Kevin nailed it with the Sally/Don stuff. The scenes with Sally and Don felt earned and genuine. The showstopper “I love you” scene was a fitting and surprisingly touching end to their road trip.

I’m skeptical, though, that Don is any further along on his road to redemption. Let’s remember that, for a man seeking forgiveness and change, Don drank A LOT in this episode. Note the marking of the liquor bottle and then the lunch with Dave. Don is still putting them back and I fear that he isn’t on the road to recovery as much as the gooey stuff with Sally would have us believe and hope.

This was one of those great slow burn episodes that Mad Men is both loved and hated for. Here it works. If you think about it, there’s a lot going on in this episode:

Roger (nice to see you outside of a hotel room) is slowly losing to Jim whatever decision power he has left. You can tell he is feeling less and less valuable in every aspect of his life.

The same can’t be said for Joan, who is movin’ on up to the office upstairs reserved for an “Accounts Man.” This, for me, was just as satisfying as Sally’s “I love you” scene. Joan deserves this, regardless of what a bitter Roger thinks.

Dawn and Shirley, perhaps the only two African American employees at SC&P, did more to highlight the racial strife of 1969 in this one episode than in any Mad Men I can remember. Their break room routine — where they called each other by the other’s name — humorously and yet sadly pointed out that no one in the office sees a difference between them.

And can we agree that Lou Avery is the worst? I’ll give him credit that it wasn’t his job to explain Don’s absence to Sally, but still, this guy could not be more condescending, sexist, or racist if he tried. Speaking of racist, it may have been an unfortunately common sentiment at the time, but Bertram Cooper’s order to remove Dawn from the front desk actually caused me to wince at the screen. I wonder if they purposely picked one of the firm’s more pleasant partners to make that stinging remark?

I thought the episode flowed well. The funny scenes with the conference call seemed to fit nicely between the heavier scenes, a lot of which dealt with the show’s regular, weightier themes.

It remains to be seen where Don moves next in all of this. We know now that Don has eyes and ears inside of the office, and if you add this to Freddy, who is his mouth, he’s got an entire head in the office at SC&P. I’m still not sure, though, where it gets him. The office seems to be moving along just fine in his absence.

As for Don’s home life, we’re left to wonder. When asked by Sally if he still loves Megan, Don gave one of those “of course” answers that felt patently untrue. Sure, he’s bonding now with his daughter, but will it last? It’s Mad Men, so probably not.