Betty opens the closet. Sally wants to call Daddy. Betty lets her out, and Sally begs Betty not to tell him.
Peggy is hosting a meeting in her office - the noisy copy room. They are trying to figure out how to sell Popsicles in the winter. She and Sal compare notes on childhood treats; their mothers always broke the pops in half. This act of sharing strikes Peggy as very Christian, almost like the sacrament of Communion. I sense a brainstorm coming.
Hildy tells Pete that Accounting is dinging him again over his expenses. Also, he has an appointment with adoption people. She congratulates him, but he is taken by surprise and does not look happy.
Bertram Cooper meets with his sister, Alice. (Yes, her name is Alice Cooper.) She's the company's other major stockholder in addition to Bert and Roger. She refuses to remove her shoes in his office, on the grounds that her stockings are better than his carpet. She is in favor of the sale to to Duck's British friends. He's unsure; he (apparently) promised Roger's father to take care of him, and he's not eager to retire, and he doesn't trust the British.
Don arrives in San Pedro, CA by bus and goes to a house. He falls into a flashback.
Anna - the woman who confronted New Don Draper at the car dealership a few weeks ago - was Original Don Draper's wife. At first, he tries to lie, but she's too smart and she threatens to expose him. He apologizes and tells her what happened (though he omits the fact that he switched their tags). She is sad to hear that Original Don never mentioned her; she admits he had actually wanted to marry her sister, who had two good legs. (Anna walks with a slight limp.) He offers her Original Don's medals and such, and some money.In the present, Anna answers the door. She is thrilled to see Don. A piano student is practicing "The Hall of the Mountain King" (the real title of this episode). Don applauds. Anna introduces Don as her friend Dick. The boy leaves, and Don and Anna chat briefly. It's obvious that they're good friends, and she can tell something's up; but right now, Don wants only a shower and a nap.
Back in Manhattan, Pete goes home and hollers at Trudy for trying to arrange an adoption. He grabs her lovely roasted chicken and throws it over the balcony. He pours himself a drink and turns on the TV, where the movie of the night is The Day the Earth Stood Still (remake to be released in December, with an incredible cast including our own Don Draper).
Joanie and her fiance, Dr. Greg Harris, are having sex. Sort of. It sounds as though he's been "tired" for a while, and he admits he's tired tonight too. She gets on top of him and offers to take over. He is turned off and embarrassed by her initiative and her experience, and he expresses misgivings about her past, which she won't discuss. He feigns sleepiness and rolls away from her.
Peggy is still at the office. She sneaks a cigarette out of a secretary's desk on her way out.
It's still sunny in California, three time zones away. Don is wearing Anna's ex-boyfriend's old pants. They're too big. He admires the porch. She grins and says he paid for it. She invites him to tell her about what's happening to him; she feels that they met to make each others' lives better.
He talks about his home life and says he ruined everything. He tells her about sending Adam away (he doesn't tell her that Adam hanged himself afterwards), and says that Anna knows more about him than Betty does. Anna says that's because he loves Betty. "I'm sure there are things about her you don't know." He doesn't want to phone home. He admits to feeling alienated from his own life.
Roger is excited about the merger offer; his enthusiasm seems to annoy Cooper even more. Especially since it's motivated by Roger's divorce from the woman that Cooper's own deceased wife introduced him to. Roger becomes sarcastic and reminds Cooper that it's a merger, not a sellout.
Pete dictates a letter to some aerospace company to convince them to spend some money on advertising to get public support (and government funding) for their efforts. Tom, his father-in-law, calls. He threatens to have Clearasil dump Sterling-Cooper because Pete isn't making Trudy happy. Pete says he DID love Trudy, but Tom and his wife are the ones who made her unhappy, getting her obsessed with having children. Then he tries to backpedal on the "WAS in love with her" comment, but it doesn't work.
It's Christmas Eve sometime in the 50s. "I met a girl," New Don tells Anna excitedly. He loves the way she laughs and he wants to marry her. He is totally smitten. He wants to introduce them, and Anna is excited. He reminds her they'll need a divorce. He promises her a good alimony payment. She tries to let him out of it, but he feels obligated to Original Don. She's tickled by the whole thing but also feels that it means this will be their last Christmas together. He disagrees and thinks she should be his "cousin" from now on. She wants him to start a new life instead.Ken tells the Popsicle folks that Don is out sick, but he's signed off on everything. Peggy does the pitch. She tells them about kids splitting Popsicles. It's not about summer; it's a ritual about sharing that's as meaningful coming out of the freezer as it is from the ice cream truck. "Take it, break it, share it, love it." The client rep, who looks grumpy even when he's pleased, admits that they were secretly wanting something with the word "love" in it.
Also, I notice that Peggy is wearing grownup clothes these days.
Betty calls her friend Sarah Beth, supposedly to ask about the private school SB's daughter goes to. Then she mentions that Arthur and Tara are getting married next weekend. After a long silence, she smirks and asks SB if she's still there. SB admits she's a mess over Arthur. Betty smirks some more, "really?" SB says she can't even sleep. She can't stop thinking about him. She thinks her husband suspects. She's made a terrible mistake.
SB is defensive with Betty; she says that Betty wanted him too. Betty self-righteously taunts her that there's a difference between wanting and having. SB blames Betty for encouraging her, and says Betty's an awful woman. "No one MADE you sleep with him," Betty says triumphantly. SB hangs up on her.
You need to see this for yourself to appreciate how smug Betty is about her infidelity-by-proxy.
The Xerox repairman snottily instructs Peggy on the proper operation of the copy machine and tells her to repeat it to all of her little friends. (I wish this was a telenovela; then he'd get run over by a car or something for disrespecting her.)
She intercepts Roger on his way out of his office and tells him that she single-handedly got the Popsicle account. She thinks she should have Freddie's office. He agrees. He says, "you young women are very aggressive... it's cute." He's impressed that she asked him when none of the guys did.
Joan comes in with Dr. Greg and tells Roger about their dinner plans. "I thought you hated French food," Roger comments. Their familiarity is not lost on Greg.
It's the end of the day, and almost everyone has left the office. Greg asks Joan to mix him a drink in Don's office. She's not so sure, but he wants her to pretend he's her boss. She can see he's in a playful mood and pours his drink. He puts the moves on her, but she doesn't want to do it in Don's office. He doesn't back down and asks how Roger knows so much about her. She reminds him that she's worked there for nine years.
He becomes aggressive; again she says it's not her office to fool around in. He pushes her down onto the floor. "This is what you want, right?" he hisses in her ear. She says no multiple times and tries to push him away, but he likes it better this way. He rapes her, and she zones out and stares at Don's coffee table. Then they act like nothing happened and go to dinner. (I hope he is smashed to death by a defenestrated copy machine repairman.)
Roger, Alice, and Bert meet with the Sterling-Cooper lawyer, Mr. Whitehouse. Bert says that Don's 12% ownership makes him "mathematically insignificant." Still, Bert and Alice are curious about his absence. Roger tells them, off the record, that Don's taking care of some marital problems. Alice and Roger vote yea on the merger. Bert also votes yea, but in a defeated tone. (This only means that Whitehouse will issue a counteroffer; it's not a done deal yet.) Roger says they're all rich. Alice says he has to think of his children, too. "I just have the one," Roger says, confused. "Really?" Alice says sarcastically.
I like Alice. I hope she comes back soon. As for Bert, he looks like he just donated all of his internal organs by mistake.
Don is bringing groceries to Anna's place when he runs into some guys (Kess and son Doogie, and their friend Walt) working on hotrods. Don recognizes the ancient car parts from when he used to sell them... used. He introduces himself as Dick. He's intrigued and says he needs work, and offers to help, but they say business isn't great. Don wants to see them race. They invite them to an event in Long Beach.
Peggy moves her stuff into Freddie's old office. Peggy asks about Don. Joan has no info, but congratulates Peggy on her move. Peggy says nice things about Dr. Greg. Joan hesitates, then smiles and gives what sounds like a well-rehearsed speech about his virtues. He specializes in thoracic surgery and volunteers at the hospital in Harlem, "stitching up Negro children."
Paul is back from Mississippi, alive and in one piece. Harry says Sheila dumped Paul three days into the trip. (What took her so long?) The guys, especially Harry, are pissed that Peggy has her own office. Speaking of pissed, Ken advises her to get a new couch. With a straight face, Joan tells them that Don called and told them to get back to work. Joan promises Peggy she'll get the name changed on her door. She also says she's getting married at Christmas.
(Hopefully they will honeymoon in Mexico, so she can get divorced in time for New Year's.)
Betty apologizes to Sally for being unfair and offers her a gift - a pair of riding boots. (It appears that Bobby, the icky little son that Betty seems to despise, will be getting jack squat.) Betty admits to Sally that she and Daddy aren't getting along, and she doesn't even know where he is or when he's coming back. But "everything's going to be okay." This seems to satisfy Sally.
Then Betty gets a funny look and gets up from the couch and looks down. "Mommy, you're bleeding," Sally says, looking somewhere in the vicinity of her pants. (We don't get to see what she's referring to, but it seems to take Betty by surprise. Let's just hope she doesn't end up needing thoracic surgery.)
Don repairs a chair for Anna while she lays out some tarot cards. He scoffs at the cards, saying you just see what you want to see. He notices she received the copy of "Meditations in an Emergency" he sent her. She said it worried her. He's a little worried about some of the cards he sees. Her verdict, based on the position of the Soul of the World card, is that "the only thing keeping you from being happy is the belief that you are all alone." She says he can change. He doesn't think people can change. She says you learn things as you live. Don stares at the window. He can smell the ocean.
Pete visits Peggy in her office, where she's drinking from the remains of Freddie's bar. He asks her how she got the room. She jokes that she's sleeping with Don. He tells her that Clearasil's pulling out. He declines to go into the details, but he anticipates that Don will dance on his grave.
Peggy asks what happened in LA. Pete says Don disappeared, didn't even check out at the hotel. Pete hints that he knows things about Don and says he might not come back. "He's done it before." Peggy adamantly doesn't want to hear about Don's secrets and she's sure whatever Don does is for a good reason. Pete congratulates her again and leaves.
Don wades into the ocean with his pants on.
Closing music: "Cup of Loneliness" by George Jones
Quote of the week: "I have been watching my life. It's right there. I keep scratching at it, trying to get into it. I can't." (Don)
Next week: The Season 2 finale. Way too soon!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment