Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 2166 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Float Like a Butterfly…
By Couch Baron | Season 4 | Episode 7 | Aired on 2010.09.05
Sometime later, Don's sitting forlornly on his office couch when Peggy returns, saying she got rid of Duck and asking if he's okay. Don says yes before returning the question, and Peggy starts to launch into a stilted explanation about her and Duck before Don stops her and says she doesn't have to explain. She smiles, probably at his proven but long-untested ability not to judge her about non-work-related things, but when he asks if she'll get him a drink, she brings herself to wonder aloud how long he's going to go on like this. He declines to answer, instead explaining the necessity for this particular libation: "I have to make a phone call, and I know it's going to be bad, okay?" Peggy nods, perhaps flashing back to the mention of the California call earlier, and asks if he wants to be alone, but he simply repeats his request for a drink, and she obliges him. Once she elects to join him on the couch, though, he slides his head into her lap and whispers that he's sorry if he embarrassed her, but she merely shushes him and takes a sip of the drink she made for him as he drifts off to sleep. It's easy to overlook with such big scenes coming, but this one and the one in the bar were positively incandescent, with so much expressed by both of them with typically Spartan amounts of dialogue. A quick cross fade into a close-up of the phone...
...leads to another one, as Don is awoken by footsteps while Peggy is now fast asleep with her arm resting on his shoulder. When the shot turns around, we see a spectral image of a happy and healthy-looking Anna, a blue suitcase in her hand, and I have to tell you on first viewing I thought this was going to be an inspiration for a "You can take it with you"-themed or some such Samsonite ad. You can imagine how happy I was to be mistaken. Spectral Anna seems to see Don, and regards him lovingly for several moments before turning and fading away as she walks. Don seems to understand what this means, but he opts for a few more hours of peaceful uncertainty by closing his eyes and going back to sleep. Those of us without that option at least have the commercial break to pull ourselves together.
When we return, it's early morning, and Don awakens again and this time gets up from Peggy's lap, seeming to recall everything that happened as he does. He sits at his desk, contemplating his next action for a moment...