Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 572 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Much Nothing About Ado
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 6 | Aired on 2008.08.31
Atypically, we stay with the same pair after the commercial break, as Norma Jean Faux-erty has agreed to have Pete over for some adultery. What she didn't tell him, though, is that she lives with her mother, and when she goes to have a brief chat with her behind closed doors, I'll admit that I thought Pete would beat a hasty retreat, because as I mentioned earlier, familial thoughts and cheating usually don't mix. But since Pete's a completely different kind of sociopath than Don, one that's actually willing to own many of his sociopathic tendencies, he's unaffected by the revelation, and soon the girl, with a practiced air, has turned the TV up and the lights down and is getting down to business with Pete on the couch. Of course, the volume means Pete won't be able to hear her say arousing things like "Who's a big account executive," but that would probably about kill her mother anyway, so it's just as well.
Later, Pete arrives home stealthily. Without turning on a light, he looks in a mirror, and I'd love to know what's going through his mind if I weren't afraid it would render me unable to sleep at night.
In the morning, Sally is sitting at the table as Betty pours cereal for her. Don enters and notices Betty's new outfit -- a dark yellow two-piece bathing suit with a see-through shawl of the same color. She says she got it at the auction, presumably after he left, and he asks to speak with her in private. They step out of the kitchen, and he asks where she's going dressed like that and when she tells him she's going swimming, he lectures her about how everyone's going to be ogling her, and when she tries to explain that everyone bought one, he labels the outfit "desperate." In other words: "Despite your blonde hair, I have to think of you as a Jackie in order to rationalize my serial cheating, so please don't turn my world upside down by dressing like a Marilyn." Or, more succinctly: "Madonna, don't dress like a whore." This is not a week in which Betty is willing to take Don on, so she simply tells him, "I didn't know that," and this is enough for him to kiss her (on the forehead, just to underscore the non-sexual way in which he's thinking of her) and say he'll see her that night. When he leaves, she heartbreakingly pulls the shawl close around her, even though no one's there to see it. God, this show is so good, even when it makes me want to hit it.
Joan is making some tea in the break room when Peggy sails in on a head of steam and asks if she's aware that Peggy's on the Playtex account. Knowing from Peggy's agitated tone that she already has the upper hand here, Joan gives a noncommittal reply, so Peggy asks her to please instruct the girls that she's to be included on all relevant memos. Joan: "Sure! For a moment there I thought you were just another person coming to ask me about my brassiere." It's okay to love her again, right? Peggy then asks why she isn't on the list, and Joan tells her she doesn't know, and isn't involved in that. However, Peggy, unlike Betty, is ready for some truth, so she asks Joan why she's not invited to these after-hours business meetings. "I'm a good drinker." The price of Joan's advice, of course, is that she has to get in a dig about how she's never had Peggy's job, and she's never wanted it. "And honestly, you've never listened to a word I've said." Peggy doesn't deny this, which is enough for Joan to counsel her to learn to speak the boys' language. "You want to be taken seriously? Stop dressing like a little girl." Point made, Joan strides out, leaving Peggy to contemplate a shopping excursion.