What started 10 episodes ago, with a copy of “Meditations in an Emergency”, appears to be coming to a head in one more week as Dick Whitman pays a call on his past. Director Phil Abraham framed the penultimate shot of Don on the couch in Palm Springs as a mirror-image of the reverse angle of Don that ends the opening credits. As surely as Mad Men is about Don Draper, next week will be about his alter ego.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There was a beautiful hour of television between those two shots.

Standing poolside, Don surveys the vista before him with the steely, cynical eye of a man who is above it all. He’s only interested in business, not the mindless pursuit of pleasure that Pete craves. Despite that – or perhaps because of it – it doesn’t take long for a fellow traveler to notice him. For as sure as Don lives by the Hobo code, his new jet setting friends do as well.

Within seconds of spotting a woman who looks so much like Betty it makes his heart stop, ((Were Don to spend more time in California he would see many more Betties.)) he is approached by the viscount. ((Unlike Don, I’ve already forgotten his elaborate and too-long name.)) Don’s swagger, confidence, and look have attracted his young companion, Joy.

The following day, he and Pete sit through a presentation on MIRVs where the discussion of missiles and death recollect Korea. Dick Whitman died, and Don Draper was born, because of artillery. Thoughts of mortality and his past seem to have effected his facade, making him more vulnerable to Joy’s charms. He joins her impulsively, driving out to the desert.

From there, Don is swept up in the band of hobos and swept into bed by Joy. Laura Ramsey is brilliantly cast as the 21-year-old siren. In voice and delivery, she perfectly mimics January Jones. The way she gazes at Don – the same way all women entranced gaze at their paramours – adds to the effect. Don might not even realize, but he’s drawn to Joy because she represents Betty. Unless she doesn’t.

There is, after all, the matter of the phone call. The matter of the book. The matter of Dick Whitman’s past. Perhaps another woman – not so young anymore – will speak in that way, walk in that way, and gaze in Dick’s eyes that way next week. Perhaps Don and Dick are in constant pursuit of one idealized woman, of whom Joy is but the most recent version. Two ideal women, actually: the worshipful, young girl; and the older, wiser, more powerful woman like Midge and Rachel and Bobbi.

With Don away, things are less productive in New York; although, Peggy did seem to singlehandedly invent Secret Deoderant while sitting around that conference table. Some important – and just downright funny – things happened despite the absence of Don. One of the biggest was Kurt’s confession.

I was pretty sure the hoary old clam, “I don’t think that means what you think it means” had no life left in it anymore. And then Ken said it. And then I laughed. A lot. The funniest scene on any show I watched all week. The comedic capper on the scene was Smitty’s hamhanded flirtation with Joan and Ken’s obliviousness to it. Instead of seeing Smitty coming on to Joan *inches from his face*, he wondered whether he might be Kurt’s lover.

The dramatic capper on the scene was Salvatore’s very small, very subtle reaction to the revelation and to Ken’s reaction to it. Pining for Ken seemed a dead end before; it seems sheer cliff now.

Duck’s machinations – made possible by Roger’s wayward dalliance with Jane – will have the greater impact in the office in the upcoming weeks, but there are so many ways that can play out, I’m not sure it’s worth discussing just yet. It will be, and I’m looking forward to it.

My guess: Bert Cooper sponsors a nationally televised treasure hunt hosted by Jane. It all goes very, very badly. Duck gets fired.

• I’m giving 3-5 odds that Dick Whitman has a family in California. A wife like an older version of Betty, ((a younger version of his mother)) and a son. His reaction to the boy at the house in Palm Springs was not about missing Bobby.
• Duck’s plans are going to fail. They will fail because he falls hard off the wagon.
• Smitty: not going to make time with Joan.
• Peggy: loving her new do.
• Sal: still the most tragic character on the show for me.

What did everyone else think?