Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 490 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Giving Up The Ghost
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 13 | Aired on 2012.06.10
Beth is lying on the bed of her hotel room with the TV on and a drink in hand when there's a knock on the door. She unsteadily opens up and lets Pete in with an enthusiastic hug, but he's determined to be grumpy for a while and leaves his overcoat on like he might take off at any minute and while he might not remove the thing during this visit the pants are for sure coming down at some point. Knowing that their time is limited, however, Beth gets to the point: She's not going to her sister's. Instead, Howard's checked her into the hospital and given how severely depressed she's been, the doctors feel that the best "therapy" for her is electroshock. Look, you don't need me to discuss the barbarism of the treatment when Requiem For A Dream is available, so let's move on to the real point: After explaining that she told the doctor she needed to go to her niece's birthday party, Beth goes on that she wanted to see Pete now because her memory will be compromised by the procedure. "It always is." The information is coming at Pete almost too fast to handle as he disbelievingly asks if she's done it before and she admits it, telling him it "creates this sort of grey cloud" and the last time she lost months. She takes his hand and tells him he's wonderful, making me think her memory loss is getting a head start and tells him she has to be back at the hospital by five, so would he please do this so there's a better chance she won't forget? He's aghast, but when she stares into his eyes and asks him to please give her this, he regards her for a long moment and then kisses her. They break apart for a moment, but he moans in ecstasy and gets on top of her without, I'll point out, the overcoat coming off.
A tall blonde friend of Megan's is reading Backstage and complaining that everyone currently wants redheads. "I mean, even Juliet's working!" Heh. Megan, however, sardonically points out that Juliet did three days on Dark Shadows before getting fired and cut out and the blonde replies, "Shit. I keep telling her how good she was!" HA! This girl can stay. Referring to the phone that's been ringing for a while, the blonde tells Megan she can't work if she won't answer, but when Megan complies we see the reason for her reticence, as after a moment she snits, "I can hear you," and hangs up. There was a time in this season where that would have made be wonder what was happening; they certainly dropped that civil-unrest/crime-spree backdrop pretty thoroughly, huh? Megan tells her friend whoever it is keeps calling, but before they can discuss further, Marie appears and mildly chides Megan that if she'd known they had company, she wouldn't have come out "like this." I mean, maybe there are a couple of strands of hair out of place; it's hard to tell on JULIA ORMOND, obvs. Emily (that's the blonde's name, as Megan tells Marie) apparently feels the same way, given the way she's enthralled by Marie's luminescence; after Marie confirms that Megan got her a hair appointment, Emily asks how long she's in town and Marie replies that it's only for a week as she wanted to spend Easter with Megan. "My husband is an atheist." Well, given all his other beliefs, he kind of has to be. Upon learning that they're looking at casting notices, Marie wishes them good luck in French and whether it's the offhand tone or the fact that she didn't say "Break a leg," it's no wonder that when Emily enthuses that Marie is so "encouraging," Megan is slow to agree. Emily then sits and asks Megan for a favor -- her agent put her up for a commercial part based on Beauty And The Beast and it's for Butler Shoes (Emily gets the name wrong to start), an SCDP client. She does mention the agency's full name, so it looks like Lane's surname is living on at the firm, at least for now. Emily says she'd be so grateful, and while Megan tells her that's not the way it works -- it's really up to the client -- Emily replies that she just wants an audition and Megan reluctantly agrees. Emily kisses Megan in gratitude, but I'm guessing it would be more of a Sopranos-type kiss if she knew how this was going to shake out.