Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 332 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Equal Opportunity Idiot
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 2 | Aired on 2012.03.25
Joan is taking notes as Pryce tells her about some issues they're having with cash flow, and after a bit of this Joan can't take any more and asks if he's getting things in order so he can eliminate her job. Pryce, of course, is aghast at the very idea, and after a quick explanation of the intent behind the fake ad, tells her that the books have practically "been held together with spit" in her absence. Joan, uncharacteristically starting to go to pieces, asks about Clara and Scarlett, and Pryce's voice rises as he opines that the two of them together couldn't operate a parking meter. "They're imbeciles!" Maybe Meredith has a chance to climb the ranks after all. Joan bursts into tears, and then as Pryce sits with her, she apologizes, saying she's been like this since the baby came, and it's not him -- she's just missed the goings-on at SCDP so much. I sympathize, Joan, but NOW YOU KNOW HOW THE REST OF US FELT. Also, it's obviously an interesting change in her character; she always, particularly to Peggy, claimed that she could make a clean break with the job, and I think there was a time when that was true, but obviously not anymore. She expresses her fear that SCDP is leaving her behind, but Pryce does a terrific job of consoling her by saying he's "terribly adrift" without her, as it's just a matter of time before people find out he's a sham. Joan recovers a bit, but complains that no one came to visit her; however, Pryce finishes the job of cheering her up with this in regard to her visit: "There would have been a cake, but you weren't here to arrange it!" This gets a genuine laugh from Joan, but she confesses that Greg has been gone for a long time, and even with her baby and mother there, she feels alone. And even though she prefaced that by saying she didn't expect Pryce to understand, maybe we know him a little better, so I'm not surprised when he expresses empathy for her feelings.
Now back to herself, Joan asks about the party, and Pryce is delighted to tell her that Megan was "quite the coquette," even doing an imitation of her little dance that sends Joan into open-mouthed giggles. When she recovers, she asks how Don took it, getting this response: "I saw his soul leave his body." Hee. Joan opines that Don must be so handsome when he blushes, and Pryce doesn't quite know what to say to that, but he's spared having to come up with anything when there's a knock at the door -- it's Meredith with Kevin, and she admits, "I don't know how I ended up with him." Heh. Joan thanks her, takes him, and tells Pryce she'll be speaking with him, but Pryce takes a moment to hold the boy himself and call him a "handsome little blackguard," and Kevin expresses his opinion of that characterization by tooting, to everyone's amusement.