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Peggy gets pissed when Roger offers Ginsberg an under-the-table deal similar to the one he gave her on Mohawk a while back, accusing Roger of disloyalty and this stuff. But it's the account itself that causes all the problems: Manischewitz is going gentile-inclusive, and so Roger needs all the Hebraic backup he can get. Especially, you know, given how he's a huge racist. Armed with Ginsberg's ideas and with his Jewish former trophy wife on his arm, he charms the client and presumably makes the sale.
But somewhere between the client's incredibly hot son putting blatant moves on Judy, and the fact that she's enjoying having her own apartment free of memories of their marriage, Roger makes the command decision at the end of the night to sleep with her again, tarnishing her new blank slate life with yet more silver fox-fucking. In the morning, when she explains this, it's LSD Roger who acknowledges that she's right about all of it, and apologizes, but it's still a queasy little moment.
Speaking of queasy, if you were wondering whether Betty is still an asshole, let me assure you that she still is a royal asshole.
So Sally's got a Family Tree project due, and asks both her moms for help on it. While Megan delights in giving Sally everything she can -- up to and including giving her "crying on cue" lessons, because what Sally needs is lessons from Megan on being even crazier than she already is -- it's a jealous Betty that tries to trip up the new Drapers by dropping hints about Anna, framed in such a way that Sally feels betrayed by Don and Megan both for keeping secrets.
Megan answers mean old Sally's questions about the situation, to an extent, but the damage is done. However, Don's reasoned and sweet approach turns the tables, and when Sally gets back to Betty's house there's been a chilling shift in power, because she's finally realized just how often Betty's used her as a weapon. You kind of always knew that Sally would end up murdering her mother, but I think this is the first time it may have occurred to Betty. But I guess between all the Weight Watchers classes and a great big look at Megan's taut tummy, Betty was due for a little crazy time of her own. I won't detail each and every moment of Betty's Great Reduction, but suffice to say it peaks, grandly, when she fires a can of whipped cream directly into her face and then spits it into the sink. I mean, it's not the tweaked-out meth-head act we expected/were secretly hoping for, but it's certainly something. I feel like every bite she takes is another slap in her mother's face. Another bullet in that shotgun.
Don does some petty shit of his own, not to be outdone, when he gets jealous of Ginsberg's genius in general, and his campaign ideas for Sno-Balls in particular, pulling the not-very-Draper move of leaving Ginsberg's art in the taxi cab on the way to the presentation. It's a fairly funny rivalry up to that point, though, especially considering that Don's idea is pretty stupid and you get to watch him talk about it over and over and it's just kind of mortifying for everybody. In the end, his dumb idea sells, so everybody has to act like it's water under the bridge, but between pissing off both Peggy and Don this week, I wouldn't want to be in Ginz's shoes right now.
What else? A fellow actress bitches out Megan for living the high life, and gets invited to Thanksgiving. Pete obsesses about Rory Gilmore some more -- fantasies complete with side boob -- and nearly lets her husband have it. Joan is there for like two seconds, Cooper's barely around, Stan wears three different Polo shirts over the course of an hour, the TV guy bitches like usual about nothing, and Sally is more than likely building a nuclear device in her bedroom.
It was good, but for such a strong season it felt like ligament. I'm not sure what we're meant to take with us from this one into the future, exactly, because all of the problems could developing into bigger ones, or just go away forever. I do like the bittersweet thing, though, about how Betty still thinks "Dick Whitman" is this magic spell you can say that ruins marriages -- like, it wouldn't even occur to her that Megan would be fine with Dick Whitman, or Anna Draper, and all they imply, and more than capable of helping old Sally fight even the most insidious examples of Betty's mental programming.
week: A dizzying array of conversational tidbits, from what I can tell, some tantalizing shots of doors opening and closing, and a lot of raised eyebrows -- all completely free of context.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Before I start, real cute naming the episode "Dark Shadows" to coincide with the release of the Tim Burton movie. SEO concerns are all well and good, but I still wonder how that decision would have gone if Lionsgate had seen the trailer beforehand.
We begin with a close-up of a female hand pulling a piece of well-done toast out of a toaster and from the fact that said hand proceeds to measure out a few cubes of cheese onto a scale, we can conclude that Betty -- to whom the hand belongs -- has joined Weight Watchers. And I'm all for self-improvement, but until she signs up with Horrible Mothers Anonymous, her work will be far from done. On the plus side, the fat suit seems to have lost a bit of its heft. Betty takes a bite of the jellied toast and, as she's no doubt been instructed, savors it rather mechanically -- in fact, you can pretty much see her counting the number of times she chews...
...whereupon we cut to the SCDP elevator, on which Bertram and Roger are discussing the merits of competitive fishing. Don joins them, followed by Pete and once the doors have closed, Pete -- with trademark pomposity -- announces that he spent an hour and a half on the phone the night before with a guy from The New York Times, who just so happens to be doing a literary profile on hip Madison Avenue ad agencies. (Bertram, hilariously, corrects Pete to "hep.") Pete goes on that he told the guy to get in touch with "you" to see examples of what they've been doing and Don, impressed, says he'll have Joan set something up. But Pete goes on that they needn't worry about an interview -- the guy was only interested in talking to Pete. Well, if I were one of the other partners, I'd be just as glad not to have to talk to a guy who could spend ninety minutes on the phone with Pete Campbell, but that doesn't stop Roger from, once they're disembarking, sarcastically offering "Sterling Campbell Draper Pryce!" to Bertram, who is most unamused by the whole thing.
Sometime later, Don is looking through the portfolio of their work that Joan has put together, which includes "Just Taste It" from last week; there's also a non-Jaguar car ad in there, which you'd think we would have heard something about. Don settles on his picks and then is rather surprised to realize that Ginzo is the credited writer on pretty much all of them. Joan agrees with Don's assessment that Peggy really got buried on Heinz before lauding Don's efforts as Creative Director and encouraging him to put the letter in the portfolio. Don's a bit hesitant and I'm surprised he even still has the thing after the news he got from Ray Wise a couple episodes ago, but Joan firmly says the thing is still quite the conversation piece and Don sighs that they're still suffering because of it, so they might as well get something in return. Joan then moves to take the selected ads with her, but Don instructs her to leave them and after she's gone, he looks at them long and hard, probably once again counting the number of Ginzo credits.
Roger's on the phone when Bertram enters and closes the door without fanfare, a note in his hand. Bertram's presence does nothing to hurry Roger's chat up, but when he's off, Bertram tells Roger to get "Max Rosenberg," whom Bertram met at the "Javits Fundraiser," on the phone as he's got some business involving a Jewish wine. Roger wonders why Bertram doesn't just bring it up at their partners' meeting, but Bertram was apparently more stung by that "Sterling Campbell" comment than you might have expected and tells Roger that the account needs his "finesse." It would be hilarious to go into all the ways that is hilarious, but even Bertram knows what they really need is Roger's "Semitic wife." I don't believe I mentioned it, but I think it was during the acid trip that Jane mentioned she's half Jewish. Regardless, Roger barks at Bertram that he and Jane are getting divorced. Bertram theatrically pulls up his sleeve to reveal his watch and asks, "Already?" and it's no "You sold your birthright so you could marry that TROLLOP!", but I'm still pretty happy with it. Roger at least reacts with a resigned smile and asks exactly how Jewish the execs are ("Fiddler On The Roof: Audience or cast?"), but all Bertram can tell him is that the company is Manischewitz and Max will know the answer. Roger picks up the phone and starts dialing...
...and let's cut to another ex of Roger's -- Sally Draper. She's getting a lesson in fake-crying from Megan, skipping the section on whining as she proves she has that down pat already by begging Don not to forget colored pencils for her family-tree project. I hope poor Adam's entry doesn't come with a tasteless illustration. The branches kind of set the whole thing up, you know. Don heads to the office, whereupon Megan resumes the tutoring and it's probably not a huge surprise that Sally seems to have some talent for the subject.
Don's in the office, but instead of actually working, he's sitting and smoking and seeming bereft of ideas. Between Bertram's declaration that love had made him stupid and soft and Ginzo essentially being a one-man show, you could see how he might be feeling a little pressure. Sometime later, Don is leaving the office when he conveniently notices a light on in the Creative room; after he turns it off, he sees a folder of Ginzo's labeled "Shit I Gotta Do" and he opens it to see some drawings for Sno Ball (the shaved-ice drink, not the Hostess snack food). There's a pig getting hit with a snowball that I take to be a 1984 reference, but even though that might be lost on Don, he's as impressed with Ginzo's work as the rest of us are unimpressed by his disrespect for privacy and he settles in to read more...
...and later, Henry and Betty are double-parked waiting for the kids, I guess, and Henry is as unamused with the lateness as everyone around him is with his blocking traffic, so he dispatches Betty to retrieve her progeny while he circles the block. Cut to Betty checking her look in the mirror before ringing the bell; when Sally answers, Betty sends her to get her brothers before stepping into the apartment instead of waiting awkwardly in the hall. From her reaction, it's the first time she's been in the place and she helps herself to a little tour, which I guess it would be hard for Don to complain about given what we just caught him doing. Betty takes the place's opulent garishness in with some strong emotion, it being about as far away from the décor of her and Don's house (not to mention that of the Rye Town Francis Spookhouse) as can be and then she catches sight of Megan getting dressed through the glass to the bedroom. Luckily, Megan doesn't catch Betty staring at her and her bra and tight body, but things are still plenty awkward when Megan emerges and runs into her husband's ex. Betty stiltedly explains that they buzzed and are double-parked and Megan apologizes for losing track of time, adding that Don's running late. Betty offers that it's quite an apartment, but there's no smile on her face, which might be why Megan comes back with, "Thank you. I think you've seen most of it." Thankfully, the kids appear and after Betty promises that she'll get Sally the colored pencils that Don was supposed to supply, Megan says her goodbyes and the warmth with which she treats the kids is certainly most unappreciated by certain slowly-shrinking people. Everyone not originally from Quebec departs...
...while Don is still at the office, chatting with his Dictaphone about ideas for Sno Ball. He's not thrilled with himself until he comes up with an idea about Sno Balls being so tempting and sinful that they'll send you straight to hell without passing Go, I think, and man, it's been a while since we've watched him struggle like this. At least the idea of temptation ties in with Betty's storyline, but remember when Don couldn't open his mouth on Creative subjects without the accompanying Music of Poignant Ideas? He then actually says out loud that Snowballs are "sinfully delicious," but although he immediately castigates himself, I do thank him for it because it reminds me of Victor Garber's guest appearance on Will & Grace. ("Say it, bitch.")
Betty gets home and if you're wondering where her head's at in the wake of seeing Don's new pad, she runs to the refrigerator, sprays some whipped cream straight into her open mouth and then moves to the sink and spits it out. Betty, given the drug culture of the time period, I feel compelled to inform you that there are more fun ways of taking your mind of your troubles than using that can.
In a pitch meeting in Don's office, Peggy throws out the idea of featuring Sno Balls in a takeoff on a New Yorker cartoon; it's okay, but it needs work and when Don points that out, her defensiveness is fairly unwarranted in my opinion. Not having the energy to take her on though, Don moves on to Ginzo, who hilariously skewers Peggy by starting with "As much as I hate following another comedian" and then pitches his idea in a more LCD way than the drawings seemed to indicate, with merely "someone" that kids hate getting hit in the face with a snowball "and maybe a pig." Regardless of the lack of nuance, he gets some laughs and Don then advances the devil idea and it actually plays in the room, but the triumph is tempered by Ginzo being like, "It's nice to know you haven't forgotten how to do this job, old man." The kids file out and Don looks kind of mystified at the behavior of these whippersnappers and it probably wouldn't even cheer him up to know that Stan is 37 in real life.
Speaking of people who feel like they've seen better days, it's time for a Weight Watchers meeting and after a couple of women get weighed in front of the class with mixed success, the... teacher? lets them know that the meetings are a way for them to share, to unburden themselves so they don't turn to food to solve their problems. Prodded by her neighbor, Betty offers that she had a bad week "out there" after a good week "in here" and goes on that she felt a lot of things she wishes she hadn't while in an unfamiliar place, but she still managed to lose half a pound. This garners her some applause, so I can't blame her for not going into detail about the whipped cream.
In her apartment, Megan is reading a scene from a soap opera (Dark Shadows to be exact... there's your title tie-in!) with some redheaded woman and whether it's due to the terrible writing or melodramatic acting, Megan quickly breaks, laughing as she asks who the hell "this woman" is. Here scenemate, however, is shocked that Megan would cast aspersions on any of it. Megan, I don't know if they told you, but lack of humor about your craft is something you might as well start getting used to from idiots like this. And speaking of things she'd better inure herself against, when she tries to say that they used to laugh about audition material like this, the "friend" stands and replies that it's just so easy for Megan to criticize from her grand pad on 73rd and Park (Park? Wow), and in case she hadn't heard, some actors have to wait tables between shitty auditions. Megan, her humor now gone, informs her friend that she would kill just to be able to read for this horrific part and the friend drops her bluster, saying it's just that she hasn't booked anything in a while and Megan's lucky, is all. And I have to admit I wasn't expecting to hear so many familiar uncomfortable entertainment-industry truths on a show about advertising. Megan half-barks that she is lucky, but the friend wins the round on her way out the door: "I've got a shift." In response, it looks like Megan chews the inside of her cheek and I haven't mentioned her chompers in a while but I sure hope she's paying attention to what she's doing. The friend too-brightly asks what she should bring for Thanksgiving and I was going to suggest a new attitude, but Megan's reply of "Something sweet" kind of amounts to the same thing.
Ginzo comes busting into Roger's office, but Roger is apparently expecting him as he waves him into a chair and asks him if he can keep a secret. Ginzo: "Nope." Hee. Roger thinks long and hard about that response, but apparently decides it's not a deal-breaker as he hands Ginzo a drink and tells him he needs him to do some work for him on a prospective account and there will be dinner involved. Ginzo: "And murder." It's almost like he's seen the script. Roger impatiently brushes Ginzo's attempt to play coy about his Jewish heritage aside while not even bothering to rein in his insulting comments about the same; the point is he wants some ideas for selling Manischewitz to Gentiles. Ginzo, however, wonders whether keeping secrets from Don is such a brilliant idea and for someone who mouths off as much as he does, it's nice to see that he has some kind of self-preservation instinct. Roger's plan, however, is to take credit for the ideas at the dinner, after which he suggests that Don will obviously pick Ginzo for the account, but Ginzo doesn't understand the need for all these machinations. So Roger offers: "When a man hates another man very very much sometimes he wants to know that something is his, even if in the end, he has to give it up." Ginzo is more hip to the explanation than I would have expected, gleefully noting that Roger really hates Pete, but Roger gives one of his implied acid-changed-my-life speeches as he says he doesn't devote the energy to hating people anymore. "It's for Mr. Cooper." Hee. Ginzo asks what's in it for him and after getting the price to something that seems in the ballpark for what he paid Peggy for similar work, Roger sighs, "I've got to start carrying less cash." I'm going to go old-school on this one: shout-out?
After a close-up on a single lonely chop frying in a pan, Betty enters the darkened kitchen and asks what Henry's doing and Henry sighs an apology that he can't eat fish five times a week. I don't know many people who'd actually welcome today's mercury levels in fish, but Henry sounds like a candidate. Betty isn't defensive, instead apologizing and saying she doesn't want him to go to bed hungry before poking the meat and suggesting it's done. And they don't draw attention to it, but I'm pretty sure Betty tasted the finger she used to test the meat, for which I can hardly blame her. Henry invites Betty to join him at the kitchen table and Betty doesn't even ask if there's room for her martyrdom complex before suggesting it's unfair for Henry to be driven to such lengths because Betty can't control herself. Henry demurs, essentially explaining that he's stress-eating because he's realized the job he's on is a dead end -- Lindsay isn't running, which means "Rocky" will be the candidate. Betty wonders about Rocky's status as a divorcé, but Henry thinks nobody cares anymore, evidenced by the fact that he just got reelected governor. Henry concludes in no uncertain terms that he bet on the wrong horse and jumped ship for nothing, to which Betty busts out some Weight Watchers Wisdom, saying that it's easy to blame other people for our problems, but he's in charge of himself and she's there to help him just as he helps her. Whether he recognizes the source or not, he's amusedly encouraged by her meeting-speak and offers her a small taste of his meat, as it were. Once she ascertains that it's after midnight, she accepts. Careful, Henry or you'll see how much less convincing her WW talk is when colored by an empty stomach.
Speaking of people whose tone isn't exactly sunny, Roger gives Jane a call and invites her to dinner, adding that she told him during their trip that she'd always be there for him. Jane: "Stop telling me things I said that night." I wouldn't have guessed there would come a moment when Jane would speak for all of us, but here we are. She adds, "Like I know I didn't promise to remarry right away just to save you alimony." Well, I'll give Roger points for the attempt, there. She asks why he doesn't invite Joan, but Roger deftly evades the question, leading Jane to put in a request for a new apartment, as it's painful for her to be in their old one and also Roger's mother is her landlord, which is hilarious, given that she can't even keep good enough track of Roger's marriages even to know who Jane is. Roger sighs that this is going to be the most expensive dinner in history and, seriously, I hope Ginzo doesn't find out about this or he's going to be pissed. Jane brightens and tells Roger she's already found the perfect place and with a hint of levity tells him to have his counsel tell hers where and when the dinner is before giving him some grudging thanks. Jesus girl, you haven't been out of the game that long to have forgotten where you come from. An apartment? I hope at least Roger can deduct that from the settlement.
Pete's in his office when Beth turns up and seductively locks the door and just her getting by his secretary is off enough that you know this is someone's dream even before she lets her coat fall open enough that we can see sexy stockings and not much else. Pete, was this little daydream really worth further traumatizing fans of Gilmore Girls?
At the Francis family kitchen table, Sally is working diligently on her family tree project. After Betty confirms that Megan and Henry get branches off Don and her, respectively, she sorts through Bobby's homework and comes across a short mash note to Don from Megan on the back of a drawing Bobby made in the city. After a long moment, she dismisses Bobby and upon some further consideration, lightly tells Sally, "Don't forget your Daddy's first wife." Oh. Ohhhh. I suppose Betty doesn't know that the kids visited Anna's old house, but this is still beyond the pale, especially since she's using Sally to fire a shot at Megan, the effectiveness of which will not quite be what she guesses. Sally gives Betty the chance to take it back, saying "Elizabeth Hofstadt Draper Francis" is already on there, but Betty chomps on a celery stalk as she says she should just put Anna Draper down as deceased. Sally won't be put off so easily and asks who Anna is, but Betty counters that Megan should have told her so she can ask her for explanations. Betty stalks out, but not before crumpling up Bobby's picture with the note on the back and throwing it in the trash for bad measure. I'd love to see the lead Weight Watchers woman's face if Betty's honest about this little episode. That would send even her straight into a box of Mallomars.
In the conference room, Harry's complaining about his office, which I thought he tacitly agreed not to do? Guess it's Roger's fault for paying cash without a contract. Pete, Ken, Peggy and Ginzo are in attendance and then Don and Stan join them with artwork for the two ideas discussed earlier. They both play well in the room, but Pete eventually calls Ginzo's idea as funnier although he plans to take them both to the client. Ginzo, that self-preservation instinct apparently somewhat ephemeral, is rather tone-deaf in his celebration and after Don withdraws in a manner I would not describe as non-threatening, Ginzo crows, "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair." Stan, continuing to win my heart: "You should read the rest of that poem, you boob." Peggy's smirk matches my own...
...and then we're in the Draper apartment, with Don just leaving to take the boys out somewhere. Sally's obviously in a mood (Don's "Have fun" to Megan is just the right amount of pointed) and when they're alone, Megan calls her on being so nasty. Sally shoots back that she's a phony -- and who's Anna? Megan's taken aback, so Sally presses on, saying Megan acted like her friend, but she really just does whatever Don says. After unsuccessfully trying to get Sally to reveal her source (although surely she must know), Megan tries to explain to Sally that she didn't think it was her place to tell her about Anna, as Sally is a little girl and "it's complicated." Sally: "Fine. Just keep digging yourself deeper." If I could carry this girl around with me, it'd make my job a lot easier. Deciding to act, Megan hotly informs Sally that, despite whatever Betty may have told her, Anna and Don got married as an act of convenience and they never lived together and never had kids. She goes on that back then, "it was the only way to help each other out," prompting Sally to retort, "Then why did he marry you?" For pre-Thanksgiving, it is awfully cold in New York. Megan finally does the sensible thing and tells Sally to talk to Don, but Sally snaps that she doesn't want to. "And don't tell him I asked." Damn, setting Megan up to fail her again. This may be little-girl shit, but it's Betty-grade little-girl shit. Pursuant to that, as Megan goes to leave the room, Sally sneeringly asks if she's going to make herself cry. Megan, hurt, merely tells Sally that she is her friend before making herself scarce. When she's gone, Sally looks like that was less fun than she figured it would be. Well, kid, practice makes perfect.
It's meeting time and we quickly learn that Betty's the same weight as last time, so I'm guessing she's cursing Henry's name and his late-night steak snacks. The leader tells them it's a tough time with Thanksgiving so close and gives them a pep talk about filling themselves in a more metaphorical, spiritual sense with all the things for which they have to be thankful. She asks who has a plan for how to handle the day and Betty looks pensive, probably wondering if another horribly poisonous act would cause her to lose her appetite.
Megan softly returns to the bedroom, having ascertained that Sally is asleep and lets Don know what happened. He immediately picks up the phone to chew Betty out, while he's up letting Megan have an earful for saying anything at all, but she cautions him to keep his voice down and tells him that he's just going to make things worse. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, but as it turns out the die is cast as Sally silently appears in her bedroom doorway, able to hear the entire conversation. Given what happened during Megan's parents' visit, it's not like the acoustics of this place come as a surprise. Don wonders if he's just supposed to let Betty stick her "fat nose" (I'll give him a one-time pass here) in his business, not to mention he doesn't know what he's supposed to say to Sally now. Megan replies that she promised she wouldn't tell Don, to which he spits the question of who the child is now. He tells her to take her hand off the phone, but Megan urgently tells him that this is what Betty wants and if he calls, he'll just be giving her the "thrill of having poisoned us from fifty miles away!" Hearing this, Sally looks flabbergasted, while Don deflates in the face of Megan's commonsense analysis and puts the phone back down. Having suddenly hit another breakneck patch of growing up, Sally withdraws into her room, while Megan sits with Don and meekly says she's sorry, but she didn't know what else to do. He takes her hand and gives a reciprocal apology and for me it's only fun to see them fight when orange sherbet is involved.
Peggy's working late when Ginzo turns up. No sooner has he taken off his ear-flap hat when he blabs to Peggy about doing some work for Roger and I know you told Roger you couldn't keep a secret, guy, but that wasn't exactly an unbreakable vow there. At least look ten percent guilty about it. Ginzo doesn't notice Peggy staring quizzical daggers at his back as he goes on that Roger wants something to make him look smart at the meeting. Peggy: "And he asked you?" Heh. But Ginzo's unfazed, saying that he has gifts and is grateful and Peggy's like, I'm working way too late to deal with your bullshit, thanks. I wonder if she's being cavalier because she thinks Roger lowballed Ginzo. Given Roger's belief in Jewish stereotypes, it's not an unreasonable supposition.
Don wakes up to a ringing phone and a note from Megan saying she went to get bagels; when he answers, it's Pete, his fury undiminished by the fact that he's still in his pajamas. You see, that stinking NYT reporter didn't mention SCDP at all, so Pete waits while Don wearily trudges into the living room to look at the paper. Don's not exactly thrilled, but he's not nearly as bent out of shape about it as Pete is, prompting Pete to snit that that's the problem here. Don, anger subbing in for coffee, yells that the guy was supposed to be Pete's best friend: "Don't wake me up and then throw your failures in my face!" Hey, Don got to bellow into the phone after all! This commotion has lured the kids out of their rooms and when Don hangs up in a huff it's too late for Sally to retreat, as Don orders her to come over while sending the boys back from whence they came. After some heated words about Megan, Don apologizes for what happened, but informs her that since she claims not to be a little girl anymore, she needs to realize that Betty doesn't care about hurting Sally if it means she succeeds in hurting him and Megan. This doesn't penetrate Sally's snotty attitude, so Don explains that he and Anna were friends who got married "because of a law" ("that I broke," he does not add) and he would have told Sally about her, but she died. Sally perceptively asks if the house in California belonged to Anna. "The one who called you 'Dick'?" Don lets that sit for a moment before affirming it and adding that he really wishes Sally had gotten to meet her and then adds that "an adult" would apologize to Megan and Sally immediately concedes the point. He sends Sally off to hang up the phone in his room, which leaves him to contemplate the fact that he's told a lot of people how shit is for having been awake for all of five minutes.
Peggy joins Roger on the elevator and she lights into him for going to Ginzo after she did such great work for him on Mohawk and also kept it a secret, unlike some people. He tries to be all "Um, Manischewitz?" in reply, but she's over it: "I'm not an airplane, either." Heh, nice. She goes on that he's disloyal, but that's a bridge too far for him: "Were we married? Because you're thinking about yourself too, that's the way it is. It's every man for himself." Peggy rolls her eyes, although if she weren't so irritated, I bet, despite what she told Dawn, she'd derive some secret pleasure in Roger referring to her as a dude.
In a checker cab, Ken's going over some last-minute stuff for the presentation, unaware that Don has just hatched a mental scheme; after Ken and Harry disembark, he leaves the artwork for Ginzo's idea in the cab. Damn, are people stone cold in this episode, or what? Also, if I'm offended, it's on Stan's behalf, not Ginzo's.
Betty calls Sally into the kitchen to inform her that "Mrs. Engel" gave her an A+ on her family tree, like that's a surprise given what a soap opera it is. Betty tells Sally she's proud of her before being like oh, you should probably thank Megan for all her help! Sally, however, came to play as she tells Betty that Don and Megan told her the same stuff about Anna that Betty did. "Daddy showed me pictures and they spoke very fondly of her." There's a new, adult contempt in her eyes, but Betty's too juvenile and thrown to notice and she sends Sally off to watch some TV as a reward, leaving her to contemplate how completely wrong it all went and impotently knock something off the table. Well, that's better than eating it, I suppose.
Roger and Jane are having dinner with Rosenberg (played by Richard Fancy, forever Mr. Lippman from Seinfeld) and his wife, and Roger's keeping the racism very light, so things are going well when the son Bernie shows up. Bernie's played by Mark Famiglietti, who holds a special place in my TWoP heart for having portrayed Scout on Young Americans. Could it be that we were ever so young and gathered around Lake Homoerotica? Whatever may have been in his past, though, the subtle eyes he gives Jane look heterosexual enough to me, but that doesn't stop Roger from pitching "his" idea and I won't bother explaining it unless it becomes relevant but it's cute and a hit. He does magnanimously offer that he "engaged some of our Creatives ad hoc" in anticipation of the meeting and Bernie's like, great, let's sign so I can get back to hitting on this woman who is, as far as I know, your current wife. I think I liked him better when he was kind of gay.
In the office, Stan and Ginzo -- the latter looking dismally anxious -- each have a beer (Rheingold, if you're interested) close by when Peggy wanders in and wonders if she's the only one who can work and drink at the same time. How it's not like the old days, eh Peg? Harry turns up (it's still business hours in LA) and informs the crew that "they bought it" and Ginzo thinks the "it" is his, but Harry eventually tells him that Don left that idea in the cab, which is no big deal since they made the sale. Ginzo, aghast, looks around for support, but the best Peggy can manage is a "what can you do?" smirk, so he goes running off maybe to soak Don's office in Manischewitz while Peggy picks up the phone and says she's going to order dinner. Stan: "Sure. He's going to be useless tonight." I have pitched many spin-offs of this show, so proposing Stan, Peggy and Ginzo in Creative Confidential probably won't be my last effort, but I think it might be my favorite.
In a cab, Jane wonders when Roger got so comfortable with telling people she's Jewish, but Roger's just like, when you sleep with Bernie you'd better pretend like it's an affair. Jane: "I promise, bubbeleh." Hee. Roger then asks to see the new apartment and although Jane says she's not moved in yet, she does let us know she has the key...
...and just like that, we cut to them entering the darkened place. After he claims it has a lot of potential (I don't know how he can tell one way or the other), he breathes that he's missed her and then he's all over her. She calls for a pause, but soon he's at it again. Well, I suppose the best thing you can say about this development is that they never did have goodbye sex.
On the train, Howard tells Pete about all the 24-year-old tail he's going to stock up on before getting stuck at home with the fam for Thanksgiving, leaving Pete to narrow his eyes and sourly snit that Howard should just stay in the city while Pete goes over and screws his wife. If Pete will babysit the kids, he might have himself a deal! Honestly, his delivery indicates exactly zero kidding, but Howard just laughs: "Good luck with that." He muses that the grass is always greener and Pete shakes his head in disgust, which is ironic given that it's the one thing Howard's ever said that didn't make me do the same.
On today's edition of the Elevator of Confrontation, Ginzo catches Don and congratulates him for his bold move on going with his concept. Don claims going in with two ideas signals weakness, whereas I'm sure that leaving your subordinate's work in a cab shows towering strength. Regardless, though, it's hard to think Ginzo isn't overplaying his hand when he tells Don he's got a million ideas and he feels bad for him. Don: "I don't think about you at all." Wonderfully offhand delivery, enhanced by disembarking without sparing a backwards glance. It'd be just about perfect if it were only true.
In the morning, we see that some furniture and boxes are strewn about, but Jane is distraught, saying that she told Roger why she wanted the new place and now he's ruined it. Realizing she's serious, he laments, "Oh, shit" and she turns and tells him that he gets everything he ever wants and he still had to do this. He admits it and says he feels terrible, but he knows there's nothing he can do and leaves her to her poisoned view. Well, I'll say this for Don's devil idea -- it's a lot more thematic than Ginzo's.
A shot of the parade on the TV gives way to Megan's bustling about getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner when Don appears in his shortie robe. She tells him Juliet (that's the redhead) got the part and let's just say from his reaction that Don doesn't seem to be Juliet's biggest fan. Hopefully he hasn't seen her act, because that wouldn't help. Don complains that it's too hot in there and goes to open the balcony door, but Megan warns him off -- there's a smog emergency, and the air is toxic. "I don't want that in here." She does not literally point toward the Rye Town Francis Spookhouse to indicate the source of said poison, but it's not hard to guess what she's thinking.
And speaking of which, Henry's cutting up the turkey (I'm guessing Pauline is still convalescing?) and then Bobby tells Betty they need to say what they're thankful for. Bobby and Sally pipe up with some pleasant thoughts and then it's Betty's turn: "I'm thankful that I have everything I want. And that no one else has anything better." Henry's all "Hear, hear," and then they dig in; we leave after seeing Betty chew long and hard on the one dollop of stuffing she's allowed herself, this time actually enjoying it rather than just going through the motions. It's probably just me, but after this episode I wonder if speculating who's going to survive the season intact might be more efficient than guessing who's going to die. See you week.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. His current film, "The Trouble With Bliss," starring Michael C. Hall, Lucy Liu, Brie Larson, and Peter Fonda, can be seen on iTunes and other digital platforms and cable VOD everywhere. (Facebook and Twitter here.) You can email him at couchbaron@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/couchbaron, or check out his blog, "Pull Up A Chair," which he'd just love for you to stop by.
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