Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 762 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT The Cat is Out of the Bag…
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 11 | Aired on 2009.10.25
Joan is mock-interviewing Greg to prepare him for his entry into the psychiatry world, and gets curious when he won't tell her what experience he's had with the field. Reluctantly, he admits that his father once had a nervous breakdown -- apparently he sold furniture and went through a period where no one was buying, and "a headshrinker got him through, but we weren't allowed to talk about it." Amazing how quickly things can make sense when you're given a little backstory. Joan tells him that the kind of openness he just exhibited is exactly what the interviewer will be looking for, and after she encourages him some more, he expresses surprise that he never told her about his father before. Joan smiles like, "I knew my man had some hidden depths!" Honey, you know I love you, but give it up already.
Don's asleep in Suzanne's bed when she comes in and puts his arm around her, waking him up. Explaining her earlier behavior, she tells him she realized she wanted more than she originally expected, but assures him the feeling will pass. "Actually, I know for a fact it will." An intriguing comment, to be sure, and perhaps the clearest signal yet Don isn't the first married man she's been with, but instead of pursuing the subject, he tells her he doesn't want the feeling to pass, and when he picked the kids up from school that day and saw her, he wished she could have gotten in the car and driven away with him. He then offers to clear his schedule so they could spend the week in Mystic, or someplace, but after scoffing at the idea of visiting the setting of an early Julia Roberts movie, she says she can think of someplace they could go if he's serious. He is, so it's a date, but they do not hurry up and leave immediately, a decision at least one of them will live to regret.
Roger's hitting some golf balls in his office, and I'd expect he's getting out some frustration from the fact that he's using a pitching wedge instead of a putter. Just then, though, he gets a phone call that considerably brightens his mood, as it's Joan. He tells her she's lucky he answered, as his girl isn't in, and Joan is like, exactly -- she has a hair appointment at this time every month. Hilariously, that's news to Roger, but after some fun at Hooker's expense and some flirting, Joan gets down to the reason for her call -- she needs help finding work, since Greg (whom Roger hysterically refers to as "Dr. Cutup," hee) needs a lot of training to become a shrink, and she doesn't "want him moonlighting all the time." Well, having him make more money and not be around seems like a good deal to me, but we'll happily be getting to that soon enough. Roger suggests she come back to SC, but she points out that she's been replaced, "and a secretary makes less money than if I were working at a department store." Heh. He expresses gratitude that she thought of him, and I think this is a key exchange in light of the situation with Annabelle, because regardless of what may have been explicitly said between them I think Roger thinks of Joan as his One That Got Away, and exploring those feelings is going to help him in deciding what to do about his other old flame. He tells her, "You want to be on some people's minds. Some people's, you don't." After a bit more of this, she says she should go, and he asks if he should just pass on her number to anyone he thinks of. Joan: "Look at you, figuring things out for yourself." Heh. Roger hangs up with a fond smile.