The Good News

The Good News
Production
Season Four Episode 03
Air date	8 August 2010
Written by	Jonathan Abrahams Matthew Weiner
Directed by	Jennifer Getzinger
Previous Christmas Comes But Once a Year	Next The Rejected

Summary

This New Year's episode focused in on the lives of Don, Joan, and Lane.

Joan visits the doctor to make sure that two previous abortions won't prevent her from starting a family with Greg. The doctor reassures Joan that she won't have any problems, and she seems excited about the prospect of a child, although worried about Greg's departure to Vietnam. At the office, Joan asks Lane for two days off in the middle of January, since Greg's medical job prevents him from celebrating the New Years holiday. Upset about his family problems, Lane harshly refuses her request. The next morning, Joan receives red roses and an inappropriately personal note from Lane. She storms into his office and throws the roses at him, only to discover that Lane also sent roses as an apology to his wife. Lane's secretary has mistakenly mixed up the two notes, which results in Lane's wife leaving him for good. Joan immediately fires the secretary for her mistake.

Don, reassuming his real identity of Dick Whitman, goes to visit the real Don Draper's wife, Anna, with whom he is still very close. He takes Anna and her beautiful college-aged niece, Stephanie, out on the town for a night of dancing, beer and oysters, and after driving Stephanie home, Don attempts to put the moves on her. He is unsuccessful; she shuts him down and informs him that Anna is dying of cancer. Anna is oblivious to her condition because her sister Patty and her doctor think it's best for Anna to spend the little time she has left in peace. Distraught, Don fights his urge to tell Anna the truth and takes a red-eye back to Madison Avenue, celebrating New Year's Eve on the plane. At the office, Don finds Lane all alone-Lane's wife has taken their children with her to England, and refuses to return. The two men celebrate New Year's day together with drinking and debauchery, ending up back at Don's apartment with two "ladies of the night."

Detailed Synopsis

Joan is at the doctor's office, getting a checkup, wondering if her past "procedures" may have affected her fertility but the doctor assures her she'll be fine. Her doctor playfully suggests she join her husband at basic training as she would boost the men's morale. The doctor's also surprised Joan's been married two years but still hasn't tried for a child. She tells him that she and her husband have a plan and that she just wants to know "if", but then she corrects herself, "when" she and Greg can start a family. She's worried her previous "procedures" may affect her fertility but her doctor assures she'll be fine.

Crane tells Don that someone might try to cast him in LA, where he has a stopover before his arrival to Acapulco, his New Year trip. Lane strolls in and reminds Crane about a traffic meeting later that afternoon. He drops off some forms to Don to say before bidding him Happy New Year if he doesn't see him before they both leave.

Joan attempts to butter up Lane by offering to have a staff member get some fried chicken for the both of them since she knows Lane fancies fried chicken as well. Really she came in to ask for some time off in January because Greg's working on New Year's. Lane asks her to ask how her husband would feel if a nurse asked for time off after a holiday and explained to her the budget, etc. He further tells her he knows she knows that most men can't resist her but he tells her he's the "incorruptible exception. Fried chicken, indeed!" Joan is miffed as he tells her to not cry about it.

Don arrives in LA and goes off to visit Anna Draper who's gone and broken her foot. Anna's sister, Patty, and her college-aged daughter, Anna's niece, Stephanie, come over, having been helping since Anna broke her foot. Patty tells Don to keep her off her feet. Anna invites Patty and Stephanie for dinner but Patty is busy, to which Anna replies "Good. I only wanted [Stephanie] to stay." Don offers to drive Stephanie home when Patty asks how she'll get home and Anna also offers that she could spend the night. Stephanie asks why she's staying. Anna says she wanted Don to meet her and that she knows Stephanie has grass.

Joan arrives home to her husband who has to leave for work. They argue over her not being free for his vacation in January because he has to work for over New Year's as well as the uncertainty in her husband's future, whether he'll go to Vietnam or not.

Don, Anna and Stephanie have dinner at a casual place. Stephanie asks where Don went to school. She calls him "a self-made man" when he replies that he "strung together a few nonconsecutive years in night school, City College." Stephanie excuses herself for a bit while Don tells Anna that Betty broke his heart after he told Betty the truth about his past. Stephanie comes back and puts a song on so Don and Anna could dance but Don and Stephanie end up dancing together.

Don drives Stephanie home after bringing Anna back home. Stephanie asks if Don's married or divorced and that she'd be surprised if he was single when he asked couldn't he just be single. She asks if he's playing the dating game and talks about how people never know what's wrong with themselves but that their dates can tell straight away. Don is starting to make a move on Stephanie but she asks what he's doing and he says he doesn't know. He tells her she's young and beautiful. She confesses that Anna has cancer and that not even Anna knows because the doctors said she doesn't have long and doesn't need to know. She didn't want Don to leave without knowing about Anna's condition.

Back at Anna's, she's fallen asleep on the couch. Don puts her to bed, then sits on the couch, smokes a cigarette, thinking about the situation, all night. He decides to start painting a wall she never got around to painting. She wakes up, afraid he had left already but relieved to see he was still around. She tells him he doesn't have to paint the wall but when he insists, she says she's "not gonna fight watching Dick Whitman paint my living room in his shorts." at which they both laugh. Anna swears she saw a UFO once that knocked her sideways and made her think of "how flimsy" her reality might be. Don comments that you don't need to see a UFO to question reality and that it's not a great way to think about things. Anna tells Don that she loves him despite knowing everything about him.

Patty bursts in with groceries, taken aback at the smell of pot and at Dick still being around, in his boxers nonetheless and storms out after telling Dick, "You just can't keep your pants on, can you?". Don quickly pulls on pants and confronts Patty at her car about Anna's cancer, asking, "What's your plan? Just gonna let her wake up one day in agony and you tell her it's over?" Patty defends that the cancer is very advanced and that Anna should be kept in the dark if she hasn't caught on. Patty tells Don to go to Acapulco but he states how important Anna is to him. Patty tells him he's just a man with a checkbook and that he has not say. She tells him to "please do the decent thing" and that the longer he stays, the more likely he'll be tempted to do something.

Anna would love nothing more but for Don to stay, but as hard as it is for him, he tells her that he has to go, even though it's apparent that he wants to stay and do everything he can for her.

At the office, Joan is removing pencils from the ceiling tiles when Peggy delivers to her a package, a bundle of roses. Peggy comments that it's "encouraging to see someone happily married around here". Joan tells Peggy to go home and that she'll cover for her. Peggy says that she has to buy a dress and Joan assumes it's to stand out amongst all the girls going out on New Year's. Peggy tells her that she's actually spending the holiday with her boyfriend. Joan reads the card sent with the flowers and demeanor turns ugly. She sharply tells Peggy "Happy New Year" before storming off to Lane's office. Apparently Lane had sent flowers both to his wife and to Joan, to apologize for not giving her time off, but Joan received the flowers with the card meant for Lane's wife which read, "Darling, I've been an ass. Kisses, Lane." She throws them at him, insulted. Lane shouts at his assistant, Sandy to come in, who defends herself and says it's not her fault the messages were switched. Joan scolds her, saying that the fact that she cannot take blame is "egregious". Sandy doesn't know what it means, to which Joan replies, "It means I can't believe I hired you." Lane asks what the note to his wife said. Much to his chagrin, Sandy tells him that it read "Joan, forgive me. Lane." Sandy is fired.

At Anna's, Don is dressed and ready to go. He sees Anna painting a flower on the wall he had finished. She says he inspired her and asks if he'd like to sign his work. He signs the wall at the bottom "Dick + Anna '64". They hug each other tightly as Don tells her she can always call him when she needs anything. His eyes red, he bids Anna goodbye for possibly the last time. On a red-eye flight, the flight attendant wishes Don a happy new year. Don looks sadly at the noisemaker on his tray.

Up early, Joan has prepared a New Year's breakfast for her husband, who has just gotten off his shift. She says that since they missed New Year's in New York, they could celebrate New Year's in Hawaii, and gives him a lei. As she starts to slice up an orange for some fresh orange juice, she cuts herself badly. Greg impresses her by coming to her rescue and being able to stitch her up at their apartment, telling her a joke to distract her from the pain but then she starts to cry at the thought of him being away at war.

Don comes back to the office to find Lane. The two men share a drink of some fine liquor Lane's father sent to him before Don heads back to his office. Some time later, Lane is staring up at his ceiling, drunk. Don calls out to him since the office is empty. He wants to go see a movie. They settle on a Gozilla-type movie. Lane finds the movie to be "very good" and Don tells him that in the theatre, hand jobs are happening. Lane looks around. A woman shushes at Lane and tells them to be quiet but he yells at her in mock-Japanese. He imitates the people in the movie and yells, "Monster!" and points at the screen as the two laugh.

At dinner, Don asks if Lane likes New York and he confirms it. Lane confides in Don about arguments with his wife and that she wont be returning to New York. Don tells Lane he'll ask his lady friend to bring her friend for Lane. After dinner, Don and Lane are at a comedy show. The comedian jokes that Don and Lane are celebrating an anniversary. Lane yells out, "We're not homosexuals. We're divorced!" as the crowd laughs. Don's "lady friend" and her friend join them at the comedy show. As the next act is about to come on, the comedian quips that he was wrong, that they weren't "queers", but that they were rich.

Back at Don's, Lane's lady friend for the night comments that she likes Don's manly apartment. After getting some drinks, Don spends some time with his lady friend and Lane spends some time with his.

In the morning, Don makes some coffee and Lane insists on paying for the girl. Don tells him she was $25 and Lane gives him $30. Lane thanks him for "the welcome distraction".

The episodes concludes as SCDP has their first meeting of the new year, 1965.

Quotes

"I got a big Texas belt buckle...yee haw!!!" -Lane Pryce, holding a steak up to his groin at dinner with Don

"Breast or thigh?" - Joan, asking Lane Pryce what part of fried chicken he'd like

Cast

Main

• Jon Hamm - Don Draper
• Elisabeth Moss - Peggy Olson
• Vincent Kartheiser - Pete Campbell
• January Jones - Betty Draper (credit only)
• Christina Hendricks - Joan Harris
• Rich Sommer - Harry Crane
• Aaron Staton - Ken Cosgrove (credit only)
• Jared Harris - Lane Pryce
• Kiernan Shipka - Sally Draper (credit only)
• Robert Morse - Bertram Cooper
• John Slattery - Roger Sterling

Supporting

• Alexa Alemanni - Allison
• Erin Cummings - Candace
• Sam Page - Greg Harris
• Melinda Page Hamilton - Anna Draper
• Susan Leslie - Patty
• Caity Lotz - Stephanie
• Remy Auberjonois - Dr. Emerson
• Bayne Gibby - Sandy Schmidt

Guest Staring

• Will Janowitz - Comedian
• Elaine Carroll - Janine
• Gina Torrecilla - Middle-Aged Woman
• Liesl Ehardt - Stewardess
• Brian Whelan - Rudy