Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | 1483 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT The Man-Boy Becomes A Man
By Couch Baron | Season 4 | Episode 4 | Aired on 2010.08.15
Don gets home, and starts to write a letter of apology to Allison. However, when he's gotten as far as "Right now my life is very..." he can't think of how to continue, and instead throws the letter out and goes to the couch to pass out. Sometimes there's just nothing for me to add, you know?
Back at the party, Peggy is stonedly mesmerized by the countercultural imagery of the film; she tells Joyce she thought she was going to get to meet Davey, prompting her to call over some other dude "Abe" and asks where "Kellogg" is. Abe asks if Peggy is "with" Joyce, and Joyce asks, "Are you?" like, give it a rest here, honey. Peggy neatly sidesteps her, simply introducing herself, and then there's a bit about how Abe and Joyce can't believe Peggy isn't doing any writing other than at her job before the artist himself appears and does a good job of making Joyce seem unpretentious by comparison while deriding the idea that there could be art in advertising post-Warhol. We then hear a police whistle, signaling a raid, and the lights go out and everyone disperses in a panic. Peggy ends up in a closet with Abe, who is perfectly tolerable even by standards higher than this party's, and he confesses to Peggy that he was arrested once (I think he's a journalist), but instead of going to jail, his sister came and got him. Heh. There's getting the story, and there's getting strip-searched. He whispers that he feels like he should kiss Peggy, and she obliges him for a long, if rather chaste, exchange, until Joyce opens the door and tells them the police chased everyone down the fire escape, and they took the film. Abe thinks he should investigate the story and asks how he can find Peggy, and Joyce, not without a little jealousy, I think, says she knows where she is. Peggy and Joyce steal away...
...and outside, they run and giggle about the adventure they just had. Aw, it's cute to see Peggy having a good time. That'll last, right?
When Don arrives at work the next day, he finds an elderly woman, with an accent I would describe as "New York Truck Stop," at Allison's desk. He greets her as "Miss Blankenship," and I don't believe we've seen her before, but I'm pretty sure she was Bertram's secretary back at SC. Anyway, as I mentioned in the recaplet, I think her advanced age will serve to solve the problem Don had with Allison (nice work as usual, Joan), and if it doesn't, I think he's beyond help. She tells him that Mr. Sterling would like to see him, and then turns to her side, "RAH-jah! He's hee-yah!" Heh. Yes, Roger is sitting there watching the whole scene with amusement, especially the part where Mrs. Blankenship barks into the phone, "Could you fetch Campbell and Lane, Pryce, Mistahs?" Ha ha. When Don goes over to him, Roger wonders what Don did "to make them take her out of mothballs?" He adds that she was working in Bertram's apartment. "You know he works without pants?" I did not know that, in point of fact, and was quite happy as such. Anyway, the purpose of the convocation of the partners is so Pete can announce his coup with Vicks Chemical, which gets the predictable reactions: An approving smile from Roger, wary indifference from Don, and unmitigated glee from Pryce. Pete adds that he thought he'd throw Clearasil over to Geyer, which seals him and Ken as bros again, and then Pryce says they'll be taking Tom and "Phillip Coakmeyer" to lunch. Roger, to Don: "Don't worry, we already checked with your... girl." It could be the high of the new billing, but even Pryce giggles at that one. Don shakes Pete's hand and tells him to keep it up, and I think it's significant to both Pete's journey and Don's that Pete has a normal, rather than schoolgirl-ish, reaction to the praise. On his way back into his office, Don tells Mrs. Blankenship to reschedule Faye...