Well, we all figured Don would make his way back to SC & P eventually, but who knew he’d get there on his hands and knees?
Don agrees to previously unimaginable terms in order to get his old job back (Lane’s old office! Playing second fiddle to Lou! No drinking on the job!!!) but before he can start making his way back up the ladder, Don – as always – has to find a new way to hit rock bottom.
Don takes two phone calls at the start of last night’s Mad Men and both serve to remind us how far he’s fallen from the top of the totem pole.
First, he grovels for help from his ex-secretary, seconds later he learns his wife’s career is in jeopardy.
This being the former Dick Whitman we’re talking about, he attempts to take charge of both situations with predictably catastrophic results:
A surprise visit to Megan ends in disaster and possible divorce, as Mrs. Draper reveals to Don that she’s found out about his extended leave of absence from SC & P, which leads her to the conclusion that he hasn’t joined her in LA for no other reason than that he’s Don…and LA would fit him about as well as a pair of tattered jeans and a baseball cap.
So Don and Megan – a New York power couple just months earlier – are now struggling with their respective careers on opposite coasts, and soon to be going their separate ways.
"Who’s your new girl, Don?" Megan asks with fully justified suspicion. "I know what you’re like when you’re left alone."
"There is no one else," Don replies. "I haven’t even been drinking that much."
And for once, he’s being honest. Don was once a man defined by work, women and whiskey. Seeing him stripped of his vices and his vocation, we’re as confused as Megan as to what’s driving him these days.
Fortunately for Don, his work comeback goes slightly than his failed reconciliation with Megan…though it certainly doesn’t come easy.
To say Don’s return to SC & P creates a stir would be like saying Jon Hamm’s penis occasionally draws attention.
The whole office is taken by surprise, with the exception of Roger, who doesn’t help Don’s case by strolling in late after a three-martini lunch.
When it comes down to an emergency partners’ meeting, however, Roger makes up for years of drunken half-assing by passionately defending Don’s stake in the firm.
And with that, the ultimate ad men is back where he belongs…with a whole slew of conditions.
Meanwhile:
It looks like we can add Peggy to the list of former sharks who are now treading water.
Not only will she not be getting the Clio award she had her heart set on, Stan and Ginsberg have been nominated for their work on her account. No wonder she’s pissed to see Don come back. She’s got enough dudes thwarting her ambition!
Speaking of the forgotten ladies in Don’s life – Betty’s back! Her idea of ambition apparently involves going on her son’s third grade field trip, but at least she’s slimmed down and getting out of the house!
Of course, it only takes one incident involving a sandwich and two 8-year-olds to return Betty to her natural state of horrible human being.
Worse: her conversation with little Bobby Draper is more than upsetting – his love of the Wolfman suggests he shares his dad’s obsession with transformation. That should work out well!
Watch Mad Men online at TV Fanatic to relive Betty’s transformation from doting wife to psycho blonde b-word.
