Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B- | 425 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Beyond The Veil
By Couch Baron | Season 6 | Episode 1-2 | Aired on 2013.04.07
Betty finally returns to the Rye Town Francis Spookhouse, the Christmas tree lights giving the only illumination of the first floor, and heads up the stairs, where she sees Sally on the phone. Betty approaches Sally's doorway and greets her, but Sally holds up a finger and mouths for Betty to give her a minute before shutting the door. Betty's like, whatever, and heads in to see her husband, telling him she had some errands to run. He doesn't seem suspicious, although he does take note of the large rip in her coat, and she lies with him and tells him she's happy he already ate, "because my feet are frozen." I'd imagine, but the point seems to be that she looks grateful for what she has, even if one of the things she has is an all-too-typical teenaged girl.
At SCDP, Pete and Don greet each other in front of the latter's office with their typical low-level dislike, and then Pete informs Don that since he was "under the weather" the day before, he thought he'd remind him about the Sheraton meeting. Don tells him to cancel it, but Pete's like, their bosses are in next week and they just sent you to Hawaii, so how about no on that? Don doesn't have a reply, so when Pete's gone, he asks Dawn to get Stan into his office before handing over Dinkins' lighter, explaining that he got it by mistake, and could she get it back to him? NOW WAS THAT SO HARD, DON? All the unnecessary agita over it is an example of how this episode seems really forced in spots. Dawn asks if Don would like to enclose a note, but he declines...
...while Roger is relating the gory details of the funeral. Unlike last time, he's facing the therapist, and I wonder what kind of conversational battle that concession entailed, but Roger goes on that he "used to jump off mountains, and it never occurred to me that I had this invisible parachute." He clarifies that his mother loved him "in this completely pointless way," and now that love is gone, which signals to him that the remainder of his life is going to be filled with loss. He claims not to feel anything and that this is an intellectual rather than an emotional epiphany, but you probably don't need me or the therapist to tell you that anyone who acted as he did at the funeral has not exactly wrapped up this experience on any level.