Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 10 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Toeing The Line
By Couch Baron | Season 6 | Episode 9 | Aired on 05.26.2013
Joan is packing a bag and sighing that going to the beach is such a project, and Benson (haaaaay) asks if he can go get Kevin, but she tells him to let him sleep a bit more. Two things: Benson and Joan each have a cup of coffee in that signature cup Benson carries around, so it's nice that his "two cups of coffee" shtick travels. And two, he is wearing beach shorts that compete for the gayest cut I have ever seen, and I've had shares on Fire Island. Come to think of it, they might have been featured in a pool scene on Behind the Candelabra. Not that he isn't pulling them off. Joan conspiratorially says she'd love to get a summer rental, to which Benson asks if Pete doesn't have a beach house. Joan's kind of dismissive, saying she wouldn't ask Pete for anything, but when Benson asks if she doesn't like him, she admits that he's the only person at the company "who's never broken a promise to me." Benson tells her he thinks Pete is "a very generous person" -- all this Pete-praise is a bit overwhelming, I'll admit -- and that he seems to be having a rough time. Joan, surprisingly, makes a rookie gossip mistake in jumping to the conclusion that Pete told Benson about his mother, although it wouldn't shock me if she'd wanted to dish about it anyway. Benson is like, "I WISH he'd told me," and I hope this isn't going in the direction the shorts are pointing, because the thought of Pete Campbell being crushed on by the ever-more-adorable Benson isn't something I'm sure my brain can wrap itself around. It's far more likely to be a bit of business hero worship, but you do have to keep your eyes open with this show.
The doorbell rings, and Benson wonders if "she's back from the track already," and seriously, can we have a spin-off about Gail's dating adventures in the neighborhood? Unfortunately, we don't get to hear about how Gail hit a boxed exacta and treated a wonderfully virile former vet to an afternoon dinner at Peter Luger's, because it's actually Roger. Benson does a great job of only catching flies for a second before greeting him. Joan looks sharply at the door as Roger asks who he is, and after Benson gives his name and adds "from the office," Roger steps in, and Joan asks what he's doing there, keeping the hostility to a minimum for appearances' sake. Roger tries to make up a cock-and-bull story about shopping in the neighborhood and some office paperwork, but he can't help but be distracted by the situation and attire and eventually asks what they're up to. Joan sunnily says they're going to the beach, and Benson tries to reduce the awkwardness by saying he'll go get the car. Joan calls him back and says "Mr. Sterling" was just leaving. She adds that she's sure whatever it is can wait until Monday, and Roger regains a bit of his equanimity as he apologizes to Benson for being a bit "out of context." When he's gone, Benson -- a bit uncomfortably -- offers that he didn't know she and Roger were friends, but Joan merely makes a comment about some people never stopping working before going to freshen up. She gives nothing away, but of all people to whom to ascribe workaholism, Roger is a bit of a stretch.