Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 5 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT "I Demand Satisfaction!"
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 5 | Aired on 04.15.2012
...and then Lane opens his door for Roger, which is a silly little transition -- you're supposed to cut out from Ken with his hand on the knob to Lane opening up if you're going for something clever. I mean, even that would be tired, but at least it'd show you understand the concept. Anyway, Roger is there not just to sanction odd editing choices, but because he heard Lane got an RFP (Request For Proposal) from Jaguar; Roger looks at it and notes the first question asks if they've ever been fired off an account and given what they went through with Lucky Strike (punctuated by the non-LS cigarette in Roger's mouth), it's no wonder that Lane's tone is ominous when he reveals, "There are worse ones than that." And I'm curious what they could be, unless they deal with workplace accidents involving client merchandise. You can see where they'd want to be sure no one's going to be driving a Jaguar around the office. Roger asks Lane if he'd take a bit of unsolicited advice and Lane tells him he knows Roger is skilled in the arena into which he's headed. Roger: "I was. Now I guess I'm Professor Emeritus of Accounts." Hee... and also hard to argue. However, he goes on, in a subdued and kindly manner -- you can actually see him being a mentor here, it's insane -- that the beauty of the dinner is that Lane will be able to get Edwin to tell him all the answers to the form's questions if he plays it correctly. He needs to stay relatively sober (and gives a tip on how to do that while appearing to keep up), and beyond that, it's like being on a date -- he should let the other person talk until he says something revealing and then admit to the same issue of importance and commiserate about it. I'm not saying this won't work, but I find it hard to believe Roger ever employed anything like this as a dating tactic, starting with the relative sobriety. Lane asks what happens if Edwin should prove to be more reserved and Roger says he should simply reverse the process, throwing out his own problems until one lands. Roger leaves with this advice: "Get your answers, be nice to the waiter and don't let him near the check." That one, I'll believe Roger has employed. Roger also tells Lane to find out everything he can about Edwin and when Lane says that part's already done, Roger asks if he still likes him; when the answer is yes, Roger counsels, "Let it show." He doesn't add, "as far as you can within the confines of being British," but I'm sure Lane knows that part already.