3.06 Guy Walks In To An Advertising Agency. It's bedtime at the Draper house, but Thally is thcared of the dark, and Don tries to calm her down. He's better at this than Betty is, probably just because he's good at everything, but also because he doesn't openly, actively resent her very existence. He tells her he's home and nothing can hurt her, and if she cleans her room, she can have a night light. That's a nice trick.

At Sterling Cooper the next morning, Moneypenny has called a meeting of the entire staff. Surprise! London calling! Three of the fanciest suits at Putnam, Powell and Lowe are stopping by tomorrow to have a look around and see if they're getting their money's worth. A handful of secretaries murmur amongst themselves, on account of tomorrow is Joan's last day at S-C (!!!) and there was supposed to be a surprise party and cake and everything. It's worth noting that Peggy was left out of the loop here, just like she's never in the loop with her colleagues. Not one of the guys, no longer one of the girls; she's excluded from pretty much everything. No worries, Peggy; to paraphrase Jack Donaghy, in five years they'll all be working for you...or dead by your hand.

Bert, Roger and Don have a little sit-down in Cooper's office to discuss this development, which Bert suspects is actually about Don - apparently they've been very interested in his work. "Ever since you swung your privates around in the boardroom with Duck last year," Roger clarifies helpfully. Bert thinks they might want more direct access to his "particular American genius," perhaps in the form of a dual position in New York and London. Don grins bemusedly, which is practically the equivalent of dancing a little jig for a normal person (or Pete Campbell). But more importantly, Bert says, Don and Roger need to kiss and make up already. The firm needs their Martin and Lewis rapport when they're trying to impress people, so he sets up a barber's appointment for them so they can work it out over a manly shave and proto-metrosexual manicure.

Ken makes a grand tardy entrance through the office on a big ole John Deere riding mower. My grandpa would be appalled at such irreverent use of such a beautiful machine. Might as well stomp all over the American flag while you're at it, Kenny. Pete and Sal let him know he should probably get it out of there before tomorrow, on account of the British are coming. Ken is just excited he landed the account in time to show it off for the bigwigs.

"What's that on your shirt? Have you been mutilating small animals again?"

Bobby and Sally interrupt Betty's cat nap with baby Gene. "I'm bored," Bobby complains, and in a nice one-two punch taken straight from the Big Book Of Actual Boomer Parent Things I Have Actually Heard Spoken Aloud For Reals, Betty tells him to "go bang your head against a wall," followed by one of my personal favorites for its sheer nonsensicality, "only boring people are bored." "Can I pet him?" Bobby asks, creepily. Why does he give me the heebie jeebies? I feel like somewhere in Alternate Universe 2009 there's a Dateline jailhouse interview with Robert Draper wherein he describes his childhood and its possible role in the dozens of grisly ritualistic serial murders he perpetrated throughout the 80s. Quick, someone get Bobby a storyline before he starts setting fires and dissecting squirrels! For now, though, he sort of pats baby Gene's blanket a little with genuine (if decidedly unnerving) affection, but Sally refuses Betty's invitation to join them. She scowls stubbornly in the doorway.

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Last Comment: loula on Sep 25, 2009 05:03 PM.