Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 1 USERS: F YOU GRADE IT Smoke Does Not Get In Your Eyes…
By Couch Baron | Season 4 | Episode 12 | Aired on 10.10.2010
Don is on his way out of the office building when an old familiar voice calls to him -- Midge! He takes a moment to place her, as it has been five years, but looks happy enough to see her. She's got a portfolio under one arm and explains that she just had a meeting with "a magazine related to Time-Life," and upon hearing about his new firm, says it sounds impressive and asks if he needs any freelance artists. Rather than go on about how exquisitely bad her timing is, he merely says not right now, but she's welcome to use him as a reference. He then confesses that he's thought about running into her in the Village, and when she playfully asks what he would be doing in that neighborhood, the response is not what she expected: "I live there." She quickly adjusts to his single status, though, asking in that case what his rush to go home is and suggesting he come over to her place. After thinking about it a moment, he tells her he has a big meeting the next day, but when she tells him she's married and he could meet her husband, his interest is piqued. She goes on to say that it's a marriage of convenience, and if he comes over they can eat and she can cheer him up, and by the way, she lost her purse, so he could at least give her a ride downtown. Having always liked her, he smiles and gives in, and I tell you what, seeing the scene again now that I know what's going on with Midge makes me appreciate Rosemarie DeWitt's work here all the more.
Sally and Dr. Edna are playing Go Fish as the former tells the latter about some authoritarian thing Betty did, ending in this: "She doesn't care what the truth is, as long as I do what she says." Well, seeing Betty's behavior for what it is is the key to managing it, I guess. Dr. Edna basically agrees, saying she's proud of Sally for finding a way to behave herself even when she (the word "justifiably" is implied) gets angry with Betty, and Sally shrugs and replies that Betty just doesn't know that she's mad. Dr. Edna stresses that it's important that Sally acknowledge the anger to herself, and goes on to remind Sally that Betty behaves the way she does because "she has stresses, not because you're bad or you did anything wrong." After they play a bit more, Dr. Edna tells Sally she thinks that now that she's back in school, they should cut down their sessions to once a week so Sally will have more time to do normal-kid things, and I thought Sally would resist, given how comfortable she clearly feels here, but she accepts the idea willingly. Dr. Edna then pointedly reiterates that she's proud of Sally, and Sally accepts the compliment with a wordless smile. How important it is for a kid to have someone she feels like is on her side, and Sally has two such people in her neighborhood that she sees regularly! And it's not like there's any way both of those people could be taken away in one fell swoop, is there?