The penultimate episode of the season.
Oh, Midge. Oh, honey, no.
Well, I sure wasn’t expecting Midge to show up. When she first mentioned her husband and it being “not-romantic” I just assumed he was gay, the heroin was unexpected.
So, did Don screw them all over, save the company, or both? And Betty’s finally ready to move out. She also handled catching Sally alot better than she would’ve a few episodes ago.
It changed the conversation, as Peggy suggested. (BTW, when he returned to the office, Megan mentioned that one of the calls was from Emerson Foote. I was curious, so I Googled the name. He was apparently a partner at Foote, Cone & Belding. I wonder if that’s going to be relevant in next week’s episode.)
Edited to add that Emerson Foote was an account executive in charge of Lucky Strike but later resigned the American Tobacco account. His obit in the Times mentions that he was a director of the American Cancer Society, so that’s probably why he was calling.
It took three seasons but Don finally does something nice for Pete.
He also didn’t make Peggy cry while he had a bad mood.
Improvement.
Why did Midge turn down the $300 check for $120 in cash? Even a junkie can get a check cashed if she has ID, and presumably she does.
Roger: “I’ve got to go learn some people’s names before I fire them.”
What ramifications will Burt’s departure have do you suppose? (I guess Roger was right: he doesn’t have the balls to see the thing through.)
I thought that whoever was doing Bobby Kennedy had the most hackneyed accent evah. Then of course it was revealed to be Chow-guh-guh.
I wonder what incentives Lane had to dangle in front of Mrs. Pryce to entice her to return.
As much as I dislike Betty and as twisted as her own past with (the boy whose name I can’t remember) is, I agree with her he’s a little freakazoid.
I know. I was waiting for Don to do something horrible the whole episode to counterbalance all the good that he had been doing. But no, he didn’t sleep with Midge and even bought her painting. He had a nice moment with Peggy. He had a flash of inspiration. He was appropriate with his secretary. He was even nice and appreciative with Faye.
Don’s getting smarter now too. After he had that re-connection with Midge, he was more aware that women could want something from him in exchange for sex. Those looks that he were giving Meghan indicate that he might be less susceptible to her charms in the future. Of course, he might backslide next week.
Sterling Draper Pryce Campbell?
Was anybody else afraid Don was going to try heroin when he asked her what it was like and got that vivid description? And how relevant do you think seeing Midge as an addict was to his decision to “quit” tobacco?
Momentarily.
I’ve been in a similar position and was curious, too.
I think it had a lot to do with it.
Even back during the very first Mad Men (“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”) the harmfulness of tobacco was mentioned.
“All I have is a crush-proof box and four out of five dead people smoked your brand.”
She said that she lost her purse, so she might not have ID. Actually, I’ll bet that she was mugged while out buying her heroin.
I wasn’t sure if Midge’s description of heroin was supposed to indicate that it was enjoyable or terrible- something like “it’s like drinking bottle after bottle of whiskey while someone sucks on your tits”. 
That says to me “it’s OK at first, but pretty soon it becomes an annoying chore”. If it was meant to mean that it’s pleasurable, I don’t think she accomplished it. I would expect the ‘initial enjoyment’ description to be so much more descriptive of something fantastic- such as “it’s like the best never-ending, whole body orgasm that you’ve ever had”, or something.
Also- is that really the last of Bert Cooper? “Someone get me my shoes”. Loved it.
I think Draper’s anti-tobacco ad will bring in tons of business- we’re the only ad agency with a conscience, and we’re so confident about it, here are the names of our competitors that still whore themselves out for your dollar, by the way.
During Betty’s convo with Sally’s doctor, and the doctor said “but I’m a child psychologist”, I half expected her to follow up with, “although, you are still a child.”
I guess Midge’s painting really spoke to Don.
I do like the implication that Sally’s casual chats with him have done her as much good as, or more good than, the therapist ever accomplished.
Can Cooper remove himself from the agency that easily? I mean, as a partner. Or did he mean “I’m going home and staying there as the ship sinks”?
This is kind of a hard episode to discuss because it, more so than any other episode I can think of, really felt like Part 1 of a two-part episode.
Hey, once Betty moves out, maybe Don can sell Pete his house! 
Did you notice that right after the initial conversation about Heinz that we cut to Betty in her kitchen serving franks and [presumably Heinz brand] beans with Heinz ketchup and relish bottles on the table? I have no idea what that was supposed to mean, but I’m assuming it was significant somehow.
There’s no way I see Trudy living in Ossining. Scarsdale or Briarcliff Manor perhaps, but not Ossining.
I think the hillywood version of what would happen after Don’s gambit is that it would bring in a ton of business, save the company, etc. However, I am not so sure that is what is going to happen in this case. I don’t know what will happen, or have a guess, it just seems too easy a solution.
It does seem too easy a solution but then I haven’t seen much of Ad Genius Don in ages so I wouldn’t mind it much. One reason why I loved the Honda episode so much was because it was just fun watching the team hitting their marks and making something come together.
Poor Peggy. She thought she was going to be let go.
I think Faye has copped to Don’s dalliance with the secretary. Her sardonic look when she told him to “have your girl make reservations” was rather pointed. Don’s strategy will help bail them out. I’m thinking that either next week’s ep or the opener for next season will show them six months later being back in the black ink. I was sorry to see “shorty” go.
And yet he seemed to be the only one who walked away from his firing with his head held high – “Thank you for the opportunity” then a firm handshake. Everyone else was reduced to a bucket of tears.
Based on everything I’ve read, everyone watching last night was almost relieved to see it was Don’s rival doing the RFK call. Not only was it an awful impression, but it would have been totally out of character for the show to handle that plot development (SCDP getting involved with RFK’s presidential campaign) like that. Besides, was he even thinking of running at that point? Vietnam hadn’t yet become a total quagmire.