Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B- | 425 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Beyond The Veil
By Couch Baron | Season 6 | Episode 1-2 | Aired on 2013.04.07
Well, the betting event of a lifetime has finally occurred - Roger Sterling is in therapy. Actually, I'm surprised it took him this long, given that he's never seemed to have a problem expressing his innermost thoughts. He babbles some stuff about a woman with whom I suppose he's been dallying, wondering if she reminds him of Jane before telling the guy (Dr. Levy is his name) he thinks he's being hard on him, and seriously, if there's a character with potential for growth in this season, it's got to be Roger Sterling's put-upon therapist. He complains about how his employees don't know anything about him, and rather than count his blessings, he mock-despairingly asks what life is all about before telling Levy, with a Foghorn Leghorn delivery, that that was a joke. Dr. Levy: "We discussed this. I can't laugh at everything you say." Hee. He does at least admit that Roger makes not laughing hard sometimes, but uses the subject to ask why Roger tells so many jokes. "You're obviously not afraid that you're boring." I'm thinking a couple people in this room need to read Sterling's Gold with an unbiased eye.
Roger goes off on a tirade about doors and windows and bridges and gates; his point is that life is supposed to change you, to guide you in growing as a person, but that's not the case. "Turns out the experiences are nothing - they're just some pennies you pick up the floor, stick in your pocket, and you're just going in a straight line until you-know-where." Ironically, Roger's inability to be changed by the events of life is a trait you could point to as a defining reason why he's a comedic character, but Dr. Levy is correct when he tells Roger he sounds afraid. And despite the familiarity of the doorway imagery, this Roger discussion is still quite a bit more subtle than anything that happens with Don in this episode. (Don't worry; the Roger subtlety won't last either.) Roger claims that he's in fact irritated, and goes off on a "What's the deal with New Year's" bit that I think the Hawaiian Elvis might steal if he hears it.