Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Goodbye, Norma Jean
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 9 | Aired on 09.28.2008
Roger and Don are having one for the road in some bar, and it's the point in the evening when they're talking about which liquors treat them best, so you know they're hammered. Roger brings up The Greatest Thing That Ever Happened, and Don smiles that it was "a real Archibald Whitman maneuver." Ouch, that makes it less funny. Roger asks who that is, which implies that Bertram never told him Don's real name, and Don says he was just a drunk he used to know. Roger says Jimmy's a weasel -- no argument here -- and then asks again what's going on with Don. Whether it's all the booze or the late hour, Roger's finally caught Don with his hands at his sides, and Don tells him he's at the Roosevelt. He says he doesn't want to discuss it further, though, and Roger asks if it's because he feels so bad. Don demurs: "I don't feel bad at all." He amends that to say that maybe sometimes he does, but "mostly, I'm just relieved." That is not a good sign for his marital future. They talk about marriage, and Don sighs that none of them know how long they're going to live (cough cough), "but you have to move forward." I think this is where the Marilyn death is supposed to tie in thematically, but honestly I find it not nearly as tight as normal for this show. Roger notes that he's had two coronaries (as he lights up his billionth cigarette of the evening) and repeats, "Gotta move forward. It's your life." Don says this can't really be it, and Roger slurs that Don means they're in it together. He then punches Don on the arm, and they laugh. And then they make out. (I was chatting with Joe R recently, and I was telling him that there was only one romantic pairing of the main characters on the show that I could see lasting, and he asked, "Who? Don and Roger?" Not what I had in mind, but he has a point.)
After a closeup on a fizzing glass of Alka-Seltzer, Peggy comes in to see Don. He gets right to the point -- the Samsonite people loved her, and by the way, Freddy's gone, so she'll be taking over all his business. Peggy, uncertain about this whole thing, asks if he's sure, and Don, by way of answering, says he didn't appreciate being set up for an ambush. Peggy, catching on, says she didn't think anyone had to know about it, and when Don asks if she means him as well, she says no, but... "I love Freddy!" Don is not particularly sympathetic, which is interesting given his own feelings about the firing, and tells Peggy not to be ashamed of being good at her job. Peggy answers that she wishes it hadn't happened this way, but Don tells her it did, and congratulates her. Peggy looks like she's going to be sick, but when she gets outside, there is an awesome, awesome moment from Elisabeth Moss when her sadness suddenly hardens into a Mask of Resolve, and she marches her way past Hildy...