Poor Don can't get the attention he feels he deserves from his reliable and trusting secretary Dawn. What with her new responsibilities as head of Personnel, her phone is ringing off the hook and Don is no longer at the top of pile of priorities for someone with her schedule to deal with. And speaking as someone who used to be an assistant for a number of years, how infuriated did you get at watching Don pitch a fit for having to dial a number... BY HIMSELF?!
After Don discovered that his wife Megan may possibly be making the wrong impression out in LA and trying a little too hard to nail certain auditions, Don jumps on a plane to go "surprise her." Moments after a post-coital cuddle on the couch with a throughly surprised Megan, the two immediately get into a fight about the real reason why he's out there: to reprimand her for her actions. (And aren't post-coital fights the absolute worst time in the history of time to have a fight? ::zip::)
Megan quickly finds out that Don has been lying to her for several months about his job. He doesn't "not have a job" but is simply collecting a paycheck. (Oh, how Don enjoys at least the appearance of things.) But don't worry, he tells her, there's no one else and he hasn't even been drinking that much. Megan then delivers the best line in the show: "So with a clear head, you got up every day and decided that you didn't want to be with me." BURN. Don, incapable of truly understanding anyone else's reactions to his ridiculous actions, doesn't seem to get the fact that the only reason Megan is out there in the first place is because of him. He was the one who changed his mind in starting over again in LA, leaving her stranded. Once again, he remains the solitary planet in the universe that all objects must gravitate around.
Meanwhile in McMartyrland, my favorite neighbor Francine returns to have lunch with Betty. They discuss Francine's new part time job at a Travel Agency and how challenging yet truly rewarding hard work can be. Betty offers, "I thought children were supposed to be the reward." While it's a lovely sentiment, we all know Betty has already won "Worst Mother of the Year" ten times over. She returns home to find her housekeeper helping Bobby with his homework and quickly agrees to chaperone his field trip to a local farm. (Though quickly cutting off Bobby's excitement over this fact.)
The field trip started out so nicely... Betty and Bobby had a "conversation" on the bus, Betty poisoned Bobby's opinion of his teacher, Betty and another mother poisoned the air with their cigarette smoke and other haughty remarks about the teacher's braless appearance. Betty even took a swig from the bucket to taste the sweet, warm, barfy milk fresh from the cow's teat! Things all went south quickly, when Bobby traded Betty's sandwich for a bag of gum drops. Betty lights up a cigarette and reverts to her icy self, even making Bobby eat the gum drops as a punishment. How ironic was it that Bobby must be throughly confused at seeing his mom actually want to eat lunch after so many years of being overweight, and now he's been punished by being forced to eat his mistake. Oof. "I wish it was yesterday," poor Bobby said later of the field trip. Betty is the worst mother on the planet, yet still takes time out of her day for punishing her children and those around her, for not praising her for being the opposite.
Meanwhile, Don quickly returns to New York to, (finally) try and get his job back. He goes to get an offer at another firm before stopping by Roger's apartment, (pre-BLT/LSD) to shove the offer envelopment in his face. Roger tells him to return on Monday, but fails to let the rest of his partners know that. Whether or not it's just Don being Don, he truly believes that they were going to be seemingly happy to see him return to the office. And of course, they are not.
After a day of waiting around in the creative office, flipping through magazines and pretending that Dawn is still the person responsible for getting his coffee, (did I mention that I used to be an assistant?), he's finally called in to a meeting of the partners to find out what the final verdict is. They'll have him back to work, but under certain rules. #1 No private meetings with clients. #2 No drinking at the office unless it's for client entertainment, and #3 He must report directly to Lou. (Side note: how is Lou still there? With a two year contract, no less!) As much as everyone would be okay with letting Don quietly fade into oblivion, I suppose they realized that he is still under contract and it would be much too expensive to buy him out as a partner. Without so much as a whimper, a hint of ego or dissent, Don simply says, "OK."
FADE TO BLACK.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Don's assimilation back into SCP goes from here. He has quite a few relationships to patch up and quite a few changes to make in his own life. Do I think he can do it? On one hand, I could care less. On the other, well, only time will tell.
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