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Joan practices with Greg for an upcoming interview about his foray into psychiatry, and in the process learns that his father had a nervous breakdown, which is such a surprise. Greg then effs up his interviews and says he doesn't want to be a shrink, and his ensuing childish outburst causes Joan to break a vase over his head, which is what I'd call "a good start." Greg then apologizes and joins the Army so he can become a surgeon again, which hopefully means he'll be shipped off to Vietnam and we'll see him nevermore.
An old client, the widowed Annabelle Mathis of Caldecott Farms, a dog-food company, turns up to SC with a PR problem, but the real issue is that she seems to have had a thing with Roger in the past that she's by no means over, and when they go out to dinner, we learn that she left him for another man, but just when you think she's going to get him into bed, he tells her he wants to remain faithful to his wife, which pretty much kiboshes the prospect of them doing business again, in all senses.
Betty takes the kids down to dead Uncle Gene's house for Halloween, as advertised, and a fight over the house ensues between her and her brother. Betty then takes the opportunity to pull the family lawyer aside and tell him of the compromising information about Don she discovered, although she doesn't have a handle on the exact situation. The lawyer gives her some shitty, sexist advice that amounts to telling her to suck things up, and I'm glad that she follows her instincts about anything to do with her family and doesn't listen.
Suzanne tells Don that regardless of what they're doing, she can see that he's not happy. She then confesses that she wants more from him that she originally thought she would, and he's surprisingly okay with that, so they plan to head up to Norwich (Connecticut, I think) -- but when Don stops home to get something, he finds the family already returned, and on top of that, Betty finally, with steely determination, confronts him with his Drawer Of Secrets and his Dick Whitman identity. He's completely overwhelmed, but manages to tell her just about the whole truth of how he came to be who he is, and adds that he's always been surprised that she ever loved him. She refuses to waver in coming at him, but when she's distracted by the baby, instead of running, he shows her the pictures from the box and desperately tells her everything about them, even the part about Adam, and since Betty only sometimes seems like she's made of stone, she consoles him. The day, Don breaks it off with Suzanne, not that it's a complete surprise to her after he didn't come get her out of the car, and when he gets home, he, Betty, and the kids go out trick-or-treating like a family. We'll see to what degree that's a costume soon enough.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! In traveling attire, Betty is closing up her suitcase and calling to the kids, who are downstairs in the kitchen with Don. Sally is trying to land a Minnie Mouse costume, but Don won't hear of it: "You'll wear it once. Plus it's made out of plastic, and it's crap." I can hear Disney's lawyers getting into formation now. Betty enters and after mildly chiding the kids for not listening to her, we learn that the plan is for them to be gone a week, causing Sally to worry that they'll miss Halloween. Betty assures her they have Halloween where they're going (heh) and she'll be trick-or-treating with her cousins, so they say goodbye to Don and then rush off to get their bags. Betty, thinking of the stacks of money in the locked drawer, gets a purposeful look on her face and tells Don she only has forty dollars, so he tells her to swing by the bank, as she's got at least two hundred in there, which should be plenty. Well, unless William is planning to pilfer a twenty or two out of her purse. I wouldn't put it past him. Betty stares at Don: "You have no more money." He just gives a puzzled look in return and then kisses her goodbye, which seems a little more clueless than normal for him, but it is a little early in the episode for the upcoming bomb to drop.Roger and Don enter Bertram's office, and the former is startled to see a woman of a certain age in there, and from the way he exhibits manufactured trouble in digging up her last name, it's seem likely that (a) he's known her for some time and (b) there was something between them at some point. Not that I haven't already seen the episode as I write this, but the show really is that good at the subtle things. Anyway, the woman's name is "Annabelle Mathis," and after the four of them sit down and Roger gauchely asks if she divorced "what's-his-name," she informs him that what's-his-name is dead, and as a result of her father's will, the company her husband had been running reverted to her. She adds that her husband was only fifty-one when he died of lung cancer, and there's a hilarious cut to the smoking Don, who looks like, "Well, that gives me a few more years, anyway." The mention of the dead husband barely slows either Roger or Annabelle down from making moony eyes at each other, and then she gets down to business, saying she'd like her company, "Caldecott Farms," to return to SC if they can deal with the PR nightmare that recently befell them. Apparently the movie The Misfits prompted an exposé that revealed that Caldecott Farms uses horsemeat in its dog food, and when Annabelle says she's not sure why her company was singled out, Roger tells Don, "She owns a horse farm that makes dog food." Heh. Anyway, after some discussion of how solving the PR issue through advertising will be difficult despite how delicious horses are (no, seriously, that's pretty much what's discussed), Annabelle tells them that she's thrown down the gauntlet to a bunch of firms, and the best idea gets her business. Of course, what passes for the "best idea" from Roger may be different from what she's looking for from everyone else, if the way she giggles at a joke about his dick size is any indication (again, not kidding). The four of them stand, and after she tells them her two simple rules ("Don't change the name, don't change the product," as Don sums them up) she asks Roger to walk her out. Good idea to do it while she still can. When they're gone, Bertram tells Don that SC used to have their account, but "her father was a son of a bitch." He adds that people spend more money on dog food than baby food, and Don needs no further encouragement: "I'll put the fellows on it." Whether that includes Peggy depends on how seriously he's taking Bertram's statement, I'd imagine.
Outside, Roger asks what Annabelle's really doing there, and while she plays it coy, it definitely seems like she's interested in more than dog food. Roger seems reluctant to encourage her, but eventually agrees to a business dinner, and if he's really that worried he should have thought of that before he started referencing his endowment. I guess old habits die hard, in more ways than one. And speaking of which, his fake tan has returned with a vengeance. For a show that's so incredibly detail-oriented, the tone of that thing is certainly all over the place.
Suzanne arrives home to find Don waiting for her, and after a little talk about the stealthy ways she's keeping their affair from her landlords and the fact that she'd love to take him to Little Italy sometime, she tells him that she's not trying to make it seem like she's thinking about the future, but even if she removes herself from the picture, she sees a man who's not happy. He looks taken aback by this assessment, but merely steps forward and says he's happy now. This is apparently not what she wanted to hear, though -- she probably was more interested in an acknowledgement of his unhappiness with his life, as despite her denials she's surely interested in something long-term with him. She withdraws into the kitchen and starts busying herself with making dinner, and put off by her sudden iciness, he says he's going to go lie down, which she acknowledges with a fake smile. Well, they're certainly starting to seem married.
Joan is mock-interviewing Greg to prepare him for his entry into the psychiatry world, and gets curious when he won't tell her what experience he's had with the field. Reluctantly, he admits that his father once had a nervous breakdown -- apparently he sold furniture and went through a period where no one was buying, and "a headshrinker got him through, but we weren't allowed to talk about it." Amazing how quickly things can make sense when you're given a little backstory. Joan tells him that the kind of openness he just exhibited is exactly what the interviewer will be looking for, and after she encourages him some more, he expresses surprise that he never told her about his father before. Joan smiles like, "I knew my man had some hidden depths!" Honey, you know I love you, but give it up already.
Don's asleep in Suzanne's bed when she comes in and puts his arm around her, waking him up. Explaining her earlier behavior, she tells him she realized she wanted more than she originally expected, but assures him the feeling will pass. "Actually, I know for a fact it will." An intriguing comment, to be sure, and perhaps the clearest signal yet Don isn't the first married man she's been with, but instead of pursuing the subject, he tells her he doesn't want the feeling to pass, and when he picked the kids up from school that day and saw her, he wished she could have gotten in the car and driven away with him. He then offers to clear his schedule so they could spend the week in Mystic, or someplace, but after scoffing at the idea of visiting the setting of an early Julia Roberts movie, she says she can think of someplace they could go if he's serious. He is, so it's a date, but they do not hurry up and leave immediately, a decision at least one of them will live to regret.
Roger's hitting some golf balls in his office, and I'd expect he's getting out some frustration from the fact that he's using a pitching wedge instead of a putter. Just then, though, he gets a phone call that considerably brightens his mood, as it's Joan. He tells her she's lucky he answered, as his girl isn't in, and Joan is like, exactly -- she has a hair appointment at this time every month. Hilariously, that's news to Roger, but after some fun at Hooker's expense and some flirting, Joan gets down to the reason for her call -- she needs help finding work, since Greg (whom Roger hysterically refers to as "Dr. Cutup," hee) needs a lot of training to become a shrink, and she doesn't "want him moonlighting all the time." Well, having him make more money and not be around seems like a good deal to me, but we'll happily be getting to that soon enough. Roger suggests she come back to SC, but she points out that she's been replaced, "and a secretary makes less money than if I were working at a department sto
re." Heh. He expresses gratitude that she thought of him, and I think this is a key exchange in light of the situation with Annabelle, because regardless of what may have been explicitly said between them I think Roger thinks of Joan as his One That Got Away, and exploring those feelings is going to help him in deciding what to do about his other old flame. He tells her, "You want to be on some people's minds. Some people's, you don't." After a bit more of this, she says she should go, and he asks if he should just pass on her number to anyone he thinks of. Joan: "Look at you, figuring things out for yourself." Heh. Roger hangs up with a fond smile.
Sitting in the study of, presumably, her father's house, Betty opens the desk drawer in kind of a hilariously snooping manner, like she suddenly thinks all such compartments hold unspeakably dark secrets about their owners' past. But I do hope her dad didn't leave evidence of a secret wife in there, because the two we've known about have been quite enough for me. William then enters with the estate lawyer, who seems like he's been attached to the family for a while, and although William offers that they can have lunch first, they end up getting straight into the issue at hand -- the house has been left to both of them, and William wants to buy Betty out but doesn't have enough money to pay her a market rate. The lawyer silently looks at William all, "What do you want me to tell your poor ass, kid?" prompting William to snit right on out of there. Once the undesirable has left the room, Betty tells the lawyer she needs to speak with him in confidence, and after he closes the door to the room, she tells him she's discovered some "compromising facts" about her husband -- he's been married before and bought the woman a house, and what's more, the name he's using is not even his original one. After expositing that he knows Gene didn't specifically didn't want Don in the will, he asks what she wants -- if it's a divorce, in New York State she'll have to prove adultery. "Can you?" Betty says maybe, and I wonder if she's thinking of a phone call to Jimmy Barrett, but the lawyer clarifies that she'll have to prove it in a court of law, which could be difficult. The other option would be if Don wants out of the marriage, but in that case Betty wouldn't get anything, probably not even the children. Was this really the case even in 1963? The show is usually infallible on points like these, but then again, the term "second opinion" doesn't exist for no reason. Having dispensed his legal advice, the guy offers a different kind: If Betty's not afraid of Don and thinks he's a good provider, she should give staying with him a try, at least for the sake of the kids. "That's what I'd tell my own daughter." Were you still on speaking terms with her, that is. This is all too much for Betty, who puts her head in her hand in frustration, at which point William yells through the locked door once again that the situation with the house isn't right, as if that's currently in the top ten of things on her mind.
Annabelle shows up to dinner wearing the sixtyish sixties version of a fuck-me dress, and seeing Roger's full martini glass, expresses surprise that he waited. Roger: "This is number three." Before even starting dinner? I know we're well past the time of Prohibition, but that still sounds illegal. Roger is also smoking even more quickly than usual, and if he's nervous it's with good reason, as Annabelle allows him exactly one business-related comment (about a focus group Don has already put together) before calling an end to that line of discussion and telling Roger he's really the only thing she remembers from her pre-married days. He does not return the sentiment, however, so she asks if when he saw Casablanca, he didn't think of her, obviously trying to sell the idea that theirs was an epic love that ended due to circumstances and wishes beyond their control. Roger, however, does not see any similarity other than the fact that she left him for someone else: "That woman got on a plane with a man who was going to end World War II, not run her father's dog-food company." She tries to counter this obvious truth by saying he was adrift at the time, only good for spending money: "You walked around like you were hoping to be a character in somebody else's novel. The boxing?" I'd imagine he kept his bouts quite short, because after a few rounds that smoking habit of his would certainly have been scoring a TKO. Roger, however, is not really interested in hearing her reasons for breaking his heart, as he still remembers them. He says he picked himself up and married Mona, joined SC, and then got shipped off for the entirety of the war. "And when I came home, I went to work while you were watching Casablanca. And I got blamed when we lost the account." Annabelle somewhat apologetically denies knowledge of that, but Roger isn't really interested in that either, instead pointing out that she's rich, so why not sell the company and let someone else peddle the horsemeat, but she counters with, "And do what?" Aaaaand there's the season's theme again. The waiter then turns up with Annabelle's wine order, and when she tries to say she didn't want a whole bottle, Roger assures her he'll help. She raises an eyebrow like "Now we're getting somewhere!" Honey, I think you're underestimating Roger's tolerance. NOT THAT I BLAME YOU.
Some number of bottles of wine later, Roger is unsteadily helping Annabelle into her coat as she tells a drunken-loud story about something or other, and they giggle and lean against the wall, but when she tries to escalate things, he tells her he's a newlywed. She obviously doesn't take that declaration particularly seriously to start, but he keeps up the resistance, and he finally informs her, "It's different with this girl." It may be a surprise even to him that he's saying this, but regardless, the statement is more effective than a hose would have been, as Annabelle's smile fades and she gets out of there in a hurry. And there isn't even anyone on hand to discuss the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Joan gets home to find Greg drinking a beer and watching TV with his feet up on the coffee table, and the moment she takes to process the tableau and just noticeably stiffen is great work by Christina Hendricks. She asks him how it went, surely already knowing the general answer, and he sullenly replies that he totally screwed it all up. She tries to tell him she's sure that's not true, but he pulls away from her touch and tells her she wasn't there, so she can stop acting like she knows everything; besides, he doesn't want to be a psychiatrist, as "it's not medicine." Joan keeps it together but does lay down the law, a little -- she doesn't care what he does, but he has to do something, as they need money. Not responding to that, he whines that he did everything he was supposed to do, and he's wanted to be surgeon since he was a kid. She soberly tells him she's sorry, but suggests it's time to move on, prompting Greg to shout that she doesn't know what it's like to want something and plan for it your whole life and then not get it. Let me just say in advance that what follows is so awesome it makes me hope you all have DVR. Joan, who was looking forward to being a mother so, so much, after a moment in which a storm gathers so quickly on her face it could cause you to go blind if you stare at it directly, picks up a vase and, without even bothering to take the flowers within it out first, literally breaks it over the back of her idiot husband's head, like, that was nowhere near an even payback for all the things he's done to her, but it seems like it now that I've watched it somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred times. Joan storms off into another room and slams the door as Greg shouts that she's insane. Not if she follows this up by getting a divorce, she isn't.
In that room with the one-way mirror at SC, Annabelle and a bunch of SC people are watching a
dog-food focus group unfold. Things are going well enough until the administrator tells them the brand name, whereupon all hell breaks loose, with the dog owner in the middle snitting that they make the food "out of ponies" before literally asking, "How could you do this to us?" Meanwhile, the dogs are happier than pigs in shit, not that you'd know it from this hilariously pained announcement: "Bingo looks sad!" Hee hee. Annabelle, probably having been subjected to bullshit like this for quite some time, tells them to turn it off, and the amusement continues, as Peggy responds, "I can't turn it off! It's actually happening!" Hee. Don sharply tells her to turn the sound off, the "...you idiot" being implied, and then Annabelle impatiently says she already knows how people feel -- it's their job to change that. Don, however, lays some truth on her -- the food is great and dogs love it, but the name is forever tainted, and any agency that tells her otherwise is stealing her money. Annabelle, not wanting to hear this, says she's going to wait for a different agency to solve her problem, but Roger tells her to let it go: "It's unfair, but it's over." Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound -- it's Supertext! Offended by the lack of subtlety in drawing the comparison to their relationship, Annabelle stomps off, but Roger follows her into the break room, whereupon he kicks everyone out, and the ensuing scene has some nice moments and is well-enough-acted, but the dialogue is still only explicitly stating what's already been conveyed on more than one occasion, which boils down to this: Annabelle thinks of Roger as The One, but even though she broke his heart in the past, he doesn't feel the same way about her. She takes this as graciously as possible, but I'd imagine this is going to make it an especially bad day to be a pony. After she leaves, Roger wistfully stares after her, but the emotional impact is somewhat tempered when some random girl comes back into the break room, only to see him there, size up the situation, and do a quick about-face. Heh. At least someone around here can deal with change.
In the car, Suzanne is saying it's about four hours to Norwich. Two things: One, if this is the one in Connecticut, it's nowhere near four hours away, or if it is, Don should still be on that trip to Massachusetts from last episode. Two, a reader wrote in to tell me that Norwich is a dump and always has been, and if Suzanne thinks it's so nice she's got no business slagging off Mystic, even though it's touristy. I've never been to either, but I thought I'd convey the information. Anyway, they've stopped at the Draper home for Don to pick up a suitcase, presumably, and as Don tells her he'll be right out, Suzanne jokingly slinks down in the seat so no one in the neighborhood will see her, which is a move that I bet is going to start to seem a lot less funny in about fifteen minutes or so. Inside, Don finds the lights off (it's just starting to get dark), but when he flips them on, he's shocked when Sally comes running out to greet him. Thinking fast, he tries to tell her he forgot something, but then Bobby and Betty appear as well, and I'll leave it to you to guess which of them is happy to see him. He tries his best again, nonchalantly telling Betty he left his hat in the car, but Betty is not letting him out of her sight as she orders him to get it later. "I need to talk to you." He looks uncertain, but even after she sends the kids upstairs, he doesn't guess what's going on, saying he just came home to feed the dog and change shirts before he heads back to a client dinner in the city. Betty, however, tells him she needs to show him something...
...and she leads him into the study and orders him to open the locked drawer. When he refuses, she produces a set of keys -- seems like she had a copy made after all -- and tells him either to open it, or she will. His fear is palpable, but not aware that she's already been inside it (which he probably should be; she's acting pretty steely here), he tries for righteous indignation, saying his desk is private, and asking where she got the keys. She tells him about finding them in the bathrobe, and Hamm does some beautiful work as he digests the realization that his own carelessness led to this moment, but she adds that she could have had a locksmith in there at any point, were she so inclined. "I respected your privacy, too long. Open it!" More weakly, he refuses, but her determination is overwhelming, and when she says he must be aware that she already knows what's in it, all resistance crumbles as he whispers, "I can explain. You didn't have to look at my things." She takes the keys back and gets the box out before asking which things he's referring to -- "The pictures, covered with other people's names? Is that you? Dick? Is that your name?" He still can't really give her a straight answer, only vaguely saying that people change their names and offering again that he can explain, and real emotion finally enters her answer: "I know you can. You're a very, very gifted storyteller." He casts about for a reply and then, shaken to his core, says he needs a drink. My last thought before getting up to go to the kitchen: Good idea.
Don unsteadily heads into his own kitchen and splashes some water on his no-doubt-heated face, and as he leans over to try to collect himself, Betty appears and snidely asks if he's thinking of heading for the exits. Sounding a little steadier, he tells her he's not going anywhere, but when he tries to get a cigarette out, his hands shake so much that he drops it. Surprised by how affected he is, she orders him to sit down while she gets him the drink, and he complies. Once they're both seated at the table, she crosses her arms disapprovingly over her chest and accuses him of buying Anna a house. Not wanting to get into that just yet but sensibly letting her dictate what happens, he asks her where she wants him to start, and the questioning begins: What's his name? Donald Draper, but it used to be Dick Whitman. What's the deal with Anna? It wasn't a romantic relationship; he "ended up" married to her because he ran away to join the Army. While enlisted, there was an accident and the real Don Draper was killed and he, Dick, was injured. He goes on that the Army "made a mistake" (obviously not the whole story, but this is just about the only half-truth he tells, so I'll let it go) that enabled him to take Don Draper's identity. This clearly not being what she expected, Betty's determination falters a bit as she asks if that wasn't against the law, and he admits that it was, but says it was easier to take his name than to start over, "but it turned out he was married to that woman, so I took care of her. And then I divorced her the minute I met you." Betty, however, corrects him -- he actually divorced her only three months before they got married, and why couldn't he ever tell her any of this? Reasonably enough, Don asks when exactly would have been an appropriate time to bring this up, but when he pushes on and asks why she needed to know, she snaps that he doesn't get to ask any questions. She grabs the box again and says he has a family, and she ignores his denial, saying all this time she thought he was "some football hero who hated his father," and she always knew he was poor, and ashamed of it. "I see how you are with money -- you don't understand it." Interesting comment -- I think she means he doesn't understand what it can really do for you in terms of social stature, nor does he understand how to go about being rich, and he seems to agree: "I was very poor." She asks if he saw Anna when he was in California, and he admits that too, but adds, "She reminded me that I loved you." Still sounding steely, she straight-up asks what he would do in her position: "Would you love you?" His answer takes you by surprise and yet makes perfect sense: "I was surprised that you ever loved me."
onwithoutpity.com/show/mad_men/the_inheritance_1.php?page=7">You can't trust a man with no people. My daughter's a princess, you know that? She asks if she's supposed to feel sorry for him, and speculates that he must have wanted her to find all this out, otherwise why keep all the evidence in her house? All he can offer is that he didn't think he had a choice, and says that it's their house, their children. She tells him she can't trust him, and doesn't know who he is, but he earnestly replies, "Yes you do." At this point, we hear the baby cry from the other room, which is not a sound I'm normally thrilled to hear but my God, I think we could all use a respite here. Betty leaves the room, but not before informing Don in no uncertain terms that they're not done. When she's gone, Don gets up, picks up the box, and starts to shuffle out of the room himself. I know it's a bad time to leave the house, but shouldn't he at least bring Suzanne a banana or something?
When we return, instead of heading to the car or even hobbling down the street as fast as his shellshocked legs will carry him, Don has wearily made his way up to the bedroom. With the box to him, he settles onto the bed, and after a long moment, he hears Betty in the other room and calls to her. She comes in, and after some cursory discussion of the baby, he quietly asks her to sit with him, and she obliges, a questioning but less angry look on her face. After looking at her with an expression that's almost guardedly hopeful, he shows her the pictures again and tells her who everyone in them are -- Archie, Abigail, "Uncle" Mack -- as well as the story of his mother, "a twenty-two-year-old prostitute" who died having him. He mentions that Mack was nice to him, which I never got but I suppose hasn't specifically been contraindicated, and Betty asks what happened to them. Don tells her they're all dead, but when Betty further inquires, "Even Adam?" it's like a gut punch, and I can't be sure if he was definitely planning to tell her about him. Mistaking Don's horrified stare for mere incomprehension, Betty says she's referring to the little boy in some of the pictures, whom she assumes is Don's brother. Don slowly flips ahead to one of the pictures of him and Adam, and in a small, breaking voice, says that Adam was his half-brother, and he killed himself. He hangs his head as he tells Betty how he came to him wanting to be part of his life, but he turned him away because he "couldn't risk all of this." He starts to sob as he tells her the method of Adam's suicide, and Betty tells him she's sorry, her anger replaced by wary compassion. At least, that's what I'm assuming -- it's getting hard to see all of a sudden. She puts a consoling hand on his neck, and in an episode where one character couldn't see the value of psychiatry, isn't it interesting to see the therapeutic effect on Don of, you know, talking about these things?
Still in the office, late at night, Roger makes a call to an unidentified presumed business associate on Joan's behalf, saying how great she is and how he wants to help her out. It's a nice contrast to the stuff with Annabelle -- he may think of Joan as his One That Got Away, but he's letting go with goodwill and no regrets. Really nice week for Roger Sterling, even while sucking down enough vermouth to, if certain focus group members won't cry at the expression, kill a horse.
Joan's setting the table when Greg comes home and unexpectedly apologizes, even bringing flowers and saying he's going to buy her another vase to put them in. He doesn't seem like he's got a concussion, but just you wait. Joan just looks sad, saying buying things isn't really the issue, but Greg tells her he's just been feeling sorry for himself because he couldn't "solve this problem," but he figured out the solution -- he joined the Army. As Joan takes this in, he explains that not only will she be taken care of, he'll also get to be a surgeon again -- the Army's desperate for them. Well, I can imagine that the kind of surgery regularly needed in the Army is possibly not going to be as delicate, on average, as in a hospital, but I suppose the more salient point is that servicemen aren't known for suing the medics for malpractice. He says he'll just have to do six weeks of basic training and then will be able to complete his residency in New York, after which he thinks they'll send him somewhere, "maybe Vietnam if that's still going on." Can't remotely laugh at his lack of foresight given where we are in the Middle East, but I can allow myself a smile at the idea of never having to see Greg again. Except for those times in the future I replay Joan breaking the vase over his head, which will be numerous and frequent. Greg tells Joan that he'll be going in as a captain, and that means he'll get paid enough that Joan won't have to work. Overwhelmed by the mixed emotions, Joan says she doesn't know what to say, but he happily asks her to please tell him she's glad for the news, because it makes him happy to think of providing for her. She finally smiles through her tears and tells him it's wonderful, and he suggests they should go out. She agrees, but when she walks forward, the look on her face suggests anything but joy. Hate to tell her, but she's pretty much alone on this one.
Don't know how long it's been, but Suzanne finally gets out of the car, and I wouldn't feel nearly as bad for her if she didn't have to lug her overnight bag as well as her emotional load. But it's an age-old story -- he went in for a pack of cigarettes and never came back. Meanwhile, Don's brushing his teeth in his pajamas, and when he's done, he takes a moment to wonder whether he dares believe Betty finding out the truth might not end up so bad. I hate to have to opine that the jury's still out on there.
The morning, Don wakes up to find Betty gone. He sees two suitcases standing on the floor, but I think they might be hers from the trip and she just didn't have time to unpack. He takes another look at his no-longer-secret pictures, and then goes to get dressed...
...and then he comes down into the kitchen, where Betty asks if he wants something to eat. He uncertainly asks if she's having something, but Bobby interrupts to ask Don if he's coming trick-or-treating with them. He says he is, of course, and then steps forward and puts his hand around Betty's head, and while she doesn't give anything back she doesn't resist, either. He then makes a point of kissing each of his kids, including the baby, before telling Betty he'll see her that night, which she again neither acknowledges nor denies. And here I thought the Draper household couldn't get much more taciturn.
Don gets into the office and tells Allison to cancel his plans, as he has plenty to do. Yes, figuring out how to word an apology to someone you left in the car in those circumstances may take a while even for someone of Don's talent with words. But no, he calls her straightaway, and when she answers it's pretty clear she's been crying. She asks if he got caught, but when he tells her it's more complicated than that, she knows it's over, even as she asks if that means she won't see him anymore. He tells her, "Not right now. No," which may just be a way of softening the blow rather than a genuine attempt to keep things open, but when she asks if he's okay, he's gut-punched again: "Only you would ask about me right now." She fearfully inquires if she has to worry about her job, probably in reference to the fact that she's still unclear if Betty knows about her, and this is a bit troubling, because if she ever runs into Betty and assumes she does know, she might spill something she shouldn't. Don, however, just tells her she doesn't have to worry, so she bids him a tearful goodbye...
...and then that evening, the family is waiting to go trick-or-treating when Don arrives home to find Sally and Bobby sharing the episode title by dressing as a gypsy and a hobo, respectively. Betty again asks Don if
he'd like something to eat before wondering if she should take the carriage or just hold Gene herself. Don says it's pretty cold, and then offers to take the kids while she stays home, or vice versa. Betty says no, though, and he's genuinely happy that she's okay with going out with him as a family...
...and then they're ringing a doorbell. Carlton answers and gives the kids some candy, and then looks in Don's direction: "And who are you supposed to be?" I think he's just joking about the adults not wearing a costume, but Don looks like he was hoping the tough questions were done for the episode already. "Where Is Love" from Oliver! kicks up, and it's over. Try to recover by Sunday.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.