Tonight's adventure: "The Arrangements"

Grandpa Gene takes the Draper children out for a drive. We can't say with any real certainty that this is the first time he's allowed young Sally to take the wheel. We also can't definitively rule out the possibility that they're on their way to a cock fight. 

Peggy informs her sister that she's planning to move to Manhattan. All those hours commuting. All those cabs. It's clear she's been doing the math in the margins of her desk calendar. They agree that this is the reasonable course. Except, who's gonna tell Ma? 

Young entrepreneur and insane person Horace Cook Jr. (Hoho) comes to Sterling Cooper with dreams of launching a sports empire. He's convinced that jai alai is the future, and he's willing to bet his inheritance on it. Don thinks he's an idiot and wants to run this by Cooper's good friend Horace Sr. first. 

Gene sits Betty down to discuss the morbid details of his final arrangements. He wants her to be prepared. Prepared for his demise and any cold weather to follow. She's to get all of her mother's furs, including the minks. Gene isn't nearly so annoyed with his impending doom as he is with leaving his daughter with Don Draper (who, as you'll recall, has no people) "If you'd even known what was possible." Betty is not pleased with this selfish exercise on her father's part. She's pregnant and this is way too depressing to deal with at the moment. She hasn't even done her hair. When the hell is the damned baby going to drop? Shut up, dad.  

With the regular camera guy off to LA for a film project, Sal takes over the Patio shoot. It's a nonchalant decision for Don and a lightning bolt for Sal. 

Peggy posts an ad for a roommate on the office bulletin board. It appears as if a protractor was involved in its creation. 

Gene and Bobby open a box with what appears to be a kitchen machete. In addition to a framed print of the Gettysburg Address and Gene's war medals, they uncover an old German helmet. Gene sticks his finger in a bullet hole. "See that? Dried blood." He places the helmet on the boy's head. Don peers over his newspaper from the living room. "There was a person in that helmet," he protests. "That's a dead man's hat. Take it off." Gene ignores him. Don confiscates the thing, leaving the pair alone. Gene then withdraws an oriental fan. After a pause, he whispers the line of the night. 

"There was this girl..."

Kitty tries to seduce Sal on a bed so creaky that the foley effects must have been written into the script. Sal says he's working. Aside from being disinterested in Kitty on a sexual level, he really is anxious about the Patio shoot. Kitty knows something is amiss in their relationship and assumes it's some failing on her part. Sal attempts to explain it away by lamenting the imminent death of illustration. Kitty then endures his enthusiastic presentation of the Patio ad, his own Ann Margaret impression (much better than Peggy's). Later, Kitty will add this to the "Oh my god, I think my husband is a covert homosexual" chart she's been working on since their honeymoon. 

Horace Cook Sr. stops by Bert's office and gives Don and crew his permission to drain his son's inheritance. He loves the lad, but he's resigned to the financial spiral. 

The boys enlist Switchboard Lois in an elaborate prank call to Peggy. This ranks up there with other classic prank call scenes including the "I am job" scene from Mrs. Doubtfire and the "Chim Richalds" scene from Anchorman. I think it's safe to assume that if Roger had caught them he'd scowl, walk back to his office, and devise four prank calls of his own, including one involving an irate Chinaman.  

Gene salts his ice cream in a tender scene with Sally. Knowing dramatic structure and considering the fact that someone is actually showing care and concern for the little ballerina, it's fairly obvious that Gene's days are numbered. 

Pete and Don take Hoho to dinner. The guy is so passionate about the future that you might want this series to turn into a bit of Harry Turtledove alternate history where baseball fades into obscurity and this whole jai alai thing takes off. We know better though. Don does too. He actually tries to bail the kid out and sabotage the campaign, advising Hoho to reconsider his absurd investment. Hoho takes it as a gag and strengthens his resolve. 

Joan offers Peggy some advice about sexing up her roommate ad. Joan's becoming gracious with each passing week. Peggy continues having trouble interacting with the people of Earth. She takes the advice and opts to post her flier beyond the walls of Sterling Cooper. 

Don, a known insomniac, rolls out of bed to look at some photos from his former life in coal town. With the approaching demise of Betty's father, Don seems to be getting nostalgic. 

Don arrives in the office and Pete rushes to tell him his good news. He's finalized the Jai alai deal. Horace Jr. is ready for the oven. They find Paul, Harry, Ken, and Hooker playing catch with the Jai alai equipment. Don attempts a pitch and shatters that ant farm they've been showcasing all season. "Bill the kid." 

Gene drives the kids to school, growling at Bobby for getting English muffin crumbs on the upholstery of the Lincoln. I secretly hope that the German helmet is tucked away in his school bag. Gene promises to pick up Sally for ballet. 

Peggy meets her new roommate, the delightfully eccentric Karen. Karen does not like sailors. Karen is Swedish, not Norwegian. Karen is played by Carla Gallo (Carnivale, Undeclared, most Judd Apatow productions). Knowing Carla Gallo, this is gonna be fun. 

Sal presents his Patio spot. It's exactly what they asked for. Epic fail. 

Sally sits out on the stoop waiting for Gene to arrive and take her to ballet class. A policeman arrives, hat in the crook of his arm. He informs Betty and Sally that Gene is dead. He collapsed in line at the A&P. Arrangements need to be made about the body. Betty leads the policeman into the house, leaving Sally alone to grieve in her tutu. 

Sal steps into Don's office, prepared for the axe to drop. They are interrupted when Don gets the call about Gene. Before he leaves the office he congratulates Sal on his new career as a commercial director. Patio's dumb anyway. Sal is elated. 

Peggy unveils a new television set for her mother. It's a hit. Then she breaks the news about moving to Manhattan. Ma does a total 180, promising Peggy that this decision will only lead to rape. 

As Sally mourns under the dining room table, the adults go over Gene's legal documents in the kitchen. Betty has discovered that her father was known as Eugene Hoffstadt #2 at his bank because there was another man with that name who got there first. The conversation turns to exhausted resignation and black humor. Sally overhears the laughter and flies into a rage. She loved her grandfather and no one else seems to care that he's dead. Betty dismisses her, too tired, too immature in her own right to bother with the girl. Sally skulks off to watch television in the darkened living room. Murder in South Vietnam. 

Don and Betty lie in bed, still dressed. Don slips off to Sally's room. She sleeps, clutching Gene's copy of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in her arms. Don moves on to Gene's room, now the spare space it was before the old man's arrival. He folds up the bed. Another chapter closed. 

With this episode, the season's ongoing theme of decay comes to a head with an actual death. It also manages to be one of the series' broadest episodes, even after an episode that was essentially a stoner comedy with elements of blackface. Some of these jokes are really out there and absurd. I think it worked here because the wackiness was offset by genuine human tragedy. It's all those characters left out in the cold. Peggy's mom left in the dust of her daughter's success. Horace Sr. unable to protect his son from himself. Kitty coming to the heartbreaking conclusion that her greatest flaw is loving her own husband. Sally Draper, last steward of the Roman Empire and last rememberer of Gene Hofstadt #2, the man who taught her how to drive. 

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