Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B- | 472 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT …And The Clio Goes To…
By Couch Baron | Season 4 | Episode 6 | Aired on 2010.08.29
Not realizing just how on to his shtick she is, he's like, "Whatever that means," and she tells him he's incredible, which she pretty clearly means not in the sense that he's extraordinary but that he's unbelievable, not all in the good way. I mean, I think she has a real affinity for him, but unlike so many of the women we've seen fall into bed with him, she has a grounded self-respect that would never allow her to go for him when he's like this. Regardless, he tells her she smells good, and, losing patience for his drunken flirting, her smiles fades, but he's oblivious to any barriers, and suggests they get out of there "and really celebrate." Probably because of the affinity to which I alluded, she forces a smile as she opines that he's confusing a lot of things at once at the moment, but she's very happy for him. She straightens his tie in a small gesture of affection before heading out, and I don't know when I got to like her quite this much, but if he treats her disrespectfully I think Don Draper and I may be done. Of course, he could always go on to the next name.
Stan and Peggy have actually gone ahead and checked into a hotel, and Stan is on the bed reading a Playboy while Peggy's at the desk working. Seeing her with the phone to her ear, he asks if she's reporting in to Don, and needles her about the "special relationship" he knows they share. Taking the bait yet again, she asks what that means, and he guffaws that he didn't mean that, as Don wouldn't be caught dead with her. "There's wallpaper more exciting. But I know you're his favorite. I bet he takes you hunting and lets you carry the carcasses in your mouth." Considering that Don's favorite hunting prey is women, Stan's metaphor leads to some interesting imagery indeed, but Peggy merely asks him if he's going to work, "or stare at pictures of women who can't stare back." He lobs back some bullshit about how doing so frees his mind, and finally, we get to the good stuff, as when she asks him why he isn't a nudist, he says he would be in a "liberated environment," but in front of her, it's difficult, as she's ashamed of her body, "or you should be, at least."
And here's where things get awesome, as Peggy gets to her feet and removes her top and skirt as she tells him he's lazy and has no ideas, so why not get to it? He calls her a fruitcake, but she volleys back that he's "chickenshit. I can work like this. Let's get liberated." I'd probably complain about the fact that it's a little manipulative to make Stan quite this much of a cartoonish jerk, thus making Peggy's victory that much sweeter for the viewer, but the fact that I pumped my fists in the air for a full minute suggests that such license was worth it.