A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember

Production
Season 2 Episode 8
Air date	14 September 2008
Written by	Robin Veith Matthew Weiner
Directed by	Lesli Linka Glatter

Previous The Gold Violin	Next Six Month Leave

Father Gill tries to convince Peggy to volunteer her talents to a church project; Herman Phillips and Don team to woo a foreign beer client by marketing to a new demographic; Harry turns to an unlikely source for help when his department is overloaded with work.

Synopsis

Betty Draper asks Don to make repairs around the house before their dinner party the next weekend. John Gill recruits Peggy Olson to help promote the church's upcoming teen dance.

At work on Monday, Herman Phillips lectures Harry Crane because a televised movie the night before referenced "communist agitators" moments before an ad extolling the agitators in client Maytag's washers. Herman Phillips later tells Don that Heineken executives are resisting the strategy of marketing the Dutch beer to upscale housewives. Don recommends setting up trial displays at suburban grocery stores to demonstrate the beer's appeal to women.

Harry pleas for help reading TV scripts ahead of air dates. Roger replies "figure out a way to do the job yourself."

Father Gill calls Peggy to convey the church committee's qualms about the dance's theme: "A Night to Remember." Peggy argues that it's romantic, not suggestive. "You have to get the girls," for the dance to be a success, she maintains. "That's the only way the boys will come."

At the Draper dinner party Betty introduces her "trip around the world" menu. The men; Roger, Herman Phillips, and Don, along with Crab Colson of the Rogers & Cowan agency; all chuckle when the beverage choices include "a frosty glass of beer from Holland" (i.e., Heineken). Herman Phillips marvels, Don "said you were the market, and you were."

"You're supposed to tell them to trust me," Peggy complains to Father Gill after three elderly church members continue to quibble about her "A Night to Remember" theme.

Joan, who is helping Harry read scripts, quizzes her doctor-fiancé about a medical situation in one of them. He says that she should be sitting home eating bonbons while watching the shows, not reading scripts. She says she enjoys the work.

After the dinner guests depart, Betty tells Don he embarrassed her. "You knew I would buy that beer," she says. "I use our life in my work all the time," Don counters. A few moments later Betty accuses him of having an affair with Bobbie Barrett. "You think you know me? Well, I know what kind of man you are," she says. Don denies having the affair.

At work the next day, Harry introduces Joan to two Maytag execs, who profess themselves highly satisfied with Sterling Cooper's script-vetting process. Back at the Draper home, Betty, sipping wine and still wearing her party dress, rifles through Don's clothes and desk drawers.

Two Heineken execs hear the results of Don's test marketing and agree to roll out a regional promotion in suburban grocery stores. Joan, enthused about the As the World Turns scripts she's been reading, convinces two reps from Sea & Ski suntan lotion to book ads on the show. "I love what she says, and I love the way she says it," one of the reps tells Harry.

Near the end of the workday, Roger informs Harry he can hire a new employee to read scripts.

"Are you okay, Mommy?" Sally asks Betty who's lying on the bed, and still in her party dress. When Betty steps out of bed later, she cuts her foot on a wine glass.

That night, Don finds Betty still in bed and asks how much she's had to drink. "I went through every pocket and every drawer," Betty tells him, but she hasn't found any evidence of Don's affair. "I would never do this to you," she adds. "How could you do this to me?" "I didn't do anything," he replies.

Don sleeps on the couch that night. Betty wakes him to say she doesn't "want it to be like this." He repeats that nothing happened. When she asks if he hates her, Don says he loves her and the children and doesn't want to lose everything.

Harry introduces Joan to Danny, the new hire who will read scripts and deal with the TV networks going forward. Harry thanks her for filling in and asks her to explain the job to his new assistant. Joan conceals her disappointment well. Father Gill, while making copies of the revised dance poster in Peggy's office, tells Peggy he's available if she needs to talk about anything then advises her to reconcile herself to God regarding any sins.

After seeing Jimmy Barrett's Utz commercial on TV, Betty calls Don at the office. "Don't come home," she says. "I don't care what you do. I just don't want you here." Later that evening, he sits in the office kitchen, sipping a Heineken.

A Night to Remember

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