Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Where Have You Gone, Dick Whitman?
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 6 | Aired on 08.22.2007
At the Pierre, Don is already seated and smoking and drinking away when Rachel appears, clad in a red suit that's practically begging for a pillbox hat. Don gets her chair, and she stiffly sits down while refusing his offer of refreshment. He tries to tell her she looks beautiful, but she's having as much of that as she does of pork and shellfish, and asks him to get down to business. He tells her about the Israeli campaign, and she can't believe she's the only "Jew" he knows in New York. He replies, "You're my favorite." Oy, gevalt. He then spills some of his drink on his tie, which flusters him a little, but Rachel reaches out and cleans it off, and the ice is pretty clearly starting to melt as she comments that he's usually "so put together." She counsels Don not to cross an Israeli, but isn't forthcoming with any more advice, as she doesn't consider herself overly Jewish, and certainly doesn't think she's any kind of expert on Israel. He keeps after her, though, so she ruminates that Jews have lived in exile time out of mind -- in Babylon, Shanghai, Brooklyn -- and they've survived. She pointedly adds, "Maybe it's the fact that we thrive at doing business with people who hate us." Don defensively says he doesn't hate her, and she counters, "No. Individuals are wonderful." I'm starting to think that forecast of melting ice might have been a little premature. Rachel's point, though, is that an actual Jewish nation is a very big deal, prompting Don to ask why she's not there herself. She tells him her life is in New York, and for her, it's the concept of Israel that's the important thing. Don takes her hand as he smiles, "Utopia," and Rachel struggles with herself for several seconds before pulling it away. She ruefully gives Don a lesson in Greek etymology, saying that the word "Utopia" has two derivations, the first being "the good place," and the second being "the place that cannot be." It sure was nice of those Greeks to come up with a word that can easily be used to parallel the tragic nature of Don and Rachel's relationship! Don looks somewhat gobsmacked as Rachel gets up and says she has to get back to the office. "I'd better not see this on my bill." Heh.
Back at the office, Joan calls an end to The Lipstick Review. Most of the girls file out, and Frederick says they have to count the shades the girls tried. He asks Peggy to bring him the wastebasket full of tissues, and she complies while calling it a "basket of kisses." He compliments the turn of phrase, which isn't lost on Joan, and asks where she heard it, but she tells him she thought of it herself. Intrigued, he asks which shade of lipstick she liked, but she tells him someone took the one she fancied, and she didn't pick another one because she's "very particular." I'll assume she's referring solely to her taste in lipstick, because hooking up with a besotten Pete days before his wedding doesn't exactly scream "choosy" in my book. Joan is getting more and more irritated (although the annoyance could easily be partially directed at Freddy for, in her view, looking to bag Peggy) as Peggy goes on that she doesn't think anyone wants to be "one of a hundred colors in a box," but Joan cuts in, saying that that's "enough complaining" from Peggy. Peggy leaves, and Frederick watches her go, prompting Joan to sneer, "Bet you wish you could pour that in a glass and drink it." Damn, girl. I'd ask if you kiss your mother with that mouth, except I'm starting to think you might have been spawned by something else.