Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 5 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Giving Up The Ghost
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 13 | Aired on 06.10.2012
Marie, dressed to go out in a green Jackie O number, opens Megan's darkened bedroom and tells her in French that it's noon and it's time to go out. Megan replies that she doesn't feel well, so Marie comes in and sits on the edge of the bed, whereupon Megan confesses that she's sad. Marie tells her she knows, but she shouldn't feel sorry for herself -- she's got a lovely home and a handsome husband, "who provides you with everything even though you won't give him a family." Ah, that again; it's been a while, but in the context of everything that's happened I wonder if Megan's issue with having children comes from wanting to put her career first, just like Peggy. She may not want to admit that explicit connection even to herself, but it would make sense to me, especially since it obviously seems to puzzle her mother. Megan can't believe that Marie would throw that in her face at a time like this, and wonders why Marie never cares what she wants to do. Marie tells her it's because she's "chasing a phantom. Not every little girl gets to do what they want. The world could not support that many ballerinas." This is truth Megan doesn't want to hear: "Is that what you tell yourself?" Marie snaps back that Megan is an "ungrateful little bitch," proving that she gives twice as good as she gets. Just ask Roger! She adds that she thanks God her "children" aren't her whole life and there's another sibling we've never met?
A door opens, and Don swallows before saying he's sorry to drop by like this and this was the one scene I placed correctly from the previouslies, like, ever. Because, of course, Don is at the Pryce door and Rebecca tells Don that if she sounds distracted, it's because she was expecting a delivery of a bed, as her mother is coming to stay with her. Interesting that she wouldn't have returned to England; I wonder if she's staying on in the States as an homage to Lane, but surely it's got to be horribly painful for her still to be here. From her comment that she has nothing in the house though, I wonder if she's only just returned to settle affairs here. Anyway, first off, Don apologizes, saying that with the funeral abroad and her declining SCDP's offer to have a memorial in New York, he hasn't been sure how to express "our" condolences. And of course Don and all the other partners could afford a trip to England, but I'm guessing they took her refusal of their offer as a suggestion they wouldn't be welcome there. Rebecca imperiously says that perhaps that's the difference in their cultures: "We're not ones to wallow." Odd declaration given the circumstances of Lane's death, but I'm not going to be the one to argue with her. Don takes out the check and explains about the collateral the partners advanced, adding that the firm contractually has six years to repay it, but "it was unanimous" (two to none!) that they help her out now. Rebecca barely even looks at the check, however, as she gets to her feet and when Don does likewise, she sarcastically offers her hope that he feels better. Don's taken aback and becomes more so when Rebecca informs him, "You had no right to fill a man like that with ambition!" She retrieves something from a nearby desk, explaining that she found it in Lane's wallet, and it's the picture of Delores from early on this season, and boy, if that girl only knew the chain of events to which her poor image has been witness. Don denies knowledge of the girl, but Rebecca goes on that he should consider "all the brothels you frequent" and once again Don is being blamed for something in which he took pains not to participate, but then again he did set Lane up with a hooker last year so Rebecca's point can't be swept aside so easily. Powerless in the face of Rebecca's unflinching anger, Don suggests he should go and Rebecca agrees, but not before telling him once he's in the hall, "It's probably difficult for you to believe, but it was even more than fifty thousand dollars that already belonged to him. So don't leave here thinking that you've done anything for anyone but yourself." Not sure I follow her on the first point, but the second is crystal clear and Don looks absolutely beaten as he trudges away. At least his tooth showed mercy in not flaring up at that point.