Meditations in An Emergency Transcript - Mad Men C to Z S2E13

Below, find the full, human-edited transcript for the Mad Men C to Z podcast episode about Season 2, Episode 13: Meditations in an Emergency.
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Mad Men C to Z S2:E13 Meditations in an Emergency Transcript
 
Jenna: Hi, I'm Jenna.
Steve: And I'm Steve. Welcome to all things Mad Men, from Chip and Dip to Zou Bisou.
Jenna: There's so much to love about this amazing show and we're happy to connect to fans like us who discover new things with each re-watch.
 
Steve: Be advised, while we aren't gratuitous with spoilers, they can pop up as we discuss character arcs through the final season. Let's get started with Mad Men C to Z.
 
Jenna: Welcome to season two, episode 13, Meditations in an Emergency. This episode was written by Matthew Weiner and Kater Gordon and directed by Matthew Weiner.
 
We start with Betty at the doctor's office. The office is part of the doctor's home and we know Betty has seen this doctor for a while, because she was referring to Dr. Aldridge in the first season when she was talking about seeing a psychiatrist.
 
Steve: Yeah, and given the rough treatment doctors get from this time period in this series, the doctor seems on the sympathetic side of things relative to what we've seen so far.
 
Although there is all the underlying sexism and doctor feeling like it's his place to advise Betty on how to live her life and what she can do. Betty's pregnant and it's a surprise pregnancy, and it's pretty clear that she doesn't welcome the news.

 
The part I found interesting was that even in this pre Roe v. Wade era, it's clear that there are options for a woman like Betty who has means. And the doctor seems intent on discouraging her from aborting the pregnancy.
 
Jenna: I agree when you noticed that he was kinder than some of the other doctors we've seen. But yes, he is still condescending at first. He thinks that she might be worried about her figure. He says, oh, you've been blessed with a really resilient figure. And she says, you don't understand. It's a bad time. And he says, when you tell your husband and your friends, you're going to start to feel better about the idea.
 
She's not in the same situation as Peggy last season, but this pregnancy does threaten some of the agency she has claimed for herself in terms of setting boundaries with Don.
 
Steve: Yeah. And his solution is the opposite of agency, right?
It's not about what you think, Betty. Once you tell your husband and friends, then they'll decide that this is a good thing and change your mind so that you see it as a good thing.
 
I also thought the line that abortions are for poor people and young people --
 
Jenna: He says that is an option for young girls who have no other option.
 
Steve: Yeah. So, again, it's this judgmental expectation of the doctor, of what Betty's supposed to do here, and there's not a lot of thought about listening to her getting in behind her reasons for not wanting another pregnancy.
 
Jenna: Also, so far in Mad Men, there is a 100% chance that a character finds out they're pregnant in the season finale, so we'll have to track whether that holds true in the future.
 
Steve: Betty doesn't stick around for his examination. She collects her things and walks out of the office. It strikes me that Betty hasn't made a decision of what she's going to do.
 
Jenna: Yes, when the doctor steps out for a minute and Betty leaves, it's a little bit like running away from bad news, but also maybe some progress in terms of her independence.
 
We see that she got rid of the psychiatrist who she said was looking down her dress and told Don whatever it was she said in her sessions. And now she's not going to hang around to hear why this baby is good news for her.
 
Before, I think Betty would have just stayed and put up with it. Do you think this is her claiming independence, or do you feel like this is her denying what's in her face?
 
Steve: I do get a vibe that it's the new Betty who's not going to just passively take everybody else's guidance and direction. I kind of like seeing that spine from Betty of, you know, I don't want to stay here. I was happy her character walked away.
 
Jenna: In the first episode of this season, all the office guys were fluttering around about Duck hiring younger creative associates and what that meant for their jobs.
 
So in the finale, it's a nice callback to that to see them worried again as Ken hands Harry a binder with numbers from accounts, and they gossip about how maybe Don is away in California planning to open Sterling Cooper West.
 
Steve: Yeah, it doesn't seem they have any clue of what's going on, so they're casting about for any possibility. And it's also interesting how they are - I don't know what the term is - almost deferential to Peggy, you know, in soliciting her views on this.
 
You know, what do you think's happening? What do you know? So it's interesting, in the midst of all the sexism we've seen Peggy face this season, in this moment of crisis and nervousness on their part, they're very much looking towards Peggy as a potential source of new information that they don't already have.
 
Jenna: And her only line is, I haven't heard anything, which she would have said if she had heard something. Or in this case, she hasn't. So that's a true professional right there.
 
Steve: Yeah, she's all business and she stays outside it, whether she knows anything or not. She's certainly not contributing anything.
 
Jenna: After the meeting with the office guys breaks up, Peggy goes to Pete's office and she tells him that everyone had to turn in their numbers early and they noticed that Clearasil was missing.
 
She asks him if he said anything about Clearasil yet, because in the last episode, he confessed to her that he's lost that account.
 
Pete has been putting it off. You know, it's embarrassing to confess that he lost the account because now his father in law hates him. And I wonder why Peggy took the time and effort to go tell Pete this in the first place. It seems like she's going out of her way to make his life a little bit easier.
 
Steve: Yeah, I don't know, maybe it's just another reflection of her professionalism. You know, a key account is missing. She's going in to remind the account owner that it's missing.
 
And then it rolls into this confession from Pete to Peggy. And her advice is, Pete should just be honest and tell it how it is. And then I enjoy the line where she says, don't blame creative as she heads out the door.
 
Jenna: Yes, this is so crucial, the set of lines she has. I think it's almost series-defining in terms of all of the efforts of all these characters to pretend to be something they're not, and advertising itself.
 
And she says, Pete, just tell the truth. Don't worry about the outcome. People respect that.
 
And Pete has never been that way ever, not ever in his whole life. But here he sees the sense in it, and he actually thanks her.
 
And I agree. I love that she's like, yeah, don't blame creative about this.
 
Steve: It's a really strong episode for Vincent Kartheiser's acting. The suggestion of, hey, tell the truth. Like, I just love the way he acts that scene physically as sort of, oh, what a novel concept.
 
He's just got the perfect delivery of it because if he goes too far, it'll be a little clownish. He's got just the right balancing point there where you think, yeah, this is a character who telling the truth isn't in his sort of top three options for any given approach.
 
 
Jenna: Betty has been told not to go horseback riding now that she's pregnant from the doctor. And we see that she is in fact riding her horse.
 
And I love the expression on January Jones’ face when she gets off the horse and she sees Don is waiting there for her. She's surprised and then confused. And then she turns herself into steel as she walks toward him. And I think it really matters here that Don goes to Betty first, not to the office first.
 
Steve: Yeah. And there's a lot of tension and energy, I think, in this scene as the two get together and we're wondering, you know, how this is going to play out. The fact that he's tracked her down to the stables and made this approach. I think we understand that Don is coming to her, cap in hand.
 
She gives him a pretty hard reception. Right. You know, where have you been? You disappeared. He says he needed some time to think about things. She takes a shot and says, oh, it must be nice that you can disappear and take your time as you need it. She's not cutting him any slack in the first part of this scene.
 
Jenna: Well, I feel like when she says, you disappeared, that shows that she cares, right? She noticed. It mattered. She was worried. But she is also definitely very icy.
 
And when she says this, oh, how nice it must be to need time and just take it all on your own terms. Of course, he's been guilty of doing that for two seasons and probably well before that.
 
And finally, finally he admits, I was not respectful to you. And it's a relief to her. It's not even painful. She says, well, now I know I'm not crazy. That helps.
 
Steve: Let's note, too, he doesn't offer that of his own volition. He says he wants to undo what happened. And she says, well, what did happen? And squeezes this out of him.
 
Jenna: I think all along, maybe a part of her thought that she was inventing it. You know, he's that good a liar to make her doubt just a little, still.
 
And I also think outside of just who Don Draper is, I think she has definitely been raised that she would fall in love and get married and have this perfect life where somebody would love her and take care of her and cherish her forever, and she'd live happily ever after.
 
And to acknowledge this and face this, she's saying, no, this is a sharp turn, and I don't have a guidebook for how to proceed with this actual truth here.
 
To look it in the face is painful, of course, but it's also to give up this plan that she's had her whole life, but to say goodbye and close the door on that dream and say, no, this is the actual reality of my life.
 
And for him to come to her and say, I want to be with you. I wasn't respectful. I wish I could undo what happened. She's not having any of it in this meeting, but I also hear him mention wanting to see the kids. So he does really seem genuinely invested here.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think he says the right things. And just going back to your comment about - she places importance on that admission from him, like, she needs to hear the admission, whether it's for her own peace of mind that she's not crazy.
 
But I think also in terms of he needs to admit his wrongdoing to at least some extent. And admittedly, this is probably the least amount of wrongdoing you can admit to. I was not respectful to you.
 
It's like, okay, that. That's a start. Like you mentioned, Don says, you know, I can't walk away from this. I want to be with you. She puts in a pretty tough shot here when she says, things haven't been that different without you.
 
And then he flips to, I need to see the kids. And it almost feels like he's changing tactics there from about the relationship and the marriage to then, you know, the shared interest of the children. And at that point, Betty doesn't want to engage with them. She says, I can't deal with this right now. I'll call. I will make arrangements.
 
Jenna: Do you think she's overly harsh? I mean, did you want her to rush into his arms?
 
Steve: I wonder if there's an element here of her insisting that she's not going to jump to his timing. He's decided to show up to the stables. He's decided to make this admission. He's decided he can't live without her.
 
And I get the sense that her character is saying, that's great that you've reached all these things, but that doesn't mean I have to now commit or make the same commitment on the same schedule. So I felt it was a expression of sovereignty and control of herself and her choices here. I liked it for her character because I think in the past, she's been pushed around and forced to concede far too much.
 
Jenna: Yes, I see it as her keeping some of her power, but I also feel like she needs to hang on to her dignity, that he's stolen pieces of it from her, and not being foolish is something she's really on guard against.
 
And I think if she were over him, she wouldn't look worried or surprised or need the confrontation. She'd just roll her eyes and want him to go away. And that's not the case.
 
Also, Matthew Weiner, in the commentary for the DVD, says that when Don says, I was not respectful to you, it isn't that he's trying to evade responsibility, but she probably doesn't want to hear specific details about what he actually did. So that his intention with that line is that Don is being kind about the way he says it.
 
I also interpret it as it was kind of the minimalist apology. He was only admitting to the bare minimum of what he could. But I also understand, what is it that you're going to say that's going to make this gentle? It's really - there's no way, right?
 
Steve: It's only a one hour show, so there's really not enough time for Don to get into all the details, you know, starting with, “I bought Midge a tv. She threw it out the window.”
[Laughter]
Jenna: I was going to take her to Paris.
 
So Pete goes into Duck's office, to be honest, just as Peggy advised him to be. Pete tells Duck Clearasil is gone and he doesn't throw creative under the bus either. And Duck reads it correctly, instantly. Your father in law. That's a sticky wicket.
Indeed, Pete says.
 
Steve: I like Duck in this scene. There's been so many cases where Duck has been behaved very professionally and been very on point. I think his response to Pete here is perfectly appropriate and then even kind in some ways because he can tell Pete's nervous about having to share this information with them.
 
At the same time, we know Duck's got his head on bigger game at this point.
 
Jenna: Yes. So Duck turns around and confides in Pete that he's going to run the new company and that Pete can be the new head of accounts.
 
Of course, that's the job that Pete was trying to blackmail Don for at the end of the last season and now it's being handed to him on a platter.
 
But instead of being overjoyed, Pete hesitates a bit and he asks if Don is on board with this. And we should note, we see Duck drinking again. He's giving Pete a drink, he's taking one himself. And a little personal vendetta leaks out through his professional veneer when he says, I'm the president, I don't need his permission, do I?
 
It turns out that Clearasil would have been a conflict with another similar company PP&L already has, so one of them would have had to go anyway. So Pete was worried for nothing.
 
Steve: Yeah. And we can just see Duck oozing confidence here. He's going to be the president. He's triumphed in this battle with Don Draper and creative and he can't resist throwing out the comment, that's why God put non-compete clauses in contracts.
 
Jenna: So Peggy's advice to be honest turned out to be really good here for Pete. He got some inside scoop. Duck believes in him, and Duck's going to be in charge. So this should be a really great day for Pete.
 
And this is a really slimy little callback too: Duck says something to Pete about, I really appreciated your loyalty during that American Airlines thing.
 
And what he means is that Pete met with Duck and Shel Keneally at American Airlines right after Pete's father was killed in the American Airlines crash. So here is Duck rewarding Pete for that behavior.
 
Steve: What could possibly go wrong?
 
Jenna: Do you think Pete's ready to be head of accounts? I know in California he did really well, but it still seems kind of soon for somebody that young. And, you know, he is Pete.
 
Steve: So yeah, I think he's on the green side of things. But often when you have the incumbent in the company and able to offer assistance when it’s needed on sticky situations, that gives you the ability organizationally to cover off a greener person in the role, right?
 
Because you've got the horsepower further up the food chain. If you didn't have someone like a Duck ascending to the President's position, you'd have to think about where is someone like Pete going to get further support from an account perspective?
 
If people are moving up, Duck probably puts a premium on the loyalty he's expecting now out of Pete. And I think is that would be a valid expectation and that's going to have real value to someone like Duck.
 
Jenna: Sure.
 
We have a quick next scene with Don in a hotel and we see John F. Kennedy making a speech on TV about the Cuban Missile crisis.
 
Steve: Yeah. And the Cuban Missile Crisis, you know, I think it's sort of passed into lore culturally, but in November 1962, the United States became aware that the Russians were putting missiles into Cuba.
 
The issue with the missiles in Cuba from a strategic perspective was really the reduced flight time for those missiles to strike the United States, which would put a lot of time pressure on U.S. decision makers in the event of a Russian attack.
 
And the concern that in the absence of time to vet and consider, you know, what was going on, that we were much closer to World War 3 because of that time pressure that would force the Americans to react much more vigorously to.
 
We know so much about it in hindsight and about, you know, the meetings Kennedy was having with his advisors and the rest. I think what the show tries to convey at the time is it had a very profound effect on American society. And there was a lot of nervousness and there wasn't the exhaustive information that's available to us now in hindsight.
 
So the public was very much hostage to the little bit of on-site reporting from Florida and or Cuba as the crisis ramps up and the US is contemplating a first strike on Cuba to take out the missiles, Khrushchev and the Soviets resisting orders from the United States to remove them.
 
And then, you know, the evolving crisis. As you know, you have inbound Soviet ships, you have an American naval boycott. What's going to happen when these two interact? For the purposes of the show, all of this is creating a real sense of existential unease and concern that we are at, you know, one minute to midnight on the atomic clock here.
 
And we know Don and Pete, you know, having been out in California and attending that briefing, saw that from a very technical, engineering, design, scientific perspective, exactly what these missiles represent in terms of a threat to our civilization.
 
So I think it's very personal to Don, and he very much feels the weight of it. But we see that permeating the cast in this episode.
 
Jenna: And as Don watches this speech, he picks up the phone and then he resets the receiver. So he doesn't say anything, and we don't know for sure, but in the director's commentary, Weiner says he thinks about calling Betty. Betty was the person he was going to call, which is kind of a nice change, because usually it's somebody else.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it's easy for us in hindsight to say, well, there was no, you know, no missiles were launched and all the rest of it. But at the time, it seems there was a widespread feeling we are on the precipice of destroying the world.
 
Khrushchev, having from an earlier Vienna meeting, determined Kennedy was weak and potentially easy to push around, wants to appear tough. And then Kennedy, in response to the perception of him being weak at Vienna, is now determined to really demonstrate that he's got the backbone and spine to stand up to the older Khrushchev here. So he. It's a very dangerous dynamic in the moment.
 
 
Jenna: So the next morning, Don makes his way into the office for the first time since Harry's baby shower. When Pete came back from California, he noticed something was different about Peggy, but he had to ask what it was.
 
Don takes two seconds before asking Joan, other than her office and her haircut, is there anything new I need to know about? We often see Pete staring at Peggy and trying to engage her in conversation all the time in the show and, Don doesn't go out of his way to do those things, but he really does see her.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's interesting that he notices that right away, and especially in a world where so many others overlook her. It's also, I think we get the perspective from Don's chair.
 
You know, as the head of Creative, Peggy is no threat to him. In fact, she's part of his army and part of his group that help him to succeed, versus some of the more peer type positions, you know, like Paul and Harry, who feel threatened by Peggy's ascent.
 
Jenna: We can see more of what you were talking about with the rest of the office being really uncomfortable about the news in terms of the Cuban Missile crisis. And back in The Jet Set, Don had such a strong reaction to a speech about nuclear war that he ran away to Palm Springs.
 
And everyone else seemed calm and clinical, but here in New York, that's reversed. Everybody else seems worried and Don seems calm. Maybe it's his California reset. Nothing can disturb his new peace of mind.
 
Steve: I don't know that it's calm necessarily than just the futility. You know, Joan mentions, hey, we should go over the civil defense safety protocol. And Don says, you know, it's not really going to serve any point. I think he's unnerved by it. But going under the desk or going in the fire escape isn't going to make a hill of beans worth of difference here.
 
Jenna: So Joan, of course, has everything under control. She shows him the pile of paperwork that has accumulated onto his desk in his absence.
 
Mr. Sterling has been very anxious to speak with you and Mr. Phillips, of course, and he manages that. He's like, tell Roger I'll see him in half an hour. And Mr. Phillips, I'll run into him in the men's room. So he's not prioritizing Duck at all.
 
Before he can have any of those meetings, Pete comes into Don's office demanding accountability for Don's disappearance in California.
 
Steve: Yeah, Pete has a chip on his shoulder as he comes in here, and he's very much confronting Don about his disappearance.
 
Jenna: I mean, I think that's fair and warranted on Pete's part.
 
Steve: Oh, I think it totally is. And Pete's kept this under the hat with everybody else, you know, although he sort of alluded to it with Peggy in the prior episode where she wouldn't engage in gossip with him.
 
But it's pretty amusing as a viewer because we know what really happened out in California. And then we see the way Don handles Pete saying, oh, did you ever think that I wanted to see if you could handle it?
 
And then when Pete tells him how, you know, how it went, and then Don says, oh, you see, I was correct. You could handle it. So it's amusing how Don is manipulating Pete in this scene, and then it builds to this compliment.
 
The one thing I don't think Pete was anticipating here was a compliment from Don Draper. And it completely knocks him off balance. This. This is the shot he didn't see coming.
 
Jenna: The dialogue in this scene is really fantastic. Pete says, so you're back. One minute I'm standing under the carport, and the next I'm tap dancing for General Dynamics. And Don goes, I'm sorry I missed that.
 
He goes, I can't drive, Don. It's amazing I made any meetings at all. So he's definitely pushing on him. And it's so funny. Just the chemistry that they have with their fighting back and forth.
 
And when Don compliments Pete, saying he knew he could handle it, and, you know, he did, I don't think this is a real compliment. I think it's less painful to offer the compliment than it would be to apologize.
 
Steve: I totally agree. Totally agree.
 
Jenna: And we saw with Betty that apologizing is not really his strong suit. But his timing turns out to be so fortuitous for him because Pete's ego really needed a bit of stroking. I mean, doesn't it always?
 
And getting that from Don really seems to set him up for a future discussion in this episode. And you're right, Pete is visibly confused when he gets that compliment from Don. He doesn't even know how to behave with that.
 
Steve: Well. Well, it's funny because Pete needs to reaffirm that he heard what he heard. He goes, so you think I can handle it? And Don says, you proved it. As if this was Don's test all along and Pete's past with flying color. So, you know, Don is such a liar. And it's funny to see him, you know, so manipulative here in such a clear cut way.
 
Jenna: And, you know, from the time he walked away from that concierge desk in California, he hasn't thought about Pete for two seconds since then. He hasn't planned any of this. He hasn't prepped any of this. Pete has not gotten any of his emotional bandwidth.
 
 
Now that Don's back, Roger and Don have a conversation. Roger defended Don's absence to the board, but now he slaps his wrist.
 
Don says, you wanted to see me? Roger goes, about three weeks ago.
 
I hope you were looking for a job in California, because you're going to need one. And Don is totally unruffled by this. He says, I'll stack my absences up against yours any day. Which, knowing what we know about Roger, is probably totally fair.
 
And Roger says, you can't just do that. But, you know, we've talked about Roger's laissez faire attitude. He's not exactly the strictest guy on the block.
 
And then, you know, Duck came in and was really shaping everything up. So Roger's slap on the wrist is not to be taken seriously, and Don certainly doesn't.
 
So then Roger tells Don they sold the company to PPL and then he'll make half a million dollars, which today would be worth about five and a half million dollars.
 
Steve: Yeah. So this is clearly life-changing money. And I think we can see on Don Draper's face when he hears the amount, the effect it has given the background of Don Draper, where he's come from, where he is today, he's gobsmacked by the amount. It seems that he's never contemplated this type of wealth dropping into his lap. And here it is, it's arrived.
 
And I think Jon Hamm does a nice job with the expression on Don's face, you know, to convey that truth to it. He's. He's trying to look cool, he's trying to keep it together. But he's been rocked almost as much as Pete with a compliment. Now, Don Draper has been rocked by his large windfall of what it was, a 12% partnership.
 
Jenna: And just the way that Don handled Pete, Roger is handling Don here. He exaggerates. He tells Don that Coop and Alice jumped on the deal and he wasn't going to make trouble, when in fact, he was a major driver to make the deal happen. And he also drops, pretending very casually, that he's engaged, which is new information. And Don congratulates Roger on this, and he seems pretty sincere.
 
I thought that was interesting. Spoilers ahead, because we know coming up, we're going to see some conflict between them seemingly on this point. And at this point, when Don congratulates Roger for his engagement, there doesn't seem to be any animosity or any holding back here.
 
And I think Roger is really looking for this because he tried to get it from Bert, and Alice certainly dropped some slams on him for his engagement to Jane. And of course, Mona's not very happy. So Roger isn't happy just with the fact that he's with Joan. He really needs everybody else in his life to tell him how great it is and how they're happy for him, too. And he's just not getting that. I guess in that way, he's like Pete.
 
Steve: You said Joan, but you meant Jane.
 
Jenna: Oh, sorry. Yes.
 
Steve: And at the end of the scene, we have the Cuban Missile Crisis intruding again, too. And Don rather ominously says, you know, we don't really know what's going on. You know, that all they're getting is what the public pronouncements are from the President, basically.
 
And you've got this sort of wonderful things happening that make Roger and Don very happy. And simultaneously, this element of uncertainty.
 
Jenna: Okay, so Roger's line here, he says, Kennedy's going to bomb us, right when I got a second chance. Roger was born with every chance in the world, and he's pitying himself.
 
And now, like, oh, now I have Jane, and I could start over and it'll be fresh and wonderful. So this is not so romantic. This is pretty awful of him. And it's just interesting to compare the two of them in that room. Both of them are looking to embrace second chances, but Roger's looking to try something new, sort of, while Don is going to try to be new in a familiar set of circumstances. So we'll see how that works out for them.
 
Steve: Well, and I think with all these characters. So Duck, Pete, Don, and Roger. In this episode, we're seeing this intersection of their selfishness and things that are good for them personally, eclipsing principles or other judgments they might have if they weren't just thinking about the benefits to themselves in the given circumstances.
 
So it. It is funny how they're mirroring each other in this respect, and they're willing to overlook the fibs and foibles of whoever they're talking to, because their eyes are getting large at the opportunity that's sitting in front of them.
 
And then the whole thing is built on top of, hey, the whole world may be destroyed here if this Cuba thing gets out of control.
 
 
Jenna: In the next scene, we see Father Gil speaking to his parishioners, and he encourages them – ahem, Peggy -- who's listening, to look to their souls, to have courage to admit and confess their sins.
 
It's a scene that really helps amplify the worry across the city. It's not just in the office, about what's to come. He gives us assurance that when this temporary life on Earth ends, we will be welcomed back into your heavenly arms, he says.
 
We're all sinners, but give us the courage and common sense to admit it, confess it. And you can really feel he's talking directly to Peggy here.
 
Steve: Yeah. And you do get a larger sense of the sort of gloominess of the circumstances, you know, and they're in the church in the midst of this crisis and there's a lot of fear and concern.
 
The colors are muted. It's kind of dark in there. And there's a low energy feeling on the sermon. Setting aside the individual aspects for Peggy, which I totally agree with you, Father Gil's got her in his gun sights.
 
Jenna: Next we get to see Petty and Francine at the beauty salon where women are talking about the crisis too. And this set is so full of great detail. I really wish we got to see it more.
 
We see Francine arguing with a woman who insists that she stop talking about it - she's upsetting her daughter. The scene is so packed with rich detail for so few lines. I really appreciate how economical the writers are with this scene. It's really, really impressive.
 
Steve: So Betty and Francine start to talk and Betty confesses that she's pregnant again. And Francine immediately reads it and sort of says congratulations? with a question mark. And it's clear, you know, it isn't a good time, Betty tells her.
 
And Betty's sort of alluding to the larger world we live in, that she can't do it, what’s she going to do. But I think as viewers, we all know the real reasons for the issues here are more of the personal with their relationship and situation with Don.
 
Francine, as a good friend, you know, was right there to suggest, you know, there are alternatives. They talk about a doctor in Albany. They talk about the possibility of Puerto Rico, maybe a little too close to Cuba in the current circumstances. But we see this friendship between Betty and Francine after the confession.
 
Jenna: Well, I appreciate that Betty makes eye contact with Francine when she tells her she's pregnant too.
 
Francine does want to be supportive, but she's very much like the doctor. She's basically says, you know, if you're really serious about not wanting the baby, there are things you can do, but sometimes the best thing is to do nothing. It'll probably work out.
 
So Francine is the first person Betty told about her pregnancy. But Francine doesn't seem to know that Betty and Don are separated. Did you think that Betty would tell Don about her pregnancy at the stables? Because I kind of thought she would.
 
Steve: I think if they had a two way conversation at the stables, where they were actually sharing things. Absolutely. But I just don't perceive it as that. I think it was Don sort of casting into Betty's yard and for the most part, her tossing it back out at him.
 
I take your point about Francine saying sometimes it's best to do nothing, but, you know, we've got that mirror to what Betty advised Francine back in the Wheel episode.
 
I still felt Francine was a little more sympathetic and helpful with the suggestions and offering the possibility of Albany and Puerto Rico as real possibilities, as opposed to the doctor who I felt was saying a woman of means in your circumstances. You know, that's not something you should consider.
 
 
Jenna: Back at the office, the office guys are even more upset, both about the missile crisis and the office crisis, because now the superiors want a list of all the people in each department. They're counting all the people! Harry exclaims in a panic.
 
So they put their crafty little minds to work and they pull Lois out of the switchboard room to grill her. And it seems like it's Sal saying, we'll really owe you, that seems to convince her to talk. She explains that PPL has bought Sterling Cooper and it's done.
 
Steve: Yeah. And she offers great tidbits. You know, stuff they don't know at all. So they didn't know about PP&L. They didn't know that Duck is the one who had set it up. It's a merger. There'll be a New York office.
 
I love the acting here for Lois. You know, the way. The way she does her lines, the look on her face as she looks across all their eager faces to hear the updates from her. It's just a brilliant little gem of a scene. You can just see them waiting on her every word.
 
The way she says redundancies, you can almost feel the shiver running through Paul and Harry, you know, our Nervous Nellies amongst them. And then at the end of it, I love how Lois says, hey, you know, don't forget to get me out of the switchboard. And you can tell they're just obsessed with the information they've just got and giving no thought at all to any commitment or promise they may have made to Lois to extract this information.
 
Jenna: There's this great moment where Harry makes the most condescending hand gesture ever. He asks her, are they purchasing Sterling Cooper or are they comBINing? So he has no trust in her to understand what she hears. It's so terrible.
 
Steve: It's a funny little scene, but it's such a gem. And I enjoy it so much. It's really, again, something I love about the series, where some of these scenes that are throwaways so often is this sparkling little gem in a great collection.
 
Jenna: So, yeah, when she says, if any of you get to stay, take me off the switchboard. And they're like, yeah, if.
 
And I wonder who would you keep among these guys if you were restructuring the company? I mean, I would keep Ken and Sal and I'd let Harry and Paul go. They're just too much drama, not enough value. I get that Harry started a TV department at Sterling Cooper, but he doesn't seem especially amazing at it. He didn't recognize Joan's contribution as being useful. He's always a stress case. And Paul, well, you know Paul.
 
Steve: But yeah, I, I could, I could go with that.
 
Jenna: I think Paul and Harry are right to be nervous.
 
 
Steve: The next scene takes us back to Don's hotel room and Betty's dropping off the kids. We can see their enthusiasm as they greet their father. They've clearly missed him. Betty remains extremely cool. You know, Don makes a point of inviting her to hang out with them and she says she's got other plans and she's not making any display of any change in feelings or any follow up based on the earlier conversation at the stable.
 
Jenna: Don invites Betty to join them for dinner. And Sally says, mommy doesn't like to eat. Which is not at all a problematic message for an eight year old to carry around with her. I guess Betty doesn't like to eat in front of anybody else. Apparently that line is not an accident.
 
Steve: We then see Betty out on the street and she's looking at a display of mannequins in a storefront and she goes into a bar, which in 1962, for a woman like herself, you know, I think right there that's a pretty unusual choice. She orders a glass of water initially and then gets a cocktail, lights a smoke and then of course attracts attention in the bar from a gentleman down at the other end.
 
Jenna: Yeah, I want to go back really quickly to her looking at clothes in the window in Manhattan at night by herself. She looks at her reflection and we see in just a minute that she has done some shopping by the time she gets to the bar, but I think in this moment she's really deciding who she is and who she wants to be.
 
Is she going to call Francine and get that doctor's name? Is she not going to worry about it because the world is on fire? Is she contemplating losing her figure again for the next few months, and she can't wear these fashionable clothes she's looking at?
 
It's a scene that in another show, they wouldn't even include it. But I like that we get to have Betty by herself.
 
And of course, when she takes herself into the bar, then she's a target again of what other people see when they look at her. Of course, somebody offers to pay for her drink. Why wouldn't he?
 
And the bartender explains that means he's going to come over and talk to you. And she doesn't exactly know how to play this, but she does want to be in control. And I really feel like she's mimicking what she thinks Don would do.
 
Steve: It's funny, she says to the bartender, we'll see, you know, with regards to talking to him. And she doesn't give the guy much. When he comes up, he tries to talk about the Cuban Missile crisis. He has a toast to not thinking about things. Betty won't even give him her name, thanks him again. She says she'd like to drink in peace.
 
Jenna: We get a truth call out here, too. As the man approaches, he says, it doesn't seem real, does it? And Betty says that's true. It's not just the missile crisis. It's her pregnancy. It's being out in a bar. It's the opportunity to take Don back. Or not. It doesn't seem real.
 
Steve: And speaking of doesn't seem real, we've got Betty in the bar talking to strangers. And who's in the hotel room having room service and lovely family time with his two children. It's our Don Draper, of course.
 
Jenna: We've seen Betty sitting at dinner with the kids without Don multiple times, except she's cooked it. And here he is. Like the kids are telling predictable knock, knock jokes and complaining about the room service hamburgers or whatever.
 
And when we cut back to the bar, there's this song. It's Stranger on the Shore. And the lyrics say:
I watched your ship as it sailed out to sea /
taking all of my dreams and taking all of me.
 
And I wonder if Don has already taken too much from Betty for her to go back, if her dream of what her perfect married life would be like is gone, if it's even worthwhile for her to try again.
 
Remember, in the first episode this season, she met her former roommate Juanita, who worked as an escort. And you know, Betty loved running into people and showing off her marriage and her perfect family.
 
And now she's changed so much, she doesn't even know what to dream. Don chose her and rejected her. And that rejection was never part of the plan. So what does she do now? And here she is in a bar with an attractive man.
 
Steve: When she gets up from the bar and goes to the ladies room and of course, draws the attention from the gentleman at the bar and basically he understands the message. They kiss passionately outside the bathroom door. And then, luckily, this bar has the most luxurious bathroom I've ever seen.
 
Jenna: I think it's an office, but I don't know why it's unlocked.
Steve: Oh, is it? Yeah, maybe it is. Yeah, that makes sense. It's a pretty nice office for a grubby little bar too.
 
Jenna: So Matthew Weiner in the commentary says that this scene is really explicit - more explicit than we've seen with anything between Betty and Don. And he wanted it to be that way because he wanted to leave no doubt that Betty actually slept with this man.
 
We do get a lot of detail here. And I love her dress in the scene, too - it's absolutely gorgeous. And she's wearing her pearls and she's the very picture of this perfect wife and mother - sleeping with a stranger, and she doesn't even know his name - on a couch in an office bar. Yeah.
 
Steve: And. And as they go through the door, she says, I'm married. It's an interesting way she says it because it. What's its relevance in this moment? Why express this clearly? She's going through with this.
 
Clearly the gentleman isn't all that much concerned about it either. But it's. It's something she. She expresses before she goes - I guess, crosses the threshold in many ways.
 
Jenna: I thought about this, and I imagine this is the full piece of play acting as Don here, that those other women know he's married. So she wants to communicate that too, as part of this identity she's trying on, that she's out like Don would be.
 
And also I thought it was interesting that she sees herself as married. She doesn't identify herself as separated at this point. Obviously, she's choosing to do this anyway. But I thought that was an interesting sort of crossroads in her identity for lots of reasons.
 
Steve: Yeah, it fits with your “this is how my husband behaves” theory. Again, we have this strange contrast then as we cut back to Don in the hotel room. The kids are watching TV and sort of half asleep.
 
Jenna: They're watching Leave it to Beaver, the perfect family show, too, which is great.
 
Steve: And then we see Don, and he picks up a piece of paper in his pen and, you know, the assumption I had was, okay, Don's back at work now, you know, he's working on some creative thing.
 
Jenna: And that's usually what he's doing when he's with the kids. They're in front of the TV and he's working. So that's, I think, a reasonable assumption.
 
Steve: We cut back to the bar and Betty and her new friend are getting dressed and emerging from the room through the door. The bartender asks, you know, what are you doing in there? And just the way Betty completely ignores the question and walks by him, and the fact that he doesn't even think to confront the man with, what are they doing in there?
 
Jenna: This is Betty doing whatever it is she feels like doing, which she never gets to do. And this man is not going to stand in her way.
 
 
Next we see Peggy going to the church basement with some food her mother baked in case everyone needs to gather for a while at the church together. Father Gil confronts her.
 
Peggy hasn't said anything about the crisis, but here she reveals it's on her mind. He says, how are you? And she says, nuclear war. We could be gone tomorrow.
 
He answers, isn't that always the case? And in a truth call out, she agrees that's true, and he pushes on. He says he can tell she believes in God. He reveals sometimes he feels like God called him to this parish to reach you. She says, I didn't know that. Another truth call out. He says, that's true.
 
He takes it a step further. He says, hell is serious and very real. Unless you unburden yourself, you cannot know peace. And she holds her ground against him. What did you think about this scene?
 
Steve: I guess I should, for full disclosure, just say I think personally I'm hostile to someone trying to intrude in my life in the way Father Gil does in this scene. So I struggle with that personally, to put myself in his shoes, to understand where he's coming from for his motivations.
 
Because it just ruffles my feathers as a person to say this is none of your business. And how dare you presume to tell me where I'm going or how I'm viewed in God's eyes or any of this other things, you know, it's just, it's not the way I'm wired.
 
I think trying to look at it through Father Gil's eyes, I get the sense that he sincerely believes all of this. It's her eternal soul at stake here. And he knows this is someone in his flock he has not yet succeeded in reaching. So he's desperate to make that connection with her. How about you?
 
Jenna: When they're facing what could be the end of the world, he feels like it's more important, right. He says - when he says hell is serious and very real, she says, I understand that, Father, but you're upsetting me right now.
 
And he says, that's your guilt, Peggy. This could be the end of the world and you could go to hell. And yes, I think your take is correct. I think he is doing his duty by making sure that she confesses so that her soul is at peace.
 
And she looks her priest in the eye and she says, I can't believe that's the way God is. Good night, Father. And she walks away. And it feels both rebellious and religious at the same time.
 
Steve: Yeah, Peggy stands her ground, as she does in so many circumstances. You know, we could be gone tomorrow if this is the impetus. It's so urgent for you to unburden yourself and to confess. Well, we could be gone at any time. That kind of undermines the urgency of it, you know, whether it's the Cuban missile crisis or a car accident.
 
Jenna: So that, I think, almost proves your argument before about he's using this as an opportunity to push a confession because he hasn't been able to get it before.
 
Steve: If that's your further argument here as to why in this basement at this moment, this is really pressing. It's undermined by its own - his own statement. And it's like, yeah, it's no more pressing than it is any other moment, honestly.
 
And then when he tries to say it's your guilt, and again, it rubs me wrong, this idea of you're going to decide how much guilt I feel. I feel that's for me to decide.
 
Jenna: So when we think about guilt or not, we see Betty coming into a dark house alone. She opens the fridge and she eats a chicken leg from the fridge with the fridge door open.
 
Remember earlier, Sally said, Mommy doesn't like to eat. And it seems like it was a reasonably satisfying revenge on Don. I mean, if you're going to cheat, I guess you might as well also eat cold fried chicken by the light of the fridge with your coat on, right? I mean, break all the rules.
 
After trying on Don's behavior, we see her - I mean, she might as well just indulge a little bit further, right?
 
Steve: Yeah. And it fits with your, oh, she's behaving as Don would. Cause who else would come in the house in the wee hours of the morning and grab a cold chicken leg out of the fridge?
 
Jenna: I think it's also important that we see her - she's not breaking down and crying. She's not suffering from regret. She's not celebrating. But I think, again, this tiny little scene does a lot of work to give us her headspace. She's - she's not sorry.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think similar to the loneliness we perceive in Don's life without his family, I think this mirrors that on her side, you know, to say, if you choose this path of the separation, what is your life? What do you have? And I think this scene, you know, eating a cold chicken leg alone in your house in the dark, it's not appealing. Right. It's not a life anyone aspires to.
 
 
Jenna: Next, we see Pete and Trudy in their apartment. And Trudy is packing up things to go to Rehoboth beach near D.C. and Pete has apparently not yet told Trudy about his impending promotion, which seems really unlike Pete.
 
And Trudy is rushing around, grabbing the silver in case there's looting. And she's giving him cash for a driver in case the train doesn't work, since he doesn't drive. What was your take here?
 
Steve: It feels to me like we just have this distance or disconnect between Trudy and Pete. They're not in sync here. She wants to be near family. She wants him to be with her, with family. And he's pushing back the other direction. He doesn't want to be around her family, which is understandable given the friction that's happened, you know, over the adoption issue.
 
Pete's line when he says, you know, if I have to die, I want to die in Manhattan. Why does where you die have any relevance to anything? But that's one of the excuses he's giving why he doesn't want to go off to Delaware with her.
 
Jenna: Yes, this is the fight that Trudy and Pete really always have. He accuses her of wanting to be with her parents more than him. And she says that she can love both of them, and she wants him to be - to want to be with her.
 
And I want to come back to this line because it's great. If I'm going to die, I want to die in Manhattan, which she finds really grim and morbid as someone who didn't grow up in the city or a notable city. I think you really get this New York pride sometimes in media. And this is different from Peggy wanting to belong to something big and important, you know, and she says, those people from the city, they want things they haven't seen.
 
This is Pete being proud just because he happened to be born and raised in Manhattan. And you can see that about Texas and LA and I think the US in general. One of my favorite writer's commentary points from the Wire is when the writer says, you people from New York and LA, you think you have all the stories and you have great stories. But Baltimore has great stories. Everywhere has great stories. And it would not occur to Pete - from Manhattan Pete - that anywhere else is worthy of him. So his entitlement in that one line, it's really astounding.
 
Steve: I'm going to go a different direction on that. I think he has no good excuse to not go with Trudy to her family's place. He just doesn't want to go. And I think this is the lame excuse he gives. I think he's just clutching at straws here because what is he going to say, you know, your father browbeat me about the adoption and pulled his account, and I don't want to go there, cap in hand, at the end of the world, to face their scrutiny and pretend that I'm enjoying my time around these people.
 
Getting to the end of the scene when Trudy says to him, you know, you should want to be with me if you love me. It really feels she's sort of laying out the stakes here about their relationship. And he's still not biting.
 
Jenna: It is pathetic. It is pathetic that he's trying to get out of spending time with his wife and her family. But think about how Pete also pretends to be important at work. He pretends to be important everywhere. Being from Manhattan and having this pretense of how important he is. And in his sense of the world, that's all part of it. I was born wealthy and privileged, and I'm from Manhattan, therefore I know more than anybody else, and I'm entitled to all these things, and I'm going to pretend it into being, even though it's not true. And I think that that pretense is really an interesting thing when you're one of millions of people running around trying to show how important they are right next to you, too.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think there's a lot of people are struggling with where should they be in this moment of risk. And, you know, when Pete shows up in the office later, they almost seem surprised to see him. You know, they've assumed he's not going to come into the office at a moment like this. Yet here he is. We see a bunch of other people in the office as well. And it sort of - I sort of have the same question for all of them. Like, you chose to come into the office?
 
Jenna: Yes. The office guys are listening to the radio again. There's bad news in the world. And the office. Harry found out that the conference room has been signed out all day . . . and there are really good canapes in the fridge.
 
Steve: Lois's information is checking out.
 
Jenna: Yes, and that is a really important point, because when Pete shows up, they ask him if he's not worried, and clearly they told him what Lois said. So he has independent verification on what Duck told him. But Pete does not reveal anything to the guys.
 
And then Harry has this speech about office regime change and the importance of staying neutral. And Paul is indignant. He says, aren't you loyal to anyone? And remember that Sheila said to Paul, all you do is complain about that place and those people. And yet it's Paul who says, I like this company the way it is. And I feel like we all have a sense of foreboding about Duck's company and Pete as head of accounts and what that might look like for Don, too.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's secondary characters do such a brilliant job of portraying the fear, the uncertainty, their nervousness at what's going on. It's a delicious scene where we can see the neurotic Harry jousting with Paul. Yeah, they just don't know where it's going to land. Of all the places you would think Pete might go, he goes to probably the last one on my list.
 
Jenna: Pete goes to Don's office and tells Don he knows about the merger and he knows Duck Phillips will be the president. Don does not reveal that any of this is news to him, but he doesn't trust it completely either.
 
Remember in season one, after Pete tattled to Bert about Don's double identity, Bert says to Don, fire him if you want, but one never knows how loyalty is born. Do you think that this is loyalty born of keeping Pete around?
 
Steve: I think it's Pete hedging his bets on what the new regime will look like, checking this box. If Don already knows, there's no harm. If Don doesn't know, then he's done something useful for him. So I don't think there's any downside risk for Pete here. I think it's just Pete being strategic.
 
Jenna: I think it's directly related to the compliment Don offered Pete earlier. And I think that Pete is humbled by Don's ability to be in charge the way that he, Pete, would like to be. So this is a way for him to suck up and forge that closer relationship he's always wanted to have with Don. Remember in the really early episodes, he stuck out his hand. And Don was like, you know, let's back off a little bit.
 
Steve: And ultimately, you know, whether it's a Duck regime or a Don regime or whoever, Pete wants to have success in it, and he's not looking to offend or cross anybody. He's not picking sides.
 
Jenna: Not picking sides is exactly what Harry had talked about about being neutral. So I wonder if Pete is carrying that with him.
 
And this thing that Pete says on the way out of Don's office seems a little off topic to the scene. At first. He says, the Americans stopped a ship this morning, and I bet the Russians are reconsidering now that we've made a stand. And this seems like a cue to Don to stand up for himself in this situation. Last season, Don identified with Nixon, but here it's like Don is Kennedy as he preps for Duck's invasion with PPL.
 
Steve: Yeah. And in the commentary, Weiner says this last line does inspire Don to make his own stand, because in a new regime run by the account man Duck, who Don has had significant friction with, we can see why this wouldn't be an optimal situation for Don Draper.
 
But the question is, is he willing to exit this company altogether with his $500,000, or is he willing to compromise and try and make it work? Given the news that Don has at this point, he's got a decision to make about the future with Sterling Cooper as part of PP&L.
 
Jenna: Our next scene shows Betty coming in. Carla's at the house, and hands her an envelope from Mr. Draper. This letter to Betty from Don is not exactly a grand gesture that Roger talked about in the bar, the one you make when you fought and cheated and want to come back. This gesture is quiet and simple. You wonder if it's sincere.
 
Steve: I think it is sincere. Matt Weiner in the commentary says that Don is sincere in these feelings at this moment. And I think we've seen this in the past with Don. He behaves badly. He does the wrong things. But I do believe in the moment, he means what he says or what he feels. You know, most of the time, maybe not when he's complimenting Pete.
 
This strikes me as a very sincere letter. It's modest. It's to the point. It takes ownership. I notice that it doesn't make any commitments to changing behavior in the future, but it does seem to express regret for behavior in the past. And he talks about what I believe is a genuine feeling of loss if his behavior has managed to blow up what he had and he can't get back to it.
 
Jenna: I have some spoilers ahead here, so you might want to just fast forward about 10 seconds if you want to miss them. When you think about this line in the letter where Don writes, I know you won't be alone very long, but I'll be alone forever if it doesn't work out. That does seem very much like what ultimately plays out.
 
But Don has also been alone in many ways while he is with Betty. He doesn't actually say he wants to come home. He says that he loves her. He accepts blame. And those things can be true even if he doesn't want a married life with Betty anymore. So I feel like we're supposed to read this letter and think, oh, this is the sweetest apology. You know, he says, I think about you and how I behaved and my regret. I know it's my fault you're not here right now. I understand why you feel you're better off without me and I'll be alone forever without you.
 
Well, that doesn't necessarily mean he wants a life with her. He's not saying that. And if I were Betty, I would be concerned about that.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's almost like if the last line is, without you, I will be alone forever. The unspoken line is, with you, I will continue to be alone forever. Like, isn't this the fundamental flaw of Don Draper? Scar or baggage or whatever we want to call it?
 
He is alone, despite having a number of people around him in his world that if he could just open up and embrace that and let go of being alone. We've talked about, you know, the freedom and flexibility it gives him to do whatever he wants. If he would surrender some of that in return for that commitment and engagement, he wouldn't be alone. And he might find that the net trade off is a big positive.
 
We haven't seen him to this point show any willingness or recognition of there is a trade off to be made there, and it might be favorable to do so. So I agree with you. I think the unspoken line at the end of this is, even with you, I will continue to be alone.
 
Jenna: I hate to be that cynical, because I want to read it and go, oh, that's so sweet. He loves her. But I'm also like, hmm, is anything really fixed here? And I don't think it is.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's. It's striking that there's no comment or commitment to, you know, I'm going to make a change, or, you know, I know I will never do these, make these same mistakes again or anything.
 
Jenna: In the season one finale, we get Don's Kodak pitch, which some fans see is his greatest work in the whole series. In this season two finale, we get another memorable conference room scene.
 
PP&L is meeting with Bert, Roger and Don as partners, and Duck is there across the table next to the Brits. They announce that Duck will be the new president. Duck says, my goodness, obviously, I accept. I will treat the founders of Sterling Cooper with the respect they deserve.
Notice that he doesn't say the partners of Sterling Cooper because that would also include Don. What did you think about Duck's acceptance speech?
 
Steve: We know that he knows all about it, so the fake modesty rubs me the wrong way. I assume Duck is a little buzzed because we know he's back on the sauce and that's been a problem for him. The scene starts out with just that continuation of this overconfidence. He feels like he's got all the loose ends tied up now. Everything's proceeding as planned.
 
It's now his meeting and he's basking in the joy and glow of this. As far as he knows, Don Draper has no idea this sort of detail is coming. And now he's, he's drawing a line in the sand to say, hey, this is a company that's going to be run by accounts, very focused, you know, on the bottom line way we are not going to be hostage or prisoner to all the foibles of creative, you know, that, that we've heard Duck criticize in the past and have been this big source of friction. So Duck is at the peak of the mountain at this point. He's on the summit, basking in the glow of the sun up there.
 
Jenna: Duck's vision is to grow. The bigger they are, the cheaper they can be in terms of television. And he says there's no time for creative to be in charge. It can't be running the show. There's no reason for us to be tied to creatives fantasies of persuasion, he says.
 
And I thought it was a little bit weird for him to be so averse to Don when Roger was the one who definitively turned him down for a partnership. I wondered if maybe he was focused on Don just because he views Roger and Bert as being maybe less hands on in a day to day sense.
 
I really expected Don to be curling his lip and throwing a tantrum, but his California cool remains intact as he pauses here. They turn to Don and Don says, I think it sounds like a great agency. Duck is the man to run it. I just don't think I'll be a part of it. And everybody in the room is shocked. He says, if this is the agency you want, Duck is the man for the job.
 
And Duck says, see what I mean? Artistic temperament. He's just like, he loves this room and hearing his own voice and saving the day.
 
Steve: It's all projection, right? Because what Don has said very coolly, calmly, quietly, he just flash froze the entire room. And where is all the emotion and the sputtering and now the increasing vitriol coming from? It's from Duck, because suddenly Don's trying to tip over the apple cart.
 
But even here, we can see Duck sees a path to success because they can replace Don Draper in creative. They can survive without him. He knows Don is not going to walk away from his career and his non compete contract. Duck feels he's got the ace up his sleeve in that whatever Draper says here, he's going to end up sticking around.
 
Jenna: So he plays the ace. You can either honor your contract or walk out that door and start selling insurance.
 
I don't have a contract.
 
Steve: Yeah. And just that statement, Just the bare simple statement. And then, of course, all eyes are looking around. You know, PP&L had no idea. Duck had no idea.
 
Jenna: He looks at Roger and Roger goes, we're close. We didn't think we needed one.
 
Steve: Duck realizes at that moment that he's whatever it is, the Wile E. Coyote out on the tree branch, sawing away. And we can start to see Duck's world spiraling out of control.
 
Jenna: Now, Don says, I sell products, not advertising. I can't see as far into the future as Duck, but if the world is still here on Monday, we can talk. And he leaves.
 
And Duck is absolutely full on tantrum mode. And he has this amazing line. He says, let him go. It'll take a second to find some kid who can write a prose poem to a potato chip.
 
Okay, first of all, I feel like Mad Men fans should 100% write prose poems to potato chips. And this should be a thing. So please send us yours, because I need that in my life.
 
But second, Duck really does think anyone can do this creative job. It does not have to be memorable or life-changing. It doesn't have to be a 10 if they'll buy a 6. And that is so antithetical to Don's skill and his genius. You know, it takes the art out of the equation and it becomes about widgets.
 
And it might be correct and practical and less painful, but also less beautiful. I mean, maybe Duck's vision is ultimately better for a financially viable company.
 
Steve: I don't think it's that either man is necessarily wrong. I think it's a decision that needs to be made by ownership of what kind of firm they want to have. And if we make the analogy to cooking, you know, is cooking art, or is it science?
 
And really, this development is forcing PP&L now to make a decision here of which way do they want to go? And if they go the science route, they're going to kiss goodbye to Don Draper, which it seems all along he was a major attraction of this acquisition, from their perspective.
 
You can see the daylight forms between Duck and the PP L folks, especially as Duck, you know, and in a very sort of American way, is very expressive of his fury and emotions about this development. Physically slams the table in the midst of this meeting, and you've got these buttoned down Brits. And just as we build up to the finale of this scene, I'll recall Bert Cooper's comment from when they first talked about the merger: never trust the Brits.
 
Jenna: Duck's temper tantrum in this meeting is his downfall. Every time he's held onto his professionalism, except maybe that slip with Pete in an earlier scene in this episode. And here, when it matters most, he slams his hand on the table. He's childish, and he lost.
 
They ask him to excuse them for a minute, and after he leaves, Roger says, this doesn't affect the merger, does it? And St. John says, no, he never could hold his liquor. And the Brits have been pouring it down his throat since he approached them with this particular deal. So that is an awfully cold death sentence for Duck.
 
Steve: It really is. And the past tense there. He never could hold his liquor. As if he's gone already. He's physically out of the room, but you can tell he's out of the firm at this point, in St. John's view, yeah, it's cold and brutal. Duck has gone from the summit now to the dark pits of Moria.
 
Jenna: So Don heads back to his own office, where Joan tells him, your wife called. She wants you to come home.
 
He doesn't reveal much to Joan, but he says that she should go home, too. And she mentions that Greg's hospital is on alert, so we know she's still with him in spite of what happened the last episode.
 
And when Joan offers Don his briefcase, she says, your bag.
I don't need it, he says.
 
He didn't need his luggage from home in California, and now that he's going home, he doesn't need his office briefcase. And maybe that's because he thinks Duck's going to be in charge of the company. Or maybe because the world is going to end. Or maybe it's because Betty has asked him home and that's what he wants to focus on when he goes there, finally.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it's such a breakthrough in this moment that Betty has asked him to come home. I think if the episode ended right here, it would be a really satisfying wrap to season two. But it doesn't end here. We've got another epic scene that's going to hit here between Peggy and Pete.
 
Jenna: I have that exact thing in my notes. In any other show, the Don and Duck showdown would be more than enough of a wow factor finale scene. But it's Mad Men, so there's a topper.
 
Now Pete is leaning in the doorway to his office and he invites Peggy in for a drink, which she accepts. He's really smirky and obviously into her and they sit on the couch where they had sex the second time. Okay, seriously, I really think it would be much better fitting if that encounter had created their baby and not when she let him into her apartment. Just because of this particular conversation happening right here.
 
And Pete is talking about the end of the world and he says Trudy would care, but she doesn't know me. But you do. And I know you. I wonder why he thinks Peggy knows him.
Steve: And I also wonder why he thinks he knows Peggy. Because isn't Peggy amongst the most professional people in that office? I mean, she doesn't show her cards to anyone. So this presumption of Pete that somehow he knows Peggy. I'm thinking Pete, no. No, you really don't. You have slept with her twice and fathered a child with her, but you don't know her.
 
Jenna: I think this is a thing. And forgive me, I will for sure grovel about this too if I ever meet Matt Weiner. But I think he thinks that they have this great connection and love story that's tangled and they just can't grow together. I don't think that.
 
I think Joan and Roger are more that story. I think Joan and Roger do have a love story and they don't work together. I think Pete is just creepy and selfish and Peggy is too kind with too much of a read on what's value-added to fall for Pete, especially now.
 
So Matt Weiner says he loves every chance to put these two together in the commentary. But it's just like Pete glaring at Peggy or staring wistfully at her. It's never some magical connection that I wish they could work out, you know?
 
Elisabeth Moss has a lot of powerful scenes in this series, but this one right here, it's near the very top.
 
Steve: I think it's Pete who tees it up, right, because he is in full confession mode. The end of the world is nigh. He's laying it all on the lines. And for a character who's as conniving and calculating as Pete Campbell, this really seems out of character for him.
 
He talks about, you know me, I think you're perfect. I wish I had picked you then. I love you, I want to be with you. Did you know that? I mean, he's laying it all out there for Peggy and he's vulnerable and exposed here.
 
And I feel we are getting truth from Pete. I agree with all your other points, and I've just said I don't think Pete really knows Peggy. But does he feel the sentiments he's expressing here to her in this moment? I think he honestly does.
 
Jenna: And I think he thinks he thinks he loves her.
Steve: Yeah, he thinks he does. And I think Vincent Kartheiser does a great job in this scene of conveying it. Pete is vulnerable in this moment.
 
Jenna: Peggy, absorbing this confession of love from Pete, says, I could have had you in my life forever if I wanted to. I could have shamed you into being with me, but I didn't want to.
 
And she closes her eyes before she gives her confession. And this is the one father Gil has been pushing her to make all season long. She says, you got me pregnant. I had a baby and I gave it away.
 
And Pete, ever articulate, goes, what?
She says, I had your baby and I gave it away.
And she says, very honestly, she says, I wanted other things. She talks about this finally.
 
We haven't ever gotten to hear her express any of these feelings. She says, one day you're there and then all of a sudden there's less of you. And you wonder where that part went, if it's living somewhere outside of you. And you keep thinking, maybe you'll get it back. And then you realize it's just gone.
 
And Matt Weiner says, you're supposed to think that this is about the baby, but also that it applies to their relationship. I don't know, it just makes a lot more sense to me applied to the baby. And, you know, Peggy has never revealed to the audience how she feels or thinks about the baby. It does seem fitting that she says this to Pete.
 
Steve: And I'm with you on Elisabeth Moss's performance in this scene as she conveys this. It is so perfect and so powerful and you feel she's controlling herself and her own emotions and sharing a truth that she knows is devastating for Pete to hear, but he needs to hear it, especially in the face of what he's just said to her.
 
And then the contrast here, the other direction, just masterful by Vincent Kartheiser as we see Pete start to disintegrate in front of us, really, I think maybe the mirror is to Duck's character's disintegration in the prior scene. But in the Duck disintegration, there's a lot more energy and fury and emotion wrapped up in it externally and being displayed in the Pete scene. It is all internal and we are just watching a man dissolve in front of us. And it is so touching and profound the way he portrays this down to the single tear which emerges from his eye as. As the scene closes for him. It's such a powerful scene on both sides.
 
Jenna: And yes, Pete invited Peggy into his office hoping for a good time. I mean, he had a completely different expectation about how this whole thing was going to go. As you say, like Duck from his last meeting.
 
And when she says this to him, I had your baby and I gave it away, he doesn't ask anything about the baby. He doesn't say, oh, Peggy, that must have been really hard for you, or even tell her that's really unfair not to tell me earlier. You know, I had no chance to see the baby or, you know, anything.
 
He is selfish enough to say, why would you tell me that? She should have just kept it to herself because it would have been a lot more convenient for him, I guess. Pete, yuck.
 
But she has to tell him. It isn't just unburdening herself, as Father Gil urged her to do. He keeps coming at her periodically, and she has decided not to have him in her life. And the only way she can really get this message across is to tell him this truth. She doesn't want to keep opening this door between them. This information is the best way to keep it closed.
 
Steve: Yeah, and there's no cruelty in the way she tells it. I mean, she tells it bluntly, directly, and she knows it's devastating. But there's no cruelty here. It's something that needs to be expressed.
 
In the commentary, Matt Weiner mentions that we've got Pete in a black suit here, which I think further emphasizes this is a serious moment of adulthood and maturity in Pete's life as he makes this confession of his feelings for Peggy. And then again, it all gets dissolved away in just a disassembly of all these assumptions and him thinking that somehow he was in a position of control or a position of revealing something that would be favorably received. And it's quite the opposite.
 
Jenna: And let's point out, Peggy doesn't cry in this scene. It's emotional, but she doesn't cry. We should give Pete a little bit of credit. He believes her when she tells him this. He doesn't doubt that the baby was his or that she's making up the story. He accepts Pete this as truth from her. He knows she's trustworthy like that.
 
Steve: Well, I think he's in total shock as well, right. So where does Pete's conniving brain go next? I wouldn't doubt he's going to be speculating on that kind of thing down the road, but in the moment, his jaw is on the ground and that gesture when Peggy puts her hand on his shoulder as she stands up and walks out of his office and just. Just leaves him crumbling there, seated on the sofa. It's such a powerful, beautiful, painful moment. It's everything I love about this series.
 
Jenna: And it reminds us that she has had to walk through this journey by herself and carry this herself. And so you can feel this pain for him and this shock for him. And she was alone and she carried it, and here she is getting through it. I mean, talk about just strength and dignity.
 
Next, we see Don walking into the house in Ossining. Betty is on the couch. The kids are in front of the TV eating popcorn. He sits next to her. It's picture perfect.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it seems the look from Betty as she looks over at Don seated on the couch, it seems like there's a very slight smile on her face. It does, I think, convey that sense of, you know, things are back where they should be now, given the journey they've been on through the second season.
 
But things are reset back to this point. And although there's a lot of uncertainty going forward, you get the sense that she is genuinely welcoming him back and that he genuinely is happy to be back.
 
Jenna: So Don is home with his family, but Pete is still at the office, sitting in the dark with his rifle, alone.
 
And Peggy is in bed. She is saying her prayers. She turns out the light and she goes to sleep. And you really get the sense that Father Gil said, I know you believe in God.  I saw that when I first met you. She makes a sign of a cross as she finishes her prayers. And she looks like she's sleeping soundly. So this confession that she has given, which she's been pressed to share all season. It does seem to have brought her some peace to have told this truth finally.
 
Steve: Yeah, it really seems like this is the contrast between Pete, who's now twisting in anguish in a dark place, and she's unburdened herself of this big secret and the hard decisions she had to make. And she feels lighter and better for having done that.
 
Jenna: In the season one finale, Don and Betty sat at the kitchen table together. Don only sat down reluctantly, and Betty told him that Carlton was having an affair, and Francine told her about it. He was really evasive and there were walls between them.
 
And here in the season two finale, they're in the kitchen, she's washing the dishes, the kids are in bed, and she says, I have to talk to you. And he turns off the radio. He listens with his full attention.
 
And they sit down at this kitchen table together again. I'm pregnant, she says, and she looks scared and he doesn't say anything. He reaches for her hand and she gives it to him. And they sit together and they do look at each other. It isn't joyful, but they're not alone.
 
Steve: Yeah, they're not alone. And we don't know where this relationship's headed and we don't know what sort of decision they're going to make about the baby. But again, they're back together and facing it together, as opposed to, you know, the two solitudes that they've spent most of this season.
 
 
Jenna: As we wrap up this episode and season two, I have a spoiler reference to notice and a number of other spoilers in the mini discussion ahead. So I really don't want to mess this up for anybody who hasn't seen the final episode, so maybe skip ahead a few seconds.
 
Of course, the Meditations in an Emergency episode title refers to Frank O'Hara's book, which we discussed earlier, and to a number of emergencies. We've got the Cuban Missile Crisis and Betty's pregnancy, the company sale and Duck's meltdown all among them.
 
But when we think ahead to the series finale closing shot of Don Draper in lotus position meditating, that is some next level connective threading right there. Well done, Mad Men people. Well done.
 
 
So let's take a look at where our Big Six characters started in the pilot and at the beginning of this season and where they are now.
 
Betty opened the show as a people-pleasing, pretty housewife who didn't question her husband. And she started season two suspecting Don of infidelity and demanding more accountability from his behavior.
 
After kicking him out and then finding herself newly pregnant and asking him back home. Is she right back where she started at the beginning of season two?
 
Steve: I don't think she is, because of the changes in her character and her willingness to protect her own agency and assert what she wants out of life. So I feel like, although from a distance, you might say she's back where she started from, especially if we assume that someone like a Don Draper isn't going to change his colors.
 
I think her circumstances may look very similar, but I think inside is where the change is taken and there's a maturation and an empowerment that she's experienced and it's going to serve her in the future in a way it. It hasn't to this point.
 
Jenna: For Peggy, she started the pilot on her first day at Sterling Cooper, subjected to stares and rude comments from everybody in the office. At the end of season one, she gets promoted to copywriter and has a baby.
 
By the end of season two, she's the head copywriter. She's lost the ponytail symbol of little girlness. She calls Don by his first name. And she's gained the trust of many co workers as someone professional and dependable. She's got a new office and she finally told Pete about their baby.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think she's achieved the status of being a professional woman working in Manhattan who's, you know, running her life the way she wants to. She's pushed through all sorts of sexism and people who didn't recognize or appreciate her talents.
 
And I also think, you know, if we think about the key players for her going forward, assuming the characters stay the same in the office as we've known them to this point, she's proven her value in a way and weathered the loss of her, you know, father figure sponsor in the office in terms of Freddy Rumsen. So again, she's been a real high flyer, and I think she's in a more powerful, successful place than we've ever seen her to this point.
 
Jenna: Joan opened the pilot as a husband-hunting, know-it-all head secretary who wasn't ashamed of her curves or bothered by sexist comments.
 
She ends season one breaking off a long affair with Roger, and by the end of season two, she's engaged to Greg, although nobody can be happy about that, including her.
 
Steve: It seems like a tragic arc to me because we've spoken about the good aspects of the relationship with Roger, but as well that there were inherent limitations to it and clearly he wasn't willing to leave his wife for her.
 
She seeks out what she's been told and what society expects her to seek out, and she's on the path to obtaining it. And we can see, you know, the dark currents of where this reality is something far short of the ideal. And I think we all have that nagging sense that how happy is she really with Greg? And how much of it is just her telling herself this is what she's supposed to be doing. So I don't feel good about where she's ended up here.
 
We've seen that little glimmer of professional success that got snuffed out, you know, where she was doing more. It feels this. This has not been a great development for Joan to this point. And she's getting older as well. Right. And then even watching Roger, you know, kick Mona to the curb for Jane, something he would never do for Joan, it's been a tough go for. For Joan.
 
Jenna: See, I don't agree with that. I think that if Joan were interested in Roger, he would. He would happily be with her, I think. I think she rejects him, not the other way around.
 
Steve: But, yeah, yeah, I could. I could see that. I could see that.
 
Jenna: Roger, for his part, was married to Mona in the pilot, having affairs through season one, then recommitted to Mona after his heart attacks at the end of the first season. By the end of season two, he's engaged to Jane, divorcing Mona and selling his company.
 
Steve: There's a lot of talk about Betty as a child. If you say to me, who's the child? I think my first choice is Roger. It seems that he's aging poorly, trying to cling to things or go back to things whose time has passed. For someone in his position, he's impulsively seeking out the unattainable, and he's going to struggle with it.
 
So I love the charm of the character. I love the funny lines. I think John Slattery plays him, you know, magnificently. But I have to say I'm left a little wanting in terms of Roger. It's. It's like, come on, Roger, you're smarter than that, or you have better judgment than that, or you're more mature than that. And it seems, you know, recently he's disappointed me on a number of fronts.
 
Jenna: I think in other hands, Roger's character would be so vile, but John Slattery's appeal is just so undeniable. And I think he gives us a sense of forgiveness, really, for so many of his mistakes. I mean, yes, Roger is childish, but as I mentioned when we opened, Don certainly has his moments. We can throw that at Pete and Paul and Harry and I mean, everybody's got their childishness. So it's, again, not fair to ascribe that only to Betty. But Roger certainly has been pretty childish this season, particularly.
 
Steve: It's funny how far charisma goes in terms of making Roger a sympathetic character, because your little thought experiment of imagining an uncharismic Roger, I think he'd be one of the most hated characters in the series.
 
Jenna: Speaking of, Pete was a smug upstart about to be married in the pilot. At the end of season two, he's a smug company boy. He's lost his father and his inheritance, but you can't take away his petulant ambition.
 
Steve: I think back to when I saw Pete the first time and just how much hatred he inspired in me. And now I just watch him sort of getting. Taking knock after knock, hit after hitting, bumping into his own limitations.
 
I have to admit I feel a sneaking sympathy for Pete, although I'm not sure he always deserves it. And I also do continue to take glee in his comeuppance when he sort of gets what he deserves. He's his own worst enemy again, like so many of the characters seem to be in this series.
 
And he's getting older and maturing and learning things, I think, as he goes too. So I think it's interesting to see how the toll of life affects Pete and his mentalities. You know, is he going to be able to get out of his own way here and leverage some of these learnings and lessons, or is he going to continue to step on his own feet?
 
Jenna: Pete reminds me of Snape in Harry Potter in that he is such a fascinating character, very compelling. His arc is interesting. You love to hate him periodically, most of the time, but he also will break your heart. There's something about him that makes you care. And especially as we progress.
 
Steve: Well, and we've talked about this, I think some of the things we hate about Pete are things many of us see in ourselves. Right? And that's, that's why it, it gives it a. A harder bite or a. A salience that maybe it wouldn't. We wouldn't feel if we also didn't share that ambition at times or feel that selfishness or whatever it is.
 
So I think it's a brilliant. He's a brilliant character. If he wasn't so relatable, I think it would be easy to hate on him and he'd be rather shallow. But it's that relatable characteristic that gives him depth and Gives him a salience to each of us. And again, nobody wants to see themselves in Pete, right? Like, we're all like, no, no, no, I'm not like Pete.
 
Jenna: And finally, our last Big Six character, Don, started the series joking about marrying Midge, discussing eloping with Rachel, denying his cheating to Betty. He became a partner in his company, he leveled up his friendship with Roger, broke up his marriage, and he ends season two with a California reset to try his family life again, even though his work life might be radically different.
 
In the last episode, Don told Anna, people don't change. So now we get to see if starting over is a viable plan for Don.
 
Steve: I wonder if Don's philosophy of people don't change is a self fulfilling one for him. Because if he could embrace the possibility of change, then does that open up doors for him to do the things to make the changes that he needs to make and is sort of, people don't change now a cop out in a crutch to just excuse that lack of willingness to invest in making the necessary changes.
 
And this is what ends up trapping Don Draper and is so tragic for someone who obviously is intelligent and driven and has achieved so much in his life. I mean, he ends the season with a level of wealth he's never fathomed previously. And yet I think we're left with this nagging concern. If you stay the way you are, Don, you're going to get yourself back into the exact same situations you found yourself to this point.
Do you, do you ever want to get off the treadmill here or do you just want to stay on it?
 
Jenna: Yes, you can see it's just his fear in the way, like when he told Rachel that love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons. When he says people don't change, this is a man who is wearing a mask to protect himself. And it's fear that keeps him from taking it off.
 
And you have to take it off if you're going to change. This loneliness that he embraces, the cost of or exclusion of many other things that could bring him joy, I think is very tragic.
 
 
 
We'd like to give a listener shout out to Shelley H. Of Florida. Thank you so much for listening and supporting us on social media.
 
 
Here's a podcast programming note. We'll be taking a short break for a week or two before we come back with episodes about the phenomenal Mad Men Season 3. We are already looking forward to next season. The next thing will be better . . . because it always is!
 
We appreciate all the listeners rewatching with us.
 
 
Steve: That's it for this episode of all things Mad Men, from Chip and Dip to Zou Bisou. Visit our website, Mad Men C to Z.com to vote for your favorite Sterling lines and to share your opinions on our Double Dip questions for each episode.
 
Jenna: You can find us on Instagram and YouTube at Mad Men C to Z. And please listen, like, and subscribe. That's what the podcast's for!
 
Steve: Thanks for listening, everybody.