Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Here's a Question For You
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 4 | Aired on 08.09.2007
Pete ushers some client, "Walter," into the conference room, wherein wait Don and Sal. After a little golf talk, we learn that Walter represents a steel account, and Don launches into his pitch, which is that most people take steel for granted. He turns over one piece of artwork, which is of the Brooklyn Bridge in splashy colors with the tagline: "New York City. Brought to you by Bethlehem Steel." There are similar ads using other big U.S. cities, but Walter thinks they're a little plain. Don tells him they can throw the artwork out in a minute, earning a prissy, beleaguered sigh from Sal. Heh. Don presses the idea, though, saying that it's so basic that "you feel like you already know it -- you just haven't thought of it lately." Just like I know Pete's a prick -- it just hasn't crossed my mind recently. Walter muses, "Cities are made of steel," and Pete smarms, "Bethlehem Steel." Aaaaand now I've thought of it recently. Walter, however, feels that the ads overemphasize the cities, and it feels like Bethlehem is coming off as "a middleman for another product." Don's not thrilled, given that the campaign is close to what he and Walter had previously discussed, but Pete of course throws Don under the bus, and assures Walter that Don will be able to come up with something more satisfactory. He suggests that Walter stay in town another day so as to give them a chance to come up an alternative, and then makes for the exit, but Don says that Sal can show Walter out. Sal does not get a "Someone's in trooooouble" look on his face, which just goes to show how peeved he is at the criticism of his artwork. When they're gone, Don rips a strip off Pete, saying that Walter was psyched for the idea three months earlier, and if Pete had done his job, he still would be. He tells Pete to be the schmoozer his job entails and to leave the ideas to him, but Pete intones, "I have ideas." He rants about how said ideas are good, citing direct marketing as a concept he thought of independently. "And then I come to this place, and you people tell me that I'm good with people. Which is strange, because I'd never heard that before." HA! It may not be apparent because I loathe his character so much, but I adore Vincent Kartheiser and pretty much always have, and if he hasn't put that little speech on his reel yet, he should get on that. Pete leaves, and Don sighs...
...and then at home, Don is looking at the artwork again. The phone rings, and Betty manages to use one of her no free hands to grab it as she finishes up dinner. It's Helen, her hair in curlers, who tells Betty that she's supposed to be stuffing envelopes at Kennedy headquarters that night. Well, she's too liberated for her neighbors and she's attracted to philanderers. What did you expect? Anyway, Helen's babysitter canceled on her, so she asks Betty to watch the kids. Betty's not thrilled with the idea, but her inability to say no wins out. She hangs up and looks at the kids in the room with Don...