Summary and spoilers
On his way into work, Don is accosted by another ad man who identifies him as someone called ‘Dick Whitman’. Don doesn’t even bother denying that this guy has the wrong man; instead, he reflects, perhaps, that he is just an interchangeable person, just another salesman in the assembly line
At the ad agency, the guys are searching for ways to emulate the confusing success of the frank Volkswagen ads. Despite an ugly product riddled with numerous shortcomings, Volkswagens are breaking sales records. The guys talk about it a lot, but they haven’t been able to crack the sales code. Pete, freshly back from his Niagara Falls honeymoon, is enjoying his newly discovered blissful state. He floats through the ribbing and endures the prank of finding a Chinese family - with chickens - in his office. He even uses his marriage as an easy way of discarding Peggy - and she is quite willing to confide that their tryst ‘never happened’. Peggy now has to turn to reading the shared office copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Rachel Mencken is back in the office. This second meeting is better, but Rachel finds out no one has actually been to her store. Don rectifies this later that day, and while getting the tour, kisses Rachel, and only then tells her he is married. She is visibly upsets, and reacts by telling him that she wants someone new to head the account.
On Saturday, it’s the at-home birthday party for Don and Betty’s daughter. Don is tasked with putting together a playhouse. He works a bit, opens a beer, works a bit more, opens another beer…and then another. When the guests arrive, there are mint juleps, with harder stuff for the guys. Betty has invited Helen, the only divorced woman in the neighborhood, and she is the topic of discussion, suspicion, and ridicule from most of the female guests.
When Betty sees Helen standing outside next to Don, she reminds him to go pick up the birthday cake. Don complies and returns but drives straight past the house. Sitting under a bridge in his car, he stares into space, watching passing trains. Hours later, long after all the guests have left, he finally arrives home, with a surprise gift for his daughter - a dog. Now we know a bit more about just how much Don is searching for meaning in his life - and why Betty’s hands are shaking.
Comments
How sad and lost is Don, really? While filming the party, his lens catches one of the other couples kissing and caressing. He stops to watch, his face indicating that he either doesn’t know or understand the emotions he is witnessing, or has long forgotten them.
At the party, a kid knocks a drink off the table. One of the fathers grabs the kid, slaps him in the face, and disciplines him. The kid’s father arrives and expresses gratitude at this ‘shared’ parenting. Oh, how times have changed.
Mad Men Quotes
Pete: Fine. So, she laying there, right? And she kept looking at maps, talking about all the things we were going to do? But we never did.
Ken: Ladies Home Journal - I can get that at mom’s.
“The ring - it’s like catnip.”
- Harry (to Pete)
Peggy: They paid an Oriental family to be in Mr. Campbell’s office.
Don: Someone will finally be working in there.
“You know, they did one last year. Same kind of smirk - remember, 'Think small'. It was a half-page ad on a full-page buy. You could barely see the product.”
- Harry (describing the inscrutable Volkswagen ad)
Rachel: It was nice the way you handled that. It’s hard to get caught in a lie.
Don: It wasn’t a lie; it was ineptitude with insufficient cover.
Rachel: [laughs] There’s something about the way you talk that restores my confidence.
Don: I have a deep voice.
“Draper? Who knows anything about that guy. No one’s ever lifted that rock. He could be Batman for all we know.”
- Harry
Chet: Let’s go.
Joyce: We haven’t done birthday cake.
Chet: There’s not going to be a cake. Am I the only one that knows that? Don Draper, you are a first-class heel, and I salute you.
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