Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 635 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Oh, Canada
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 7 | Aired on 2012.04.29
Peggy gets a call from Abe ("Drexler" is his surname, in case we didn't know that), who asks her to join him at the Minetta Tavern for dinner. Peggy says she's swamped, and asks him just to come to the office, but Abe claims he can't talk to her there, and it's important. Stiffening, Peggy offers to meet him if she can come back, and Abe tells her seven o'clock before unceremoniously hanging up. Unsurprisingly, Stan and Ginzo then ride in on a wave of bitchery, with Ginzo asking if Megan "couldn't have been struck by lightning a week ago," and Stan suggesting it wasn't even her idea. But despite Stan crumpling up his Human Cannonball posterboard in frustration, he has to admit that the new idea is better than what they had, and Peggy, already checked out of this conversation, merely offers a mild "Good for her" before heading out...
...to see, of course, Joan. Peggy pussyfoots around for a bit, and Joan has little time for it, but when Peggy intensely asks for a cigarette, it's clear this is advice territory, so Joan invites Peggy to close the door. Peggy tells Joan that she has this terrible feeling that Abe is going to dump her, but when she lays out the facts -- they just saw each other, and he knew she was busy but he wouldn't take no for an answer -- Joan smiles to herself and offers that in her experience, when a man insists on a meal, he's got something important to say, and it's usually a proposal. Yup, that's what I was thinking, but Peggy thinks that's just for Joan, so Joan has to set her straight: "Men don't take the time to end things. They ignore you until you insist on a declaration of hate." Also what I was thinking, although not in nearly such Joan-like language. Peggy honestly can't believe that Joan's ever been dumped, leading Joan, not without some impatience, to tell her she's just like everybody else. And we all know that's not true, but I can appreciate where the words are coming from. Joan counsels Peggy to have her answer ready if a proposal is indeed coming, "especially if it's no," but from the look of unbridled joy on Peggy's face, that's not what she's thinking. Now I'm really hoping he's not going to dump her. Peggy wonders if she should go home and change, and Joan, with a subtle look that signals her mental calculations of what's in Peggy's closet, brightly replies, "Or better yet, go shopping!" I'm so glad she's back in the office.