Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 631 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Mystery Date
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 4 | Aired on 2012.04.08
In some gracious wood-paneled room, Ginzo is repeating, word for word, the part of the pitch we saw earlier, and the footwear execs seem to be eating it up. When he's done, one of the execs tells Ginzo that Ken was right, he's a genius, prompting a coughing fit from Don that seems juuuuuust a little too convenient. Hee. After some minor discussion, the lead exec tells them, "Sold," everyone shakes hands, and I know I already made a Contagion joke but shouldn't Don at least give the guys the option of bumping elbows instead? The exec then tells Ginzo that he really knows women, and Ginzo replies that he's never been accused of that, but goes on that to be honest, they confuse him, and brings Cinderella up as an example. This sets silent alarm bells off between Don and Stan, but there's nothing they can do, and Ginzo rather masterfully tells them all about the concept while simultaneously claiming that it's too dark an idea, and I can see his point, since it's all about depicting Cinderella as wounded prey that wants to be caught by a pursuing assailant, and seriously, I think the actual on-screen strangulation we eventually see might be more comfortable than all the allusions we're getting here. Who's the sicko now, Ginzo? Seriously, this is an example of what I was talking about; given how disgusted he was by people staring at the photos, would he really have thought he'd be capable of using a fictional parallel with extremely similar themes to sell a pitch? Anyway, the ad exec is like, I know I said sold but now I am sold-er...
...and before you know it, we're in a bar, in which Don is chewing Ginzo out for continuing to talk after the client accepted the first idea. Ginzo counters that it's the idea Don wanted, and even though Don says he opined it was a cliché (which is not true; that was Stan), Ginzo tells him he did think it was good -- he was just worried the clients wouldn't like it. I'm not sure if Don doesn't realize how Puppet Master-y Ginzo was in getting this concept bought, or if he does realize it and doesn't like it, or simply doesn't like Ginzo telling him what he was thinking, but he informs Ginzo in no uncertain terms that he's lucky not to be fired after his stunt, and any talking out of ideas should happen in front of him. However, when Don goes to make a call, Ginzo proclaims that he's "such a decent guy," and when Ken counters that Ginzo almost just got fired, Ginzo demurs: "I don't think you're right about that." And I don't either...