Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | 407 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT That's Some Great Business Sense!
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 2 | Aired on 2009.08.23
Dressed for bed, Peggy's hanging her delicates to dry; she then takes a brush and diffidently works on her hair as she goes to the mirror. After a moment, though, she turns a shoulder and starts doing her best Ann-Margret, singing what words she knows of Bye Bye Birdie with all the attendant vapid smiling and hair-tossing and general prepubescent vamping, and Elisabeth Moss's instincts are just consistently so brilliant that it almost seems like I'm doing her a disservice to go on and on about them. I mean, I've heard so much about District 9 at this point that it's almost sure to turn out to be a disappointment, probably through no fault of its own. Anyway, Peggy goes right back to brushing her hair, which is a welcome reminder that Ann-Margret can be turned off just as easily as she's turned on.
In Don's office, there's a meeting going on about the new MSG account, and surprisingly, Don tells Paul that although he has to keep a low profile, he'll still be working on it. This decision is rendered moot, however, when Pryce enters and asks to speak to Don privately. When they're alone, he informs Don that London feels that the staff requirements necessary to service MSG outweigh the potential benefits, especially given that the place is unlikely to open for at least two years. Don tries to argue that MSG will be their gateway to the World's Fair, "the largest trade show in history" (and held in New York City in 1964), not to mention the hotels, concerts, and sports that will be affiliated with the place. "This could mean thirty years of business!" Pryce gently says London isn't interested, prompting Don to take his head off for not even checking with them first. "Why the hell did you buy us in the first place?" Pryce, taking a long, regretful moment to really contemplate the question: "I don't know." Again, not sure this really lands -- is the only point that Don's a visionary? I mean, I don't find the reaction of the distant overlords-come-lately of any interest whatsoever, especially in the context of American social change, and Don's getting enough screen time devoted to his sensibilities in this episode. It's possible we're meant to conclude that Pryce is starting to break with his bosses' way of thinking, but for a character that was just introduced last episode it's a little difficult to say. Anyway, Don, no happier with that answer than Pryce is, opens the door in lieu of being all "I. Said. Good. DAY!" When Pryce is gone, Don bites out to his secretary that she can tell Pete MSG is dead, and then Peggy, who's been waiting, inquires if he has a second. Don roughly asks if it can wait, but Peggy, mistaking his sharp tone as a lack of respect for her as a woman rather than the "Now's a bad time to get me on your side" it is, says no, so Don shows her in. She presents the storyboards for the ad, and after slamming the name, Don confesses he doesn't get it, not having seen Bye Bye Birdie...