Finally we get to see Joan again.
So how long has it been since dog food didn’t have horse meat in it? Does 1963 sound about right?
The fit has hit the shan…classic timing there on those travel plans, whatsyername…DICK?
GO JOAN!!!
Don, don’t stick your Dick in the crazy.
Fall of 1963…joining the army; he isn’t coming back.
And Don just came out of the closet. Well, not quite but you know what I mean.
So, Dr. Rape has joined the army? I’m sure that Vietnam thing will be over by the time he finishes his New York residency.
I could’ve done with less Roger/horsemeat lady and more Joan/Greg, but damn the Don/Betty stuff was good. Don was finally honest with Betty and treated her as a adult. Now all we need is for Miss Teacher to walk into the house (has Don forfotten she’s sitting in their driveway this whole time.)
Oh, and Don’s comment about store-bought Halloween costumes being plastic crap that the kids only wear once? My mother was saying the same thing to me a couple days ago (she’s about Sally’s age). When she was a little girl they made their own costumes out of old clothes, drapes, etc and “had more fun than kid’s these days with their cheap plastic crap”. Also, wasn’t Don & Betty going trick-or-treating with their kids a little odd for the time period. :dubious: Sure now it would be perfectly normally, but in the 60s wouldn’t they just sent Sally and the boy out on their own?
I haven’t seen the current Ep 11 show yet, but the kids are quite young. Even in 1963 a dad would escort grade schoolers if there was no older sibling available. The concern was more getting run over vs molestation etc.
I wondered why Betty didn’t stay home to hand out candy to the other children. (But perhaps Carla was there for that; we haven’t seen her lately.)
BTW, it was amazing how flustered Don was when he realized Betty had seen his secret drawer. He’s normally such a cool character. (Assuming that she accepts his background, will that resolve some of his issues?)
And I liked the part when the attorney told her that she could get a divorce if she could prove adultery. That shouldn’t be hard.
Wow! I think that was the best episode of the season. I LOVED watching Don and Betty. That’s the first time we’ve ever seen Don being honest with anyone. And Roger turning down What’s-Her-Face, the dog food lady, was the first time we’ve seen a man refuse to cheat on his wife.
Poor teacher, but I’m glad she walked home instead of going in to Don’s house and making a scene. It’s better for her and Don to break up now; she was already getting too attached to Don.
So, Dr. Rape joined the army. Not a bad choice, given his options, except for the whole Vietnam thing. I wonder what the casualty rate was for army surgeons in Vietnam. Joan will make a fine army wife - from what I hear, there’s at least as much politicking amongst army wives as there was in the secretarial pool. I would’ve rather seen her return to the television department at Sterling-Cooper, but it doesn’t look like that’s in the cards anymore.
alphaboi, I was also surprised to see Don and Betty going out trick-or-treating with their kids. But Weiner needed to set up that line somehow. 
I think in 1963 that required photos in flagrante delicto. Good for the private eye biz, though.
Are we to assume that the house was Gene’s entire estate? No life insurance, no stocks and bonds? I don’t recall if his financial situation was addressed in prior episodes.
Do you think the lawyer was honest with Betty, or was he just trying to dissuade her? “Don could take the kids – you won’t be left with anything” – ? Seems unlikely.
I’m feeling better about Suzanne. She doesn’t seem crazy anymore, just ahead of her time. Something she said made me think she’d been in that situation before, but now I can’t remember what it was.
Don seems relieved that it’s in the open. The main question is whether Betty will treat him differently, maybe not defer to him all the time. I liked that comment about how he didn’t know anything about money. A tiny hint that she’ll assert some power in the relationship?
So far, this is the episode Jon Hamm needs to submit for his next Emmy. He does have one, doesn’t he?
I love the episode but man they sure do make it obviou dsometimes. Don lighting up a cigarette as the dog food lady mentioned her husband died of lung cancer. The final line of the show.
Not an entirely honest. He said “they made a mistake” instead of “I deliberately switched my dog tags with his.” The way he tells the story, he comes off as a reluctant victim of happenstance, rather than a deserter and identity thief.
ETA: The last line of the episode was Epic.
Nitpick: He doesn’t admit to desertion, no, but he does admit to identity theft.
I don’t think he forgot at all.
Re: the last line- it was almost as if the multiple-season storyline about Don’s identity was all a setup for that payoff. It would have been so much less heavy-handed if the dialogue had continued, maybe with just the slightest pause after the neighbor’s question.
Still, a great episode. Loved Joan’s retaliation for hubby acting like a dick, smashing the vase over his head. I don’t think he’ll be raping her any time soon; the balance of power has shifted in that relationship.
As it has in Don & Betty’s marriage. And I guess you can make the same argument wrt Roger- now he finally exerts control over his libido, and is not so quick to cave in when a woman shows some interest in sleeping with him.
I think Don completely forgot about the School Tart out in his car.
I also think we saw a glimmer of Betty acting like an adult, for once, after she saw Dick’s facade of Don completely crack.
My thought was, “Ah! That’s why Joan will be back at Sterling-Cooper: widowed.”
Of course, by then it probably won’t be “Sterling-Cooper”…
The last line came off a bit fake to me and, as said, heavy-handed. I mean, we had Cooper asking Don “Who’s really signing this thing anyway?” just three weeks or so ago. I don’t need an obvious reminder every couple episodes that Don’s life is based around a deception.
What I did like was the change in Betty’s attitude (or the marriage dynamic, whatever) after Don opened up about his family and history. Compare her throwing him out of the house for a month back in S2 to Don making the obvious offer for her to not have to spend time with him trick-or-treating and her opting to make it a full family event.
I suppose it won’t happen because Dr. Rape is off for war but otherwise I’d be worried about Joan having the power in the marriage. We all know how it turned out the last time he felt out of power by her.