Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 8 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT "Mr. Campbell. Who Cares?"
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 12 | Aired on 2007.10.11
...and then we're back at the party, where Ken chases one of the girls, "Allison," down, tackles her, and checks the color of her panties. Apparently this was once A Thing (called "scuttle"), although 1960 seems maybe a little late for it to be going on. But who knows. Twenty-three skidoo! And indeed, everyone seems to think it was all in good fun; the only ones who look mildly disapproving are Peggy and that one switchboard operator with the glasses ("Marge" is her name), who sighs that she used to think she'd find a husband at SC. Wow, she's feeling disillusioned even while wearing crème de menthegoggles. Peggy says she's going to go; Marge tries to get her to stay, but Peggy gives her a Mona Lisa smile that clearly means, "Yeah, RIGHT." I finally figured out that painting! Switchboard Girl takes Peggy's drink and uses it to top off her own. Heh, nice.
Pete is at home in his pajamas, looking at the contents of the box Adam intended for Don. There are numerous photographs inside, and one is of the two Whitmans as boys, and is labeled "Dick and Adam, 1944." First off, as probably everyone has noted, the timeline is fucked here -- given that he seems to be about thirty-five now, you'd put Don at college age in 1944. Secondly, don't people usually label photos with the exact date on which they were taken? This show's attention to detail is typically so unwavering that I find myself surprised at even a tiny error like this. That's meant as a compliment, show! Don't be offended! Trudy emerges from the bedroom and confronts Pete about the box; she mentions that "Myrna" (probably the maid) found it in the top of the closet, and while Trudy didn't look at it, she's well aware that it doesn't belong to Pete. "My father had a box like that and I looked at it when I was a little girl, and it was a mistake." I wonder if her dad knew John Cheever. Anyway, Trudy says she doesn't want secrets, and she knows he's been looking at the box for weeks. She tells him to give it back, and that his obsession with it is "peculiar." I wouldn't have picked Trudy as having a gift for understatement. She heads back to bed, inviting him to come with her, and he sits and considers her words.