Wow. This was quite the Mother's Day episode. You know, of all the people I thought might actually die on this show, for some reason I didn't think it would be Betty in the end, despite how long I've hated the character. But Matt Weiner feels differently, and that's what we're going to get to right now. Poor Betty. And that might be the first time and last time I ever said that.
Betty continues to go to college, but she collapses on the stairs one day, and the next thing we know, the school doctor is referring her to a real doctor, and the real doctor wants to talk to her husband of course and not her (sexist), whom he finally tells that Betty is in the near final stages of lung cancer and likely has less than nine months to live, maybe a year with treatment. After that bombshell (and just when she was finally happy and not so mean to everyone), Henry wants her to fight it, but Betty is resigned to her fate and just wants to keep going to classes until the end. Henry refuses to accept this and shows up at Sally's school, where he's hoping that telling her against her mother's wishes will allow her to be able to talk her into treatment, but he breaks down crying as a scared Sally attempts to comfort him. When Sally comes home, Betty ends up giving her a letter to read as soon as she's dead, which Sally reads on getting back to school, and it simply details the arrangements for her funeral and the dress she wants to wear, while also telling her that she knows her life will be an adventure. Sally is devastated and ends the episode in tears, and even though I've never been a Betty fan, even I'm not made of stone when it comes to a goodbye letter from a parent to a child after their death. Man. That's rough.
In Pete world, this episode gave us his swan song, and amazingly enough, under circumstances which Pete himself can't even believe, he ends up getting the happiest ending of any former SC&P partner. He's doing well as VP at McCann, but out of the blue, Duck Philips shows up (how is it that that guy has managed to make at least one appearance every year of this show's run?) and somehow woos Pete into inadvertently interviewing for a corporate position at LearJet. The company wants him to relocate to Wichita, where he'll have the personal use of his own private plane to take anywhere in the world at any time, and though Pete resists this, knowing he's already got it good, Duck keeps pushing it on him, since he's the guy who's supposed to hire people for this company. Pete shows up at Trudy's a couple of times to play with Tammy and continue to ask her to go to dinner with him, but Trudy refuses, standing her ground in refusing to be hurt by him again. Pete then goes to dinner with his brother, where he wonders why they cheat on their wives to begin with, what the point of it all is anyway, and Duck drunkenly shows up at his hotel to tell him he actually landed the job without even showing up at the dinner meeting. Pete's in shock about this but seizes the chance to go to Trudy in the middle of the night, passionately tell her he's never loved anyone else, and that he'll use this incredible new job as a second chance for life with her and Tammy, which he promises never to screw up again. Trudy can't resist this time, and you know what- even I believe him. Out of all the couples on this show, to me, Pete and Trudy always seemed to genuinely love each other, despite Pete's douchey attempts to imitate the sleazy behavior of his co-workers. He was always his most relaxed and honest self when he was with her, and they matched better than than any of the other pairings. Pete walks out the door on air, and secures himself the happily ever after I never thought he'd get. So long, Pete Campbell.
Finally, we get to Don, who's still on his sojourn across the country and traveling through the midwest now, Kansas of all places. But he hasn't exactly dropped off the radar, as we see that he's in constant contact with Sally, who's asking him about every detail of the trip over the phone and the two remain close, as they've been since season six, which is nice to see. But the Kansas stop involved getting his car fixed and being conned by a sleazeball motel worker, who plans to rob the other people in the lodge and pin the blame on Don. Don goes to a veteran's fundraiser where he hangs out with several other war vets, and ends up confessing the story of how he murdered his CO in Korea so he could go home. The camaraderie doesn't last long though, as several of the vets attack him later in his room, convinced he stole the money they raised that night. Don knows who it was though, and coolly intimidates the guy into handing him the cash so he can give it back, which he does and then takes the poor sap to the bus stop. But then Don unexpectedly hands the con man over his car, and gets out at the stop himself. The guy drives off while Don sits back, having shed yet another part of his identity.
Notes:
-How exactly is it that Betty had not exhibited any symptoms of advanced lung cancer except exhaustion climbing up stairs? Shouldn't she be, you know, coughing up blood by now?
-My big question about Betty's death (we can be sure that the finale will involve a significant time jump, so I'm pretty positive this is the last time we ever see Betty), is whether this is it- the thing that finally gives Don a sense of real direction. He has three kids that now need him, and he's all they'll have left. If that's where this is going, I'm totally on board, and it seems like maybe the most appropriate ending Don Draper could ever have. With the death of his ex-wife, his children of all things are now all his, and he has a real reason and a purpose to go on. It's almost poetic. And I can't believe that next week is the series finale, guys. I'm tearing up already.
