Summary
Rosie and Don arrive well-prepared and well-organized to the reunion, thanks to Don's meticulous nature. However, they find it more challenging than expected to keep track of which glass belongs to whom, discreetly obtain a sample, and keep the samples from getting confused. As Don begins to take orders for drinks, it becomes apparent that Don is able to keep track of complex orders, recommend drinks based on preferences, and has memorized instructions for how to make virtually any type of drink. The reunion guests are very impressed with Don's aptitude, and he becomes the star of the event. Because everyone wants to test Don's skills, they are able to obtain samples from all the male guests who are present. Only 12 Caucasian men who attended the graduation party are not present at the reunion. At the end of the night, the manager mentions to Don that he wants to eventually open a high-end cocktail bar in New York City and would happily offer Don a job if he wanted one.
The next day, Rosie and Don work through testing the samples. As they work, Don brings up the idea that Rosie might think he is helping her in order to initiate a romantic relationship, and he explains that he doesn't think she would be a good partner for him. Rosie seems unbothered and agrees that she wouldn't want to be with Don either. Then, Don brings up the Wife Project, and he is surprised to find that Rosie knows nothing about it. He explains the project to her, and Rosie is critical of it because she finds it demeaning to women. She explains that she had a bet with Gene, and he sent her to Don to settle the bet; she had never knowingly been sent as an applicant in the wife project. Rosie also reveals that she is a Ph.D. student in psychology and works part-time at the bar to supplement her income. Before Don can finish testing the last samples, Rosie becomes frustrated and storms out. The next day, Don contacts her to tell her that none of the samples was a match. Rosie apologizes for her outburst, and they agree to continue with the Father Project under purely platonic terms.
Don is particularly amenable to this arrangement because he has recently had a new application to the Wife Project: Bianca Rivera. Bianca appears to be a perfect match; however, she is an accomplished ballroom dancer and only wants to date men who are also dancers. Don invites her to attend the upcoming faculty ball as their first date, and then throws himself into learning to dance. Gene tells Don that he has persuaded Rosie to go to the ball alone; he thinks Don should also attend alone, but Don is preoccupied with his date. Nonetheless, he is surprised to find that he still feels drawn to spending time helping Rosie with the father project, even though this is an illogical use of his time. In fact, Don thinks of the night he spent bartending at the reunion as a rival for the happiest day of his life: the day he visited the Museum of National History in New York City.
Don arrives at the faculty ball dressed in inappropriately formal attire, but Bianca thinks he is trying to be funny, and their date gets off to a good start. However, Don and Bianca are seated at the same table as Rosie and her date, Stefan. There is clearly tension in the group, but Don cannot figure out why. Don is also surprised to see that the Dean has brought another woman as her date. However, when Don and Bianca try to dance in front of a large audience, he is unable to follow her and begins to dance in exaggerated and inappropriate ways. Many people begin to laugh at him, and Bianca storms off. However, Rosie joins Don on the dance floor, and the two of them dance together in more playful ways. Don ends up charming the crowd, and the two of them have a wonderful time dancing together.
At the end of the night, Don and Rosie share a taxi cab, and she tells him more about her life. Rosie explains that her mother first realized that Phil could not be Rosie's biological father since Phil and Rosie's mother both have blue eyes, but Rosie's eyes are brown. Rosie also explains why she feels disappointed in Phil; for example, he never took her to Disneyland even though he often promised he would. Don also shares more about his past, telling Rosie that he was bullied as a child, and about the death of his sister. When they reach Rosie's apartment, she asks Don to come up and spend the night. He feels overwhelmed and declines, prompting Rosie to ask whether or not he finds her attractive. Don wants to be respectful of Rosie, so he tells her that he has not paid attention to her appearance, even though he thinks she is very beautiful.
Analysis
In this section, Don's complexity as a character is shown because of his combination of talents and weaknesses. Don is able to grasp all of the information about cocktail making and excel on the night of the reunion because of how quickly and accurately his brain retains information. The event is a significant milestone in building Don's confidence because it shows him that he can excel in different situations. When the owner of the catering company offers Don a job at his cocktail bar, Don is given a subtle hint that his career path does not have to be limited to academia. Don could succeed in many different fields if he chose to pursue them.
However, Don's tendency to be hyperfocused and fixated on preparation ends up being a detriment when it comes to his date with Bianca. In a sense, Bianca is similar to Don because she has rigid criteria about her future partner. Don makes a crucial mistake by trying to change himself to please Bianca; this foreshadows a mistake he will later also make with Rosie. Don, understandably, is excited by the prospect of meeting a woman who seems to be the perfect match for him, but he doesn't realize that he can only evaluate his compatibility with Bianca by being honest and being himself. Something like dancing doesn't come naturally to Don, especially when he has not established a baseline with his partner.
The high stakes of the date with Bianca are also shaped by the confrontation between Don and Rosie that preceded it. When they have a clear project to engage in together, Don and Rosie function well together and clearly enjoy each other's company. However, as the Father Project drags on, it becomes more apparent how much extra effort Don is putting into this endeavor. Both Don and Rosie know that he must have other motivations, but unfortunately, Don is not self-aware enough to actually understand these motivations. Instead, he creates an awkward situation by telling Rosie he is not romantically interested in her: this is both inaccurate and entitled. Don continues to operate from the paradigm where he is the one in charge of vetting and selecting partners without thinking about what they want. However, the tension created is only heightened by Rosie finding out about the Wife Project. This information changes Rosie's perception of Don and makes her view him as more similar to the other men she tends to distrust. Perhaps because she is insulted by Don's entitled attitude, Rosie finally corrects Don's mistaken assumption that she is uneducated, telling him that she is actually a Ph.D. student. In this conversation, both Rosie and Don have to confront more complex versions of each other: Rosie has to see that Don can be entitled and even chauvinistic, and Don has to see that Rosie is just as intelligent and academically qualified as he is.
However, the tense interaction between Don and Rosie is a sign that the two of them are becoming closer and more comfortable with one another, and that the sexual tension is mounting between them. At the Faculty Ball, both Don and Rosie clearly dislike each other's dates, and Rosie shows fierce loyalty after people laugh at Don. When they dance together, the implications of intimacy and chemistry suggest that Don and Rosie can be both emotionally and physically compatible with one another. Rosie takes a bold step towards acknowledging the chemistry between them when she invites Don back to her apartment. For Rosie, this seems like a natural next step, but it is completely overwhelming for Don. Because he is ill at ease, he ends up further confusing the matter and hurting Rosie's feelings. While some of Rosie and Don's miscommunication stems from Don's social ineptitude, this scene also shows them struggling like many other couples in literature. The theme of people who are clearly meant to be together misunderstanding each other and having a hard time revealing their feelings shows that Don and Rosie are not all that different from other people.
