may not be surprised to hear that none of them are good.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Carla and Betty are making a shopping list, and when Carla mentions she'd be happy to pick up some apples at an orchard after her service on Sunday, Sally asks Betty why they never go to church. After Betty lamely offers that they do go, and Sally points out that it's only on Christmas, Betty replies, "We don't need to go every week." Wow, a pronouncement that has no basis to it whatsoever and also manages to be insulting to Carla, who does go every week? Well done, Mrs. Whitman...er, "Draper." Don arrives on the scene, and after Betty goes to get him a drink while noting he's home early, Don kisses the kids and asks Sally how her day was, prompting Bobby to inquire why Don never asks him the same question. Don: "I do. It's just your answer's always longer, so I thought I would start with Sally." You learn that brevity earns rewards in this household at an early age. After some talk about celebrating Halloween down at Grandpa Gene's one last time before they sell the place, Betty asks if Don will be sleeping there that night, and upon hearing a negative, tells him he's working too much. He tells her he doesn't have a choice, but with a fond smile, she reiterates that she sees how hard he's working. I don't know if she's amping up the wifely appreciation for Carla's benefit as a lingering effect of last week's tension between them, or if it's more setting up the theme of the episode, that being how differently people can see the same actions. But either way, she's kind of freaking me out.Don turns up at Suzanne's door, and she happily bids him inside. He points out a gold star stuck to her cheek and asks if she was grading papers, which makes me relieved that it wasn't left over from his last visit. She talks about three loaves of date nut bread she made and the fact that his service called, but Don is not interested in bake sales or overly demanding clients at the moment, although he is happy to hear that Hilton now should be in the air, as it means he can spend the night with impunity. After some lingering, soulful looks, he leads her into the bedroom, and I know this isn't premium cable but you'd think he'd at least take off his trench coat first.
While in the bathtub, Betty reads a hardback copy of The Group. Heh. If this foreshadows her pursuing a lesbian relationship with an Italian baroness, I'm not going to complain. I mean, she already knows the language, although I'd expect she'd have to expand her vocabulary a little.
Don and Suzanne lie in bed, and she tells him how in art class that day, one of her kids asked her how she knows if what she sees as the color blue is the same as what other people call it. When Don asks what she told him, she smiles that she gave him the truth -- she doesn't know that, and she never has. "But I love that he made me think about that again." Personally, I think introducing the prism through which the rest of the episode is going to be viewed is kind of a precocious achievement for an eight-year-old. Suzanne asks Don how he would have answered the question, and he replies that he would have told the kid that his job is about "boiling down communication to its essentials," and the truth is, "people may see things differently, but they don't really want to." Don's going to be in for a surprise when the intelligent design people come along. Picking up on the somewhat regretful tone in his voice and the unstated implication that he takes advantage of people's sensitivities, Suzanne asks if he feels bad about what he does, and Don deflects somewhat by answering that no one could feel as good about what they do as she does. She blushes with appreciation at the compliment to her chosen profession, and then offers that she wishes she could have known him at age eight. "I bet you were serious." Regular horsewhipping can produce that emotional makeup, I'm guessing. Don replies that he would have liked her. "Long, curly hair. No one has that anymore." They kiss...
...and then we cross-fade into the SC lobby before cutting upstairs, where, in front of the boys, Ken has apparently invited Allison to be his date to SC's fortieth anniversary party, and Allison has firmly refused. She explains herself: "What do you think Mr. Draper would say if you showed up with his secretary?" Translation: Don't pull a Roger Sterling, my man, and I am liking Allison quite a bit these days. The boys, those being Ken, Paul, Harry, and some young-looking guy who I think is Sal's underling (and I'm pulling that out of my ass, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think his name's Marty), who's apparently taking Sal's place in the meeting, all give "Good point she makes there" faces, and then Don arrives and they all head into his office. Paul asks Allison to get Peggy and then starts arranging the chairs into two rows of two, prompting Ken to remark, "It's Paul Kinsey theater." As if that's not redundant. As Marty shows he's perfectly committed to filling Sal's place by carefully covering his head with a lilac kerchief, Paul pitches his idea for an Aqua Net television spot to Don, saying the product is about not only hold but also beauty. He and Peggy take the front two seats, with Marty and Harry in the back, all creating the simulation of a four-door automobile. Peggy puts a scarf of her own over her head, and as Don and Ken watch, Paul says the woman in the back's scarf will blow off and her hair will fall apart, with Marty acting it out, even crying "Oh no!" in falsetto. Heh. What then will happen, as acted by our players, is that Peggy's character will hand her kerchief to the woman in back, and her hair will remain perfect because she uses Aqua Net, after which the tagline "Aqua Net: Arrive In Style" will play. Everyone gives the "camera" a big fake smile, with Marty having gone ahead and tied Peggy's scarf over his hair, and it's not like I don't want Sal to come back but this kid is showing an awful lot of potential. Don dismisses the pitch as having too much story, so Peggy pipes up with a sleeker modification and a new ending that Don is quite happy with. He then puts Peggy and Paul on Western Union, adding that since Hilton takes precedence they need to be ready to go quickly, and, as Harry notes, they'll need a TV spot to compete with phone-company ads. Ken muses that he likes getting telegrams, but never sends them himself, prompting Don to roll his entire head in Ken's direction and ask how that's supposed to help. Ken looks blank, while to him, Allison gives a side-eye that suggests she just got even happier with her decision to turn him down. The meeting breaks up just as Pryce enters, which I'm guessing is not the first time that's ever happened, but it's just as well because he wants Don alone -- so he can present him with the signing bonus check for five grand that the accounting department has just now gotten around to cutting. Underscoring the idea that Don still is the only one who communicates with Connie, Pryce then asks if "your amigo" will be attending the anniversary party, and Don confirms it: "In his dressiest Stetson." Heh. Pryce is thrilled to hear it, and then tells Don he'll be speaking last at the dinner. "It's primetime. Please prepare." Don nods, and then Allison interrupts with the news that Pryce's wife is up in his office, which gets Pryce to rush out of there like he's late for his A-levels. Don asks Allison what's going on, and she conspiratorially whispers that she'll find out, endearing her further to me, but Don drops the idea. I'd be annoyed if we weren't going to find out soon enough anyway.
Paul busts into Peggy's office and lambastes her for putting her "little swirl" on top of his idea, "and every time we work together it looks like you carry the load, because you're spontaneous and you're a girl and you're his favorite and you use Aqua Net!" You might do better at balancing the scales if you could remain calm in a crisis, dude. Anyway, Peggy latches on to the part of his statement to which she's currently sensitive: "Are you nuts? He hates me." Aw. I don't think that's true -- she doesn't really know how poor her timing has been at approaching him this season -- but she certainly can present ample evidence with which to back up the idea. Regardless, Paul is not trying to hear that, and adds that being a girl won't help on Western Union, so she should do her work and he'll do his. "Let the chips fall where they may." He storms out as Peggy wonders what the hell Utz has to do with any of this.
Pryce has made it up to his office, and after Hooker brings Mrs. Pryce, who's clearly out of sorts and sniffly, a glass of water, his boss dismisses him, whereupon Mrs. Pryce remarks, "He's such a toad." Heh. Whether genuinely or to mollify his wife, Pryce agrees, but when he tries to get her to take a seat, she makes a grand show of refusing, prompting this weary reply: "Am I to entertain your ballad of dissatisfaction, or has something actually happened?" You may be interested to know that www.balladofdissatisfaction.com is available as a URL. Or it will be until I get up and grab my credit card, because should I start a blog I certainly don't think I could come up with a better title. Anyway, she starts into a tale of woe involving queuing up with fat women on her errand to pick up her gown and duplicitous cabbies who run up their fares and how she ended up having to stop at SC because she didn't have enough money to get to her destination, which leads into her accusing him of actually liking it in New York, even with "the smells and the noise and the criminals at every level!" Hope you don't stick around for the seventies, hon. After telling her how well the company is doing, Pryce asks if he can see the gown, but she's not done as she bemoans the fact that New York isn't London, or even England. Pryce replies that that's true: "I've been here ten months and no one's ever asked me where I went to school." From the way he seems to view this as a positive, I'm guessing he didn't go to Cambridge like MacEndrick did. On the other hand, he still has both his feet.
Don and Suzanne are back in bed when there's a knock at the door. After a moment of frozen hesitation, Suzanne calls that she'll be just a minute, prompting Don to ask why she answered. She throws up her hands in frustration before exiting the bedroom, shutting the French doors behind her as she goes. Don worriedly gets dressed and hears snippets of conversation, followed by Suzanne reentering the room and telling him it's her brother. He suggests she get rid of him for fifteen minutes so he can make an escape, but she tells him she wants the two of them to meet. In keeping with the theme, what he sees as an inadvisable and awkward situation, she views as an unexpected and happy opportunity, and I'm not going to point out every instance in the episode of two people's views of the same situation being diametrically opposed because I'm not getting paid by the word here, but the theme is certainly sufficiently supported with examples. The two of them emerge from the room, and Suzanne introduces Don to "Danny," who's in his early twenties and sporting a bandage on his forehead and a sardonic expression, two things that probably are seen together more often than you'd realize. Danny offers an apology with a side of giving Don shit for the interruptus-ness of the whole situation, and Don starts to head out, but Danny tells him he knows what he's thinking, but he's not a junkie. I'm not sure that's what Don was thinking at all -- he seems way too focused on his own suffocating need to get out of there to devote much energy to observation at the moment -- but in any case, he listens as Danny goes on that he's apparently "too dangerous to push a cart in a public library," prompting Suzanne t
o clarify that he "has fits." So epilepsy is the diagnosis, but the effect is that Suzanne has a younger brother who's going to have trouble taking care of himself, a situation with which Don of course can well relate. Danny, this time sincerely, apologizes for interrupting and offers to leave for the night, but Don steps forward and shakes Danny's hand, saying he wishes him the best. Danny points out that he doesn't even know him, probably mistaking Don's sentiment as pity over his condition and nothing else, not that Don is going to help him out by explaining his thinking here. Suzanne walks Don to the door, but while he promises to call her the day, kissing her in front of her brother is a bit too much to ask of him. When he's gone, Danny says Don could have just stayed in the bedroom, and his pointed tone suggests he's clear that it was Suzanne's idea entirely for him to emerge, not that that's difficult to figure. Suzanne smiles and reiterates that she wanted the two of them to meet, as Danny's her baby brother, and Danny muses that Don sure knows how to leave a room. Hey, that was nothing -- it's not like he tied anyone up first. He goes on that Don is arrogant, as he left because his plans were interrupted, but Suzanne demurs, saying he's just very private. "You don't know him." She then tells Danny that she's going to find him another job, someplace safe, but he points out that other people are the problem. Suzanne replies that people are ignorant, and scared of things they don't understand, but Danny is not in the mood to have a conversation that hits quite so close to home at the moment, and says that he's really hungry. Suzanne gives him a smile that I read as saying, "Hope you like date nut bread!"
Bertram is looking at an old photo, taken in 1923, of the original employees of Sterling Cooper. With Roger and his nerd glasses looking over his shoulder, he waxes nostalgic about how psyched they all were, and then Roger notices that everyone in the photo is now dead except for Bertram and some guy named Doug Thomson, who apparently once let Roger eat an entire roll of laxatives in the mistaken belief that they were candies. "I want him to show up and keel over." Heh. Neither man is too jazzed about going to the party, although in Bertram's case, it's because it's a reminder that his expiration date in the business (and in life, no doubt) is drawing close, while Roger more pettily doesn't want to hear Don "accept an award for his humanity." Although it does sound somewhat revolting when you put it that way. Bertram takes the time to remind Roger that Don is important, but Roger goes on that he found Don, working at a fur company and going to night school, "and that girl, Betty. I remember Mona said they looked like they were on top of our wedding cake." It's nice when you don't even have to show up to be thought of as witty. Unlike Roger, however, Bertram is serious about not going to the party, and Roger tells him it's okay: "It's not like it's our company anymore anyway." He then shows Bertram another picture, that of a woman (probably a secretary, given that she's posing while on the phone), and asks Bertram if he remembers her, and Bertram gives an offhand "Hmph!" that I choose to interpret as "I'll tell you about her, but not until you turn sixty."
Chez Draper. With the entire family on hand (except for Baby Gene, who's probably sleeping upstairs), Sally's face lights up when the phone rings, and she asks Betty if she can answer it. Betty: "If you do it right." Words handed down to her, I'd reckon. Sally gets the phone and very politely announces it's the Draper residence, but is confused when there's no response, which she reports to her parents. Betty looks shifty at this news, but Don, with infinitely more of both skill and practice in these matters, firmly tells her to replace the receiver. After she complies, she asks Betty why the person hung up, and Betty suggests it was a wrong number; however, when Sally persists, saying she could hear the other person and he or she heard her, Betty snaps at her not to take everything so personally, which just goes to show how hilarious projection can be. Sally gets back to work with a "Geez Louise," which is an extremely underrated exclamation if you're going for a G rating.
Cut to a close-up of a sketch Paul has drawn of an old man with suspenders and a bow tie holding an ear horn, with a cartoon bubble that reads, "What's that, sonny?" Not the most brilliant idea, but I'd pay a nickel to sit in on the casting sessions. After continuing to cut through a fifth of something like he's on a schedule, he gets a framed copy of that Playtex "Jackie by day/Marilyn by night" ad out. I'd say I'm glad it's getting to see the light of day, but I know what's coming, if you'll excuse the expression.
Peggy's recording some turgid ideas about the telegraph into her Dictaphone, and then accidentally burps into the mike. After taking a moment to recover, she continues, "Sorry about that, Olive." Hee. When it's time for Olive's performance review, I hope she remembers to take this tape in with her.
Back in his office, Paul moves the couch in front of the door so no one can enter, and then puts on some music, gets a hand towel out of his drawer, and starts to unbuckle his pants. The show tastefully cuts away before we go any further, but still: EW. And Peggy's the one apologizing to her secretary? I mean, not that there's anything wrong with it generally, but...in your chair? By your desk? When you're not even going to CHANGE CLOTHES OR TAKE A SHOWER anytime soon? Outside, Peggy starts to head out for the night but pauses curiously in front of Paul's door, and especially since she's really working the Jackie hair I think it's a blessing that she can't get in there.
In the dark, wearing his robe, Don enters his study, takes a key out of his briefcase, and unlocks his Desk Drawer Of Secrets. Inside, we see an awful lot of cash, which he adds to (ostensibly from the bonus check, which Betty presumably does not know about) before hearing Baby Gene start crying off camera. He pockets the key and exits the room, proving that babies can upset the plans of even the most competent schemers. For more on this subject: Dexter, Season Four.
Sometime later, Paul emerges from his office calling Peggy's name in, oddly, a very Stanley Kowalski-like way, and given what he was just up to I (a) don't know what he could want with her so urgently, and (b) am just as glad that she's not around so I don't have to find out. In response to his calls, though, we hear a man's voice coming from the break room. Paul heads over and finds a fifty-something bald maintenance man who denies having seen Peggy, and then Paul introduces himself and the two shake hands, and good God, for this guy's sake, I hope Paul either uses his left hand for that one particular activity, or that Purell existed back in 1963 and could be found in Paul's office. Anyway, the guy introduces himself as "Achilles," and explains that the name has been in his family for generations. He starts to babble on that subject, but Paul interrupts him with Epiphany Face and says he's got it -- a terrific idea for Western Union. Having little further use for people named after unfortunate mythological figures, Paul heads back into his office, wherein he pours some more out of the dangerously low liquor bottle into the glass resting on the desk, and then sits on the couch, only to realize he left the glass waaaaaaaay over there and slugs some of the stuff straight out of the bottle instead. He then stomps his feet in rapid succession to punctuate his joy at coming up with such a brilliant idea, and well done and all, but I hope the take-away from this whole evening is not g
oing to be that more office masturbation is a good thing, because, as I said once already, ew.
Betty gets the laundry ready, and we see Don's robe go into the basket. DUN! Well, not really, but this isn't a crime show. There's not that much suspense.
Don's on the train, reading the paper, when he looks up and sees a smiling Suzanne standing over him. Bewildered, he greets her, and she takes the seat to him and says she'll only stay for a stop, and she tried to catch him on the platform. Without looking at her, he asks what she's doing there, and she tells him she needed to talk to him. Without warming up, he asks if she called his house the night before, but she denies it, and if she's lying there's nothing in the acting that gives it away. Put off by his continued iciness and not working with a lot of time anyway, she starts to get back up, but he apologizes, and she takes the opportunity to inform him that she doesn't care about his work or marriage or any of that, "as long as I know you're with me." Sounds good on paper, but it's not far from those words to psycho behavior. At least Polly's a little too big to easily boil to death. They clasp hands, and after he apologizes for not having called her, she tells him she got Danny a job up at the VA Hospital in Bedford, and he'll be gone by that night if he wants to come by. The train pulls into the station, and she gets up, brightly telling him it was nice to meet him before heading for the exit. The two exchange a long look before she gets off, and considering how much he's on her to be discreet that was not exactly subtle.
Betty puts the laundry into the washing machine, and I'm sure the show is trying to emphasize how this routine chore is going to change her life in ways she never would have expected, but I think it's safe to say that we get it at this point, so we can skip seeing her put the robe into the dryer, I think. Also, the Foley guys threw in some jingling-key sounds there (and in the scene before, I'll add) you'd have to be deaf not to miss, which is also a bit much.
Speaking of too much, Lois (oh my GOD, she didn't get fired for cutting off a man's foot?) finds Paul face down on the couch in his office and, not without effort, wakes him up, telling him it's nine o'clock. Also, she left the door open while yelling his name, which is a nice touch, because she really just never learns. Paul is able to ignore his no-doubt-raging hangover because of the bliss he still feels over his idea, but when he goes to his pad, telling her he needs her to type something up, a wave of uncertainty hits when he doesn't find anything written down. He looks around while asking if she touched anything, and when she denies having done so, he reminds her, "You do that sometimes." Heh. Panic starts to set in as he continues to be unable to find anything resembling a brilliant idea, and after Lois starts babbling about the last place you look and retracing steps, he tells her to shut up, and I'll co-sign that one as long as our hands don't come in contact while doing so. Also, I think all writers have found themselves in a similar situation to Paul's, and it totally sucks, so here's my sympathetic reaction to his predicament: HA HA HA! Paul runs out...
...and we cut to Pryce, who's rehearsing his speech for the dinner in front of Hooker. When Hooker toadishly pronounces his effort "very rousing," Pryce asks, "Churchill rousing or Hitler rousing?" Good line, but I doubt that tepid speech is going to incite anyone to war, be it for good or evil. Anyway, the phone thankfully rings before Hooker has to answer the question, and when he gets it, he tells Pryce that it's Ford for him. When Pryce takes the call, Ford tells him he's calling for a status report on the party, and when Ford learns that Bertram won't be attending, he says that won't do, as they've "had interest" in the company for some months now, and the party may be critical to attracting a "second suitor." Pryce, not wanting to hear this, obtusely asks for what purpose, so Ford, after giving the British equivalent of "I can't talk to you when you're like this," hands the phone off to Powell, who lays it out: SC is for sale. Pryce asks why, as they've reduced the staff and significantly increased the revenue, but Powell points out that he's answered his own question before going on that they need the party to encourage interest. This is a little unclear to me -- I know representatives of SC's clients are going to be attending, but it still seems like another ad agency would be the most likely buyer, so are they inviting any targeted potential buyers? If so, wouldn't they want to let the top Americans in on the joke before they figure it out for themselves? Anyway, these details are apparently secondary to the idea that Pryce doesn't want SC to be sold. Not least, I'd imagine, because it could mean a one-way ticket to India in his near future.
Betty calls Francis to see if he was the one who rang earlier in the episode, and while I appreciate the show's need to illustrate Don's and Betty's differing view of the Mystery Hangup, I loathe storylines that simply refuse to be tied up, not to mention the fact that I can't believe she would think for one moment that Francis would call her at night when he's perfectly aware that she's reachable during the day, so this whole effort artificially makes her seem even flightier and more childish than she is (which is very, mind you). So: Francis tells her not to call him again unless she's serious, and they disconnect, leaving us to get on with the storylines that are more important, which is all of them.
Pryce comes in to see Bertram (who's totally watching a soap opera, heh) and says he hears he's not attending the dinner. Bertram: "I wouldn't have told Roger if I planned on it remaining a secret." Nice. I love the idea of Roger being the yenta of the office. He'd probably hang out with the girls a lot more if it weren't for restraining orders. Pryce settles into a chair and offers sympathy, saying he's been to dinners like these before, and the elder members are always equally unenthused about them. "It's painful, I imagine." Bertram archly replies that he didn't get to where he is by dwelling on the past, so Pryce runs with that, saying he should think of the future, and their clients, employees, and the press. "Enjoy the fruit of your longevity." Bertram is unconvinced by this admittedly weak effort, but Pryce shows us he knows what he's doing when he suggests that if Bertram doesn't come, people will think it's because he's ill. Bertram's head swivels at that remark, but upon seeing the lugubrious, laid-on-thick expression on Pryce's face, he chuckles, causing Pryce to break into a grin. Conceding the game, Bertram asks how Pryce knew he was vain, and rather than scoff good-naturedly at how obvious it is, Pryce...oh, wait, that's exactly what he does.
Betty finally hears the damned keys jingling in the dryer, like thanks for finally recovering your ability to hear, hon. She gets them out and, realizing what they are, heads into the study...
...wherein she unlocks the fateful drawer. In it she finds photographs of Don's childhood, including one that's marked "Dick and Adam, 1944," and also a twin sets of dog tags (we know he put his "Dick Whitman" one on the real Don Draper, but according to Wikipedia, at least, you get a second copy), his discharge letter from the Army, the deed to the house in Long Beach in Anna Draper's name, and the certificate of divorce between him and Anna. How clearly she understands what this all means is uncertain, but to say that she's stunned would be quite the understatement. She and Skyler over on Breaking Bad should get together and compare notes sometime. Just then, she hears the back door open and drops Don's Box of Secrets in surprise, and when she hears Sally's and Carla's voices, she gets up and moves to the doorway, from which she tells Carla to take the kids and not come back until dinnertime. If Carla thinks this means Francis is coming over to, er, schedule another fundraiser, she doesn't show it, and Betty closes herself back up in the study to figure out just what will be an appropriate response to this mess.
Don shows up at Suzanne's once again, but after they kiss warmly, he sees that Danny is still there, although his bags are packed. Danny apologizes, saying they were supposed to leave after school, and even without a hint I wonder if the implication is that he had a seizure. Suzanne asks Don if he'd like to wait there for her, as Danny has to be at work the day, but Don manfully offers to drive him. After Danny says he's going to "Bedford, Mass" (there is a Bedford in Upstate New York, but he specifically says Massachusetts), Suzanne points out that it's a long drive (in the neighborhood of two hundred miles), but he counters that she'd have to come back alone. "Let me do this for you." Of course, they could all go, but it's possible Don's sensing what's really going to go down and wants to spare her, or, given his Adam issues, he just wants to do this kindness to the boy by himself, and Danny runs with the opportunity, saying he'd rather not say goodbye up there. Suzanne lets the boys go, but not before giving Danny three hundred and seventy-five dollars (rather large sum for a teacher to part with) and a big hug. He wonders how many times she's done this, but that's a question neither of them really wants to dwell on, so he disengages and leaves as Suzanne watches him go, tears in her eyes...
...while Betty is sitting on the couch waiting for Don to come home, the box sitting out on the table for him to see as soon as he walks in. She should have known better -- even in her drug-addled state, she reminded us he's never where you expect him to be.
In the car, Danny is making pointed comments about stopping for gas, but when Don doesn't bite, he comes clean and says he's not going to Bedford. Don doesn't look entirely surprised, but replies, "Well, I am. So I guess you kinda have to." I wouldn't have expected him to be so flip with young folk anymore -- they'll knock you on the head first chance they get. Danny asks why he cares, as he's "just gonna go back and screw her," but Don is unappreciative of such language at the moment, and sharply tells him the job he's going to is important. Danny, in turn, does not want to hear a stranger's opinion on his life, and tells Don that Julius Caesar had epilepsy, and he ran Rome, and he, Danny, is twenty-five years old and doesn't want to be cleaning toilets until he dies, the unstated part being that he's relegated to such positions because people can't deal with his condition. He tells Don to pull over, and after a long look at him, the implication that
trouble might be where Danny's headed uncomfortably hanging in the air, Don reluctantly obliges. Once they've stopped, Danny starts to get out of the car, but Don asks him to wait, and urgently says he knows things seem bad now, but he can still change his life. Danny, however, explains that he can't have any vocation that someone like Don could have. "Everyone knows, sooner or later, that there's something's wrong with me. They're kind, and they try, but then when I come to with piss in my pants, they stare at me like I'm from another planet." This kid should go into business with Freddy Rumsen. Danny goes on that it's not a question of will or attitude -- he's got an affliction, and he can't change that. Don comes around and offers Danny money, which the kid refreshingly has no problem taking, but Don, palpably struggling with emotions that can only be related to the callous goodbye that led to his brother's suicide, says to no one in particular that he swore to himself that he would do this right if given another chance, and gives Danny his card, saying he should call him if he's ever in trouble. "And I want you to remember, if something happens to you, your sister will never forgive herself." Having done all he can to dissuade Danny from knocking over a gas station or whatever the kid might have in mind, Don assures Danny that he won't tell his sister what really happened here, and Danny takes his leave. After Don drives away, he looks a tiny bit shattered inside...
...not that Betty's doing all that much better as she sits and stares at the box...
...and then Don gets back to Suzanne, who's upset at the idea that Danny might think she sloughed him off on someone else so she wouldn't have to deal with him. "He means the world to me." Don assures her that Danny knows that, but when he starts to initiate something, she's too upset, so he just touches foreheads with her and then pulls her into an embrace...
...while, at almost a quarter past two, Betty finally gives up and replaces the box and keys where she found them, and goes to bed. Don't know if she thought to make any copies of anything, but she can't exactly forget what she knows. Well, she could get amnesia, but that's more the stuff of Bertram's shows than this one.
Don enters the office, and after Allison hangs up his coat and hat, he declines her offer of coffee and asks her to get Betty on the phone. While he's waiting, he gets a clean shirt out of a drawer full of them (ahem), and then Allison buzzes with Betty on the line. Lying in bed, looking like she didn't sleep even after she retired at that late hour, she asks where he was the night before, but when he claims he was with Connie, she says she must have forgotten. After confirming she picked up his tuxedo, he tells her he'll be home at five-thirty and they'll need to leave within an hour, but she says she doesn't think she's going to go. He asks what's wrong, and she's like, "What's wrong? What's WRONG?" but then, after an internal struggle, follows that up by merely saying she doesn't feel well. I can see why weathermen sometimes have a hard time with predictions, because that certainly looked like a gathering storm that failed to hit at the last possible second. Don tells her to get into bed and basically to get over it in the seven hours, as all the partners and clients are going to be there, "and they're all expecting me to show up with the glamorous, elegant, stunning Betty Draper." He adds that he wants to show her off, and this drains whatever fight is left in her, so she mumbles her assent and hangs up.
Peggy comes into Paul's office and tells him Don's expecting them, but Paul, staring out the window, says he's got nothing. Peggy tries for some camaraderie by saying hers is "garbage too," but Paul laments that he had something, but he didn't write it down and now it's gone. Peggy's obviously been there before and is sympathetic, especially when Paul opines that it was probably the best idea he ever had. And it's not that I feel nothing for him, but let's remember that all we have to go on about this amazingly wonderful idea that would have changed the way we think of telegraphs is Paul's own heavily-drunken assessment of it. He's not exactly Ogilvy even when he's sober, you know? Paul then quotes a Chinese proverb appropriate to the situation -- "the faintest ink is better than the best memory" -- and he doesn't know it yet, but if he didn't just pull his feet out of the fire, he at least put the rope around them so that someone else can do it. Peggy tells him they've failed before, so they might as well go in...
...which they do. Peggy's ideas flop, as she expected, but when Don turns to Paul, Peggy encourages him to come clean about what happened, and when he does, Don is startlingly sympathetic: "I hate when that happens." Peggy then mentions the proverb Paul just quoted and proposes they use that idea, playing on the permanence of a telegram as opposed to a phone call. Paul stares at Peggy with more wonder than jealousy as she and Don tweak the idea until it's just right, and as Peggy and Don smile at each other (he does not hate you, hon, not with that expression on his face) Paul can't help but murmur, "My God!" Kinsey, the world needs its setup men. Might as well learn to accept that truth. Don tells them to keep working on the concept they just came up with, and when Peggy asks when he wants it, he tells her Monday. They get up to go, but Don brightly tells Paul, "See? It all works out." Paul can't manage a smile, but he's aware enough of when a good thing has happened to leave before he can fuck it up.
In her gala outfit, Betty sits on her bathtub, honestly looking like her head is still spinning from everything she saw in the box. Don calls to her, and wow, the kids look adorable in their little outfits. Betty emerges, and when Don sees her, he tells the kids, "Look how pretty Mommy is." Betty manages a smile that looks like she's hiding the fact that someone close to her died, and when Don turns away, her expression changes to make it seem like that might actually be true soon enough, particularly if there happen to be steak knives on the table.
Hee hee. Roger and Jane are in the back seat of a town car with Roger's ancient mother, and Roger has to remind her that the Waldorf is no longer on Fifth Avenue. Considering it moved in 1931, I'd make fun of her for being so off the ball if said lack of awareness weren't momentarily going to lead to hilarity. For Mrs. Sterling then turns to Jane and addresses her as "Margaret," Roger's daughter, and when Roger corrects her on the mistake and says that Jane's his wife, Mrs. Sterling asks, "Does Mona know?" HA! Jane, hilariously over it before this ride even began, assures her that she is in fact aware of this change. Hee.
In another car, Mrs. Pryce tells her husband that he seems surprised there's traffic. "There's always traffic." Unlike in, say, London. But at least the cabs over there are big enough to take naps in. Pryce takes the opportunity to tell his wife about the possible sale of SC, which of course is wonderful news to her: "I know you hate uncertainty. But take comfort in the fact that we'll return to England!" Were it sunny out, I'm guessing Pryce would be seeing a red sky...
...but someone who doesn't need any help seeing red is Betty, who's continuing to fume as Don obliviously looks over the note cards he's prepared for his speech...
...and then we're at the dinner, where Roger is giving a lengthy, eloquent, and warm introduction for Don (including a mention of being decorated for "his" service in Korea) as Betty quite understandably sucks a lemon and Don genuinely basks in the glow. It's very blink-and-you'll-miss-it, but even people who weren't in the episode, like Pete, are there, so I'm glad they were able to work something out for realism's sake, given that I know they don't have any of the regulars except, I think, Hamm and Jones for all the episodes. I also see Alice Cooper, Powell and, I'm assuming, his wife, and Harry and Jennifer. Betty does not manage to smile even when the applause for Don reaches somewhat deafening levels, and as he tries to calm the crowd down, Betty stares once more at this man she married, whom everyone loves and she now once again has reason to hate. 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 the Mad Men forums, and look back at the show's most outrageous moments.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.
Discuss this episode in the Mad Men forums, and look back at the show's most outrageous moments.