Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 319 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Surprise?
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 1 | Aired on 2012.03.25
...an emotion her baby daddy is currently experiencing as well as, still hot from Roger's stunt, he asks Caroline if "he" is in and is told through a mouthful of food that he's gone for the day. Pete snorts in disgust...
...and then stomps into his office, trips and bloodies his nose against that awful support beam. I didn't enjoy that as much as I once would have, which means I stopped giggling after only three minutes. He barks for Clara to get in there and after she goggles at the Marcia Brady-ness of his face, he lividly asks why Roger was at his meeting. Clara isn't the quickest on the uptake, so Pete spells it out for her -- Roger's been hitting on her with the ulterior motive of looking at Pete's calendar. Ken then appears in the doorway: "Did she hit you?" Ha! Pete throws Clara out before snapping that Heinz looked miserable on the way out. Ken counters that Don isn't worried and asks about Mohawk; Pete says it was great, "except for my deep nausea and impending headache." Maybe you can pay the wait staff at the restaurants you frequent to water down your drinks, Pete. He also mentions that Roger crashed the meeting and Ken amusedly notes that that means it's a good lead, but Pete and his nose are in no kind of joking mood and Pete makes a crew comparison (he was a coxswain) in saying he doesn't need competition from inside his own office. Ken, however, thinks everything's going as it should, and lays out a detailed, rosy depiction of SCDP's future, the culmination of which is that "Elvis plays at Tammy's [we'll learn that that's Pete's daughter] sweet sixteen." In response, Pete bites out, "Kenny Cosgrove writes another great American novel." HA! Typically undeterred, Ken thinks it probably was a good idea to have Roger warm the Mohawk guys up and, despite his foul mood, I think Pete's liver would be hard pressed to disagree. Pete lies down on his couch, for the sake of his nose as well as his head and when Ken asks if he'll see him Chez Draper on Saturday, Pete snits, "I wish I could get overtime for it." He's got to have one of the highest grumpiness-to-age quotients around, and God love him for it.
Don, coat on, comes into the open area at which Creative is working and asks if Megan's ready. Indicating Peggy and Stan, Megan says they're almost done. Don, a bit too assertively, asks if Peggy needs Megan, leaving Peggy little choice but to say no, although her reply of "We'll be here in the morning" at least has style. Stan fantastically then asks if Don has any big weekend plans, prompting Megan and Peggy to freeze, obviously and hilariously. Stan tries to cover by babbling about his cousin in the Armed Services coming in for a visit that weekend, but Don doesn't give nearly enough of a shit about Stan to clue in here. Megan leaves on Don's arm, not without a nice dirty look over her shoulder at Stan and Stan hangs his head, as apparently it was an honest mistake. Peggy then asks if Stan can believe how Don acted in the pitch meeting: "Clients are right all of a sudden? I don't recognize that man!" She has a point, although on the flipside, I doubt Don barks things like "THAT'S WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR!" at her anymore. Which... also makes me miss the old Don, come to think of it. Stan puts a hand on his stomach and gets to his feet and when Peggy asks where he's going, replies thusly: "I've got tickets to the bean ballet and the curtain's about to go up." Seriously, I could not love Stan's transition from Peggy's sexist antagonist to the amiable thorn in her side more. She sighs, "Never gets old," and Stan heads to the bathroom on a wave of self-satisfied giggles. Hee.