Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 465 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT I Am Become Death
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 8 | Aired on 2012.05.06
In the car, Beth wonders when the next train is, but when Pete offers to give her his number so she can call him to pick Howard up from the station, she drops the act and tells him he's not coming: "We got an apartment in the city. We." At that, she stares at Pete and Pete is unable to cover his guilty look, so Beth goes on that she didn't even know Pete's name before that night, yet he knows where Howard is and she doesn't. Pete claims not to know anything, so Beth turns the subject to his "awful" driving and he admits he just learned how, being from Manhattan as he is. Beth tells him she could never live in Manhattan, with all the "hobos" and "panhandlers" -- she always gives them money and then can't stop thinking about them for the rest of the day. She goes on to recall that when she was a girl, she tried to get her father to give to one of them, but he wouldn't. "He said we couldn't take care of everybody." Pete supposes they're supposed to get used to not seeing them and Beth agrees, which is an interesting comment in light of the social unrest going on in this time period. Beth, however, agrees that that is exactly what happens...
...and then, at SCDP, Peggy gets a call from Don asking if Megan's there. Stupidly, Peggy asks if she's not with him, getting this response: "Yes. We're playing a hilarious joke on you." It's interesting to speculate that if Megan were a man, Peggy would probably reflexively cover, but she suspects nothing and says Megan left a while ago to meet Don at the restaurant. Even when she learns Don never called, it doesn't seem like she suspects anything, but she does get irritated with Don's persistent questioning, finally snapping, "Do you know where Abe is?" You'll forgive me, Peggy, for wishing that the answer was yes. When they hang up though, Peggy finally looks worried and probably not for Megan's safety.
Pete and Beth arrive Chez Dawes and Pete opines that it's a lovely house. Beth: "Is it harder to lie to me now that you know me?" Well, you did only just meet. I think it would still be rude to call your home ugly. Pete tries to tell her that he's sure Howard is working, but Beth sighs that he probably doesn't care if she lives or dies. Not with the insurance in place, as it no doubt is. She gets out of the car and heads into the house, unaware until he closes the door that Pete has followed her. He opines that she's being "very dramatic," which is hilarious coming from someone as high-maintenance as Pete and grabs her around the arms as he tells her he's not leaving until he's sure she's not "hysterical." In response, Beth kisses him and you know I love Kartheiser as an actor but I still have to say that throwing yourself at Pete Campbell is not the way to convince us you're in your right mind. Pete says as much, but Beth won't be deterred, whispering that he can have her and asking if he's really worried that Howard's coming home. Check and mate! They get down to the business of traumatizing anyone who was a fan of Gilmore Girls.