Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 5 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Strange Bedfellows
By Couch Baron | Season 6 | Episode 6 | Aired on 05.05.2013
...while, speaking of high pressure, Pete, with Bertram present, is yelling into the phone for someone to get Tom on the phone or he's coming over there. Joan then rushes in having gotten word from Roger, and Pete yells some more and then storms out as Bertram offers to talk to Roger. Joan worries that they don't need this kind of news right now, but Bertram evenly assures her that Roger will handle it, and it's kind of touching that Bertram has so much faith in Roger after all this time. Still, it wouldn't shock me if he soon reaches for his record second drink of the episode.
Sure enough, Roger returns to Don with another round of drinks and tells him, with no hint of deception, that the Dancer guys are screwing with them. "Daisy's gonna lose their luggage." Heh. When Don isn't looking, though, Roger's face falls...
...while Pete's face is positively clenched in a frown when Tom enters his own office and closes the door. After a bit more heat, Pete sits and tries a conciliatory tack, saying that while they're both vulnerable, they're also both adults, so he wonders what he can do "to bring you back to reality in this obviously impulsive decision?" Well, what started as "conciliatory" veered off rather quickly into "smarmy" and "smug," not that Tom needs much justification for his stinging reply that Trudy could have had anyone. "I knew there was a reason you never wanted children. You have no business being a father." Pete invokes Ken's metaphor in pointing out that Tom just "pressed the button," but Tom, getting to his feet, tells Pete it makes him sick to think of him with his daughter and granddaughter. Pete disbelievingly suggests Tom have a look in the mirror, but Tom's not intimidated: "You can either walk out like a man, or I can have you thrown out like the lowlife you are." Tom would have gotten along with Lane Pryce, I have the feeling. Pete turns to go, but honestly wonders: If he's such a scumbag, why would Tom would push him like this? Tom confidently replies that Pete will do the right thing, and either he's playing a deep game and figures exactly what Trudy will do if Pete does tell her, or he's gone temporarily insane. Both possibilities seem equally likely.
Peggy enters the bedroom in her nightgown with a bandanna tied over her mouth and complains that the paint fumes are making her sick. Abe tells her the windows are open, but that's only one of a laundry list of complaints, which includes "those kids" and "their music" and the fact that Abe keeps waving to them. Oh, Peggy. Abe tells her the neighborhood is changing, and not only that, their lives are changing for the better -- the war is going to end and they're definitely going to get a new President. "Maybe McCarthy; worst case Kennedy." This is obviously open for a comment, but there's really no time for that, as right here Peggy suddenly fantasizes that Abe is Chaough, with his slicked hair and rich-guy clothes, and even though she might be attracted to what Chaough represents (i.e., not the hellhole she's in now) as much as the man himself, I have to say this setup isn't exactly the most subtle I've seen from the show. But it works to get Peggy and Abe making out, which I guess is something that matters.