Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 345 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT To The Moon, Connie!
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 9 | Aired on 2009.10.11
In the conference room, Sal is nervously fiddling with the projector before giving up and asking the girl on hand, "Lucy," to take care of it. When she obliges, she leans over in such a manner that her breasts are thrust right in his face, but it's luckily past the point where any overcompensating action by him on that front would do him any good. Harry is equally nervous, which is an interesting dynamic, because he and Sal each know something the other doesn't and are both hoping for the best, but if they each knew what the other does in addition to what they do, they'd both know that they're both fucked. Meanwhile, Roger is typically clueless about the whole thing. Well, that is until Pete leads Lee Jr. into the room, and Lee Jr. takes one look at Sal, then at Harry, and exits the room without a word. Honestly, this surprises me, because his reaction is a little bit more emotional than seems consistent with a business disagreement. I mean sure, Southern tempers and pistols at dawn and all, but you'd think Lee Jr. would still pull Roger aside for a chat rather than literally spinning on his heel and exiting in a snit. Roger asks what's going on, and Sal, mistakenly (and stupidly, if he gave some real thought to the logic behind Lee Jr.'s reaction) thinks he's safe and says he doesn't know, but Harry pipes up about the phone call, saying Lee Jr. told him to "get rid of Sal," which is an unfortunate choice of words, given that it seemed to me from the phone call that Lee Jr. only wanted him off the commercial. Roger asks why he called Harry, which is still a good question. Maybe it's because Harry backed Lee Jr. in the little creative difference they had and seemed like he'd fill in the reason why Lee Jr. would want Sal gone, or maybe he thought the whole thing would actually be handled more quietly this way, but the whole idea seems poorly thought out to me. Maybe no one's ever said no to him before and it's affecting his judgment, but I think the fact that no one questions this in more than an offhand manner is a minor failing of the episode. Of course, it may be revisited in the future. Harry tells Roger about how Lee Jr. was drunk and didn't want him to tell Roger, but Roger doesn't want to hear it, saying when there's a problem with a client, you go to Accounts to handle it. Pete comes back in and asks what the hell's going on, saying Lee Jr. left without a word, and Roger cans Sal on the spot. Sal can't believe it, but Roger lays it out: "Lee Garner Junior wants you fired!" And my mind goes back to Pete's offhand comment a few episodes ago about how even Hilton didn't compare to Lucky Strike as an account. Love this show. Roger adds that he'll also have to find out if Harry's going to accompany Sal to the unemployment line, and then adds that Harry needs to use his "dying breath" to tell Don to fix the situation. "Lee Garner has a problem with Creative, let Don solve it. He does it all now anyway." This episode is doing a phenomenal job of showing how differently people act when there's huge money on the line, but I still think as much trouble as he's in, Harry should, or should have, relayed exactly what Lee Jr. said, which is that he couldn't work with Sal, not necessarily that he wanted him fired from the firm. I mean, maybe he did want that, but by my lights he didn't make that explicitly clear. Still, no one's really thinking clearly, which is the point, really.