As Mad Men enters the first half of its seventh and final season, a panel of viewers here at Curiata.com will engage in a roundtable discussion following each episode. Check back throughout the week for new entries in the series.

The relationship between Don and Sally Draper has been adversarial for almost the entire run of the show. Don’s mistakes always seem to be revealed to Sally before anyone else, and she, understandably, never handles them well. The second episode of Mad Men’s final season continues the momentum of the season’s first by showing how Don is finally growing into a man more accepting of his flaws.

Don is still addicted to lying. Megan and others are completely unaware that Don is on forced leave. However, Sally is finally making a dent in Don’s heart and becoming the conscience that he’s sorely been missing. Last week’s decision by Don not to sleep with Neve Campbell now makes more sense after being reminded of Sally’s scarring vision of her father and his mistress.

It appears as though Don is finally learning from his mistakes. He decides against lying to Sally as he would in the past, instead telling his daughter the truth and letting her react appropriately. This is no longer the Don Draper who would degrade people into submission — a role which Peggy Olson appears to be moving into — but a man who realizes his mistakes and is looking to fix them.

This leads to the simplest, yet most incredible scene of the episode. When saying good bye to her father, Sally tells Don that she loves him. It’s surprising how jarring this moment is, considering it is just a teenage girl saying this to her dad, but then we remember all of the times when Sally’s hatred of her father was very evident. Don’s reaction mirrors that which he had last season with Bobby, in which he makes his father so proud that Don is unable to keep himself from crying. It’s a moment in which we realize that Don is finally coming to terms with his role as a father and the unbelievable love he has for them.

Whereas early seasons show Don Draper as a man going through the motions, constantly remembering his own childhood, the final season of Mad Men shows a man who is finally happy with the people in his life, even if he’s embarrassed by his professional mistakes.