My nikka Rog
He straight up used Don as weaponized nuclear grade ether to let Cutler know that the agency is still his, and had him looking dumb when he was saying creative doesn't matter that much right after saying he was speaking for Ted.
The meeting and the lead up to it were pretty telling about the state of the office, though. For a guy that's not supposed to be there at all, there was literally nobody to stop this guy from walking in and doing whatever he wanted.
Then, everyone but the lower end of the creative team was pissed to see him.
After thinking about it, that whole thing with Bobby and Betty was meant to just mirror Don coming back. Much like Bobby, he was selfish and fukked up. He was willing to admit his wrongdoings and fix the problem, but just like Betty, most of the partners were just being vindictive. Joan was pissed about Don telling Jaguar to fukk off (which was the right call, since that guy was going to keep being terrible to work with since he was used to getting ridiculously placated by them). Bert is just old. Jim just wants Don gone as payback for what he did to Ted (even though he bailed Ted out by giving him his spot in California). Roger just wanted him to learn his lesson, and come back.
Really, the only reason I could see Don accepting those terms is either to link up with Roger to snatch their agency back, or if part of the offer from the other agency required him to make a clean break of all connections to SC&P (and we all know they weren't going to buy him out of his partnership stake), or fukk them over somehow and hand over info on their accounts, or bring accounts with him. That seems a little outlandish, though.
Also, Peggy is gunning for that Lou Avery fukk You hall of fame spot. I get that she's mad at Don for fukking with Ted and some supposed crime against her career progression, but that " we didn't miss you" shyt was mad childish. It's like she's supposed to be the anti-Don. She does some of the same type shyt as him, but absolutely none of it gets a pass because she's so bytchy.
I can't wait until Don pulls a power move on her or Lou in the near future......non of those rules stated he couldn't troll his way back into power.
