I thought Pete made some dramatic changes in the latest episode.  His treatment of the secretary after he initially blew up at her was quite civil.  His reaction to the JFK shooting and relation to SC and his interaction with Trudy were all quite different from the old Pete.  I am not sure what to make of it.

perhaps he is FINALLY growing up?

I know everyone will hate me, but because of all the assassination and suicide talk these last few weeks, my official end of season prediction is that Pete will shoot Pryce with his .22, and then kill himself.  I sincerely hope I am wrong.

Hi jackspratt--you may be right, but I think Pete is too self-absorbed to harm himself. The gun in Pete's office is going to be used at some point, if you'll pardon the pun. We have not seen the last of it.

A bolt-action .22 just isn't the kind of gun for Pete to use in a rampage / suicide.  Low fire power, smallest caliber.

a bolt action worked just fine for lee harvey oswald, white bread....if you believe the warren report...

I'm afraid I just don't see this happening (much as we might like it to.) Pete is too central a character to be killed or hauled off to jail. If he had been dumped outright, maybe, but he still has Duck's fallback position.

And as to his maturing, I don't know. He still seems petty and petulant when things don't go his way, including the president he admired.

I feel like Pete can go either way, he's immature, but seems to be growing up. what i got from the scene with his wife where they are watching the news and talking about his work situation is that they are both somewhat shocked out of their conservative lifestyle. they are young enough to take part in the coming youth movement, right?  It seemed like they are perfect candidates for a way to show how people started rejecting the whole "american dream" lifestyle.
Also, Pete is one of my favorite characters!! Who else can throw a fit about hot chocolate and have the emotional depth that he showed on the couch in the same episode?  I <3 mm so much....what will we all do after next week??????

rnch - Pete's gun is a .22 LR.  That caliber fires at a very low-velocity, relative to its size.  It's the smallest bullet available in 1963.  (In the last decade they have released a notable round that is smaller than the .22 round, but it fires at almost 2.5x the speed and is far more powerful.)

Oswald's Carcano rifle fired a round nosed bullet that was many, many times larger than a .22 round.  If you google a bullet comparison you'll see how different the bullets are from one another. 

Can a .22 kill a person?  Absolutely.  Reliably, and in a  hostile situation?  No, probably not.

I don't see Peter going bollocks. I can only think of 2 character less prone to go nuts than Peter: Cooper and maybe Sterling. Everyone else is likely to give the series it's name.

Harry Crane was originally going to kill himself by jumping off the building to his death in season 1.  Right after Don's Carousel speech. 

So I think he has it in him to go nuts.  Plus, he just sits in that room all day watching that flickering TV.   He could still go a little stir-crazy.

It's part of the Alfred Hitchcock quality of this series to push the tension and then back off.  So hopefully I'm wrong.  Suzanne outside in the car, and Betty's scary birth scenes in The Fog had me on the edge of my seat.  I was sure that baby Gene would die because Jackie Kennedy had just lost that baby, and the bloody instruments and the weird camera angles were so prominent.  Yet the word suicide has been said repeatedly over the past few episodes.  When Jane locked herself in the bathroom and Roger said it the scene changed right to Pete sitting at his table.  Then there are also Betty's pills, which Don took, too.  The violence has been building with both Don and Greg getting hit over the head.  The clues are all there, but they don't necessarily have to go there.

White Bread, I agree Pete's gun is not the best choice.  I used to shoot tin cans with one.  But putting it next to Pryce's temple would still do the job.

Yeah, it would probably do the trick at that range.  But really, with Pete being so distraught over Kennedy's death, I don't know that it makes sense for him to kill anyone else.  Though he might kill himself.  His career is at a big standstill...he has none of the inheritance he was hoping for...his wife doesn't make him too happy.  Yes, I could see that happening.

I always laugh at Roger's deadpan lines, especially that scene where Jane throws that little tantrum and locks herself in the bathroom.  "Can somebody get that?!" Roger yells as the phone rings right beside his head.  Ha.  Having both his daughter and his wife break down in tears one after the other like that was a funny juxtiposition.  He realizes he's dealing with two little girls who want their way.  That lady with the dog food company is looking pretty good by comparison, since it's obvious this Jane thing isn't going to work.  She'll divorce him for half his money in a few months and give him another heart attack.

Roger is a great character.  He always walks in and gives the Cary Grant line.  Or he waves the cigarette and gives it.  Mona is good in that way too.  They make the show suave and sophisticated. I like both of them.

Pete can take himself out if he wants to, as far as I'm concerned.  He's icky and unattractive and dishonorable and I wonder why I'm staying up so late when he is on.

I think Pete's hilarious.

As much as I hate to, I have to give Pete credit for stepping up at the end of this season. Bringing back the Clearasil account for the new firm means he had to go crawling back to his father-in-law. That couldn't have been easy.

Of course in the bar, the conversation went:
Don: I can't believe he was going to bail on us.
Roger: The little sh*t.

I do think his character has matured somewhat.  After reading a post in another thread, I went back and watched the pilot.  His character is more immature, more centered than he came off, at least in the pilot and in what I remember of the rest of season one.

And while there was the "nanny incident" in season three, I think he was genuinely remorseful over it -  perhaps guilt motivated him to tell Trudi "I don't want you to go away without me again" but I also heard in his tone a sincere desire to be a better person.  Sure, he was concerned about being exposed by his neighbor, but it also seemed to serve as a wake up call, that he couldn't be a frat boy forever.

Hindsight now, but I didn't think Pete was going to be blazing for Lane.  I understand the whole 'gun on the table...has to go off' thinking, but I don't think Pete is going to use the gun.  I thought the gun may have went off on one of those drunken nights or something.

Or maybe Sal Romano was going to use the gun.

Pete was smart enough to be interviewing at other places and he knew he had some clients to take with him.  He may not have been loving life, but I don't think he's a suicide case.

I know that Lane delivered the tough news to Pete, but Lane was only doing PP&L's bidding.  Lane seemed to like Pete.  He noticeably commended him for the Jai Alai account.  Also, as a guy who was becoming partner, Lane had no problem with Don and Roger running to Pete and not Cosgrove when putting together SCD&P.

The Mayflower thing with the Campbell name...I think Pete had a hard time getting over that with those Brits.  Like their big visit on July 3rd...they enjoyed toying with the Americana aspects of owning an American firm.  Didn't work out so well for them though.

I noticed Pete holding the rifle as they were walking out of the SC offices for the last time. That made me laugh. Nothing like a businessman with a box under one arm and a rifle in the other walking around Manhattan.

BTW...Campbell has 2 great lines that always crack me up when I think of them:

1)"HELL'S BELLS, TRUDI!  HELL'S BELLS!"

2)"It's like we used to say at the freshman mixer.  When you get a yes, you go home."

Way to go Pete!!!!

I got to say that Pete is my favorite character.  I am so conflicted when it comes to him.  I sometimes think that he is an entitled jerk but then he does something that makes me question my judgement of him.  For example, when he gets pissed off at Hildy because his hot chocolate was made with water instead of milk.  He was such a snob but then later he apologized.