Mad Men Season 7, Episode 3, “Field Trip”

It seems as though Don has indeed learned some lessons from his previous behavior. After the success Don had reconnecting with Sally last week once he simply told her the truth about what was happening in his life, he gives truth-telling another shot this week with Megan, the next-most important woman in his life. Unfortunately, however, he doesn’t seem to realize that Megan is much too close to his lies – and that he’s lied to her for much too long – for the truth about his status at SC&P to go as smoothly with her as it did with Sally.

Granted, Don’s leveling with Megan isn’t entirely of his own accord; just as with Sally last week, Don’s decision to tell the truth is conditioned by the suspicions and hostility of the person to whom he’s lying. Don surprises Megan in Los Angeles after Megan’s agent, Alan, calls Don and expresses concern over some of Megan’s erratic behavior. At first Megan is happy to see Don, but when he reveals that his visit was spurred by Alan’s concern rather than Don’s affection for her, she feels manipulated, and begins to angrily voice her long-held suspicions about Don’s activities in New York. Like Sally, Megan knows Don is lying to her about something, and assumes he’s having another love affair.

In order to placate Megan, Don finally tells her that he’s been forced to go on leave, and he gives her a similar explanation as that which he gave to Sally: he messed up, and wants to fix it, adding for good measure that he’s “been good” and hasn’t been drinking much. Don thinks that this truth will calm Megan, but doesn’t seem to realize that it’s actually more hurtful to her than an affair would have been, as it leads her to the following conclusion: “So with a clear head, you got up every day and decided that you didn’t want to be with me.” Either Don doesn’t realize that this is indeed how he feels about Megan, or he doesn’t realize that this is the obvious conclusion Megan would draw after hearing the truth (despite the implicit warning Sally gave him when one of the questions she asked Don after hearing the truth was whether or not he still loved Megan). Don’s disregard for Megan’s feelings (or his disconnection from his own feelings) is the final straw for Megan. She kicks Don out, and rather declaratively ends their marriage when she tells him, “This is the way it ends. It’s going to be so much easier for both of us.”

Don calls her later to apologize, but seems to make it worse, revealing that he was more concerned with having Megan view him a certain way than in sharing his life with her. This is a painful truth for such an open, honest, and empathetic character like Megan, because it implies that Don didn’t trust her to love him unless he played a certain role with her. Perhaps his concerns were genuine, and conditioned by his experience with Betty. Indeed, his first marriage ended when he lost control of Betty’s view of him (i.e., when she found out about Don’s past as Dick Whitman). However, as we saw at the end of season 5 and in all of his behavior last season, whatever love Don once had for Megan dried up when she shattered his illusions (or delusions) about who she was, thus the claims he makes of his motivations seem somewhat disingenuous, even if he’s truly sorry about how deeply he’s hurt Megan.

Megan’s rejection of Don seems to be the kick in the pants he needed to make a move in his professional life. When he gets back to New York, the first thing he does is schedule a business dinner with the rival agency that had expressed interest in him last episode, and then uses their offer letter to force the other partners at SC&P to make a decision about want to do with him. It leads to a nice scene between Don and Roger, one in which they fall into their familiar repartee, albeit one tinged with mutual hostility: Don is still angry with Roger over Roger’s participation in Don’s ouster, and Roger is still angry that Don’s behavior last year was so indefensible that Roger was forced to agree to the ouster (I particularly liked Don’s summary of why he didn’t take Roger’s call on Christmas, “I got the message: merry Christmas, love Judas.”). They move past their anger, however, and Roger tells Don to come into the office on Monday.*

*Roger tells Don that he wants him back because he misses Don, but it’s hard not to see Roger’s willingness to welcome Don back as a bit of politicking; he’s aware that Jim is slowly marshaling forces against him, and inviting Don back to the table gives him another ally amongst the partners.

The scene with Roger sets the stage for Don’s return to SC&P, which has some interesting editing: as he enters the office, the episode repeatedly flashes back to Don sitting in his apartment, contemplating his return and checking his watch. The flashbacks make Don’s return somewhat ambiguous, as at first it is difficult to tell if this is how he imagines his return taking place, or if we are simply jumping back and forth in time. Combined with the somber music, slow motion cinematography, and numerous point-of-view shots as Don enters the premises, the style cumulatively emphasizes not only the anxiety and awkwardness Don feels over his return, but also the extent of the changes Don notices upon arriving (like the new front desk secretary, Dawn’s new office, and Lou’s name on Don’s former office).

Any awkwardness Don feels is exasperated, however, by how shocked everyone is to see him back at SC&P. Roger left Don with the impression that he would set up a partners’ meeting and convince the others it is time for Don to return. However, when Don arrives on Monday, no one is expecting him (and even Roger appears surprised to see Don when he arrives later in the day). This leads to a number of amusing interactions as other office members discover that Don is back:

- Lou feels threatened. He’s cold to Don, and later he tersely summons the other creatives from the lounge into his office in order to get them away from Don (which in turn causes an amused smile to grow on Don’s face as he recognizes how threatened Lou feels). I gleefully anticipate Don’s ousting Lou, but hopefully not before Don lashes out at him with the vicious cruelty he previously reserved for Peggy and Ted.

- Michael’s first reaction to Don’s presence is to blurt out, “Boy, you smell good.” If that weren’t enough to indicate that Michael is also sick of Lou, Michael then immediately solicits Don’s opinion about the Chevalier Noir campaign.

- Joan is the first partner to catch a glimpse of Don, and is shocked and confused, but polite. You can see the wheels spinning in her head about the implications of Don’s presence.

- Ken is probably the only person who is unqualifiedly happy to see Don. Despite Ken’s high stress-level in the season premiere, he remains a decent, well-adjusted guy. He shows Don some photos of his newborn riding the carousel in Central Park, telling him it always reminds him of Don, as Ken was in the room during Don’s stellar carousel pitch at the end of season 1.

- Peggy’s reaction is the most portentous. She is shocked, dismayed, and suspicious, choosing to hide from Don at first. She finally approaches him at the end of the day, and casually asks if he’s coming back. Her tone of voice is somewhat neutral, and in the wake of Lou’s awfulness, it might even sound hopeful, but when Don replies that he’s not sure, Peggy smugly responds, “Well, I can’t say that we miss you.” Don is deflated and hurt by Peggy’s hostility; he sighs and sarcastically thanks Peggy, who in turn walks away extremely satisfied at having caused Don even a fraction of the pain he put her through last year (both Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss are wonderful in this exchange). This brief interaction speaks volumes about their relationship’s state of disrepair: as much as she hates working under Lou, she hates Don even more, and would never give him the satisfaction of telling Don how miserable she is. I’ll be very curious to see if Don can fix his relationship with Peggy (or if he even thinks it worth the effort – his sigh as he thanks Peggy might indicate that he has resigned himself to her hostility). So far, he’s had a 50 percent success rate at healing the rifts with the important women in his life, and I remain hopeful that he and Peggy can come to some sort of peace, as their rapport remains my favorite thing about this show (even though it has often been toxic).

The scene where the partners discuss Don’s fate was also rather spectacular, as it not only escalated into a shouting match and had Roger and Jim forcefully butting heads for the first time, but it also gave us the clearest articulation of where everyone’s loyalties lie at the moment. Battle lines are drawn immediately: Roger (and Pete by proxy) versus Jim (and Ted by proxy), with Joan and Bert as the swing votes. Joan’s concern is internally focused: things are operating smoothly now, and she doesn’t want to rock the boat by reintroducing Don into the mix. Bert’s concern, as always, is externally focused: he doesn’t like the reputation SC&P is developing within the advertising industry, and feels that Don’s misbehavior has contributed significantly to it.*

*Jim also uses the meeting as an opportunity to raise Harry’s concerns from earlier in the episode about buying a computer. Given his machinations over the past two episodes, it’s hard not to view this as another of Jim’s attempt to create allies (although Harry Crane is probably not the most reliable ally).

Ultimately, they decide to let Don return, not because they want him back, but because firing him would be too costly. Accordingly, they present him with somewhat strict and rather humiliating conditions for his return: he can’t be alone with clients and must stick to a pre-approved script; he is not allowed to drink at work; he must take Lane’s old office, and most humiliatingly, he has to report to Lou. The camera pushes in on Don as he reads the conditions, considers his response, and then calmly and casually responds, “Okay.” Don’s return to the office and his agreement to the other partners’ conditions is a major moment for his character; rather than indulging in his Dick Whitman impulses and fleeing to start his life over somewhere else (be it at another agency, Los Angeles, or wherever), he’s decided to stay the course and deal with the mess he’s made of his life. His understated agreement to all of the partners’ conditions seems to signal that Don is making small progress in changing his ways, and is perhaps capable of becoming a better person after all.

This episode also marked Betty’s first appearance of the season, although her parts of the episode were colossally disappointing in comparison with Don’s, because Betty seems to have returned to the sour, childish, and perpetually unhappy form of previous seasons. The episode starts promisingly, with Betty enthusiastically agreeing to chaperone Bobby on a school field trip to a farm (much to Bobby’s delight). She seems in high spirits on the way there, not only cracking jokes about Bobby’s teacher, who goes bra-less and sports a low-buttoned top, but also boldly volunteering to drink freshly-squeezed milk, much to Bobby’s pride. However, Bobby completely spoils her mood when he unthinkingly trades away her lunch sandwich for a bag of gumdrops.

Bobby’s lapse in judgment is rather innocuous (he didn’t know Betty intended to eat), but Betty lets it ruin the entire day, even though Bobby apologizes repeatedly for his mistake. Rather than viewing Bobby’s actions as the negligent-but-understandable act of a simpleton child, Betty takes his behavior as a personal affront to her motherhood, and an indication that Bobby has no regard for her whatsoever. Accordingly, she transforms back into the spiteful ice queen from season 4, forcing Bobby to eat the gumdrops rather than letting him try to fix his mistake and trade them back for her sandwich.

The scene made me think of an episode from late in season 4, where Don is out with Megan and the kids, and one of the kids spills a milkshake. Don’s first impulse is to overreact because he’s so used to innocuous mistakes like this souring Betty’s mood and ruining the day. This episode shows us exactly why Don overreacted back then, because here, a tiny mistake does indeed ruin Betty’s (and Bobby's) entire day. Later that evening, when Henry Francis tries to pry out of Betty what happened, she even says, “It was a perfect day, and he ruined it.” Betty’s warped sense of reality has set in, and she asks Henry why her kids don’t love her, even as Gene sleeps contentedly in the crook of her arm.

It’s a disappointing introduction to Betty because it contrasts sharply with the sea change she seemed to undergo last season in “The Better Half.” That episode was the first since the start of season 5 to feature Betty sans-fat suit, and her newfound confidence did wonders to alleviate her chronic unhappiness, making her more human and relatable than she had been in ages, and in possession of a newfound understanding of Don, as well as the unexpected ability to sympathize and pity him and Megan. Sadly, this sea change in Betty has not extended to her treatment of her children, as the episode demonstrated she’s just as a much of a self-possessed monster with a hopelessly warped sense of her children’s motivations and feelings. I suppose if Don was allowed to backslide for the entirety of the previous season, the same luxury should also be afforded to Betty, but I’d prefer her to work through some of her issues and become a better mother, and not just a better ex-wife.

Other thoughts:

- Joan’s promoting Dawn to head of personnel also contributes to Don’s decision to force the issue of his employment at SC&P, because Dawn no longer has time to keep Don up to speed.

- Lou continues to be a raging asshole to Peggy: not only does he condescend to her about her having Stan draw up a storyboard for the Chevalier Noir ad, but he also didn’t submit her St. Joseph’s ad from last season for the Clio awards (although he does apologize). Naturally, this slight chafes Peggy, who has always been concerned over the allotment of awards and the recognition she receives (or not) for her work.

- Along with Betty, Harry also makes his first appearance of the season in this episode: he’s brought into a meeting to address a client’s concerns over whether or not SC&P is using a computer to analyze their markets. Surprisingly, he handles the client’s concerns with aplomb (and smugly walks away from Jim when Jim tries to berate him after the meeting), but later reveals that he was lying through his teeth to the client. Jim’s reaction is rather priceless: “You have stiff competition, but I believe you to be the most dishonest man I have ever worked with.” Harry’s smugness is amusing, but I still like it better when others get the best of him.

- I liked the moment of concern on Don’s face when Megan jokingly asks if Don decided to surprise her because he got fired.

- Megan: “It’s sunny here for everyone but me.” That line could have just as easily come from Betty’s mouth as from Megan’s.

- Apparently, Peggy got stuck with Meredith for a secretary after all. Poor Peggy.

- When Betty asks Henry Francis if he thinks she’s a good mother, I could not help but shout “No!” at the television.

- We get another shot from Don’s point-of-view when he enters the conference room near the end of the episode, emphasizing Don’s subjectivity and reinforcing his anxiety.