SPOILERS AHEAD FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAS AIRED TO DATE
“And what are you supposed to be?”
I haven’t kept up on the latest trends in Halloween costumes, but apparently every boy who lived between 1945 and 1985 spent at least one trick-or-treating trip dressed as a hobo, complete with brown hat and plastic cigar. I guess hobos smoked a lot of cigars. I did my turn as a hobo when I was about four years old, though naturally I couldn’t have told you what a hobo was. In retrospect, it seems like kind of a strange choice for a costume, except that it requires so little effort. I suppose scolding people for making light of homelessness would be cherry-picking, since no one complains about making fun of death. Or lycanthropy.
Don has a history with hobos, of course, having hosted one on his family’s farm as a child. Don’s father stiffed the man after a day’s work, and the hobo carved a symbol into the fencepost that translated as “a dishonest man lives here.” The Whitmans and their life of poverty are far in the past for Don now, but he can’t shake their legacy. And he can’t shake his father’s faults. Don is a dishonest man.
“The Gypsy and the Hobo” opens on the Drapers’ bedroom while Betty packs a suitcase. We know that she discovered Don’s secret stash of money, photographs, and incriminating legal documents in last week’s episode, but it appears she’s actually just taking the children on a trip to visit her brother. Once she’s there, however, and dispensed with William’s request that she sell her share of their father’s house for double what the old man paid for it (years ago), she confides in the family attorney, telling him everything she’s pieced together about Don’s secret past. The lawyer basically tells her to go home and be a good wife. Divorce, like apparently everything else, was different in the 1960s.
But sometimes it works out. Roger claims to be completely in love with Jane, and based on this episode, I guess we have some reason to believe him. He’s tempted by the return of an old flame, one Mrs. Annabelle Mathis (widow) of Caldecott Farms, a disgraced dog food company. Annabelle visits Sterling-Cooper under the pretense of needing a new ad campaign to improve the company’s image after a movie accused the company (accurately) of using horse meat in its formula. Don puts together a focus group to find out what people think of the food, but the three participants immediately pull their dogs away from the bowls in disgust when they learn their pooches are eating Caldecott Farms brand food. This leads to a typically Mad Men-ish bit of humor when Peggy responds to Annabelle’s request that they “turn it off” by sensibly replying, “I can’t turn it off. It’s all actually happening.”
It was nice to get an episode that spent some time focusing on Roger, but this tale of love once lost and possibly re-found didn’t do much for me. Maybe I just have a hard time rooting for characters to get together when I know that at least one of them is a dyed-in-the-wool philanderer. That Roger refuses Annabelle’s advances is interesting, and maybe even noble. But then again, Annabelle isn’t a spring chicken anymore. Roger likes them barely legal. Still, it was nice to hear about Roger wandering about France like he wanted to be a character in someone’s novel. I’d enjoy flashing back to Roger’s early days at the agency. Come to think of it, I’d like to see Don’s early days too.
Roger’s highlight of the episode, however, was his phone call from Joan, who listens as Greg bitches and moans about a failed job interview and concludes that she needs to find permanent work — something more fitting her talents than working in a department store. And Roger, sad that she won’t return to Sterling-Cooper, agrees to help. It’s a nice moment between two old friends and lovers, and carries a tinge of regret. Roger is kind of Joan’s Annabelle.
Joan gets the award for the episode’s most unexpected event. After listening to Greg accuse her of not knowing what it’s like to want something her whole life, Joan breaks a vase over his head! Greg eventually does the logical thing and joins the army so he can be a surgeon. I’m sure he won’t have to go to Vietnam. I mean, no one goes to Vietnam. Joan is supportive, but the look on her face at the end of the scene tells the story.
Which brings up an interesting point: While it’s understandable that a show in 2009 wouldn’t romanticize war, Mad Men doesn’t depict military service as something to even be proud of. Greg doesn’t have patriotic reasons for joining up; he just wants to cut people open. Gene’s catalog of artifacts from World War I was macabre, and the nonchalance with which he talked about killing Germans was disturbing. And Don, of course, is a deserter. Has there ever been a complimentary portrayal of a military veteran on the show?
Speaking of Don and his tendency to go AWOL, he’s taking advantage of Betty’s trip to Philadelphia by spending lots of time with Suzanne. She laments that she doesn’t get to go out to dinner with him, so he offers to go away with her for a few days. But when Don makes a quick stop at home before their trip — with Suzanne waiting in the car — Betty and the family surprise him by returning home early. And Betty’s got one thing on her mind — making Don open his private desk drawer.
The ensuing scenes didn’t really provide any new information. After all, we’ve already learned this stuff about Don in prior episodes. And yet, watching him squirm while Betty interrogated him was one of the most powerful and pleasurable moments of the season for me. It’s always interesting when a series known for its snappy dialogue crafts a fine scene built on mostly non-verbal acting, and Don splashing water on his face and fumbling for a cigarette while Betty mocks him for “looking at that door” was top notch. That’s not to say the dialogue wasn’t strong as well. Betty’s pitying “I’ll get you a drink. Just sit down,” was maybe the most devastating thing we’ve heard her say.
It feels as though the entire series has been leading to this moment, and the show did not disappoint. I expected a knock-down-drag-out, but the mostly-quiet approach turned out to be perfect. Betty is angry, but she wants answers at least as much as she wants to let her anger out.
Betty: Why didn’t you tell me? Why couldn’t you tell me any of this?
Don: When? The day we met? On our first date? On our wedding night? Why did you need to know?
Betty: You don’t get to ask any questions. (She retrieves the box of photos and drops them on the table.) You have a family.
Don: No I don’t.
Betty: All this time I thought you were some football hero who hated his father. I knew you were poor. I knew you were ashamed of it. And I see how you are with money — you don’t understand it.
Don: I was very poor.
Betty: Did you see her when you were in California?
Don: I did. And she reminded me that I love you.
Betty: What would you do if you were me? Would you love you?
Don: I was surprised that you ever loved me.
The scene just crackles. It’s exhausting for Don, but its invigorating to watch. Later he sits on the bed and goes through the photos with Betty, pointing out the subjects like a young couple seeing each other’s family albums for the first time. When Betty points out that Don’s little brother must still be alive, he recounts with overwhelming guilt how the young man hunted him down a few years prior only too have Don turn his back on him. “He just wanted to be part of my life,” weeps Don, “and I couldn’t risk all of this.”
After the dust settles, Don makes a quick phone call to Suzanne telling her they should probably cool it for awhile. That’s how it goes. I’m kind of intrigued by Betty’s opinion that Don doesn’t understand money. Does she mean that he doesn’t understand what it means to be rich — how a wealthy person should act? He’s not generally cavalier with his spending, so I have to assume she meant something like that.
Will the revelations of this episode further drive a wedge between Don and Betty or will it somehow bring them closer together? Will Betty use her knowledge to force Don to be a better husband, much as Bert forced him to sign a contract? Will Don be a changed man now he doesn’t have to hide his past from Betty? There are only two episodes left this season — things are coming to a close. We need some resolution on whether Peggy and Pete are leaving the firm — and by the way, where is Pete? This is the second week in a row he’s been absent from the proceedings. Conrad Hilton is presumably still floating around out there, and Sterling-Cooper is for sale. And of course, Roger’s daughter is set to be married on November 22nd.
I didn’t love everything in this episode, but the last fifteen minutes were as good as anything that’s ever been on the show.
Rating: 
Sally was a gypsy for Halloween. Feel free to discuss the similarities and difference between gypsies and hobos.
