There is nothing tragic about the Roger and Jane affair, if it is Jane he's leaving his wife for. Roger is not in love, he is merely infatuated, once again, with the latest pretty secretary to cross his path. We can only guess how many times this has happened with Roger. Even Joan knows full well what he is all about. Mona knows he is an unfaithful husband - she is just shocked that after 25 years of her putting up with it, he has suddenly decided to go one step further and divorce her.

Jane, if she is the one, has somehow managed to play her cards in such a way that Roger feels the only way to get her is to marry her or at least make a pretense that he is leaving his wife for her. When all is said and done, if he does divorce Mona, it won't be Jane that ends up with him.

I am not at all sure that Joan would want to marry Roger. She, of all people, has to know he would not be faithful.

Zerelda I agree with what you said completely. I am wondering what your take is on why Don Fired her. I wondered if I missed something. What made Don so angry? I thought it went deeper than what we saw. Do you think that Jane had a very seductive way about her and I thought she was coming on to Don. I wondered if his ego got in the way on that one? I loved the song that played at the end as always they chose the right one. I really loved this segment . It was so well written as always.

i don't mean roger and jane's affair is tragic. i meant the whole situation is tragic for all involved.

don fired jane and roger hired her back. that is why he's angry. he can't stand even looking at her. plus mona coming and basically blaming him for the talking roger into leaving. (which he didn't do).

i still stand by my opinion that roger and jane are in love. it's possible, ya know? she's the straw that broke the camels back.

Don didn't fire Jane. Joan fired Jane.

I don't think Jane is the secretary Roger dumped Mona for. When Mona burst into Don's office, Jane was standing next to Mona. Mona hardly threw her a glance.

I think Don told Roger to "get her off my desk" because he's sick of Jane and her weepy responses to everything. Also, he smells trouble with her ( the shirts, the phony saccharine-sweet "I hope you know I can be discreet" baloney. ) Don reads everyone like a book.

I don't think Roger is stupid. He would not leave his wife and scandalize the office for a 20-year-old secretary. He might, however, do it for "Red."

MicheleKay:
I think Don told Roger to "get her off my desk" because he'd told her very emphatically that the separation was personal. Then Roger kept pushing the night before to find out why Don and Betty separated. Don put two and two together when he saw Roger trying to comfort Jane.

She's not fired. She's just no longer working for Don. Maybe he'll get Joan back. Who is discreet.

He's definitely not leaving Mona for Joan. He apparently said, "my secretary" and she knows Joan. If it had been Joan, he would have said her name.

Oh please. It's not tragic -- it's two people who "want what they want" without regard for anyone else on the planet. Jane is a mere 20 years old. Makes me wonder what kind of upbringing she had to be manipulating a 45 year old man! Where did she learn to be so calculating? There is no way she's IN LOVE with Roger.

And Roger is having the worst of a mid-life crisis. He should have bought a Corvette.

This is all good for us though.... just makes the show juicier and worth watching.

@michelekay you're right! it was joan who fired her! thanks for that.

@laurieb oh please i said it wasn't tragic for them. it is for everyone else. his daughter? mona? like zerelda said mona knows all about roger's indescretions. what a shock she must have felt to hear that this time, he was serious. serious enough to leave her after 25 years of marriage. she can't even bring herself to tell their daughter, he'll have to handle that.

the main reason i wrote the post was to comment on the incredible writing.

Did Mona say "his" secretary or "a" secretary? I need to watch it again and listen more carefully.
I thought she said "a" secretary and at that point probably didn't know which one it was. She was probably thinking it was Joan (I can't imagine Mona didn't know about that one) but in actuality it is Jane, who is too new for her to have found out about yet.

I agree with you, Laurie B....Roger should have bought a Corvette!

And Yes..the worse for our Mad Men (and Women)--- the juicier--- & better, for us!!!

I just hope life doesn't imitate art in the real marriage of "Roger" and "Mona" (John and Talia)!!!
Lord help her if it does!!! (Lucy & Desi!!)

Don is angry about Jane because it became obvious to him that she is the source of all Roger's knowledge of Don's marital problems. He told her to keep whatever she learned about his personal life to herself. She told him she could be discreet - obviously she cannot - she spilled everything to Roger. I think she is the secretary Mona was talking about. Mona just didn't know her name. Roger probably told her he was in love with someone he met at work and didn't mention any name, but Mona, knowing of his past indiscretions with secretaries, assumed it was another one. She knows Joan, and I think she would have said Joan if it were her.

Does Joan actually work as Roger's secretary? She is in charge of the whole secretarial pool and general office management, plus filling in when needed, as she did for Don. Where would she find the time to handle Roger's business?

Mona said to Don, "He's leaving me for his secretary." When she left Don, Roger said "We should talk about this." Mona replied, "You can talk to Margaret." Is Margaret Roger's secretary?

Mona doesn't know it is Jane, or she sure would have really made a scene before bursting in on Don.

Margaret is Roger and Mona's daughter who is engaged to be married. I do not believe Mona cares which secretary it is. She has stood by Roger through 25 years of marriage and no telling how many dallliances on his part with secretaries - not to mention the 2 heart attacks. Now he is leaving her for one of the secretaries - she couldn't care less who it is - it is that fact that he is divorcing her that has her so upset.

I thought Mona said "a secretary."

My first reaction was that it was Jane. But with this show, who knows?

I don't think Don has EVER liked Jane. He spoke rather coldly to her in this episode; he said "I don't know you at all" when she told him she knew how to be discreet.

And he threw down the Mencken's shopping bag in disgust after she left his office. I think he sees right through her, and doesn't like her at all. Seeing her with Roger at the end was the last straw.

I just went and watched the show over from beginning to the end. I think that Don never liked Jane. When she came in and gave him those shirts he was not that pleased. I think she was too emotional for him. He really liked Peggy because she was very business like and more aloof. It appears that Don thinks that Roger is leaving Mona for Jane and that is pushing his buttons for lots of reasons. I usually can get it but this really leaves room for lots of speculation and guessing. Everyone posting on this has valid reasons but it seems that Don does not approve of what has happened and it really made him angry. Maybe it hits close to home for him.

Jane is not who she seems to be. She's been around the block more than a few times and she may be more like Don than he cares to admit.

Jane is dishonest, too. I think she stole something from Cooper's office when she was in there. I think this will come out in a future episode when Cooper announces that something is "missing" from his office.

OK...if Roger isn't leaving Mona forJane, and it's not Joan..could it be the hooker he was with that he met at the restaurant?...

...I'm also wondering if one of the reasons Don doesn't like Jane is because she's Jewish...I still think Matthew Weiner is going to introduce this topic somehow during this series, maybe subliminally or maybe definitively...time will tell....

Katie: Yes, I'm still waiting for the subject of Jane's Jewishness to come up.

Why would they give her a Jewish name if they're not going to explore this topic? Just to drive us crazy?

What if Roger wants to marry her? Maybe she'll get out of it by telling him her parents wouldn't let her marry a non-Jewish man? Hah!

katie & Gail Klein:

If Jane is Jewish, that would explain why she shopped for Don's shirts at Menken's.

That said, Don has nothing against Jewish women. In fact, he's still got a lump in his... heart for Rachel.

Don didn't dislike Jane, at least initially. He just wanted someone who'd "be happy in that job," to be professional, not obsequious. As Peggy was. After he straightened her about about what kind of relationship he expected between them. "I'm your boss. Not your boyfriend."

Ritt, you don't have to be Jewish to shop at Mencken's! C'mon . . .

I think they just threw in that mention of Mencken's as an "inside joke" to the faithful watchers of MM.

Also, the reference to Tilden Katz. Unless they really are planning to reprise the Rachel/Don affair, in which case I will be VERY surprised.

Gail:
True, you don't have to be Jewish to shop at Menken's any more than you have to be Jewish to enjoy Levy's bread.

But it might be a place she'd visited for years because that's where her mother took her. Or upscale from where her mother took her. We don't know enough of her background to be certain. We do know she dresses well. Far better than Peggy and several of the other secretaries. But she did graduate from college, as I recall. Menken's could have been someplace where she could trust the quality of the merchandise. (It was for her boss, after all. :-) )