In gearing up for the big Burger Chef pitch, Peggy delivers a grand slam hit in rehearsal - pitching the idea of comforting moms who feed their family Burger Chef. Winning quote of the night:
"Who can best validate moms?"
"Dads!"
Peggy feels great about this strategy, until Pete insists that Don be the one to pitch. (And I just don't see his point on squaring them off with emotion vs authority.) Peggy delivers the news to Don, insisting that it was her idea which Don sees through immediately. He's not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and is privately overjoyed that he's really back in the saddle. (Two horse metaphors. Sorry.) But now Peggy's original, brilliant idea is tainted.
Megan pays Don a visit in New York and the two have an odd and seemingly unfulfilling weekend, (at least from Megan's point of view). Don is overjoyed to have her back, supplying her with sneak attack hugs, compliments and surprise shopping trips while Megan could clearly care less. We see Megan riffling through her closet on a mission to find her fondue pot to bring back to LA. Don offers to bring it with him during his next visit and Megan suggests that they meet somewhere neutral. A kiss of death if I've ever seen one. I guess it was enough to send Don back to the office to sit with Peggy while she tries to come up with a better idea to top her winning pitch.
The two brainstorm, (in Lou's office) drink and like any good session, one of them breaks down in tears in the end. I very often forget the differences in time periods when I'm reminded that turning 30, for a single woman in 1969, was the equivalent of menopause. Peggy is not only overwhelmed by her need to be at the top of her game and surpass her ex-boss, but she's single, "childless" and sad. What does she know about the voice of mothers for this upcoming Burger Chef pitch? Yet the two, (rather, Peggy) gets to a good place and discovers their new angle: family. And their creative session ends with one of the more touching moments in the past few seasons for me with Peggy and Don sharing a dance to Sinatra's "My Way." Peggy rests her head on his chest, a loving yet vulnerable move that I feel like really showed her cards. Don is her professional equal, her old mentor, her father, her teacher and now her friend. The two have shared so much in the past and I'm so relieved that they've "kissed and made up." (Cue Katie being back on Team Draper.)
Welcome back, Bob Benson! I've missed your pleasing face. While we've suspected Bob's sexual orientation in last year's season, there is no mistaking it in this one. He's back in New York for a very informative trip. While bailing out his client after a sexually permissive run-in with an undercover cop, Bob learns that SCP may have lost the the Chevy business, something better is coming up. It's with this and this alone that he decides to finally pop the question to Joan, his good friend whom he could easily carry on this charade with for the rest of his life, giving her a chance to have a family and giving him a chance to hide in plain sight. Joan doesn't take the bait and insists that she'd rather die hoping that love happens to her instead of making some kind of arrangement. She really is a classy lady.
And Pete Campbell and his insecure, outrageously upsetting way of demonstrating his own deranged vision of family... He comes back into town to pay his "yearly visit" to Tammy, his daughter. Trudy conveniently leaves for the day to avoid Pete but in Pete's mind, it's clearly her "debutante" tactic into inciting jealousy. Meanwhile, he brought his girlfriend along with him to New York, because who says Pete can't have his cake and eat it too? (PUN INTENDED!) Because in true Pete Campbell fashion, he slams his beer down into the middle of Trudy's newly-frosted cake and leaves the room. (Sort of reminiscent of setting his empty tumbler down onto his secretary's chair before leaving for the day. What a dickworm.)
But the episode ends very over-the-top metaphorically and very beautifully. Peggy, Don and Pete meet at Burger Chef for dinner and to discuss their next steps in winning their business. They are a family, demented as it may be. Don, the proud father, is in total support of Peggy, the talented daughter. Pete, the smarmy brother, has been left high and dry by his girlfriend and begrudgingly yet happily joins his family for dinner. The three share a TV-free meal together, just like Peggy envisioned.
I really, really enjoyed this episode and will be very sad to see next week's mid-season finale come to an end.
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