Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 317 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Did You Hear?
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 4 | Aired on 2008.08.17
Close up on a vodka cranberry being made, and let's just say that the proportions suggest that Don won't be complaining about this one. Don thanks Sally, calling her "Jeeves," and then she asks why they're in the living room. Betty: "Because we live here." I'd like to know what her smart answer would be if the house had a ballroom. Betty then snaps at Bobby, who's fiddling with the stereo. He lies that he wasn't touching it, prompting Betty to swivel her head like a praying mantis and look incredulously at Don, who continues reading blithely. Getting no help, she turns back to Bobby and points out that she saw him touch the stereo, but when he denies it again, she sends both kids off to watch TV. That's probably what he wanted in the first place, so it seems like the whole mess could have been avoided. Anyway, perhaps still flushed with happiness from the morning encounter, or perhaps because a song about wedded bliss, Perry Como's version of "The Blue Room," is playing on the stereo, Betty does not light into Don for failing to back her up with Bobby; instead, she opines that Como's voice is like silk, and Don agrees: "He makes everything sound like Christmas." Betty says she loved dancing to the song in high school, and gets him to get up and dance with her. They stand and rock back and forth together, which is ideal because it's very romantic, and also doesn't require them to put down their cocktails.
Peggy is setting the table, and then asks her heretofore-unseen brother-in-law "Gerry" (Senior, I guess, given their son's name), who's sprawled out on the couch, if he's going to join them for dinner. He complains, in a stock Brooklyn accent, about his back being out, so Peggy goes to answer the door for Father Gill. He no sooner tells Peggy he hopes she's not leaving than an ostensible fellow churchgoer comes rushing in and apologizes for being late, saying she was at Greenwood visiting her son. Father Gill says he'd love to meet him, which elicits a long face from the woman and this from Peggy: "It's a cemetery." Do acts of contrition work for a faux pas such as this? Katherine bustles up and dispels any awkwardness with a warm greeting, and Gerry manages to get up off the couch long enough to shake Father Gill's hand. He reseats (relies?) himself, and everyone else heads to the table, with Anita calling to "Gerard" and "Mikey" to wash their hands. She then asks Father Gill to honor them by saying Grace, so he thanks the Lord for the food, the people and their home, and the parish. Everyone looks up quizzically, and Katherine intones, "That was beautiful. Are you gonna say Grace now?" I don't know where you're visiting from, Father Gill, but in Bensonhurst we do things by the book. Father Gill, with a bit of a sigh, gets up and gives a more traditional recitation about being mindful of the needs of others, making everyone happy. Well, except for Peggy, who probably didn't appreciate her visit being extended one millisecond longer than necessary.