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
The office lights are now out, and Peggy's typing away with only a desk lamp to guide her when she hears a strange thump. It's not really that kind of show, but violence has happened on it, and I admit that given the theme of the episode, I got creeped out when I first watched Peggy emerge from her office and ask if anyone was there. She treads gingerly down the hallway, and given that she's got her purse and coat in hand I think it would be the better part of valor to get the hell out of there, but she reaches the source of the noise -- Don's office -- and quickly opens the door. I'm guessing she knows Don's home sick, because otherwise I'd think she'd be asking to see something she couldn't unsee, but in this case, she gets a jolt of a different kind -- it's Dawn, who was just curling up to go to sleep on the couch. After the initial shrieks of fright, Peggy tells Dawn she should head home, but Dawn is clearly reluctant to do so, and eventually explains why -- even if a cab would stop for an African-American person, it wouldn't take her past 96th Street, and she's afraid to take the subway, because there have been riots in Bed-Stuy and she's afraid one could happen in Harlem as well. Peggy clearly never thought of that, but is certainly sympathetic, offering that Abe (she calls him "my boyfriend") is in Chicago covering the riots before asking Dawn stay with her overnight. Knowing that this situation is going to force her to walk all manner of fine lines, Dawn's a little hesitant, and tries to beg off by saying she's stayed at the office before, but Peggy's insistent, and I'm pretty sure Dawn's grateful. I'm sure you know the show well enough by now to guess that won't last.