Episode Report Card Couch Baron: C- | 13 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Through the Looking Glass
By Couch Baron | Season 6 | Episode 8 | Aired on 05.19.2013
...and then, back in the present, Don rushes back into the Creative area... only it's clearly the next day. It's barely worth nitpicking, but it's irritating how Don's unreliability as a narrator changes from scene to scene based seemingly on the director's whims; just because a visual concept may have some style doesn't mean it should stay in if it distracts from the story. Did he stand in that spot overnight?
Anyway, in the room are Cutler, Ginzo, Peggy, Harry and a young woman whose peasant blouse and unfamiliarity with conditioner make it no surprise that she's doing some kind of reading. Also, Gleason's funeral apparently happened, and while Cutler offers that it was "rough," the greasy hippie demurs, saying it was beautiful. Lying on the couch, Harry introduces her as "Wendy." The fact that he doesn't even open his eyes suggests that he's not particularly attracted to the demographic. Wendy tells Don to ask a question -- he doesn't have to say it out loud -- and even though his only response is a blank stare, she says that's perfect and throws her coins or whatever on the table. The hippie nonsense apparently being enough to snap Don partially out of his trance, he asks Peggy if she remembers some soup account. Ginzo pipes up that Don asked him yesterday, and he doesn't believe it exists, but Don's like, did not! I'm not sure how realistic it is for no one to pay attention to the fact that Don is, if you'll forgive a scientific term, tripping balls. Falling-down drunk, that's a different story. He asks Peggy if she'll check the archives, but Ginzo pipes up that he already looked, so why is Don asking her now? Given Don's mental state, I suppose this is neither here nor there, but Roger, Bertram, or Joan would be able to give a definitive answer on this off the top of their heads.
After Stan runs in, wearing the same clothes as the day before (and if he was up tripping all night, I can't believe he left Don alone that whole time) and babbling about how he has six hundred and sixty-six ideas, Peggy suggests Don lie down, but Don tells her to look for soup. "You'll know it when you see it, and it's gonna crack this thing wide open." Peggy looks like she's figuring out they probably should have had a memorial for the Chevy account along with Gleason. She turns to Cutler and asks if he sees the mess he made. And speaking of, how did he get through the funeral without doing ten inappropriate things? (Another Twin Peaks parallel.)