Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 3 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT It's A Man's World
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 2007.07.26
In Don's office, Ken is pulling some cans of Right Guard out of a box and saying that for the next eighteen months, Gillette has a monopoly on the new invention of aerosol deodorant. Hearing this are Don, Sal, Paul, and some random, and the scene quickly devolves into the random and Sal playing Keep Away from Ken with one of the cans until Don says that they need to do more research. Catching the snap, the boys manhandle Ken onto the desk, pull off his shirt, and apply. Just then, Peggy opens the door and says that she was buzzing, and Bertram is waiting. But no more, as Robert Morse, wearing the character's perennial bow tie, appears and looks singularly unamused. "I always thought it was Sterling who was responsible for the Navy attitude around this place." Don counters, "Brassiere account. We just figured out we can't sell them to men." No offense to Robert Morse, but he's built a lot like Jerry Stiller, so I'm thinking a Bro/Mansiere might not be an impossible sale to him. Anyway, Don rushes out with a surreptitious annoyed side-eye to the boys, and then everyone chuckles at an irritated Ken's expense. Heh.
Outside, Roger has joined Don and Bertram, and they're there to talk about Nixon. Don says last he heard, Nixon was running without an agency, but Bertram replies: "Make no mistake -- we know better what Dick Nixon needs." And yet you're still pushing to represent him. Don mentions the famous "Checkers" TV spot in pointing out that Nixon's current setup has been proven to work, so why chase after him? The answer, though, is that certain corporate clients of theirs, Proctor & Gamble for one, would be much, much happier with Nixon in office, so they're going to help that interest along. "We will give our people what they want, agreed?" Behind Bertram, we see a fireball through the translucent glass next to Don's door, and Ken's muted voice yells for them to cut it out. Hee. Like I said, Bertram, I hope you know what you're doing here. Don assents, and Bertram replies, "Goody." Hee, again. So awesome. He walks away, and Don notices that he's shoeless as Roger tells him to assemble a team. Roger in turn takes off, and then a breathless Paul emerges from the office and asks Don if they're still on for lunch. Don, preoccupied with matters Presidential, looks at his watch and curtly essays a negative before walking away. Peggy chooses that moment to pull out a paper bag, and Paul is chagrined to learn that she's going to eat at her desk. Not unseen by Joan's watchful eye, he offers to take her to the cart for lunch, but she declines, and when he disappears, Joan struts over with a "secretary one, copywriter zero." Heh. However, when Joan actually sees the contents of Peggy's bag, she tells Peggy to get her things, as the sandwich is making her sad. For me, it's the banana that's the problem -- I appreciate that the set designers get so many period-specific props, but I don't think the fruit should actually be from 1960.