I can’t believe I’m defending Betty, but maybe they’re going to Reno to get an apartment and then they’ll go home. Does she actually have to stay in Reno for six weeks? Who’s gonna know?
Except that Don went to Pete, not Cosgrove. Don told Pete as much, and we later learn Cosgrove was completely in the dark about the whole thing.
We know that Pete and Cosgrove were about even in performance, but that Cosgrove got the “good” accounts, and Pete the “dogs”. Yet Don went to Pete, not Cosgrove. We’ve seen that Don and Pete have a working relationship – Pete has gone to Don for help (even after his attempting to “out” Don to Burt). So it’s not much of a surprise that Don would want Pete, not Cosgrove. And I think Pete would have realized that – he’s sharp when it comes to business.
If I have learned nothing else from watching old movies, for a NY divorce you have to go to Reno and not step one foot out of Nevada for 6 weeks, otherwise you have to start the process from scratch. It’s a frequent plot point.
It’s six weeks, but all they’re doing now is getting an apartment to establish residency. Betty can bring the kids out to Reno for Christmas.
I think Don was quite sincere when he told Pete why he wanted him to join them. The bit about how forward thinking Pete is was spot-on.
Oh, stop bothering me with facts. Facts are a refuge for people without the confidence to stand behind their bullshit. That is not me, sir; not a BIT of me. 
Anyway, I didn’t mean to imply that Don didn’t think Emo!Rapist was better than Ken at Accounts. Clearly he did. I just meant that he was playing Pete for his own purposes–saying what Pete wanted to hear.
Yes, but I doubt that McCann Erickson will proceed with the deal knowing that Sterling Cooper has been stripped. So I think the Brit’s reference to losing millions was a reference to the loss of the sale of PPL.
BTW, I read a couple of blogs that review and recap each episode (the AV Club and Slate magazine), and one of them suggested that the episode foreshadowed a more equal office environment, between Peggy’s refusal to get coffee for Roger and Don actually doing his own typing.
I’m surprised no one has commented on the Don-Betty back and forth where he says that now he’s not good enough for a “main line girl” and she says “That’s right!” - Wow
Want to see how Price’s wife US hating wife reacts to this lovely news.
I got the impression Ken was a bit surprised at the office being emptied. Was he approached? I thought they were going to ask him to come over.
The Don-Roger scene in the bar was amusing after seeing Pete. They may like his vision but they have no respect for him personally.
It will be interesting to see if Henry Francis knows what he’s in for. I can predict there will be a HUGE row between Betty and her daughter at some point.
The Peggy-Don scene in her apartment was masterfully done. Her facial expressions as she listened to him was some of the best close up acting I have ever seen.
Don’s righteous range and chutzpah at calling Betty “a whore” after all his philandering was priceless.
I think it’s many faceted, the reason why Don wants to keep Pete with him. First, Pete knows of his real identity, so he has an incentive to keep Pete happy and feeling important. I’m sure he wouldn’t want Pete to use that knowledge against him with clients.
But I think Pete is also a scrapper, and I think Don has shown he doesn’t like schmoozers. Remember when Don shot him down early on when Pete tried to suck up? I think Don actually respects Pete more than Cosgrove.
I wonder, too, if the nature of Pete’s “dogs” plays a role? I don’t know the advertising world. Do dogs get to pick and choose their agency? It seems like SDCP needs the clients more than the clients need them, but is that actually the case? Does Pete bring a stable of clients who would be grateful and not turn their nose up at them?
But, yeah, I don’t buy for a minute Don’s sincerity in either speech he gave, either to Peggy or to Pete. I think he’s very very good at telling people what they want to hear.
I knew about Nevada divorces but I didn’t realize they required a six week residency. Since most women weren’t wealthy housewives with the financial liberty to pick up and move for 6 weeks that must have really helped trap a lot of working class women in terrible marriages before divorce laws relaxed. Reminds me of the loopholes that allowed wealthier women to get legal abortions for “health reasons” that weren’t available to poorer women without access to “specialists”.
Another “can’t you wait two weeks til the holidays are over?” WTF. If I were Don I’d probably cheat on her too; the few times she has any personality it’s completely selfish and annoying.
Really? I thought both were quite sincere, at least as sincere as Don can be being Don, and both reflected the reality of the situation.
I would say both true and not true. I can’t help but remember the inspiring snowjob Don came up with for Pete after his return from California–Don saying he left Pete there on his own because he (Don) knew that Pete was ready for the challenge. Maybe Pete never entirely bought it but he really wanted to. And he is hungrier than ever for that kind of validation now.
I hope that Ken and Kinsey aren’t entirely out–there could be room for their experience at McCann to fit in somewhere; some to and fro in the ad world (much like how Duck has never entirely disappeared).
I think Lightray is right that Betty has made the same mistake twice. She seems to love the idea of a Caretaker Man so much more than the idea of independence for her or her kids. It’s not really surprising though…
I somehow think that we will get whatever regrets she has from a more distanced point of view. Henry seems to me too unfleshed a character for the new Francis household to occupy a center of attention like the Draper home did. (I feel as though I might not miss Betty as much as I miss that house!) It’s hard to imagine Mad Men without Betty entirely–as it would hard to imagine it without Joan–and also think that Sally is too important and too good to let go of. But I don’t think Betty will change her mind before the divorce takes place.
I find myself very curious about Don’s new home base–a furnished apartment in NYC? A Don who doesn’t commute on the 5-O-whatever it is from Grand Central? Who doesn’t take off take off his hat somewhere in Westchester?
It leaves a lot to the imagination.
I would vote for the return of Rachel somehow…
I think you may be right about Pete but that his relationship with Peggy is different.
Continuing my long-standing tradition of being as Two-Faced as Harvey Dent, I’ll say that I DO believe Don was sincere in what he said to Peggy. However, the patent insincerity of what he said to Pete served to call that into question.
I don’t think she meant it so much as she knew it would sting. I’ve done that with ridiculous allegations before-
Opponent: “You think because I grew up poor I must be stupid white trash!”
Me: “Yep!”
It takes the wind out of their sails and confuses their argument. They were prepared to make a charge to take a field that you just ceded, OR agreeing makes them realize that you know that they know that it’s a ridiculous accusation.
Definitely hypocritical of him to call her a whore, but not surprising.
One of my favorite moments on the show was when Pete ‘outed’ Draper as Dick Whitman to Cooper and Cooper’s response was “Who cares?” It’s also a good business decision on Cooper’s part; changing identities with Draper may be technically illegal and certainly an ethical gray area but my take was that Cooper already knew this anyway. If Don hadn’t already told him (which he probably hadn’t) Cooper had probably had him investigated and upon realizing Whitman wasn’t in prison for a rape/murder charge or anything like he probably saw it as a romantic (in the hetero sense) move ala Jean Valjean/Monsieur Madeleine.
Also there’s a good chance, given his generation, that Cooper’s family had changed their surname from Kuppmann or Cohen or something more foreign or Jewish, possibly within his own lifetime. NYC is famous as a place where people go to become someone else.
I think Cooper will fall for a 19 year old Japanese girl and reak havoc for the agency.
I think he was both being sincere and telling everyone what they wanted to here.
One one level it would seem to be his dream come true. Don and his magic pecker abroad in New York, free to diddle at will. It will be interesting to see how the show handles Don batching it. The idea of a Mad men style conscious pad does open up a bunch of interesting opportunities.
When did Playboy start publishing?
On one level, yeah. But I think Don is so split there’s a part of him that really needs to have a wife home waiting for him somewhere in the burbs anchoring the part of him that needs to belong to something other than an office or a temporary sexual fling.
Agree. He was using them, and flattering them, but I think there was some sincerity mixed in there, as well. As was mentioned upthread, Don’s not a sociopath. I think he honestly meant some of the reasons he gave for wanting Pete and Peggy.
I loved that Don, even though he was mostly acting like a hurt, drunk ass, called Peggy on her shitty parenting (“God knows they’d be better off”). It’s the first time I can remember a character on the show actually saying as much to her face.
Excellent episode.
I think he meant it in terms of her doing it for money (large financial stability is obviously huge for her) and not in just the promiscuous sense.
He might be a serial cheat, but he does it for fun. She in his drunken mind at least was acting like a true whore.