Three Up
3. Ken Cosgrove. When a decision is made to go after Dow Chemical, Roger sits Ken down to talk out Ken's reluctance to involve family with business. Ken assents to the approach, but makes Roger agree to tell his father in law that, if Dow comes to SCDP, Roger forced Ken onto the account. He also requests that Pete not take any meetings with Dow at all. He also turns down a partnership with a veiled remark about how the partners pimped Joan out. Nice to see him assert himself, even if he's doing so from a weak position.
2. Don Draper. A mixed bag for Don. When Cooper discovers Lane's forged check, Don says he'll take care of it. He does so by asking Lane for his resignation, noting that it's a better path than letting the partners know. He gives Lane the weekend to plan a smooth exit, a kindness that will come back to bite him. Don takes the meeting with Dow and rediscovers his aggression, telling Dow that their current firm is using them to fund their more interesting work, and that moving to SDCP will give them a firm that will not become complacent in the face of Dow's large market share. We don't know how the meeting went, because when they get back to the office the other partners let them know what happened with Lane. Don gets Roger and Pete to help cut Lane down, and when the suicide note turns out to be a generic resignation letter, you can see the guilt on Don's face, even if it is misplaced. When Don gets back to the apartment to find Glenn there, he winds up driving him back to school. Or, more correctly, allows Glenn to drive himself back after they have an elevator discussion about good things turning to crap.
1. Betty Francis. Win-win for Betty, as she gets to dump a Sally on Don when Sally complains about a skiing weekend only to have her need her mom when Sally gets her first period. Of course, Betty also gets to use this to tweak Megan about Sally running home because she needed her mother. You didn't expect Betty to be totally dignified, did you?
Three Down
3. Sally Draper. At first it looks like she's going to win, as she gets to avoid skiing with the family and spend the weekend at Don's, which includes missing school on Monday when both Don and Megan have work. She manages to get coffee when out with Megan and her friend, and later talks Glenn into ditching school to visit on the heels of talking about boyfriends with Megan. Turns out Glenn isn't going to be her boyfriend, as Sally discovers she doesn't feel romantically towards Glenn. It's not long after saying this that she goes to the bathroom and discovers her period. She freaks out and takes a cab home, where she runs into the arms of Betty for support. She's not quite Miss Independent yet.
2. Joan Harris. Joan talks with Lane after Don asks him to resign, and in discussing a vacation has Lane suggest that she wants him to imagine her in a bikini. This winds up being their last conversation, which I think has to run through her mind when she tries to open his office door and can't, as there's a chair in the way. There's also a smell, and the combo prompts her to ask Pete, Ken and Harry to check on the problem. So in a way she's the one to discover Lane's body (though Pete is the first to actually see what happened), and given their particular relationship you can imagine how she's feeling.
1. Lane Pryce. The episode started on a good note - he took a position with a professional organization - but quickly falls apart when Don asks him to resign. He goes home, and finds that his wife has bought him a Jaguar. She might as well have bought him a noose. Not sure when he decided to kill himself, but when he's at home catching up on errands it made me think he was tying up loose ends. Suspicions were confirmed when he went down to the Jag with towels and garden hose, and he's all set to kill himself that way until the Jag won't start. Fitting. He winds up going to the office, types out what we later learn is his resignation, and hangs himself on the back of his door. Unbelievably tragic, and very sad to think we'll not have Jared Harris on the show anymore.
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