The next day is Saturday, and it is the day of Sally's birthday party. Don builds her a playhouse. Betty and Francine talk about Helen, who often goes for long walks. Walks that seem inexplicable to the ladies. "Where the hell is she going?" Francine wonders. Later at the party, the wives are gossiping in the kitchen, mostly about their husbands and Helen, who shows up with Glen and a present wrapped in Christmas paper. The wives view Helen as abnormal and vaguely threatening. The contrast between how we view Helen - independent, ahead of her time - and how the wives view her is great.
We get to know Helen a great deal through her conversations with the rest of the ladies. Francine's husband, Carlton, makes a pass at her, the last stages of which Don captures on his video camera. We see much of the next few minutes through Don's viewfinder, set against "The Marriage of Figaro". The kids running through the house, the interactions between some of the adults. The little boy with Polio. The guys, separate from everything, drinking. Don and Helen share a moment on the deck as they smoke cigarettes, which Betty deftly interrupts by asking Don to go get the cake. Don departs, gets the cake, but instead of returning, simply drives off. Betty and the wives worry. One of the husbands has the temerity to address the entirety of the adults with "There's not going to be a cake. Am I the only know who knows that? Don Draper, you are a first class heel, and I salute you." Fortunately, Helen saves the day with a frozen Sara Lee cake.
We cut to Don, some hours later, in his rather hideous Buick(?), smoking a cigarette, staring off into the nothingness. The next shot, Betty hears him in the other room with the kids. He brought home a dog for Sally as a birthday present. She names it Polly. The scene fades to black as Bobby Vinton's "PS, I Love You" begins to play, a not-so-subtle dig at Don's post script of a birthday gift to his daughter.
Stray Observations
*"He could be Batman for all we know."
*Francine and Carlton's kid breaks a vase or something akin; another father smacks him as Carlton walks up. Then the two men make Francine clean it.
Newbie Spoiler
*Returning viewers, what do you think of Rachel Menken? Is she the closest Don has come to the perfect woman for him?
End Newbie Spoiler
Music: "PS, I Love You" by Bobby Vinton; "The Marriage of Figaro" by Mozart
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(11:27:20 PM) Cokes: brewing beer tomorrow woo
(11:43:44 PM) Luster: OMG, Cokes is going to make moonshine.