Hay, honey, I'm leaving for CA at o-dark-thirty in the morning, so I might not get here till late in the week. Stupid job. :-)

There's a lot going on with this episode. But first:

Another episode where Don didn't sleep with anyone. Go Don.

Other thing I noticed.. I don't think we've ever seen Don Draper smile so much. And most of the time it was with his family.

I loved the scene with Sally when he was cooking: I thought you were going to be a boy. Not all surprises are bad.

Lines of the night:

Better to have a bit of Don Draper than no Don Draper at all.

Mr. Hobart: You're an honest guy, believe me, I'm an expert

Peggy to Don: I look at you and I think, I want what he has. You have everything and so much of it.

Roger to Pete: Are you aware of how many handjobs I'm going to have to give?

It's clear that the classroom visit and the phone call between Don and Miss Farrell isn't the last. Don is interested and lord knows that Miss Farrell is too. I think he is sort of amused by her attention. That smile after she apologizes and then says "I don’t know why I’m calling and embracing myself".

Interesting that Betty keeps seeing her father. You almost knew that she was going to name the baby Gene.

Something tells me things aren't going to be easy in the Draper household now that the baby has come home. Betty is all alone. Her dad is no longer there and neither is Carla. (I'm already fearful for poor Sally.) Betty crying out while delivering the baby, "Where’s Don....
He’s never where you expect him to be. Have you been with him?" just made me think Betty has buried a lot of those thoughts, but they are close to the surface.

This is a fresh start. I don’t know whose up there but I'm going to say this to you. I’m going to be better. I’m going to be a better man.

I really think that Don is taking that to heart as well. He was much warmer than we have ever seen him with Sally. It seems that he was putting family first instead of Sterling Cooper.

Loved! the scene when Don walks out of the meeting as Pryce is coming about expense reports and paper. Go Don.

Duck. Now that was a surprise. I was rather amused that his office appeared pretty sparse except for the wild life flying on the wall.

How awkward was that lunch between Duck, Pete and Peggy. He knows that something happened between them but never would he guess correctly. While Pete is less than interested in hearing Duck out, Peggy appears willing and interested.

Also loved the scene at the end between Peggy and Don. She wants what he has. And he tells her that now is not the time. But is Peggy willing to wait?

We're clearly moving into the uncomfortable stage for dealing with race relations.

Watching Pete question Hollis on the elevator was uncomfortable. Pete clearly doesn't have a clue. Your thinking about this is a narrow way. The idea is everyone is going to have a house, a television. It’s the American Dream.

But who's American Dream, Pete? He doesn't get that the American Dream he described to Hollis might not be as attainable.

Had to love the line Every job has it's ups and downs. Hollis's job has many.

You knew the pitch with Admiral was going South. And the chiding he got from Roger, Burt and Pryce was fun to watch. (If only for Roger's line of the night.) But I loved that fact that Pryce caught that fact that there might be an opening to market directly to "negroes". He's not dumb. He sees the opportunity to make some money.

Roger to Pete: Are you aware of how many handjobs I'm going to have to give?
Yes! That was putting it in account terms, apparently. :-) And yes, Roger's line of the night.

But I loved that fact that Pryce caught that fact that there might be an opening to market directly to "negroes". He's not dumb. He sees the opportunity to make some money.
That's just it. Once again, as we've seen several times, Pete's idea isn't wrong. It's his execution that stinks. And Roger says their line of work comes down to "I don't like that guy."

Pete was unintentionally hilarious on several occasions in this episode:
To Harry: "Seriously. Is it possible that these Admirals are being bought by Negroes?"
To Hollis: "A lot of Negroes prefer Admiral." (Loved Hollis' answer to "Why did you get it?" "To watch TV."
And when he's talking it being illogical for Admiral to reject an opportunity to make more money: "Then again, I'm in advertising ..."

(I need a Pete icon. I hope AmyCurl can forgive me. ;-)

And earlier, to Duck: "Two months at Grey and you're already having a nosh?" Apparently Grey is a bit too Jewish for Pete's taste.

There's some interesting race commentary in this episode. Hollis is terrified when Pete stops the elevator, his mind races to saying how he doesn't want to get into trouble. It was all benign small talk up to that point for him.

Weiner learned dream sequences from David Chase over at The Sopranos, so everything in Peggy's dream means something. Some of it is probably obvious, but this one I know: When Betty's mom says "You see what happens to people who speak up?" The black man sitting next to her is Medgar Evers, whom Sally had been peppering Miss Farrell with questions about. And who was assassinated on June 12, 1963, hours after JFK gave a speech on civil rights.

Meanwhile ... I agree Gatzy, we have not seen the last of Miss Farrell in connection with Don. But yes, kudos to Don for keeping his pants on for four consecutive episodes now. That must be some kind of record.

More from me later.

Remember to track and come back.
I always do. Even if it's the evening of the 20th, I'll come back and talk to anybody. :-)

Loved all the little Pete moments in the, as Gatz points out, incredibly awkward meeting with Duck.

Duck: You two have a secret relationship.
Pete immediately denies it, which only serves to make him look guilty. Peggy’s eyes widen a little, but she keeps her mouth shut. Yet another example of why Peggy has progressed.

Duck: That kind of focused ambition is rare in advertising.
Pete: Thank you. (For complimenting me on something I just denied doing. But I will take the compliment.)

And then, as he leaves in a huff:
Pete: If you want to woo me, you’ll have to buy me my own lunch. (If you talked to Cosgrove, you'd know that I don’t SHARE!)

Is this the first time we've seen Betty's mother? I can't seem to remember...But to see her there, holding a bloody rag of Medgar Evers, that was pretty startling, wasn't it? I can't help but think that her words, "This is what happens to people who speak up..." will really come into play with Betty for the rest of this season. How much speaking up will Betty do? How much speaking up hasn't she done?

My favorite Roger line of the night was in regards to the "flogging:" "It's never as much fun as you think it's going to be!" Just how much fun does he have playing that role? Heaps, I can only imagine.

And the teacher! Calling with her dress half-buttoned, a bra strap showing, and a drink in her hand...I wonder if Don could hear the ice in the glass over the phone? And it was him choosing not to share the caller with Betty that I think was the most telling part of that whole situation.

The whole Pete and Peggy meeting with Duck was *so* painful. (Duck, who now has DUCKS on his wall!) But what I think got under Pete's skin the most--not only the idea of sharing, but the idea of sharing with Peggy. Peggy being treated as his *equal.* That must have been really galling.

I wonder how many other people cheered the minute that Don walked out of the paperclip meeting. Because I know I've sat in meetings like that. I loved, loved, loved his whole rationale: "We have to pay our creative people to be unproductive until they're not!" That's SO PERFECT, because that's EXACTLY how it works. They are so lucky to have Don, they have no idea. Also, I thought it was pretty big of him not to say, "Well, if you had take the Madison Square Garden account, we wouldn't need to be worrying about this...." Some Don is better than no Don, indeed.

/posting dump

(PS-Tommy, look even I have a Pete icon--sort of.)

(PS-Tommy, look even I have a Pete icon--sort of.)
Oh! You do, don't you? :-) I'd forgotten about that one, obviously.

I can't help but think that her words, "This is what happens to people who speak up..." will really come into play with Betty for the rest of this season. How much speaking up will Betty do? How much speaking up hasn't she done?
That's what we're on the cusp on, aren't we? With the women (or future women) of Mad Men in particular. Betty this week, Sally last week, Peggy recurrently: I feel strongly about this, and I will not keep quiet. In Betty's case, she has to overcome her conditioning to behave properly and to not make waves.

I wonder if Don could hear the ice in the glass over the phone?
Considering we could? I think we're meant to understand that Don could, too. I'm sure he knows, at a cellular level, what a pretty, drunk woman sounds like. ;-)

I wonder how many other people cheered the minute that Don walked out of the paperclip meeting. Because I know I've sat in meetings like that. I loved, loved, loved his whole rationale: "We have to pay our creative people to be unproductive until they're not!"
I loved that too, amy. There is no fixed number of pieces of paper required to arrive at a brilliant idea.

First I have to say,

"I don’t know why I’m calling and embracing myself".

gatz, you are delivering the best typos this season! <3

Yeah, this was a very strong episode. I agree with what you guys have said.

- Yes, Roger walked on and stole the show in that one scene.

- LOVED Don walking out. It's weird, we're having this situation IRL at my company where a good friend of mine, who is an absolute rainmaker, is being harrassed by our accounting person because he's not filling out expense reports properly and mis-managing his vacation bank. And I'm like, "Fucking give him all of MY vacation you idiot, STOP HARRASSING THE GENIUS." Sorry, that scene just really...resonated with me. :-)

- I did know Miss Farrell would be back and in Don's life, so I'm happy to see her. :-)

- Loved the way Hobart (?) took a shine to Don. Don going around pwning people right and left supports his character so well, and it makes me happy.

- Yeah, gatz, I liked Betty's lines while she was in the delivery room too.

- I also liked Peggy touching the little booty on the gift and talking about Betty's third child. "It must be old hat by now."

- The Medgar Evers thing threw me for a nanosecond, only because that guy did not look like Medgar Evers, IMO. But yeah, he would be the unfortunate metaphor for Betty's mom's message. I loved a line in that scene, I just can't remember it. Something about her being a house cat and important and having little to do, so she should be happy.

Question: Why did Hobart look funny when Don saw him in the hallway with his wife? I totally didn't get that.

That baby's gonna be "Scott Draper" sooner or later. Nobody in my class was ever named "Gene." We had lots of Scotts.

Hey, everybody. :)

I'm woefully behind, as usual --- which will be a surprise to absolutely no one :P --- so I'm not ready to comment yet, but I can offer a heads-up in the meantime.

Tavis Smiley's interviewing Matthew Weiner on his next show, which his site says is tomorrow, but I won't get until Monday.

Check your local listings.

gatz - I loved the scene with Sally when he was cooking: I thought you were going to be a boy. Not all surprises are bad.

I got a much stronger vibe this ep that there is something very wrong with Don's relationship with Bobby. Sally is the apple of Daddy's eye, but Bobby is, at best, forgotten. In the waiting room, Don eagerly talks about his daughter's birth - the other fellow has to ask about Don's second child. And the 'you throw the ball around?' Don looked incredibly uncomfortable replying.

And now this new baby is also a boy, and with Gene's name as well, which Don didn't seem down with. I don't predict a good relationship here, either. :-(


Do you think it's mainly to do with Don's poor relationship with his own father? Doesn't really know how to do it right/maybe afraid of getting it wrong, because he had such a crappy example?

Bobby's gonna be the one to watch out for. Sally's going to be all about the drugs and free love in a few years, but Bobby's going to be quietly making bombs in the basement. O_O


I was pretty excited to see Annie Dudek back. Love, love, love her. :-)


Oh, also! The nurse in the waiting room, isn't that the SN "Marty Sheinbaum" lady? With what looks to be a little bit of 'work' done, perhaps?