Mad Men Refresher Course: What's Up with Don's Love Life?
Mad Men
After an interminable 17-month hiatus, AMC's Mad Men is finally back! Because it's been so long since we last visited the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, we'll be playing catch-up with the show's most important story lines all week before the show's two-hour premiere on Sunday, March 25 at 9/8c. First up: Did Don really propose to that Megan girl?
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Where We Left Off
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) spent a whiskey-soaked season celebrating his bachelorhood bedding slap-happy prostitutes and a bevy of secretaries, but ultimately the battle for Don's heart came down to two women: psychologist/consultant Dr. Faye Miller (Cara Buono) and eager beaver secretary Megan (Jessica Paré).
After the devastating death of Anna (aka the real Mrs. Don Draper), Faye helped Don pick up the pieces. She stood by him during a Defense Department investigation and after he revealed his true past as Dick Whitman. Most importantly, she blurred ethical boundaries by giving him leads on unhappy clients at other agencies when SCDP lost Lucky Strike, its largest source of revenue. Megan, on the other hand, made her first big impression by catering to Don's children. She calmed a distraught Sally (Kiernan Shipka) when she ran away from home and sang French lullabies and calmly cleaned up spilled milkshakes during a vacation at Disneyland. Perhaps seeing Megan as Betty's maternal polar opposite, Don proposed immediately after they returned.
Ironically, it was Faye who foreshadowed Don's future: "You'll be married again in a year," she told him at the Christmas party. But little did she know he'd be popping the question to someone else. "Are you kidding me?" she yelled, when she heard of Don and Megan's impromptu engagement. We hear you, sister.
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Burning Questions (and Our Best Guesses)
Will Don and Megan still be together?
Let's ask the sage, predictive Dr. Faye. "I hope she knows you only like the beginning of things," she told Don in her parting shot. Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has a reason for everything, and we're guessing that we're going to see (at least the beginning of) whatever follows this proposal.
Putting aside the possibility of marriage for a second, will Megan still be Don's secretary?
After all the crap Don gave Roger (John Slattery) about marrying his secretary? There's no way that Don could stomach the payback jokes! If indeed Don and Megan are together, she will (as hinted in the Season 4 finale) probably be getting a promotion.
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Will we see Dr. Faye again?
Probably not in the short term. That said, we wouldn't rule out another eventual run-in, similarl to Don's one-and-done reunions with Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff) in Season 2 and Midge (Rosemarie Dewitt) in Season 4.
Mad Men airs Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.