Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 450 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT All the Real Girls
By Couch Baron | Season 4 | Episode 9 | Aired on 2010.09.19
Don, bleary-eyed, emerges from his office, and after Miss Blankenship inquires if his "siesta" refreshed him, she tells him that Faye returned his call -- "she got the message and you're gonna have to wait." Heh. Don smirks in not-so-subtle enjoyment before walking away, prompting Miss Blankenship to call after him, "Are you going to the toilet?" I'm going to miss the old gal.
In the bar, Peggy is telling Joyce that she has to hire more copywriters, but it's tricky because "the better they are, the more my job's in danger." Oh, Peggy, I respect your commitment to your work, but stop talking about it for five seconds. The good news is Joyce isn't listening anyway; instead, she's focused on the fact that Abe, the guy Peggy kissed in the closet during the police raid of that stupid happening, has arrived, and Joyce (who from her reaction pretty clearly arranged this) leaves the two of them to make googly eyes at each other in short order. And Peggy's even officially single now!
Joan's in her pajamas and glasses watching TV when there's a knock at her door; when she opens it, she sees two Scandinavian masseuses with a table who say they're from "Madame Inga's," and that they've been commissioned to give her a massage, manicure, and pedicure. Hmpf, the only unexpected knocks I get on my door these days are from the UPS guy, and I can't remember the last time he offered me a massage. Joan tells the speaking masseuse that she didn't order it, but the woman tells her it's from "a friend" and includes tip. Joan shows them in, and the sly smile on her face seems to indicate she knows exactly which "friend" it's from. Hey, when it comes in that form, his money's good around here.
Back in the bar, Abe is off on a rant about corporations that I would normally just react to with "pinko" except for the part where it scores some neat then-and-now points by referencing a crisis in Greece. He goes on that it's an illusion that a coup could never happen here, and after an uncertain pause, Peggy asks, "Are you from Brooklyn?" Heh. He says yes, and when she tells him she is too, he offers that he doesn't hear an accent. Peggy: "One more drink and it'll come out." That sounds like a verbal contract to me. Anyway, it's clear that they quite like each other, so it's a shame when Peggy starts listing SCDP's clients, because when she gets to Fillmore Auto Parts, Abe tells her that they're worse than a corporation, as their Southern stores won't hire "Negroes." Peggy's surprised, given what she's seen of them, but Abe tells her he's sure they're "perfectly nice, for racists," and adds that SCDP certainly has a vested interest in looking the other way. Peggy claims that as an ad agency, they try to help their clients look better, and as such would counsel them against their racist position as being bad for their business. Abe doesn't even know how to respond to that, and asks if she would have done a campaign for Goldwater, and Peggy says that would have been amazing. Oh, Peggy. Abe tries to tell her that civil rights aren't something to be fixed with a mere PR campaign, and Peggy concedes that she agrees, but opines that a lot of the things African-Americans can't do, she can't do either, and nobody seems to care -- for example, in her industry, a lot of business takes place at golf and tennis clubs where women aren't even allowed to enter, much less join. "The University Club said the only way I could eat dinner there was if I arrived in a cake." Frankly, I'd be surprised if you'd get the dinner even then.