Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 5 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Giving Up The Ghost
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 13 | Aired on 06.10.2012
However he may have managed it, Pete makes it home and Trudy bursts into tears at seeing his face turned to hamburger again. Also, it seems clear from her asking if he got in "another" car accident that he didn't tell her the truth about the Lane incident, which I can understand but it robs Lane of his finest moment, and honestly, I'm not too thrilled about the way everyone and their mother punching Pete in this episode cheapens Lane's accomplishment either. Pete tells Trudy he fell asleep and ran into a ditch, and she sits him down and tells him she can't live like this, knowing he's working so hard and then wondering if he's going to come home and in what condition? The fight beaten out of him, he assures her he'll come home, but she tells him that first thing the next day they're going to find him an apartment in the city. She wraps his arm around her, but he's past the point where this would bring him any happiness -- he's given up pretending that he wants to live this life, at least to himself. I fear that bodes ill for Trudy and Tammy, but we can only wait to find out.
In black-and-white and without sound, Don is watching Megan's screen test; she looks beautiful, expressive and vulnerable, while Don looks by turns adoring and pensive.
Joan leads the partners up to the new floor, which is raw and open and Pete delightedly notes he's going to have the same view as Don. Don congratulates him without sarcasm, and we get a reverse look at the five of them staring out at the view and taking a moment to contemplate how they're reinventing themselves once again.
And now we're on set meeting our "Beauty" -- Megan. Of course, we don't know if Don merely got her the audition or if he went further, but the client certainly greets her with what seems like genuine enthusiasm, so whatever happened, I'm hoping that means she's actually good. The client then heads off, leaving Megan to whisper to Don, "You know I love you," before taking her spot for rehearsal. Now, I think Don changed his mind because when he saw how distraught Megan really was, he realized he was in danger of replicating a pattern. Remember how he said he didn't want Megan to be another Betty, or another Marie? I don't think he was just talking about bitterness in general -- Betty was a model, remember, and she gave that up for Don (and it sounds like Marie followed some artistic pursuit for a while as well). We know she missed it, but part of what she missed was probably having some purpose other than being a housewife, which is what Megan has been trying to tell Don she needs. I think part of him feels good about helping her. But the flipside of Don telling Megan that she didn't want it this way is that part of him isn't sure if he's being used and that makes him feel out of control, like this life he has isn't what he expected. So when he walks off the set and Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice" kicks up, which deals with you living "one life for yourself and another for your dreams," it feels rather appropriate. (Doesn't hurt that Don looks like he could be James Bond in the shot either.) Don heads to the adjoining bar and orders an Old Fashioned, the drink that we associate with the Don Draper of yore, and stares pensively...