Don still has a secret
“They made a mistake” he told Betty. Not, “I switched dog tags on purpose.” He told the same lie to Anna.
And I get it, y’know? He’s so ashamed, and he’s caught, and it’s already humiliating enough, isn’t it?
Parallel the two scenes: Don’s confession to Betty in 1963, his confession to Anna in 1951(?). He’s embarrassed, ashamed, but quick to point out he didn’t think he was doing any harm. ‘I didn’t know he had a wife,’ he says to Anna. “I don’t know what the difference is” he says to Betty.
He is suffused with shame. Betty is in some ways wrong when she says she doesn’t know Don (and Don is right when he says she does), because Betty knows that Don is ashamed. Ashamed of poverty, yes, she sees that, but Don is just coated in it. He has told Betty his greatest shame; that Adam hung himself because Don rejected him, and that was agony.
But he withheld two things, and they’re doozies. Neither woman knows that Dick caused the accident that killed Don. Neither woman knows that Dick purposely and willfully switched those dogtags. He has never told anyone.
I wonder, has he convinced himself? People do; lie themselves into believing the fantasy. I don’t think Don has; I think his double life forces him to always remember the details very clearly. I think he is still ashamed.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
How did Dick cause the accident that killed Don? My memory is that they were under enemy fire.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I agree–I don’t Don will ever be able to convince himself otherwise. He’ll never confess to those things to another living person. What he has fessed up to was enough in his mind, and the other shames should just be forgotten.
And it’s not a story he’d be telling over and over, so it wouldn’t be as easy to start believing the fantasy. So he’s going to have to live with it, alone.
In a strange way, just hearing him tell the story that way in those two scenes was enough to override the memories of what actually happened. I want to believe him as fervently as he wants to believe it.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I said the same thing back on the “I Don’t Even Know What to Say” commentary.
He still wasn’t fully truthful. Don made its seem as if the Miltary made a mistake that he took advantage of BUT he changed the dog tags himself.
That was very calculated especially in the midst of being blown up.
With everything he revealed; Prostitute, Poor, ADAM (soooob) he couldn’t be real about that. I would have thought that even that tidbit would be make him more sympathetic. He wanted so much to be someone else that he switched them knowingly.
Though I’m sure this discussion between the Drapers went on & will continue to go on why did Don hold that back?
October 29th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I can’t imagine what it would take for him to admit that to anyone else. Some things you just never tell anyone. Ever.
Even Anna told him “You love her. You don’t have to tell her everything.”
I don’t think he’ll ever tell anyone. But he knows…. he will never forget.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I noticed it right away too. I think Don will always be ashamed, but will never tell ANYONE the full truth.
Some things are just unforgivable.
Maybe that’s the biggest reason Anna Draper lives in a dream cottage on the beach. MW made sure we understood, Dick has done better by Anna than the real DD ever did. Or would, had he lived.
In re watching the flashback scene showing the encounter where he explains what happened to her husband, I wondered if she suspected then he was lying a bit, but ignored it.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I do like that Betty memorized those documents and corrected him on the date of the divorce. He is so used to lying, it probably is very natural to him.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
There’s no way anyone is ever going to be able to find this out. If you were Don, would you admit it to anyone? I really can’t blame him for trying to keep a little bit under wraps, especially something so damning.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
It takes some time for a divorce to be finalized after it’s filed – at least it did back in the ’50s. When Don asked Anna for the divorce (in December), he told her he was going to ask Betty to marry him. So they weren’t even engaged yet.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Besides Bobby Barrett, Don still has a lot of affairs to talk to Betty about also. But maybe quantity won’t matter to Betty…
October 29th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
# 1 — I think I remember that Dick dropped a match or a cigarette in the ditch he and the real Don Draper were in, and that it lit some fuel (or something from an enemy bomb?) and caused the explosion. However, I really don’t fault Dick/Don for not revealing that. I don’t think that is something to be ashamed of — it was just an accident. People don’t exactly think clearly when under enemy fire.
I also don’t greatly fault Don for switching the dog tags. I mean, I do, a little, but I can completely understand why he would not want to go back to his old life. And he probably felt that he wasn’t hurting anyone. It does seem, though, that while he was telling Betty the truth, he might as well have told her that. But maybe he was trying to protect himself from her ability to get him in legal trouble…
The thing I most fault him for continuing to keep secret from her is that he has had almost constant affairs for years. That is such a fundamental and enormous betrayal in a marriage. It’s really awful that he has done it, and that he didn’t come clean with her about it during the big reveal. So, I like him better than I used to, but I am still very angry with him.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
No one can ever know the complete truth about anything. His perceptions, especially on the battlefield, are constrained by fear, fog, fire, etc. Even the words Don uses to describe things to Betty may not be the ones she takes in and remembers from the conversation. This is why dramas are interesting.
My problem with Don’s backstory from the 1930s through the 1950s is that none of us can verify what happened — it is all recalled by the protagonist. I much prefer the multiple points of view of the current (1960s) culture, particularly the specific revolutions going on in the world of work and advertising at that time.
Husband and wife dramas, even one as particularly rich as this one, are less interesting to me than the struggles, stumbles, and status seekers of the workplace.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Betty has said, “I won’t turn you in.”
But…the fact it was said at all, as a possibility should frighten Don — how angry is Betty? Can he trust her with a secret that could send him to prison?
Don had been taught as a young child that he couldn’t trust those who were supposed to love him — his father, for instance.
In contrast to the step-father who came later, long after the damage had been done to Don’s sense of trust.
So Don can neither trust those who are supposed to love him, nor, for that matter, is he trustworthy with those he’s supposed to love.
I’m not surprised that Don fudged that detail.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I too am convinced he feels shame, but does he feel remorse?
October 29th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Don Draper is multi dimensional: lies of omission, lies of commission, infidelity, desertion and homicide. He has a life. It goes in one direction. Forward.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
He is without a doubt a haunted man. Will he ever confess/own up to the origins of his shame? I think it’s hard to say.
I don’t think he’s so self-deluded that he is blocking those things out. I think, rather, that the role of manipulator/opportunist is so hard-wired into him at this point, that it is difficult for him to be completely honest at any time, especially when caught. It’s just not what he’s used to doing.
I was sort of surprised that he confessed as much as he did to Betty, but the fact that he did was very encouraging to me (I’m rooting for his character to totally come clean so that he can experience real love with Betty.) He had his opportunity to really tell a whopper and chose truth. Perhaps not all of the truth, but truth nonetheless.
I think it’s possible we’ll see him reveal more. I could see an entire episode devoted to his coming cleaning, even flying to CA to see Anna and beg for her forgiveness. Which I think she would give to him. Don is, in spite of his flaws, a very lovable character. He is not a bad man at heart. He’s a survivor, above all things, and he did what he had to do. I think the women who know him best — Betty and Anna — sense this and will forgive him 100%, if he’ll only come clean.
Suzanne Farrell will be an interesting wrench in the works, however, when it comes to Don’s absolution. Cuz you know she’s not going to fade into the night.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I think the tagline for the series, “Where the truth lies”, is definitely coming into play in this instance. Don is not only who he is, but what he does; he is the product. I’ve seen many posts about the horse meat/label, and I couldn’t agree more.
Advertising imitated life, and vice versa, in the 50s/60s; most everyone had a shiny, happy, antiseptic persona. The seamy underbelly of people’s private lives rarely permeated the public, and if anything did seep out, others usually turned a blind eye.
There were no Jerry Springer shows or tell-all books. There was no impeachment trial over a President’s sexual affairs. Everyone thought JFK’s presidency really was Camelot. Children were not abused, people were not alcoholic, spouses did not cheat, married couples did not get divorced (where’s a sarcasm font when you need it?)
I’m not sure about the need for this convention during that time; maybe some basketcases could help me out? Perhaps MW wants us to see the absurdity of this aspect of the era’s culture and Don is the exemplar.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
#1: yes, per the PP, he threw either a cigarette butt or match and didn’t realized there was fuel on the ground where he threw it. It caused a huge explosion that killed the real Donald Draper.
I think it’s interesting to note that Don lit that cigarette after they’d been attacked by enemy fire. He was so scared he pissed his pants. That was the last thing the real Don Draper said to Don/Dick before the ciggy (match?) was tossed. He was making fun of Don/Dick a bit, actually.
I think it’s important to note the pissing of the pants, as it were. If Don was so scared that he lost control of his bladder, it certainly adds up that he would switch the tags. He was scared for his very life, and wanted OUT of that war. Can’t say I blame him.
I guess it comes down to that old question: would you steal a loaf of bread to feed your starving family? And if you did, would you be wrong to do so?
#14: I think it’s important to note that the definition of homicide is not always judged to be a criminal act. In some cases, it is considered a justifiable or excusable act. I think in Don’s case, it’s excusable.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
#15: Why would Dick/Don need to beg Anna’s forgiveness? She doesn’t seem too fazed by the way things turned out; her bitter remark that the real DD in truth wanted to marry her sister (a non-flawed version of herself) and Dick/Don’s surprise that real DD even was married hints at a none-too-happy union. I think all’s well that ended well for Anna Draper.
#4 Gypsy: Good call. Some things, you never tell anyone.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I thought Dick (after hearing an explosive and wetting his pants in terror) fumbled and dropped his lighter into a gasoline puddle near the ditch (foxhole?) Real!Don! was digging.
Would Dick have made a good soldier? He must have thought so or he would never have voluntarily enlisted (I assume he wasn’t drafted, after he told Betty he “ran away to join the Army”), but it’s also possible that in the wake of WWII, war was greatly idealized and whitewashed to inductees and almost no veterans would have publicly contradicted that view, and he had no idea how he’d feel when he heard those explosions. I doubt he joined up thinking, “Gee, I bet I could swipe some dead guy’s dog tags.”
The fact that he deliberately switched the tags is one thing that nobody will ever find out. There were no witnesses. Even if Don was court-martialed, could anyone prove that the deception was intentional? Yeah, he’d probably be looking at jail time for not reporting the error and thereby impersonating an officer to defraud the Army, but likely not as much so as if they thought he made the switch on purpose.
Also, I have to wonder: Did the affair with Bobbie piss Betty off so much (more than his other indiscretions) because Jimmy managed to figure it out before she did, and said so publicly? I’m in the “Betty knows damn well he’s not spending THAT much time with Connie Hilton” camp. (And suddenly, just like that, the late nights with Connie are over? Something stinks in Carteret, don’t it?)
October 29th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
# 4 gypsy howell Says:
“I can’t imagine what it would take for him to admit that to anyone else. Some things you just never tell anyone. Ever. ”
Perfectly said.
Just recently I was out shopping with my 13 year old daughter and her neighbor-friend (also 13). They were giggling over a display of thong panties which were essentially bands of elastic with a 2 inch triangle of fabric.
I said, offhandedly, “Geez, might as well go commando.” (slang: no undies)
My daughter’s friend is from a very conservative family and her eyeballs kinda popped….to wit, my daughter said, “My mom is a little edgier than yours — you should hear some of her college stories.”
Under my breath, I muttered, “There are plenty of other stories that you will NEVER hear.” (grinning to self)
And that’s just the way IT IS. As gypsy put it: “Some things you just never tell anyone. Ever.”
October 29th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
@Millicent: I think he would beg forgiveness because he accidentally killed the guy. I’m sure he knows it, deep down. And regardless what was going on in Anna’s marriage (and we really don’t know much, the comment about him wanting to marry her sister is only one part of it all, she could have loved him madly nonetheless), Don/Dick left her a widow. And I think if he ever gets 100% real, he will ask for her forgiveness.
That’s yet another sad and tragic aspect of Don/Dick: even with the one person who supposedly ‘knows’ him, he has secrets and isn’t being fully truthful.
Of course, Anna is no longer the only one who knows him… which should be very interesting in the episodes to come, if you ask me!
And can I just say how much it’s going to suck to have wait NINE WHOLE MONTHS for this series to come back. How am I going to survive? I may have to watch Series 1-3 all over again in the interim. Is that a bad thing?
October 30th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Real Don’s death was an accident. Dick never meant, or planned, for that to happen. I’m with those who’ve written that he doesn’t need to ask forgiveness for that.
I think it says something about Dick that not only was Anna able to forgive him for taking her husband’s identity, but that she ended up close friends with a man she had every right to despise – and to expose. Would knowing the full story nullify that? Maybe… but maybe not. And whatever that “something” is, there’s every chance Betty will see it too, now that she finally has the opportunity.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Anna Draper seemed to be ok to go along with Don/Dick identity switch. But what about if the real Don had other family members and friends who never knew what happened to him. I guess they heard he was wounded and then he never re-surfaces to contact any of them? If Anna could tract him down couldn’t anyone else who knew the real DD to the same?
October 30th, 2009 at 12:07 am
I think Don’s handling of Betty is not unlike the way a “caught” politician will “handle” the media.
He couldn’t very well deny everything (though, that’s ordinarily the usual “default” position). So, his “fallback” technique was to carefully tailor his responses to what he thought she might know about his past situation.
Notice, that as with politicians, he gave “responses” to questions NOT “answers” to the questions. It’s more or less a case of someone knowing that they can’t tell ‘em everything, but also knowing that they must, at least, tell ‘em something.
Watch ‘Meet the Press’ (or any of the other Sunday morning news/talk shows) this week and you can see this technique in action. Very rarely, is what a politician says after a question is put to him/her, is even remotely connected to what was asked.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:15 am
One thing that IIRC never came up is that it takes some processing to get from point A (a scared Dick switching the tags) to point B (Dick/”Don” being discharged from the army), and that at any point between A and B there was a risk of somebody coming up who knew the real Don and/or the real Dick, to unravel the deception.
Think about it: the med-evac procedure, the hospital time (isn’t is strange no buddies visiting Don, who is an officer? and no hospital personnel or other patients?), plus the paperwork both in Korea and the USA, where Dick/”Don” must have had to report at Don’s base… the only such moment that seems to have actually taken place is the coffin scene where Dick/”Don” succeeds by pretending to be upset and not get off the train. But Adam saw…
Don’s adrenaline must have been quite high throughout, for he could have been discovered. He was also incredibly lucky with Anna.
Having pulled a deception that big and that complex, a man may feel able to fool all the people all the time. Enter the Don Draper we know.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:16 am
#23: great minds think alike, or what?
October 30th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Betty wont turn Don in, but I think Suzanne will.
My gut tells me that something is going to happen to her brother, she is going to find out, she is goes to Don’s house, demands answers, Betty gets upset turns that crazy bitch away, and Suzanne goes to the police. The police will need to do a thourough background check on Don, I wonder what they will find…uhm…yah he is a fraud! Of course that is just a theory, but it would make a great clincher for next season.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:26 am
yes #26 – I guess we do.
That part of this story never made since to me – maybe it is addressed somewhere and I never caught it. Perhaps it was not unusual for people to disappear and never resurface after a war, I don’t know.
With our modern tech it is not so easy to do now.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:29 am
I doubt if Betty would want to know the details of Don’s affairs. Some things are better kept secret (Betty’s encounter with the stranger in the bar last season comes to mind as well). I also think that Don doesn’t need to confess every last detail of what happened in Korea. Everyone has secrets. He has told Betty the truth about what she wanted to know–his divorce, his real identity, his family. That is enough.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:34 am
There is a missing link in all this, which is: how did Desperate Dick turn into Debonair Don? MW has only given us hints. There is a gap between Roger discovering him at the furrier and bringing him to SC, and the Draper we now know. We don’t know if Don went to college; we don’t know how he became polished. He reads and goes to movies, but did that do it?
October 30th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Did Dick volunteer, or was he drafted? Was it an escape from the farm and hardscrabble life, or was he forcibly taken into a new world, where he would make himself into a new man?(A play on that old military cliche: “the Army will make a man of you, son.”)
From Wikipedia, “The second peacetime draft began with passage of the Selective Service Act in 1948 after the STSA expired. The new law required all men, ages 18 to 26, to register…Unless otherwise exempted or deferred, these men could be called for up to 21 months of active duty and five years of reserve duty service…Only 20,348 men were inducted in 1948 and only 9,781 in 1949.
..Between the Korean War’s outbreak in June 1950 and 1953, however, Selective Service inducted 1,529,539 men. [7] Another 1.3 million volunteered.
…Gen. Hershey told Congress for every man drafted, three or four more were scared into volunteering.[16] Assuming his assessment was accurate, this would mean over 11 million men volunteered for service because of the draft between January 1954 and April 1975…”
October 30th, 2009 at 1:09 am
freelancewoman, Dick volunteered. This is explicit in the scene where he first meets the real Don Draper.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:18 am
@ #30/brenda: I’ve wondered this too, and I think we’ve seen hints of it:
the scene where Anna comes into the car dealership where he is not only selling, but writing ads (flyers, actually.) I think this was his entree into the ad world.
Somehow he got from writing flyers/ads at the car dealership to working for an older copywriter at the fur company. Roger mentioned this in one of the last two episodes when he mentions to Bert that he ‘discovered’ Don. And Don has mentioned that he worked for the older copywriter at the fur company.
So, we’ve been given loose details, but I think it’s something like the above.
#31/freelancewoman: In the Don/Betty confrontation scene, doesn’t Don say ‘I ran away to join the army’ or something like that? And I’m pretty sure he’s mentioned ‘running away to the army’ in other episodes. My feeling on this one has always been that he really did run away to the army — a desperate move to escape a sad, poor and dead-end life. The milieu that he ended up in was hardly going to get him anywhere in life. Military service has been an escape for young, lost men for a long, long time. I think Don couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.
Problem was, I think he also didn’t expect it to be anywhere near as awful and hard as it was.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:55 am
Again, I’m at a disadvantage in not having the DVD of the first season.
But whether drafted or running away to the Army, Dick’s first experience of combat or shelling, and death through an arbitray mistake, is enough to send him running into another, different life: a life with the first advantage being out of the Army, almost immediately.
The other advantages of being Don Draper are yet to come.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:45 am
As far as not coming clean about the affairs, a lot has been discussed about the rigid separation between Dick and Don. He compartmentalizes so heavily that when Rachel asks, “Have you done this before?” he says “Of course not” with what many of us feel to have been real, if baffling, sincerity. The first time Dick Whitman sat across from Betty in the Draper household was such a MONUMENTAL moment — I think he was shocked into plum forgetting Don’s life, if only for the duration of that world-destroying/world-creating conversation.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:49 am
I’m also remembering those distinctly childlike tones that came so naturally: “He was nice to me.” He really was Dick in those moments, with none of the Don trappings. It makes sense to me that the memories evaporated momentarily too, bringing everything he’d tried to forget from his former life to the forefront.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:50 am
It also has been implied that Dick/Don played a role in Archie’s death. That would mean he was involved in the deaths of not just two men, but two who gave “birth” to him – his actual father and Don Draper. He has never talked about Don, of course, but he does hint about Archie.
October 30th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Don: What do they want you to do?
Peggy: I don’t know.
Don: Yes you do. Do it. Do whatever they say. Peggy, listen to me. Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened.
———————————————————————————————–
For Don, Dick’s deliberate switch of the dogtags never happened.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:06 am
how did Desperate Dick turn into Debonair Don?
brenda, I think you answered your question — he goes to the movies. Don’s an astute observer of other people (his only blind spot being those closest to him) and obviously something of a chameleon. I think he learned it all watching Cary Grant and Rock Hudson and Clark Gable and David Niven, and all the other suave, handsome, sexy men of the silver screen from the 40s and 50s. He had a lot of role models, and we know he goes to see everything. He even bills the company for it! Isn’t it interesting that he always goes to the movies by himself? Movies aren’t Date Night for him.
Seymour, I think he is fully aware of what happened with the dog tags. Remember- we are watching the flashbacks through his eyes and his memories. Sometimes I wonder if he doesn’t remember these events as being more condemning of himself than maybe actually happened. Did his lighter cause the explosion, or does he just think it did? Well, that part we’ll never know either, because our only insight into the scene is though his memories, and I guess for purposes of who he is now, the objective truth doesn’t matter.
Regarding Anna — There’s really nothing left for Anna to forgive. “You don’t have to tell her everything.” I don’t think knowing Dick caused the accident (which it clearly was) that killed Real Don would change her feelings about it in the least. I’m not even sure that knowing he switched the dog tags would matter that much to her. It would be nice to think he could be honest enough with her to tell her everything, but I’m not sure it matters. And I don’t think she would have pressed him on it – she seems to very much respect his “issues.” Too bad he never felt romantically drawn to Anna- she could have done so much to heal him.
@36 Sarah – yes, I thought that was heartbreaking. Such a sad and lonely child.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:46 am
gypsy said, “I guess for purposes of who he is now, the objective truth doesn’t matter.”
Precisely. In Don’s worldview, truth goes by the wayside if it doesn’t suit his “get out of here and move forward” method of dealing with things. Of course he knows dropping the lighter caused Don’s accidental death, and switching the dogtags was a deliberate act on his part.
But if the truth doesn’t support his determination to “get out of there and move forward,” then it can’t be part of his life narrative.
It never happened.
And no matter how much he ultimately reveals to Betty (or anyone else), I don’t believe he will ever admit switching the dogtags.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:55 am
From what we’ve seen of Don’s movie-going habits, he watches European films, not Hollywood drek (and yes, the stuff produced in the fifties in America was bad!).
October 30th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Seymour, I don’t think he’ll ever admit it to anyone else either, but I do think he knows what really happened. He didn’t forget.
And I meant that the objective truth of the situation doesn’t really matter for us, the audience. It only matters how Don remembers it.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:09 am
It also has been implied that Dick/Don played a role in Archie’s death. That would mean he was involved in the deaths of not just two men, but two who gave “birth” to him – his actual father and Don Draper. He has never talked about Don, of course, but he does hint about Archie.
Well, Don said that being beaten by Archie made him fantasize about killing him. Can’t remember hearing more than that.
I think we were told that Archie died from being kicked by a horse. (“Kicked in the face”? Maybe.) Cue “The Horsemeat Theme.” And yet another reason Don wouldn’t care to share Betty’s riding hobby–besides the fact that Young Dick hoisted many a shovel of horseshit. (Brendan Behan is my source for considering riding–especially with those silly little non-Western saddles–an aristocratic or wannabe-aristocratic pastime. He defined an “Anglo-Irishman” as “a Protestant with a horse.”)
I’ve long harbored suspicions of the actual time frame: Mack meets Archie’s wife, Adam conceived, Archie dies, Mack marries (?) Archie’s widow. Don & Archie share the same dark looks. Poor Adam is very blond. And not very bright. One reason Archie was such a son-of-a-bitch: He was a little too smart for his station in life & had no opportunity to advance himself.)
October 30th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Red, Don sees everything. Peggy and Lane both said so.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Sarah, Rachel didn’t ask “have you done this before?” she asked if he went around doing it all the time. We already knew he was seeing Midge. Don’s disconnect was that he saw each affair as unique and individual, and never looked at the sum total to see that he is a tomcat. Hence he took offense at Bobbie saying he had a reputation.
brenda, Dick had nothing to do with Archie’s death and it was never implied that he did. He said he fantasized about murdering his father, which is probably where you picked that up, but Archie was kicked by a horse and may have been drunk at the time.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I’ve long harbored suspicions of the actual time frame: Mack meets Archie’s wife, Adam conceived, Archie dies, Mack marries (?) Archie’s widow. Don & Archie share the same dark looks. Poor Adam is very blond.
I’ve kind of wondered that too, and maybe even Don wonders about it, but does it matter at the end of the day? (Another reason why I wonder about it is that Adam is the first pregnancy Abigail brings to term. We have reason to suspect that all her other pregnancies –or the one we know about anyway — were terminated by Archie’s physical abuse. Maybe Abigail decided that this was the one child she was definitely going to have and the ‘horse kick’ is the cover story for Archie’s death. Although horses no doubt hated Archie too. Well, interesting speculation, but immaterial I think to the overall MM story.)
October 30th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I think it says a lot about Dick that he didn’t want to hurt anyone. If he had known Don had a family, he might not have switched the dog-tags. He wasn’t thinking about Don’s parents in either case. I really want to see more flashbacks, of the period between when he divorced Anna, and when he started working for Sterling-Cooper. Wouldn’t it be great to see what Don’s first day at Sterling Cooper was like. Although instead of seeing that in flashback, I’d much rather hear Roger or Burt describe it.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Hence he took offense at Bobbie saying he had a reputation.
Also, Don HATES gossip. About himself or anyone else. (He put a quick stop to the office gossip about Freddy, and he even waved Alison off from delving further into what Lane’s wife was doing at the office.)
Not a surprise for a “whore-child” who grew up hearing the hurtful whispers of family and neighbors behind his back.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Gypsy makes a good point. That’s a feature I’ve always admired about the guy.
All things considered he is a very honest man.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
@ 39/gypsy howell on Anna/forgiveness:
Anna may not have anything she *knows* about that needs forgiveness, but if Don comes 100% clean, that will include confessing to her as well. And I think she would forgive him. It’s not about her needing to forgive Don, it’s about Don needing to confess and be forgiven. If he never confesses to her, I agree that in her mind, she’s forgiven all. But I was looking at it from Don’s perspective, not hers.
Also, how do we know he goes to the movies all the time? I remember one, maybe two scenes where he’s at the movies alone, and I agree with you that he probably learned some things there. But one of them was a very ‘arty’ movie, not Cary Grant stuff. I also don’t remember him billing the company for it – when was that?
October 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
@ 39/gypsy howell on Anna/forgiveness:
Anna may not have anything she *knows* about that needs forgiveness, but if Don comes 100% clean, that will include confessing to her as well. And I think she would forgive him.
Also, how do we know he goes to the movies all the time? I remember one, maybe two scenes where he’s at the movies alone, and I agree with you that he probably learned some things there. But one of them was a very ‘arty’ movie, not Cary Grant stuff. I also don’t remember him billing the company for it – when was that?
October 30th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Real Don’s death was an accident. Dick never meant, or planned, for that to happen. I’m with those who’ve written that he doesn’t need to ask forgiveness for that.
But he had lied about it to both Anna and Betty. Why did he bother to lie in the first place?
October 30th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
rachel, good point abut confession and forgiveness.
We know Don goes to the movies because:
a) he’s taken off a few times in the middle of the day to go
b) Peggy says “But you see EVERYTHING” when he admits he hasn’t seen BBB
c) he told Lane Pryce he sees every movie and SC has the ticket stubs (I think they were talking about Bridge Over the River Kwai, but I might be mistaken)
d) when he’s reading The Best of Everything, he says it’s ‘dirtier than the movie,’ suggesting he’s seen the movie,
e) he tells Bobbie ‘La Notte’ is his favorite movie
and
f) one of his secretaries — Lois? can’t remember who — assumes he’s at the movies again during one of his middle-of-the-day absences.
Those are the examples I can think of off the top of my head.
I think we can assume he’s spent many hours in the movie theatre!
Maybe we should start a NetFlix list of Don’s movies.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
@ gypsy howell: thanks, that’s a great recap (and great attention to detail!). It’s one of the things I just love about this show, so much to chew on.
Given the above, I think you’re right… he’s probably learned a TON from movies. I’m going to add that he’s probably developed his creative abilities via the movies quite a bit as well. You get the impression that he particularly likes arty movies, especially if La Notte is his favorite.
That’s something I’ve not seen discussed much (although it could have come up in previous posts): Don really is a creative soul. And his work really is good. Sometimes I think it’s part of what contributes to his affairs: part of him wants to live a bohemian, creative, artistic life (I think of him saying he and Midge should get married, I think he was only half-joking there) and the rest of him wants to lead this picture-perfect, successful executive life with a perfect wife and children.
I work in advertising/design (like many here, I’m sure) and this is another aspect of the show that I love — how creative departments were first developed and have transformed throughout the years. It is very true that Creatives were once expected to be as buttoned-down as Account Executives.
I think this is another interesting parallel on the theme of disconnect/double lives in Don’s character. He’s a slick exec with the soul of an artist.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Your discussion piqued my curiosity about the movies of 1963 and which ones might be influencing this season.
Here are the top grossing films of the year:
Rank Title Studio Gross
1. Cleopatra 20th Century Fox $26,000,000
2. How the West Was Won Cinerama/MGM $20,933,000
3. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World United Artists $20,850,000
4. Tom Jones UA/Goldwyn $18,500,900
5. Irma La Douce United Artists $11,922,000
6. The Sword in the Stone Disney $10,475,000
7. Son of Flubber Disney $10,450,000
8. Dr. No United Artists $6,435,000
9. Charade Universal $6,363,000
10. Bye Bye Birdie Columbia $6,200,000
Also released that year, was Fellini’s 8 1/2, which surely has influenced this season.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
rachel – so true. He is an artist at heart (I think that’s what I love about him), and he understands the power of storytelling. I’m sure that’s why he loves movies. Don’t you wonder what the first 10 pages of the novel sitting in HIS desk drawer are about? Or maybe that’s the joke – he’s turned his whole life into a novel. Roger has nothing on Don, no matter what Annabelle says.
(I’m involved in adv/design too! Lots of kindred spirits here)
October 30th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
gypsy – you are the queen of details! novel? what novel? I totally missed that one… but oh yes, I’m sure he’s got something good started in there.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
one more thing: I don’t know if you’ve seen La Notte or not, but it’s about a writer ( you don’t say?) and his wife realizing that they are in a loveless marriage. Hmmm, wonder why Don likes that movie?
October 30th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
rachel – there’s a joke in one episode where Don acidly says something to the effect of “every person at SC has the first 10 pages of a novel in their desk drawer.” Roger quips “Five pages.” (or maybe it’s the other way around)
Yes, La Notte is particularly telling, isn’t it? Doesn’t bode well for the Draper marriage.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
gypsy: Well, I actually think it’s not a foreshadowing of the outcome of their marriage, but more of a reflection of Don’s state of mind at the time he said it. He is with Bobby (a real low point in his philandering, IMO) at the time he says that and it’s also a low point in his marriage with Betty.
But I’m not convinced he’s in a loveless marriage himself. (I’m also not convinced he’ll stay with Betty, either.) I keep asking my husband (who’s also a fan) if he thinks Don loves Betty and he’s not sure either.
Don has experienced so much of ‘the good life’ with Betty: the beautiful, desirable wife; the beautiful home; the beautiful car; the adorable, wonderful children, even the annoying neighbors. It’s everything he never had as a child and aspired to. And while you can say those are unimportant things, I think they are not for someone like Don. And I think it created deep bonds of love between the two of them — they both experienced the most important moments of their adult lives together.
Lurking in the shadows of their marriage is the question of authenticity: who is the real Don Draper and also, who is the real Betty Draper? They both have a very important journey to make as characters. I think if they can make it together, they can experience an even deeper love than what they have and they will stay together.
Given his turbulent childhood, I think Don craves normalcy and stability. His life with Betty is all of that, and more. I don’t get the impression he dislikes marriage; he’s unsatisfied with the state of his marriage as it is now. But if he can somehow cross the chasm (while Betty in turn crosses her own), he’ll find everything he needs in his life with her, and she will with him.
I just don’t see him running off with a Midge or Suzanne type. These women touch something very deep in him (as he does in them), but in the end I think they are too wild and scary for him to ever seriously consider as partners.
Rachel on the other hand… I keep wondering if somehow she’ll pop back up. Because she was the only real threat to Betty’s marriage, if you ask me. She has depth and authenticity, as well as stability. Look out, poor Betty, if she does come back.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I guess it depends on how you look at it rachel, but I think Suzanne is the low point in his extramarital relationships. It is so wrong wrong wrong for so many reasons, most of which have to do with the potential damage to his family. And for the life of me, I just can’t see what this affair does for either of them emotionally, physically, or whatever, so from my vantage point, there’s lots of downside and not a lot of up. (On one level, I could even make a case that the stewardess was a low point– Jeez Louise Don, ya can’t even keep it in your pants for THIS?)
I really want to think that Don & Betty can make it, for all the reasons you say. I can come up with a lot of scenarios in which their marriage can not only survive but thrive. Shallow as it sounds, at least they are still hot for one another. I can envision a life where they could actually be great for each other, providing all (or most) of the things they both need most.
I’m just afraid that’s not where Matt W is going to take this, because it’s equally easy to envision how this can all detonate so fast. I see no ‘happily ever after’ in this forecast, much as I want there to be. Hope I’m wrong. I have been before!
October 30th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I felt like the stewardess was just an indication of Don not being strong enough to break a pattern. He didn’t make any advances toward her, she just moved in on him, and when have we ever seen him turn ANYONE anyone besides Peggy and the drunken twin? It’s been years. In Don’s head, it’s easier to just go with it.
(“I’ve never seen a stewardess that game before.” “Really?” was a hilarious yes-this-is-par-for-the-course bit of dialogue.)
Starting with Joy, who presented herself as a freespirit but appeared to me to be conspicuously monotone and lacking in joy, I got the sense of a distinct lack of INTEREST in affairs from Don, which is why I was totally confused when he grabbed Suzanne with the “I want you.”
A lot of speculation has gone on about his seeming willingness to get caught — maybe that’s a twisted take on honesty? Somewhere inside him he believes that getting caught is the only way he can make himself face what he’s done?
I don’t know, but I’m sure excited for these next couple episodes!! This is a ride.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
gypsy: I agreed with you *at first*… but once they got more involved, I changed my mind a bit. She has soul and depth, and Don likes that. But yeah, at first it was really disappointing to see him fall into that again. But after Betty rejected him in/after Rome, it was almost expected. He was really trying with the little coliseum charm and Betty was just awful (although I understood her anger, at the same time.) So, I think it was just more of Don’s sex addiction at first — I too felt nothing when he said ‘I want you’, it was like, oh come on. And really sad to see him so pathetic. He was exactly like a drunk figuring out how to get his next drink. But then Suzanne showed some depth and it all made a little more sense.
I could be totally wrong too — who knows where this is going. I guess that’s why we love it so much, it could either way, and either way will be so fun to watch.
P.S. I updated my name to say ‘Rachel in CA’… I think there was already another Rachel on here; don’t want to create any confusion.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
#53 – Gypsy, I love this:
” Maybe we should start a NetFlix list of Don’s movies.”
Can we? It would be cool. We would have a Joan list (The Apartment)
A Peggy list (Bells of Saint Mary’s) and so on. Fun.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Top on Sal’s movie list “Pillow Talk.” Sorry, the joke was just too easy.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
The other 2 Doris Day, Rock Hudson films are “Lover Come Back” (1961) and “Send Me No Flowers” (1964). Tony Randall was in these and in “Pillow Talk” (1959).
October 31st, 2009 at 11:48 am
I can imagine these to be MadMen Netflix favorites.
The Man Who Knew Too Much………Pete Campbel
Diary of a Mad House Wife…………..Betty Drapper
Roman Holiday…………………………Betty Drapper
Sorry Wrong Number………………..Miss Farrell
Teacher’s Pet…………………………..Don Drapper
Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde……………….Greg Harris
Fountain Head………………………….Burt Cooper
Executive Suite………………………..Roger Sterling
November 1st, 2009 at 1:11 am
Does Don have anything more to be ashamed of? I don’t think so.
The accident that killed the original Draper was just a wartime accident. Dick was scared and unsteady but we can certainly agree he is not morally responsible for fumbling a lighter, right?
The switching of the dog tags is a thornier issue. Don knows his decision is tough to defend. He probably thinks about it quite a bit.
But it was the explosion that caused the death and collateral damage to others. Dick’s decision to switch the tags just redirected the fallout. Admittedly, it was a self-centered decision. A choice that was bold, radical, risky and criminal, but not entirely unreasonable.
Dick had enlisted in the Army to escape a life that had him trapped and he didn’t have the means to improve it. He hated this life so much he felt taking a chance of being mangled or killed in war was a more attractive option than suffering some arbitrary kick in the head on some farm somewhere down the line.
After the explosion, despite fear and panic, Dick was smart enough to recognize the moment, and desperate enough to transgress his conventional morality. Dick saw a chance at profound change; to not just survive and exist as he had before but a real chance to be recreated and truly live.
He seized the opportunity to be reborn, to put a new label on the can. To be recreated not as an accidental byproduct of a horny abusive brute and a desperately poor whore. This time he would be reborn on his own terms, a person conceived of his own conscious deliberate choice.
Dick’s choice was a philosophical and psychological leap into a gray area of situational ethics. His will to live (and hopefully live better) prevailed. Schopenhauer and Nietzsche would applaud. I will too.
Dick chose to become Don Draper. He has nothing to be ashamed of and nothing more to atone for. He is a moral relativist. Don should accept this fact and be proud. (Sensitive Suzanne will help talk him through this and he will sleep better because of it.)
As Bert Cooper said, “This country was built by men who have done far worse.”
True dat.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:30 pm
@less of me:
“He seized the opportunity to be reborn, to put a new label on the can. To be recreated not as an accidental byproduct of a horny abusive brute and a desperately poor whore. This time he would be reborn on his own terms, a person conceived of his own conscious deliberate choice.”
Really well said. I agree with you on his will to live and what drove him to the army, as well as the changing of the tags. I think he knew that he was better than his circumstances. People like that will do what they have to better themselves. And I too, do not blame him one bit.
I still think that if he comes clean he’ll need to apologize to Anna. It’s not like he stepped on Real Don Draper’s toe — he killed the guy. Accident or not, that’s not something you do and then just forget about. It would seem unnatural to me for his character not to feel remorse.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
has anyone here read Goffman? particularly The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life? that’s one for a Mad Men reading list.
How is this for a great quote for Dick Whitman’s understanding of transformation in his choice to become Don Draper:
“Society is organized on the principle that any individual who possesses certain social characteristics has a moral right to expect that others will value and treat him in an appropriate way.”
Don knows this is the way society operates, no matter how unjust or artificial the constructs that create this situation, across cultures. That is why Don is who he is.
I looked at Berube’s blog after the mention of him. I already knew his blog but had not read it for a while. did he stop and start again? The association of Mad Men to Goffman seems especially apt, esp. with the “dramaturgical perspective” – defined by wiki as:
In dramaturgical sociology it is argued that human actions are dependent upon time, place, and audience. In other words, to Goffman, the self is a sense of who one is, a dramatic effect emerging from the immediate scene being presented…Goffman forms a theatrical metaphor in defining the method in which one human being presents itself to another based on cultural values, norms, and expectations. Performances can have disruptions (actors are aware of such) but most are successful. The goal of this presentation of self is acceptance from the audience through manipulation. If the actor succeeds, the audience will view the actor as he or she wants to be viewed.
In so many ways, the move from the early 20th c. to the latter part seems to me to also be a move from psychological theories of existence to sociological ones, particularly after the mass actions of the Nazis (and Eric . I’d linked to the BBC doc from Adam Curtis before, but for anyone who might be interested, his 3 part series on The Century of the Self is on google video. It has lots of interesting things to say in relation to Mad Men and advertising. Curtis doesn’t seem to believe in “progress” per se. He sees new attempts to deal with problems are fraught with their own unintentional ones, time after time, across a host of issues.
Freedom is knowing that all is open to question.
anyway, Sartre would have an answer for the question of Don. Dick became Don because existence precedes essence. (one work of Sartre’s I love is his deconstruction of Freud’s idea of the unconscious – how an “unconscious” cannot exist according to its own terms.)
so, yes, Don is an existential hero because he has created himself, knowingly. He has made choices to be Don rather than Dick.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Rachel in CA–
I see your point and I wrestled with those Anna implications and, don’t forget, the first DD probably had parents and sibs and friends; there is mucho collateral damage. But I really think “the fog of war” kind of gives him a personal pass. And by buying Anna the house and new life in sunny CA, she kind of gets the practical perks of an out-of-court civil settlement for any negligence Dick possessed.
I think he did/does feel responsibility and some remorse but he bought his conscience out of it. We’ll probably get a good idea tonight, he may want unload it all if he gets a chance.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
oh, and as far as the MMWWF (Mad Men Women’s Wrestling Federation) match up of Catscratch Suzy v Double Barrel Betty-
if Don’s true self is his created self – i.e. if Don is his essence, not the person who was the trauma of his Dick (ensian) childhood, Betty wins.
if Dick is his true self – if this man is really COMFORTABLE and wants to live in the skin of his childhood story of who he is, then he and Betty are strangers because she doesn’t know and isn’t married to that man.
Since this season has been all about how miserable Don has become as his life has fallen apart, is this meant to also show that Don’s return to “dickness” with Suzanne is not a positive move on his part? — in the same way that losing his freedom with S/C is not positive (and makes him more “childlike” in his relation to his business relations)
All the other negatives of this season deal with Don reverting to things associated with Dick- his passive/aggressive father figure, Hilton, the contract that ties him (as it did to the army), and that ties him because of the part of his life that pertains to Dick… his inability to please Betty’s father because “he has no people” with all the hostility that created for son-in-law and father-once-removed figure.
Since others have constantly noted that Suzanne figures into the sepia-toned flashbacks because her scenes evoke that same idea, then I’d have to say that Suzanne is part of the negative in Don’s life, even tho she offered him a decent night’s sleep away from baby Eugene and baby Connie, has touched some fantasy of innocence that is totally void of context (i.e. pay no attention to the fact that she was his child’s teacher, she met his wife when she was about to go into labor, hit on the man when his wife went into labor, pretended she wasn’t hitting on him when she was, then pretended that there were no consequences for following him onto the train, going to his house and waiting in the car, etc.) and allowed Don to try to make up just a little bit for his treatment of his brother.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
less of me – Hard to say. Don certainly has paid his dues, but I don’t know if that’s enough if his character is going to become authentic (and I’m not saying it will or Weiner intends it to)… but this is what I’ve been waiting for, rooting for all along (for Don to totally come clean, be totally accepted by and experience real love with Betty.) I have a sneaking suspicion Weiner won’t take us that far tonight (and maybe never will). It’s too close to the end of the season.
esme – I think it’s Dick/Don’s journey as a character to unite the two into one man. I don’t know if it will happen, but I think he will remain a fractured human being until he can do that. And will never experience real intimacy with anyone until he does. I could see this story line ending (sniff!) with him having told most of the truth, being mostly forgiven but still a slightly haunted man. I could also see a real transformation into a truly actualized, authentic human being. I think Weiner and the writers could pull that off without MM becoming too ‘pollyanna happy ending’ (which I loathe, personally, in story lines.)
November 1st, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I’ve got a 1500 word precog summary of the last two episodes. Perhaps too verbose to post here.
The FSM came to me in dream and told me how this season ends and asked me to write it all down.
I’m not sure you’ll like how it turns out.
Unfortunately the shelf life on teh Funny is 10pm tonight.
November 1st, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Dick has been Don for more than 10 years now. If the original Don still had family living, Anna would have known and told him. Not everyone comes from large, extended families with all the sisters and the cousins and the aunts etc. Other than her sister we know of no other family members of hers. And Don Draper is not that weird or unusual a name, plus he’s younger than the original. Classmates? Did people in the early 1960s go to classs reunions more than every 10 or 20 years? I have one classmate who was MIA for 40 years, others who are around but have no interest in reliving the past. We all know people we knew as kids who move away and are never heard from again. The further in time from the early 50s the less likely anyone is to question THIS Don Draper with the original. Just another guy with the same name, not even from the same place.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:41 pm
This a long self-indulgent pre-summary of tonight’s episode. There are NO SPOILERS in it. I do not know anything, (I am told that alot) But I did try to guess at some of the bigger plot points. I tried to have some fun, I admire this show, hope you enjoy.
The Grown-Ups – translation: Adults acting childishly.
Betty knows she has the power edge over Don in Chez Draper. Don is being very submissive and deferential to her being in the dog house and she’s surprised to feel more and more disgusted with him for just that. She wants to be in the loop on the money decisions. She’s still not sure if she can ever trust him.
Betty sees Francine at the A&P and lords something over her which provokes Francine to be a little more catty than usual. Francine tells her that weird things are happening in the neighborhood. The night before Halloween she could have sworn she saw Don’s car parked down the block from the house. But of course she must be wrong because she saw a woman inside, obviously waiting for the driver to come back.
Later that night Betty confronts Don (she’s getting to like this power stuff). Don reverts to form and lies. But he’s sort of telling the truth because he hasn’t had sex with Suzanne for a few days. Suzanne is heartbroken but she’s been tough and lying low, alone for now.
Back at SC, Lane has become increasingly strange. He appears drunk one morning; later that day he’s seen wearing the armored Knight’s helmet, and chatting up the girls. Could this be related to the rumors that the company is for sale? That Bombay is on his itinerary?
Pete feels he’s losing ground to Ken. He grovels back to father-in-law and persuades him to bring Clearasil back to SC. Pryce wearing a Jackie-like lavender pillbox declares the contest over and Pete the victor. Huzzah! Pete does a dance again. Ken shrugs.
We discover that Peggy has used her obvious charms and sundry body parts to get Sal a job at Duck’s store. But she feels the need to break the relationship off. The sex has gotten stranger. The Duck can’t “quack” unless and until she has liquor on her breath. Men demand a lot from Pegs. She tells him goodbye.
Bert Cooper, light-years ahead of his time, is found dead in his bedroom, hanging pant less from the ceiling fan with a copy of The Fountainhead at his feet. The police suspect something foul of course but won’t have the term “autoerotic asphyxiation” for a few years.
JFK is shot.
Margaret has the wedding of the century.
Tuesday morning the day after JFK’s funeral, Suzanne comes to the office to see Don. Don tells Allison to hold his calls. There is no cute exasperated look from her this time.
Suz is distraught. Don consoles. Suzanne wants him to stop by. Don wants to, yet declines. They embrace. Don smells fresh bread. He says he’ll be by tonight.
After dinner at Casa de Draper, which Don has eaten very little of, Don calls Conrad. Or so he tells Betty. The most boring one-sided conversation is overheard and Don announces he must heed his master’s voice and go into the city. Betty replies, “If you must”.
Don heads out. Betty watches from the window as he drives off. Fifteen minutes later there’s a phone call from the gumshoe she has hired to tail her slippery hubby. Betty gets Gene ready and tells Sally and Bobby they’re all going out for Carvelle’s. Children in tow, Betty drives to the location of Miss Farrell’s garage loft and spies the Caddy just up the block. She looks up at the window to see two shadows on the cheap, tawdry curtains and she gets that pigeon sniping look on her face.
Credits roll to Herman Hermits “Silhouettes”
November 1st, 2009 at 9:03 pm
OK may as well shut this thread down. I like the title of the finale even better. Here is a completely no-nothing long guess at a summary of the season ender based on its title and what I set up in the summary above.
There are NO SPOILERS but I guess again at some of major plot points.
Why have two feet if youcan’t put both in your mouth from time to time?
Shut the door, take a seat. – translation: All hell, in fact, as per Grampa Gene, does break loose.
The rumors were true; the sale of SC was being prepared. The buyer? Conrad Hilton. He was going to purchase SC just for the satisfaction of firing Don (his mediocre surrogate son) who failed to get him not just the moon but not even a motor lodge on Haley’s Comet. However, Bert Cooper’s death though certainly sordid and icky was very timely for SC. The deal is on hold until Bert’s estate is settled.
Our boy Don is shaking off the shameful and meek persona of the last two weeks. In dog food terms, he’s feeling his oats. And of course enjoying the delicious oat bran and cranberry muffins Suzanne sends him out the door with in the morning.
Betty meanwhile has hired a lawyer and waits.
Speaking of necessary pests, a swarm of attorneys descends on the SC conference room where we learn that Bert has given his share of the company to. . . Ubermensch and surrogate son Don Draper. He has willed his power to the Important One. Bert grins from everywhere, Nietzsche smiles from nowhere.
Roger is irate. He has a coronary event and while awaiting the medics, asks for a Lucky and wheezes his last, cradled in . . .**irony alert**. . . Lois’ arms.
(we will learn next season that Roger has willed his share of SC control to Joan. Smile now. Don Draper, Joan Holloway Harris and Alice Cooper will rock the advertising world next year)
The SC ownership shake-up means Pete’s promotion to Head of Accounts is scrapped. Pete does not dance. Pete drinks heavily, and does something impulsive and violent. (fill in the blank here yourselves, I can’t think of everything)
Peggy has been quite serene lately, annoyed only by the munchies now and then, but Duck keeps at her about a reconciliation; he’s “changed” he claims, she need not gargle with Canadian Club before their canoodling. Peggy relents and agrees to meet him. But she sees he’s not so new and different. “If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and so forth . . .” So Peggy gives him a sympathy go-round and next morning tells him they are done for good.
Duck is outraged and heartbroken. Duck gets sauced (had to do it! LOFL) and does something impulsive and violent. (See Pete directions above)
Now seriously, we cut to an office where a serious looking man in horn-rimmed glasses is sitting at a serious looking desk looking serious. We switch the angle to see Betty across the desk looking very serious. We hear a long loud bell ring and thru the doorway we see Suzanne approaching. She stops at the threshold.
Betty looks icily at her over her shoulder. We watch Suzanne as it starts to dawn on her why the principal has asked to see her. A rainbow of well-acted subtle emotions cascades across her sweet face. (yeah I know. Opinions vary) She bites the inside of her lip and her eyes begin to well with tears.
“You wanted to see me, Principal Skinner?”
The principal speaks, “Shut the door, have a seat.”
Don gets a call late in the work day from Suzanne. Through the tears she tells him the story. They’ve been caught; she’s been fired. A rainbow of well-acted emotions cascades across his sweet face (but this we all agree on) He tells her to not worry, things are never as earth-shattering as they first appear; he reminds her that right now she’s looking at her life and she’s seeing the color yellow but he looks at that same life and he assures her it’s still blue. (Entire audience swoons.)
We see Don driving. He looks at the reflection of his eyes in the rearview mirror.
Don walks into the house and kisses the kids and asks them to go watch TV.
“Bets, we have to talk.”
“You are right about that, Dick.”
She follows him into his office. She shuts the door. We are left in the hallway to ponder the bittersweet vagaries of life; maybe we can find some Ritz crackers in the kitchen.
Cut to the front street looking up the walk to the lighted porch and the red door. It opens and we see the man in his London Fog trench coat. He carries an American Tourister suitcase. He steps forward. Cut to a view from inside the house looking out at Don as he turns, kneels and reaches out to hug Sally and then Bobby. He looks up at Betty and (believe it or not I don’t know what I think we’ll see on his mug this time)
Don turns and walks toward the Cadillac. Cut back to the view from the street looking at the porch. We see Betty slightly behind the kids; Sally just in front of her with Bobby next to his sister. Bobby reaches up to wave but stops his hand near his eye.
Cut to black. Cue the music, “Knight’s of the Round Table” from Monty Python’s Spamalot
That is the way I’m calling it. Probably won’t even watch the last two hours. It would be anticlimactic.
My idiocy is captured for posterity on this fine blog. Thanks R&D!