Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 3 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Yesterdayland
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 6 | Aired on 04.22.2012
Sometime not too long after, I'd bet, Bess is looking like she's feeling the effects already, but the others are kind of sitting around wondering when it's going to kick in, which is when you know it's about to kick in. As if to demonstrate, Roger complains that he's bored, but when he gets up and takes the top off a bottle of vodka, he suddenly hears it singing opera to him, which stops when he replaces it. And look, anyone who's ever tripped knows that there can be many and varied effects, but on this one I have to call bullshit; regardless, it's hilarious, not least for John Slattery's amused reaction. Jane and one of the other women start staring intently at surfaces, so things are happening for them too and then when Roger inhales his cigarette, the whole thing burns down in a second with a little accompanying HONK from the soundtrack. Bullshit again, but still funny and overall, the way they're writing an acid trip is very astute, not to mention the brilliant stroke of using it to drive the Roger/Jane relationship forward. Roger then gets absorbed in a photo in an edition of Life depicting a man whose hair is black on one side and grey on the other; heading to a mirror, he discovers that his own hair has taken on the same split personality. He then sees Don in the mirror telling him that everything's okay and he should go to his wife, "because she wants to be alone in the truth with you." Even tripping, Roger, it should be apparent from the language that that's not really Don. Roger watches himself in various scenes at the party, which I take to be the show's way of depicting that feeling of being outside yourself that psychedelic drugs can bring and then, as they dance, Jane sheds a few tears and says it's perfect there. While seeming to agree, Roger still suggests they go home...
...and then they're in a cab and I don't think the driver's going to be too impressed if they attempt to pay their fare with that pleading note. Given that the bill he's taken out for that purpose seems to have Bertram's face on it though, he may be tempted to try.
Later, Roger and Jane are in the bathtub when he starts laughing at a baseball game he's seeing and hearing -- from the Black Sox World Series in 1919. Jane asks if he was there, but even though the answer's no, he claims he can see it now and laughs at all the Model As and Ts. Jane leans against him...
...and later, they lie on the floor in bathrobes and towels in a classic denouement stage of the trip where everything becomes more philosophical. Jane confesses that Bess (okay, the character's name is "Catherine") might know her better than Roger does and Roger matches her flat, exhausted tone when he asks if he wants to know. She says probably not and he asks, "Because it's over?" I didn't think it would take acid to break up this marriage, but now that it's happened I'm hard pressed to think of a more effective way. Jane admits that Catherine is just waiting for her to say it and when Roger asks what Catherine thinks of him, Jane replies, "She thinks I'm waiting for you to say it." Sounds about right. Roger confesses to being relieved and Jane admits that all she thinks about is having an affair. Roger's surprised to hear that Jane never cheated on him, but all that ever happened was a kiss and she stopped it. She turns to face him as she adds that she won't even ask about him, which makes sense just for the sake of saving time if nothing else, but says that her feelings for him were always real -- she just knows that he didn't fall in love. He wonders what was wrong, the implication being that they didn't have to be in love to be happy, but Jane points out that he doesn't like her and he can't deny it, only saying that he once did. "I really did." She settles back into his arms and since this may be the end of her character, I want to say I don't think I've given Peyton List the props she deserves, as this has been a tricky role to handle. We cut to an overhead shot of the two of them lying there, feeling as far away from each other and everyone else as a certain Martian sometimes does...