The Arrangements S3E4 Transcript

This is the full, human-edited transcript of the Mad Men C to Z podcast for Season 3, Episode 4: The Arrangements.
You can listen to the podcast episode here.

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Mad Men C to Z S3E4 Full Podcast Transcript for The Arrangements
 
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 rewatch.
 
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 Mad Men Season 3, Episode 4, The Arrangements. This episode was written by Andrew Colville, Matthew Weiner, and Kater Gordon, directed by Michael Uppendahl.
The episode takes place in June 1963.
 
Steve: The episode opens with Gene out driving with Sally and Bobby in the Lincoln. Gene isn't driving, he's in the passenger seat. Sally's driving.

There's a car behind them which beeps its horn, and Gene bellows out the window that it should go around, because of course they don't have a student driver placard on.
 
And Sally's way too young to be a student driver, at least in the legal sense of things.
The Lincoln is this, you know, giant full-sized car from the early 1960s.
It's just Grandpa letting his favorite grandchild drive the car.
Sally looks pleased as punch to be in the driver's seat.
 
Jenna : Yes, as we noted in the last episode when Sally was reading a long adult level book to Grandpa Gene, she appreciates somebody who spends time with her, somebody who teaches her things, and someone, even if it's not the soundest plan, who treats her like an adult, or closer to an adult. And her parents mostly act like she's in the way.
 
Steve: Yeah, and I think it's there's a real truth to this, because I think in many children's lives there's at least one grandparent who maybe sees them or interacts with them in a special way that creates that bond and relationship that perhaps is lacking elsewhere or just isn't available elsewhere.
So I know as I watched this scene, I could really imagine myself and how pleased I would be if my grandfather had taken me out driving in his car.
 
Jenna : In the next scene, Peggy's at her sister's house.
Pope John XXIII has died, and Peggy's mother has been grieving.
Pope John, for the record, convened the Second Vatican Council and replaced Latin in the Mass with the vernacular language.
 
Remember in an earlier episode, Peggy suggested that Father Gill should be simpler during the homily, that it's the only part that's in English, and Pope Paul VI succeeded him for the next fifteen years.
 
So Peggy and her sister are having a conversation. And again, the rhythm between Peggy and her sister, and also Pete and his brother Bud - I think the writing is so on point, because it's these little tiny bits that establish this great close relationship with them.
 
They’re talking about her maintenance man in her apartment, and her sister says, well, maybe it's nice to have a little attention.
And she says, he does not look the way you want him to look.
 
It's nice that we've got these sisters together. But then it becomes clear that Peggy's got something on her mind and she's kind of trying it out with Anita before she springs it on her mother.
 
Steve: Peggy wants to move to Manhattan, so she's really ready to leave this world completely. The only thing that's holding her there at this moment is that she still lives in the old neighborhood.
 
And it's pretty clear from Anita's reaction that this is not something that she wants to happen or thinks is right for Peggy. And we know that goes doubly for Peggy's mom.
 
Jenna : See, I had a slightly different take, because it seemed to me like her sister was surprised, but she came around to being supportive.
 
She was saying, wow, you really have been thinking about this. And Peggy lines up all her reasons, which are logical: the extra time and the train fare, and sometimes cab fare if it's late. And her sister really seems receptive to this.
They both understand what a bomb it's going to be to their mother.
 
So I think Anita maybe has a little more trepidation about that, whereas Peggy is pulling away and getting a little bit stronger.
 
And you can tell that Anita is really transitioning in her thinking about who Peggy is.
She's picturing her in Manhattan, and she asks, you're going to be one of those girls.
And Peggy already sees herself there. She says, I am one of those girls.
 
Steve: Yeah. I don't mean that Anita is opposed to it or trying to block it in any way. I just don't think she's mentally there. And exactly that. That was the line I was thinking about of Anita, sort of looking down the road and saying, hey, you're going to be one of those girls.
 
And I just love Peggy's response, you know, I am one of those girls. This, this, this ship has already sailed, Anita.
 
Jenna : It's nice to see Anita a little more supportive and open and receptive, I guess, to Peggy. With Father Gill, there was that rift between them, and maybe time has healed some things between them.
 
Steve: And I think if Anita was really fulfilled and happy in her world,
she would have much less at stake about Peggy's choices. And I always felt there was a bit of projection in terms of Anita's resistance to Peggy's going where she's headed.
 
And they sort of - they're both on the fence, and Anita is leaning back from whence she came, and Peggy's leaned forward into this new world of possibilities.
 
Jenna : I think that makes so much sense when you think about anybody who's jealous of somebody else.
 
If they were truly happy and fulfilled in their own space, they wouldn’t really have the energy to be so concerned about keeping score for who's where.
 
Steve: That's always the thread, isn't it? Your choices reflect the failures or mistakes of my own choices, and then that makes your choices threatening to me.
Whereas if we think of the reverse, where I'm super satisfied and fulfilled and in my perfect place, I don't have anything at stake with your choices and I don't throw rocks at them.
 
Maybe I'm just curious about them because they're so different, but they don't threaten me in any way.
So this relationship between Anita and Peggy is in that grayer area.
 
 
Jenna : In the next scene at the Sterling Cooper offices, Aaron Stanford plays Ho Ho. Not to be confused with Aaron Staton, who plays Ken.
He was the lead in the TV series Twelve Monkeys. He was also in the TV series Nikita, and he played Pyro in the X Men movie universe.
 
Here, Ho Ho is Pete's college friend, who is incredibly enthusiastic about promoting jai alai to the U.S., and its potential for eclipsing baseball as the nation's favorite sport. He's got money to burn on an advertising budget, and the kind people at Sterling Cooper are here to help him.
 
Steve: He's just some kid who's inherited this money and they're happy to relieve him of it. From an account spending standpoint, Pete is, you know, salivating and rubbing his hands in glee.
 
We can see Harry and Paul and Sal are equally enjoying it. Lane's there. And really the only person who calls into question this game plan is Don.
 
Jenna : Let's talk about jai alai for just a minute.
Francisco Churruca, or Patxi, from Spain, was considered by many to be the greatest jai alai player.
 
Jai alai itself was introduced to the U.S. in the early 1900s, and while its popularity has declined, you can still see it in Florida. I remember seeing signs for jai alai when it was still in Connecticut. [Laughing] I think Don Draper was right about Americans having trouble with that J.
 
We get a truth call out in this scene when Ho Ho suggests that, just like a presidential address, every network should carry his jai alai special at the same time.
He says, no one's ever done it. And Harry starts to explain, well, that's because . . . and then he looks around the table and he stops himself and he decides to agree with Ho ho.
That's true.
 
I agree - I see Lane, Pete, and Harry and Paul all ready to pull as much money from this guy as possible. Don is less enthused, so much so that after this meeting, he says to Lane, he saw a loaf of bread thrown off a truck in the Depression, and it was more dignified than this meeting.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's an interesting glimpse into the Don Draper code here,
where he's thinking of, you know, Horace Sr. and what his view is going to be of this, because Don knows Horace Sr. is sharp and has built this empire.
So he's going to know exactly what's going on at Sterling Cooper with his son, also the links to Bert Cooper. So this is going to be personal for Horace Senior, potentially.
 
And Don just wants to make sure that they're not so eagerly slaughtering the calf that they fail to see the bull coming up behind them.
 
Jenna : So often Don Draper makes an ugly choice, a choice that most people would think is beneath them.
But here he's standing up for someone just because he thinks it's the right thing.
 
And maybe it's a little self interested because he does mention keeping Bert Cooper happy, but mostly it seems like genuine concern for acting ethically. And we don't always get that from Don.
 
Steve: I think it's a rational business decision about not alienating a major player, a rich and powerful person in Horace Senior, just because his son is a bit of a doofus. Perhaps there's an ethical component,
I see it more as just good business. You know, you don't want to poison the well.
 
Jenna : I'm always trying to track with Don Draper when I can find a moment when he does something purely for somebody else.
So it's an interesting thing to see that you do think the percentage falls more heavily toward the self interest than the other.
 
We'll just keep looking for those examples, because they are really few and far between with this character, which makes him interesting.
 
I also wanted to point out where Pete is making this argument to Don,
you know, Lane is not concerned at all about this. He says he's seen more defenseless clients, and Pete really wants to make the sale.
 
And when Don presses on, talking about the connection to Bert Cooper and how he might be unhappy with how his son was treated, Pete has this counter: He says he has a dream, and it's our job to make it come true.
 
And I saw this as Pete trying to appeal to Don with a really specific poetic angle with that argument. For Lane, you'll make a practical dollars and cents argument, and for Don, you'll make this big picture argument about we're making his dream come true, we're bringing the vision to life.
 
And I thought, that's a great appeal, actually, Pete. You've got a good read on him.
 
Steve: I like your take on that. It's the account man's creative pitch to the creative director, who seems to be balking at slaughtering this calf. I love it when Don walks away and Lane says, nicely done to Pete.
 
And I think we see this maturation of Pete's character. He is a good account man. He knows what he's doing.
He's now branching out into the aspects of trying to manage creative, which, you know, we've seen from Duck Phillips can be a bear.
 
And we can see that Lane is there to make this thing commercially viable, to make money. And Lane doesn't care whether the dream comes true or not. Lane just needs to, you know, make it rain at this New York office.
 
 
Jenna: Back at the Draper house, Gene pushes Betty to have a conversation at the kitchen table, and she does her very best to avoid it.
 
He chides her for smoking, sleep, saying, I don't like watching you commit suicide, and neither do your kids.
I notice Don never says anything about her smoking.
Of course, it might be hypocritical since he smokes so often, too.
You know, Gene does not have the nicest delivery system, but he does really care about his daughter.
 
He's made arrangements for after his death, and Betty insists she doesn't want to talk about it.
And he says, we talk about it now, and then we don't talk about it. That's the idea.
 
Steve: Every time I see Betty when she's not done up and thinking, oh, she's supposed to not look good, and it's like, oh, oh, wow. It's just an inherently beautiful person whose hair isn't done and isn't wearing makeup. It cracks me up every time.
 
I love this generational scene between the two. Probably because I've been dealing with the same thing with one of my parents very recently,
only it's the other way around. I want to talk about it, and they don't. But it always seems like in these types of interactions, there's one party wanting to get things arranged and sorted out, and there's another party who really doesn't want to think about that day when that comes.
 
Jenna : So he walks her through very simply what his plans are. He talks about her mother's furs and she's going to run the show - she took him in.
 
She barely says anything and it irritates him.
So he snaps. He says, oh, you don't want to hear about it, Scarlett O’Hara. And then he says it's his fault that she's sensitive and he should have prepared her better for the real world.
 
He's this man facing his mortality and looking at his adult daughter and he finds her lacking.
 
She lashes back at him, blaming him for upsetting her in her condition. As she accuses him of being selfish. She says,
I'm your little girl, and I know it must be horrible to be looking at whatever you're looking at, but can't you keep it to yourself?
Nice, Betty.
 
That's exactly what selfish Pete said to Trudy when she was talking about wanting a child. Like, just keep it to yourself.
 
And it's so hard to make excuses for her. Here he's at the end of his life and she wants to deny it because she loves him,
but what better way to make somebody feel lonely in it than to say, oh, that sounds horrible. Just keep it to yourself. It's a really ugly moment.
 
Steve: He takes his shot too, here, you know, where he says, it's probably why you married this joker. And we know the fissures in that marriage. So that probably strikes close to heart for Betty because she knows there's absolute truth in the issues of who she's married.
 
It's an awkward, painful scene, but it strikes me as very real and true to so many parent child relationships out there.
 
 
Jenna : Back at the office, the office guys let Don know their Patio commercial director dropped out. Don suggests Sal could do it.
Sal is really happy with the suggestion, and Don doesn't seem worried about it at all, although Ken and Harry seem a little bit nervous because it would be Sal's first time directing a commercial.
 
Steve: I like when Don's walking through his reasoning to say, hey, you know, it's a single shot, we're just copying something else, I guess, minimizing what's required from a directorial perspective.
 
Here again, we have Don in the moment, the man of action, the man of a solution, navigating through the crisis across the office.
 
Jenna : We also see Peggy placing an ad on the board of Sterling Cooper for a roommate. She's going through with this plan. She wants to live in Manhattan.
 
Her ad is pretty serious, but so is Peggy. It says allergic to cats but will tolerate dogs. Oh, Peggy, you're not even a dog person. [Laughing] You can do better.
 
But honestly, this is the ad that Peggy needs.
I just don't think she should have put it in the break room at Starling Cooper.
 
Steve: Yeah, I have the same vibe that this is just bait, and it's going to attract a reaction, and her name's on it, so anybody can see who it is who's advertising for a roommate.
 
And like you say, it just reeks of the seriousness of Peggy.
And it's going to attract some attention. You just know it's coming back.
 
 
Jenna: At the Draper residence, Don is at home reading the paper, and he sees Gene opening a box of memorabilia with Bobby in the other room.
And I had wondered why Gene didn't seem to have much relationship with Bobby when he spent so much time with Sally. So it was kind of a relief to see this, even though there were also some concerns.
 
Steve: Yeah, to be clear, it's a large box, and Gene's handing Bobby a great big kitchen knife to open it with.
You’re thinking, okay, this seems like a bad idea because Bobby's pretty young and because you're just imagining this knife plunging into somebody.
 
So we can see that - I don't know what we want to call it - that sort of irresponsibility of the grandparents, where sometimes they throw things at the grandkids a little faster than the overly protective parents might want.
 
But at the same time, it's a loving interaction between the two of them.
And the fact that they're going through this box of memorabilia together again seems to be a sign of Gene's love for his grandchildren.
 
Jenna : We have never talked on our podcast about the casting of multiple Bobbies on this show before, but it is a thing.
 
I think this is the third Bobby shown with a face, because a couple of times we've seen a Bobby with a bucket over his head and maybe another Bobby with the back of the head.
 
But there are also two prior actors, and this particular Bobby, who will stick around for a season or two, is played by Jared Gilmore,
who also played Prince Henry in the series Once Upon a Time.
 
So Gene is taking items out of the box, and Don is listening from the other room. And Gene takes a Prussian hat with a spike out, and he talks about the dried blood and how he shot lots of soldiers.
Bobby is really impressed.
 
But Don, who's been flicking eyes toward the other room as this has been going on, he stops it when Gene puts the hat on Bobby.
 
Steve: I think it's clear the two men have a very different perspective on war. So Gene served in the First World War, and his seems to be that traditional way of viewing it in terms of it was, you know, a martial triumph.
 
They have these souvenirs and mementos of this heroic experience.
We know from Don's Korea experience, this is a war that really ends in a draw. The finish line of the war is very close to where the front line started when it broke out.
 
And we're moving into the Vietnam era, which is going to further reinforce the idea of war as waste. War is pointless. War is just awful consequences. So this schism between the two of them, Gene's World War I victory and coming home to celebrate it, versus Don sort of war as this awful carnage where there is no winner.
 
In the commentary, Matt Weiner talks about this difference in attitudes, but also just this arrogance of youth about how they view the world as in the right way.
 
And yet we see Gene as having had this box of life put down in front of them there that they're unpackaging, realizing that this man has lived a full and interesting life, and gone abroad and seen and done all these different things.
 
So he may not be all there mentally now, and he's in this, his twilight years, but I think there's a natural friction between that, the current generation, the Don Draper generation, which is now in charge as the Gene generation is heading towards the exit, and Gene's trying to give Bobby a little peek into his world and his mementos.
 
And he's crossed the line here with having Bobby wear the helmet of a dead German.
 
Jenna : I don't think that Don is jealous of Bobby looking up to Gene and missing out on attention from his son. But I agree he does feel like this is a philosophical difference.
 
He doesn't want his son to make a wow moment out of death and war. It isn't the lesson he wants his son to take away.
 
And I get his problem with that, but I take issue with the fact that he isn't going through his box and talking with his son in a way that he wants to raise his son. He's just sitting there reading the paper, and he lets his son do whatever as long as he's not bothered.
 
So he won't talk to Bobby, except to intervene when somebody else is doing it wrong.
This is also something that we notice with Betty, particularly with Sally recently.
It's frustrating to see them having opinions and choices, but not really actively engaging and then having a problem when somebody does well.
 
Steve: And to be fair, Don Draper doesn't have a box, right? Dick Whitman has a box. And Don Draper can't unbox Dick Whitman stuff because that'll be a problem.
 
Jenna : I meant the box symbolically, of course. He has things he could share –
 
Steve: Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Totally understand your point. But again, I just, I think that barrier or obstacle to that kind of openness is crucial to keep in mind here. Right.
 
There's a major complication if Don Draper says, actually, here, let me unbox my life for you, which he hasn't done with Betty, and certainly not with his kids to this point.
 
Jenna : And you can see how hungry they both are for it.
 
Steve: I love the line when Gene says, you know, war makes a man of you. And that really does seem to encapsulate that old school attitude about it.
 
I really like Don's line back, which. It's a dead man's hat. Take it off. It's know that cost of war, the carnage, and it's not something we can celebrate or play with now. You know, a man died in that helmet.
 
Again, it rings really true to me, that tension between parents who want to grant the grandparents as much latitude as possible to interact with the grandchildren.
 
But at the same time, those grandparents hitting boundaries or lines that the parents don't want crossed, having to decide, you know, how strongly they resist or how active they are in blocking that.
 
Jenna : There's a funny button on this scene, too.
After Don takes the hat off Bobby and leaves the room,
Gene reaches into the box and pulls out a fan. And he opens it and he says, there was this girl . . . [Laughing]
And Bobby's staring at him, ready to hear whatever that story is going to be.
 
Steve: It's really funny. And again, I love the writing because it's the kind of way a grandpa would talk. And as the parent, you'd just be shaking your head going, what are you telling my son?
 
 
Jenna : The next scene is so memorable and so heartbreaking.
Kitty and Sal are at home and she's modeling her new nightgown for him and he's not interested.
She says, something's wrong, isn't it?
And Sal's response isn't that everything's okay.
 
He says instead,
no, don't say that. If she doesn't say something's wrong, maybe they can keep pretending that nothing is.
 
And we get a truth call out. As Kitty pushes on, she says,
the past few months - something's wrong.
That's not true. Sal says,
it is true, she insists.
 
And I like her line next when she says,
you know, I don't need that much. But I do need tending.
So Kitty here isn't asking for a beach house or furs or for him to go be the head of the television department.
 
And she's pointing out, rightly, that she's pretty low maintenance. But it is reasonable to talk about not being intimate with your healthy husband.
 
Steve: Yeah. And the scene is all the more heartbreaking to me, because if I put myself into Kitty's shoes, what am I concerned about? Is there someone else? Am I unappealing to him? Am I not what he really wants?
 
She has no idea of what the real cause is. I don't think it's even crossed her mind.
And we, as viewers, of course, know what the root of the problem is.
We're in the midst of watching this slow motion car accident, and right now Kitty's got the brakes jammed on and is skidding into the collision, and there's no way to avoid it.
 
You just feel such sympathy for Kitty's character in this moment. And I just want to shout out to Sarah Drew here in this scene, because I think she does a masterful job from start to finish.
She draws us in with her acting into our sympathy and concern for Kitty and her and Kitty's concern for the marriage.
 
And then as this scene evolves through,
you know, we ride right along with Sarah Drew. She's the one who carries us emotionally through it.
 
Jenna : So Sal opens up to Kitty about work. He says no one wants illustrations anymore. It's all photography. His job is disappearing and he's worried.
But now he says he has an opportunity to do something that really does have a future.
 
And it's worth noting that Don recommended him for this, the way that Freddy saw something in Peggy. Sal didn't lobby for this or push for this opportunity, but you can see it means a lot to him to have this chance.
 
And Kitty is really supportive of him. She asks questions until Sal walks her through the idea. He gets up and he mimics Ann Margret's performance as at the beginning of Bye Bye Birdie, but with the Patio ad.
 
Kitty is watching this performance.
She's watching her husband, realizing he's gay.
 
She's trying to smile and pretend everything is normal. She's trying to pretend it's a great ad, even. But every single thing has changed for her.
 
And Sarah Drew and Bryan Batt do this scene so beautifully. There's so much honesty and yet there's this giant lie between them.
She has so few lines as she makes this realization, but we can see her face completely change several times.
 
Her life is taking this very sharp turn. The pieces click together.
And from the beginning of the scene to the end,
Sal comes through it, relieved to have talked through his professional worries. And he's excited about the ad he's going to direct.
 
He's convinced that his pretense still exists, just as it has for their entire relationship.
And they're snuggling together now, completely split.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think this scene is a horror scene in the classic sense and definition of what horror is.
I think we can see Kitty's life dissolving right in front of her eyes. And Sarah Drew does such a great job of showing that dissolution through the scene. And it just builds and builds.
 
And all the while,
Sal is oblivious as he gets into, you know, conveying what's going to be in the commercial and his ideas for it and his enthusiasm.
 
And we're watching the two of them, and it's just such a contrast because by the end of the scene,
Sal feels better because he's gotten off his chest, his concerns and, you know, ambitions and enthusiasm for this opportunity that he's been presented with.
 
And simultaneously, Kitty's realized that the life she's built has been constructed on a lie and it's in ashes around her.
Sarah Drew's physical position in the end of the scene when they're cuddling, it's almost a defensive crouch, which I think just conveys her vulnerability at where she's found herself here, you know, which started with her dressed seductively and hoping to rekindle some romance with her husband.
 
Look where she's found herself at the end. The human catastrophe of it is so tragic and so touching.
 
 
Jenna : Back at the offices of Sterling Cooper, Don Burt Lane and Horace Cook Sr. are sitting down for a meeting.
Horace Cook Sr. is played by David Selby, who was on Falcon Crest and Dark Shadows as well as in The Social Network.
 
They're here to talk about his son's business idea.
In the meeting, they talk about there's no confidentiality, if you're family. And there's a truth call out: that's not strictly true, but you are family.
 
Did you think it was okay for them to go behind Ho Ho's back to have this meeting in the first place? Because Pete says, he's my age, he's an adult. I can't believe you want to talk to his daddy. And that's exactly what they're doing.
 
Steve: I think it's good business. If I imagine a scenario where Ho Ho doesn't have the leash to go out and do this, I think the father's appreciative, and they're good partners to bring it to his attention so he can rein his son in.
 
As it turns out, it's quite the opposite. Horace Sr. knows exactly what's going on. It's his son's money to waste, which Horace Sr. Is not afraid to tell them all. He's perfectly certain that his son will waste it.
 
Pete's resistance to this conversation is the account man. It's the Lane, you know, somebody needs fleecing, we're the ones to do it.
And then to me, it's just so depressing - this father knows exactly what they're telling him.
 
Jenna : Yes. Instead of thanking them for the consideration and looking to save his son money, he says his son is foolish.
He didn't earn his success, and maybe that's what he needs to be of value.
 
If Sterling Cooper doesn't take his money, somebody else will.
And that is a stunningly pragmatic take.
 
And I find this line so incredibly sad. He says,
when we put that money aside for him, he was a little boy.
We didn't know what kind of person we were making.
 
Steve: Yeah. There is a tragic sense to this conversation, and I really think it bookends the earlier conversation with Ho Ho. Because in the Ho Ho conversation, it's clear who's the mark at the table, who's the fool in this conversation.
 
It's almost the reciprocal where we realize they're not telling Horace Sr. anything he doesn't already know and hasn't thought about deeply and profoundly over the course of years.
 
And some of the words he says, again, they just strike me as so true to things I've experienced in my own life with friends and family,
where he says, my son lives in a cloud of success, but it is my success.
 
You can see through circumstances and regardless of intentions, we've arrived at a place now where Ho Ho has more money than brains.
 
Even the people with whom Ho Ho is trying to spend the money are circling back around to his father. It feels like a betrayal to me by Horace Sr. in this scene with these men talking about his son in that manner.
 
And then I think about, okay, is the betrayal just that he's openly acknowledging these truths, which everybody in the room realizes and is really then confidence that all we're worried about here? That he shouldn't own up to this with these outsiders? I don't know. This scene really gives me the ick.
 
Jenna : It's such a detached look at your child,
and it's so sad because you have all these dreams for your children, every possible good thing.
 
And then the world narrows those things for all of us, eventually.
Maybe you lose your opportunity to be a pro athlete, or to work your way up with bootstrap-pulling. Or maybe to be able to form healthy relationships.
 
And to have a father lose faith in his son that he can be something of value until he fails and rises again . . . it's not that he's wrong, but it is a really harsh take.
 
And Bert says, don't be so hard on yourself. And Horace Sr. replies,
Easy for you to say. He doesn't have your name.
So when he looks at his son, he feels he's failed.
 
Steve: Yeah, and I think if we go back to Matt Weiner's theme for this episode about generations dealing with each other, you know, this fits squarely within that.
 
And then the other part here, too is I think, how does all of this play in Don Draper's head? Because he has his own issues with his own parents and issues with his own children.
 
I was thinking that Don Draper must feel some sort of - I don't know what it is - affinity for Ho Ho in this circumstance, because if Don's father was talking about Dick, I would imagine he would have some very harsh things to say.
 
Jenna : Yes, I really noticed that exploration across the show, but I think I was thinking more about the scene between Betty and Gene, where he says she's too sensitive and thinking that he should have reared her to be a little more prepared for the real world, he says.
 
Or maybe the scene with Bobby and Gene and Don where Don doesn't want Bobby to be gleeful about killing soldiers.
 
And then, of course, with Peggy wanting to move farther away from her family into the city, which, of course, will distance her from them in other ways, too.
 
 
Across the office, we see that Paul has helpfully written a series of lines to prank Peggy about a roommate candidate, and he's convinced Lois to be the caller, as Ken and Harry listen in.
 
As Lois goes on with this, Peggy tries to be polite, and she suspects way too late that it's a joke.
 
Steve: Yeah, Peggy's very serious, so she's a little slow to pick up on this. And they blow their own gag because they can't hold in their laughter. So they all break behind Lois, and Peggy can hear the laughter.
But clearly Peggy's got a problem here. How is she going to find a roommate?
 
Jenna : She's not always great with the people-ing, but I would argue that mean people pranks are not good people-ing either. Peggy's just trying to live her life.
 
 
Steve: Here we cut back to Gene and Sally sitting in the kitchen eating ice cream, and Gene’s sprinkling salt on the ice cream, telling Sally he has a salt tooth.
 
An interesting line here is when Gene says to Sally, you remind me of your grandmother more than your mother.
And he tells her, you can really do something. Don't let your mother tell you otherwise.
 
It really seems like he's trying to message Sally in a very independent way from his own daughter, and that seems a little unusual to me.
 
Jenna : Yes, it makes me sad that he has to warn her off of her mother,
even though he's telling her a kind thing by saying he believes in her.
 
And he also asks if Sally remembers her grandmother. She remembers receiving a ukulele from her again. You can see him trying to thread these memories, build these things up in her, make sure she's hanging onto things.
 
He makes her laugh. It's kind of silly, just pretending they're hiding ice cream from her mother and teasing her that her mother is coming when she isn't. And Sally goes, I knew you were going to do that.
 
It's not that it's such a fascinating, clever exchange between two people,
but it is a very normal bonding family time. And Sally Draper doesn't have that very often, so you can see how special it is to her.
 
Steve: And no spoilers, but perhaps eating salt and ice cream isn't the best for Gene's health at this point.
 
Jenna : Well, as the scene closes, he says, this tastes like chocolate, but it smells like oranges. Sally doesn't smell oranges.
 
And phantom smells can be a sign of neurological conditions or stroke.
And also in the Godfather movies, they have this pattern of oranges in scenes before characters meet memorable ends. So this line cannot be an accident.
 
 
Steve: From here, we cut to the restaurant where Pete, Don and Ho Ho are having the dinner.
 
Jenna : Ho Ho talks about his vision for jai alai. And even more, he wants to please his father with his success.
And Don, having heard his father's assessment of him, I think, is somewhat sympathetic that this young man wants to impress his father. And he tries to suggest that this is not the way to do it.
 
So Ho Ho pauses for a minute to take that in.
But just like Mr. Collins in a Jane Austen novel, he just chalks it up to elegant females. Or in this case, a sales technique that Don is using to make him more excited about their business deal.
 
After all, he says he's read an advertising book by O-GILL-vee.
While Don Draper is not a cardboard cutout of David Ogilvy, who was considered by many to be the father of advertising, they do share philosophical traits about big ideas and keeping the advertising message simple.
 
Ogilvy's 1963 book, Confessions of an Advertising Man identifies seven rules for advertising. We'll link those details in the show notes.
 
There's a great moment when Don says, why aren't you meeting with Ogilvy?
And Ho Ho says, because Campbell talked me out of it.
 
Steve: I think this is an example of what you were mentioning earlier, where Don Draper does something from an ethical perspective rather than any sort of pragmatic or practical advantage when he hears Ho Ho talking about his motives of wanting to give his father a team, and to impress his father and make him pleased.
 
And in fact, even Ho Ho is criticizing his father's business of how he got rich, saying, you know, renting ships for troop transports, okay, in the middle of a global war, fine. But he wants to build something, something that people will like, not something that's forced upon you in a world war.
 
And I think all of that plays on Don's emotions, and he sympathizes and can relate to this idea of wanting to impress a parent. And I think when Don says to him, hey, you can do better than this,
that's an example where there's no pragmatic benefit to Don pitching that at this point, he is solely doing it out of sympathy for Ho Ho situation and suggesting that there's something better that he could pursue.
 
Now, Ho Ho's not the sharpest tool in the shed, and. And, of course, overthinks it. And I think both Pete and Don at that point have to just sit back in their chairs and say, you know, if. If a fool is so eager to be parted from his money, it might as well be us to do it.
 
Jenna : Also shows us another dark side of Pete,
because Pete definitely shoots Don some warning messages. You know, Don is not the account guy. So the fact that he says that or even suggests to Ho Ho that maybe this isn't the best course puts Pete on edge.
 
Pete also understands this is his dream. So Pete listens to him and understands exactly that motivation and how potent it is and how powerful it is. And when Don hears it, he feels sympathy for this man and relates to him, and Pete should have sympathy for this man and relate to him, but he just thinks, well, this is how I can make my next sale.
 
Steve: I'm going to defend Pete here. It's not his job to sympathize or be a family counselor or get into the psychology of Ho Ho. His job is to sell ads, and he's got a big fish on the hook here.
 
And as an account man, he needs to get the fish in the boat. So when he's shooting daggers across at Don Draper for saying, oh, you can do something better, I think every account man in existence would be that way.
 
It's like it's time to get this fish into the boat and then we'll take it back to shore and we're going to clean it.
 
Even at the end of it, when Ho Ho says, you know, if jai alai fails, it's your fault. This is a laughable line. We'll have all your money. At that point, you won't have any more money to spend. So if it fails,
who cares? We'll have our next pigeon.
 
Pete says, everybody thinks that, but nobody says it. It's a polite way of almost laughing at Ho Ho in this circumstance, and Ho Ho's too much of a fool to see it.
 
So Ho Ho is so determined to go over the edge of the cliff here, and even the last minute intercession by Don Draper's conscience isn't going to stop it. As we've talked about Don Draper's conscience, it's a rare thing to see.
 
Jenna : It's not Pete Campbell's responsibility to save Ho Ho from himself.
But it makes it a little bit worse to me that he can see the pain or the truth or the striving of wanting to please his father and how real and true that is for him - we know that Pete has that same pain.
 
So when you look at Pete seeing that and understanding that and recognizing it, and still not hesitating to take his money,
it makes it a little ickier.
 
Steve: I'm going to go the other way on that. To me, this is exactly why Pete is good at his job. Because if Pete is going to let his own personal baggage get in the way of bringing in revenues for Sterling Cooper, then he's the wrong man for the job.
And the fact that he sets aside, because you're right, he has exactly the same ghosts that he's fighting in his own life.
But he's not going to let them get in the way of taking advantage of Ho Ho, who's got a wallet full of money and a ridiculous dream.
 
Jenna : I'm not arguing he's not good at his job. I'm just saying you don't want to be his friend. [Laughing] Sorry, Ho Ho.
 
 
 
At the office, Peggy rips her ad off the break room bulletin board.
It's ironic that Peggy doesn't know how to advertise for herself when she's so great at it for other products.
 
Joan happens to see her and Peggy is defensive. She says, oh, you'll give me advice so everybody can laugh at me even more.
So we can see that she's been hurt by this prank. But Joan isn't planning that.
 
She's just really good at this part, so she rattles off this incredibly quotable personal ad. And it sounds like so much fun:
Fun loving girl likes to laugh, lives to lsove, seek size six for city living and general gallivanting. No dull moments or dull men tolerated.
 
It's an ad for a really fun loving person. But Peggy's idea of fun is working late in the office, coming up with a great campaign.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it raises that whole issue of are you advertising a real product, or are you advertising some image or version of something, a fiction?
And the reality is going to be far different; when you drink that light beer, you're not going to be one of the beautiful people in the bar.
 
I also thought it was a little unfair of Peggy to accuse Joan of being part of this, picking on her or setting her up to get laughed at some more.
Joan is not part of that crowd. So that feels like a real misread there from Peggy.
 
And like you say, I think this is a great scene to see the value of Joan and just how great her perception is and how she.
She comes up with the whole pitch here on the spot in 30 seconds.
 
And it might not adhere strictly to the truth, but you can see instantly Peggy gets the appeal of this ad, versus her awful serious ad from before. I love these scenes between Joan and Peggy. And this is another gem.
 
Jenna : Peggy is unfair to Joan here, but Joan also represents all the things that Peggy thinks she's supposed to be, even if it's not actually what she wants.
 
Joan is just a figurehead for it, but she also represents this whole problem. Joan represents this ease of living in the city without being tied to a mother who doesn't understand you.
 
It's not fair, but it kind of makes sense that she's resentful.
 
Steve: And I think this is an important point to make about Peggy. She's dealing at home with this version of what a Manhattan girl is,
tilting against that with her mother primarily, and to a lesser extent, her sister.
 
And yet in Manhattan, she's tilting against the stereotypes and sort of standards of what Joan ostensibly represents. And we know there's more to Joan than that. But from an image standpoint, she would be very squarely that sort of man, Manhattan woman.
 
And Peggy's not that either. So I think it's interesting that Peggy has elements of both worlds, but she really is trying to tread a separate path. And she's a trailblazer as a woman trying to pursue this dedicated professional path rather than, hey, go from admin to Mrs, and have a nice life of bon-bons at the club.
 
So I do feel sympathy for Peggy's character in this circumstance.
It feels like a very lonely place for Peggy's character and what she's trying to carve out. She's changed her ad from one extreme to the other,
but it's still not representative of what she really is.
 
And she really can't do an ad of what she is, that sort of unicorn to say, hey, unicorn seeking unicorn to share a room in Manhattan.
 
Jenna : I read Jenna Fischer's book called The Actor's Life,
and it had this great part where she showed her headshots from prior years, and she had this one where she looked sexy and mysterious, and she said she loved that photo of her, and that it got her a lot of auditions, but not many callbacks, because it wasn't who she was.
 
And she had a different headshot right before she got The Office. And it reflected more of a woman next door sort of personality that was truer to herself.
 
And I think this is really connective to Peggy, who admittedly is still figuring out who she is. And of course, she could change if she wants.
 
But Joan can find a roommate in two seconds, and it's a great ad,
but it's not true to who Peggy is, and what she's really looking for. Her first ad did that better.
 
 
Steve: We cut back to the Draper residence.
We've got Don lying awake in bed. Betty's sleeping.
 
Don gets up and wanders into the study, and he pulls out the Dick Whitman box and looks at some photos. There's a photo there of Archie and Abigail. And we can see Don is troubled, probably because he's been thinking about Ho Ho and his father.
 
And this is bringing back thoughts of his own life, and his own parents or lack thereof, and the abuse he suffered, and being orphaned. And we can see Don Draper as a troubled man.
 
Jenna : I don't know if Archie Whitman ever had the ability to see Don as having value. Sorry, Dick Whitman as having value.
Or if he would be proud of him, if he even could be proud of who he has become.
 
And I'm not sure Don ever really believes he himself has value either.
 
Steve: I think that is really getting to the heart of Don's challenges as a person. And I agree with you, for all his success, all that he has,
I think there's a fear, an insecurity, a hollowness that just keeps him trapped in that place. And it's in his head. But I think we can see how profoundly scarred he is from his upbringing.
 
Jenna : And just a casual business meeting can affect him so profoundly. It's just going to keep coming up again and again until he faces it.
 
Steve: Yeah. He can't run from it. It's at the core of who he is. It has to be resolved. You know, he's like a walking advertisement for therapy.
 
 
Jenna : At the office the next day, Don and Pete are walking over to Mr. Hooker's office to see Lane about Ho Ho's jai alai account.
 
And Harry, Ken, and Paul are in there wearing sashes and unpacking jai alai equipment to get familiar with the product. The basket is a cesta, and the ball, unsurprisingly, in a Spanish word, is called a pelota. And there's a lot of camaraderie.
 
Steve: Yeah. And the metaphor is Horace Cook Jr. is ready for the oven. You know, he's a stuffed goose who's about to get cooked. And they're all in great spirits.
 
It is so hilarious when Don accidentally puts a jai alai ball through the ant farm.
 
Jenna : He yells, Cosgrove! And swings it the opposite way.
 
Steve: And then once it breaks, he quickly hands off the jai alai glove or mitt or whatever they call it.
 
Jenna : Bill it to the kid. Nice.
 
 
Our next scene has Gene driving Bobby and Sally to school,
telling them not to keep him waiting when he picks them up that afternoon.
 
He says he'll buy fruit. What kind would Sally like?
Peaches, please.
And Bobby's in the backseat and he goes, peaches give me a rash.
And Gene doesn't care. Your sister likes ‘em, he growls.
 
Steve: Yeah, the gruff grandpa who's got his favorite grandchild, who's clearly, clearly Sally. So Bobby's going to eat peaches. I just love the realism of that writing.
 
Jenna : I also suspect that when William and Betty were little,
Betty might have been his favorite in a similar way.
So he is repeating a pattern here, I think, with Sally and Bobby.
 
Steve: Yeah, no doubt. And then also just getting back to the gruffness. Right. Like, Gene doesn't treat the grandkids with kid gloves, so he kind of barks at Bobby about, your sister likes them, you know, so it's just so different than the way they're treated the rest of the time, which often seems like neglect from Don and Betty.
 
Jenna : Next we see Karen Ericson showing up to Peggy's office to chat about being her new roommate.
This actress is Carla Gallo and you might recognize her from Superbad, the 40 Year Old Virgin, Bones, or Platonic.
Everyone loved her ad, Karen says.
 
Steve: So we know we've got Peggy, who's got an ad for something she really isn't.
Well, of course the ad is now attracted that something. So Karen Ericson is everything the ad declares. And it's comedic in the scene because we can see Karen responding to the ad and thinking she's talking to a kindred soul.
 
And we can just see how much Peggy isn't a kindred soul. It's so sly and clever the way it plays out. The ad has succeeded in catching exactly the type of fish that Peggy is not.
 
Jenna : Peggy is so awkward.
She goes, I'm fun and I love to have fun.
And then she proceeds to talk about how she usually works until 6 and sometimes on a Saturday, which horrifies her roommate.
 
And she bought this roommate a sandwich. So she's considerate, but she isn't fun.
She just isn't.
I have this unreasonable amount of stress watching this scene, because I see Peggy contorting herself into something she isn't, agreeing with everything this girl says.
 
No sailors, I agree.  [Laughing]
 
She didn't do this with the men in the office in season one even, and she didn't fold under Joan's pressure.
So I'm just imagining the inevitable fallout and the icy Marjorie esque relationship waiting for them.
 
 
Steve: The next scene shows Sally in her dance tutu waiting outside school. Clearly Gene is the one who's late, and Betty ends up picking up the kids.
 
Jenna : Grandpa Gene is probably at home, Betty says, and we know he's forgetful, so that seems reasonable.
 
Then we get a really quick scene with Joan spraying a load of Raid at the ant farm.
Don might have billed it to the kid, but Joan has to clean up the mess.
 
Steve: Yeah, and this episode has a lot of these little comedic gems. So Joan covering her face with the scarf while she's spraying Raid all over the ant farm, the whole scene is a great chuckle.
 
 
Jenna : At the office in the screening room, the client is watching the Patio ad. You can see that Sal is pleased with his work as he watches it, but the client says it isn't what they thought.
 
Don and Ken point out that it is exactly what they asked for, frame for frame. But they say something isn't right about it.
 
Steve: I like this because as we know as viewers, we saw the origins of this campaign, so we know it truly is, you know, they're not just spinning it. This is exactly where they all landed in terms of what they wanted to do. And somehow it doesn't work.
 
So even in the midst of it not working, the one person who dissented at the time was Peggy. And we can see a smug look on Peggy's face, kind of a I told you so as the rest of them, you know, the ad men are frustrated because they've done what the customer requested and now it's not right.
 
And I like that the clients here are honest about it. You know, they don't pretend it isn't what they asked for, but they are true to that emotional truth that it somehow it doesn't work, it's a failure.
 
It seems to me this probably occurs fairly frequently in advertising.
So I like this moment of reality. You know, they're not always hitting home runs and I like how they're struggling to figure out what it is that isn't right about it.
 
Jenna : Harry has the truth call out again in this episode. When the client leaves, he says, it's true. It looks right, sounds right, smells right, but it's not right. What is it?
 
Steve: Yeah. And in his only line in the episode,
Roger Sterling says, it's not Ann Margret.
 
And that's exactly what's not right about it. You know, this whole ridiculous Bye Bye Birdie, the only thing that was holding that together was the appeal of Ann Margret at this moment in time when she was probably the it woman of Hollywood and show business.
 
And without her, the whole thing starts to fall apart.
 
Jenna : The commentary suggests it's meant to say that you can't replicate that star quality if somebody has it, as you say.
 
I also wondered if there might be something about Sal's direction that they couldn't put their finger on, because he loved the performance that Ann Margret was giving, but he wasn't drawn to the sexuality of the original, while the other men were.
 
So that might have been something about it too.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think that's a good point, because it's Ann Margret's sexuality that is so attractive to the rest of them because they were all just sort of staring at the screen.
 
And the singing, it's this awful little girl singing and the rest of it. I mean, there's nothing to recommend this from a choreography or vocal performance standpoint.
An Margaret is super sexy. And that's through Momdern eyes, never mind rolling back to summer of 1963. No wonder their jaws are on the table.
 
Jenna : I'm with Peggy. I don't get, I don't see it.
 
Steve: Understood, but, I mean, Peggy's the only one who isn't falling for that. And then in the absence of that sensuality and that sex appeal, she's left looking at the objective reality of, like, there's no there there, right?
 
 
Jenna : Back at the Draper house, Sally is still in her valet outfit on the front step, presumably waiting for Grandpa Gene to return.
And instead, a police officer approaches.
 
Betty comes to the door and receives the news that Grandpa Gene collapsed in line at the store. Sally cries out, and Betty doesn't look at her.
 
Steve: I get that it's Betty's father, but this moment was coming. Everybody's thinking about it, even the moving in with them. The question would be, well, how long is he going to live with them in this moment?
 
I can accept that Betty is shocked, but I just think parents have an obligation to care for their children.
In the commentary, Matt Weiner talks about that this was an autobiographical type of situation for him where he had a connection with his, I think he said, grandfather.
 
And then in the moment when his grandfather passed, he was kind of forgotten about. Yet in many ways, it was hitting him harder than anyone else, you know, as a child who's, you know, not experienced death and loss.
 
And it is so heartbreaking to me to see how Sally is just forgotten on the doorstep and Betty's in her moment with her feelings. It just feels like a abandonment of parental responsibility.
 
And I don't know, maybe this is autobiographical for myself, but I would think in a moment where I don't really know what to do, at the very least, I can comfort and protect and shelter my child as I try and grapple with those emotions in the moment to push on through.
 
So it's a heartbreaking scene for me because Sally really needs a hug in that moment and some reassurance. And in fact, she gets left on the doorstep.
 
Jenna : And it's a profound loss for this little girl, who finally had somebody in her family to see her and be interested in her.
 
And we spent a really long time feeling sorry for Betty because Don was so emotionally unavailable to her. And this season, she's doing the same thing to her kids. It's so rough to see.
 
 
Steve: Back in the office, Don is sitting there and Sal comes in to apologize for the failure on Patio.
 
Jenna : Don isn't upset with Sal about it. He blames the client. So I think Sal is really relieved by this.
 
Steve: Yeah. And Don, in fact, even goes a step further when he says, don't ruin the only good thing to come out of this. You are now a commercial director.
 
And Sal, he says, oh, you know, how do I know you're serious? And Don says, he'll know I'm serious when I hire you again.
That's a nice pat on the back from Don Draper to Sal.
 
Jenna : I think I thought this was maybe another example of Don being nice when he didn't have to, because he didn't have to go out of his way to build Sal up or reassure him. But he is being reasonably supportive here.
He had these big hopes for this opportunity, and maybe it's not over after all.
 
Steve: Yeah, he lost a marriage, but he's gained a job as a commercial director.
 
The phone rings during their conversation. It's Betty calling to tell Don about Gene's passing.
And Don doesn't even bother to tell Sal what's happened. He just starts collecting his things and says that he needs to leave.
 
 
Jenna : The last time we saw Peggy at Anita's house, her mother was banging on the TV. So in this next scene, we see Peggy giving her mother a new TV as a gift.
 
It's an Admiral. Her mother is impressed. I love this actress,
she says, it's beautee-full.
And Anita starts to leave the room, but Peggy tells her to stay.
 
In the last episode, she was talking to Olive, her secretary,
about not being scared, and how she was going to get to do everything she wants for her. And she was high when she said it, but it was a little like a rehearsal for this conversation.
 
She's going to tell her mother that she's getting an apartment in Manhattan.
 
Steve: Yeah. And unlike Olive, who displays concern for Peggy, but is rather passive as Peggy reassures her she'll be all right in the rest of it, her mother's holding razor blades, and has no problem wielding them to counter what Peggy's saying about moving to Manhattan, and just proceeds to say some really mean things.
 
You know that family is cheap and you're abandoning your family.
How stupid do you think I am? You'll get raped, there's a man.
 
And I really feel for Peggy being subjected to this, because she knows what she wants to do. She knows what she needs to do. We know as viewers this is the right move for Peggy, but she's not going to get sent off with with a hug and a pat on the back from her mother. She's going to be slashed up on her way out the door.
 
Jenna : We've had a lot of unpleasant parent child moments in this episode, and the writers aren't going to let us escape from this scene either.
 
This thing with the TV, she says, well, she doesn't even want it because it's just going to remind her of how stupid you think I am.
 
And when Peggy leans in to kiss her goodnight, Katherine pulls away.
And on her way out the door, Anita says, that wasn't so bad. And she makes the excuse that the Holy Father dying has been very hard on her.
 
And you can see the pattern then in this family where before Katherine was making excuses for Peggy, and now Anita is making them for their mother.
And also, Anita did try to smooth away in the conversation between them a little, but there wasn't a lot of room for her to do that.
 
It's not a show that makes you feel inspired by good parenting choices.
 
Steve: Again, it seems to hit on that theme of the kid is on their own to deal with things, and because it doesn't jibe with what the parent wants, well, the kid is just going to have to suck it up and figure it out.
 
Jenna : And she does. Peggy doesn't scream at her mother, or fall apart under her terrorism here.
She keeps her cool, she doesn't back down, and she removes herself without saying anything spiteful.
 
And I do just want to point out that Peggy and Anita hear the new TV turn on from the other room.
So apparently Katherine isn't going to cling to her principles on that point for too long.
 
Steve: It is an Admiral.
 
The mother says, too. She says, you don't love me because you're moving away. And it's like, really? That's the two choices there? Either I love you and stay, or I don't love you and I move away.
It's terrible.
 
 
Jenna : Back at the Drapers’, William, Judy, Don, and Betty are gathered around the table at the Draper house.
William keeps repeating “Eugene Hofstad, number two.”
 
Don asks what that means, and Betty explains that there were two men with the same name at the bank, so he had to be number two.
And it's very real that these small details would surface and be shared among insiders at a time like this. Only family would know this thing about this man.
Don doesn't know it.
 
Judy says he's with Ruth now, which is kind.
Betty says he once talked about going to heaven and what would happen when he had two wives. And William quips, knowing Gloria, I don't think that's going to be a problem.
 
Steve: Yeah. And you know, and the adults are dealing, dealing with the loss, but the real loss here is Sally's loss.
And she's on the outside looking in and confronts them for laughing.
 
And you can see she's just full of angst and sadness and again, just needs some comfort and love and to be drawn into this circle of family protection.
 
And instead, she's kept at arm's length. You know, when Betty says, you know, she's being hysterical, tells her to go watch TV, where she sees the Buddhist monk in Vietnam is in the news for having lighted himself on fire.
 
And we just get a sense of the loneliness of Sally in this moment. Nobody's going to console her or take her feelings into account for Gene's loss. And she, in many ways, is probably feeling the greatest emotional loss in this moment. And none of the adults can see it or look after it.
 
Jenna : I really dislike Betty's tendency to send her kids away to watch TV, but this one, this Sally, go watch TV right here,
it might be the most painful moment she utters those four words.
It will not be the last.
 
And when she says it,
Sally checks in with Don with a look, and it's like they're the grownups in the room.
And Don gives her a very sad small nod, asking her to comply.
 
So now this 9 year old has to make way for her mother's pain and carry her own, as you say, by herself. It's really hard.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it's a miss for Don Draper here because we know that Gene and Don aren't fans of each other.
It's not that Betty needs consolation in this moment. I mean, she's there, she's got her brother. She's trying to grapple with the loss.
 
It's an opportunity for Don to do right by Sally in that moment. And it's gentle and loving the way he kind of nods for her to, you know, comply with her mother's direction.
 
But there's so much more he could have done there to look after Sally in that moment, and he doesn't.
And to me, that's a frustration of Don Draper as a father.
 
Jenna : I thought it was an apology, because he's worried about Betty, his very pregnant wife, who is a mess.
And she's usually so put together, she's eating one of the peaches that Gene bought out of love for Sally, and she's making a mess of this gift that her father bought for her daughter, just like this messy relationship now that she's building.
 
And as you say, you know, Don doesn't step up for Sally. And the look feels like an apology to me, because he doesn't want to upset or antagonize Betty further in this moment.
 
But you're absolutely right, he did not do right by her and her sitting on the carpet in front of that TV, in front of that, you know, shocking news, in her little girl tutu, by herself.
Ugh.
 
Steve: In the dark living room, too. Yeah, that is a lonely place.
 
You know, I think in the commentary Matt Weiner talks about,
you know, Sally now understands mortality in the adult's world.
What an awful introduction she's getting to it
 
Jenna : It’s, I think, a very true capture of this time period when people didn't talk with children very openly or process feelings aloud in general, really.
 
And it's such a contrast that sometimes Sally is treated like a person too young to do things or understand anything, and other times she's expected to make her own way through these really hard things that she does need help with.
 
But you can see this fire in Sally here. She's not just an empty little girl.
You get the sense that she is strong and she's going to find her way.
She shouldn't have to do it by herself, though.
 
 
Later that night, Don wakes up and sees Betty sleeping with a tissue clutched in her hand.
He puts a bedspread over her and goes to check on Sally, who is curled up with a book she read to Grandpa Gene as she sleeps.
 
Then he goes into Gene's room and he folds up the cot he was sleeping on.
To one side of Don is the rollaway cot that Gene had used,
and to the other side is a crib waiting for their new baby.
 
Steve: I wonder what they're going to name the new baby. Hopefully it's not something that'll be alarming to Sally.
 
 
Jenna : The closing song for this episode is Over There, a George M. Cohan song from 1917.
It's a song that promoted patriotism, including enlistment in World War I. And it's a nod to Gene, a veteran of that war.
 
 
We'd like to thank Brandy R. From Austin, Texas, for your kind support of our show.
Thank you so much for listening.
 
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 dot 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.