Episode Report Card Couch Baron: C- | 581 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Through the Looking Glass
By Couch Baron | Season 6 | Episode 8 | Aired on 2013.05.19
In Rye, Henry encourages Sally to talk to Don, so she takes the phone. He tells her he's okay, health-wise, and after a moment, she confesses that she's embarrassed to have been taken in as she was. Don's sure Ida fooled lots of adults too, but Sally tells him she said she knew him, and she asked Ida everything she could think of. "And then I realized I don't know anything about you." As crap as this episode is, that is an AMAZING offhand burn, and Don has no answer to it, so he sits in silence until he's rescued by Dawn buzzing that Ted wants to see him. He tells Sally that she did everything right, so she should try to forget about it, and then at least takes responsibility for leaving the door open. "It was my fault." Sally does appreciate him giving those words a test drive...
...and then Don comes into Ted's office, followed by Cutler. It comes out that Wendy is Gleason's daughter, and Ted isn't thrilled that Cutler brought her there and is even less so with the work produced over the weekend, saying that half of it is gibberish. "Chevy is spelled wrong." Heh. In response, Don tells him that he'll evaluate other people's work on the account, but that's all he can do going forward. Ted can't believe what he's hearing, but Don tells him, "Every time we get a car, this place turns into a whorehouse." Couple things. First off, given all the flashbacks and metaphorical allusions, to make the whorehouse comparison textual via dialogue is redundant and frankly insulting. And second, Don is a partner in this firm; are we to believe the rest of them will accept his withdrawal from the biggest account they've ever seen based on the intimidating strength of that one line? This show is so far up its own and Don Draper's ass that I guess the only way out is forward, but as such it's starting to look like it's going to be nothing but shit for a while.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. His new film, a documentary on online privacy and the sale of personal data called Terms And Conditions May Apply, will be in theaters in July. You can get news on it from the film's Twitter account. Also, you can email John at couchbaron@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/couchbaron, or check out his blog, "Pull Up A Chair," which he'd just love for you to stop by.