Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 1 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT "I Love You, Ken… I Mean, 'Kitty'!"
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 7 | Aired on 09.07.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Duck brings word that Martinson's Coffee might be willing to jump ship from Grey's, so they bring in those Smith kids they apparently hired a few episodes ago, who give Don the insight that the younger generation doesn't want to be told what to do or how to act. The Smiths pitch a campaign in this vein, which is a success, and Duck and Don congratulate each other. Don's the only one who gets kudos from Bertram and Roger, though, and they in fact invite Don to get involved in a philanthropic cause, the idea being that Don will be a far more visible representative of SC than he has been in the past. In that vein, they get Don to buy a Coupe de Ville, which leads to a flashback to a time when he was a used-car salesman and a woman came to see him who knew he wasn't the real Don Draper.
Bertram has a new, expensive painting in his office that everyone's curious about, and Jane leads Ken, Sal, and Harry on an expedition to check it out, but Joan gets wind of it, as she always does, and cans Jane in a flash. Jane, however, through a damsel-in-distress routine that might or might not be genuine, gets Roger to intercede on her behalf, which of course means that Joan ends up thinking Jane is her replacement, and sure isn't happy about it. Meanwhile, Ken's unforeseen appreciation for the art endears him to Sal, as does his request that Sal look over a new story of his. Sal invites Ken over for dinner with him and his wife, and the gay desire coming off Sal makes Ken vaguely uncomfortable and his wife upset and jealous.
Finally, Jimmy calls Betty and invites her and Don to a party for Grin And Barrett, but makes it clear that he's more interested in her than her husband. At the party, Jimmy gets Betty alone and strongly insinuates that Bobbie and Don have been having an affair, a supposition that she doesn't want to hear. He then tells Don to his face that he's trash, and all the tension and intrigue causes Betty to yak in the Cadillac. That'll just kill the resale value.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!A pair of feet circles a car on a shiny showroom floor, and we pan up to see Don checking out the new luxury offering. A British accent cuts into his thoughts: "Afraid you'll fall in love?" Well, let him get a look at you first. No, the salesman is of course referring to the car, and tells Don he has good taste to be drawn to the 1962 Coupe de Ville. "It does everything but make breakfast." The guy slags off Don's Dodge and then hits on him for real ("Someone like you, you don't need to see yourself in a Cadillac; you're walking about in one every day") and tells him he'd be as comfortable in one of the cars as he is in his own skin. Might want to retool the pitch a little bit in Don's case. They exchange business cards, and the salesman recognizes the company name and asks if Roger sent him, and upon hearing an affirmative, goes to get the keys. Once alone again, Don sees a guy checking out another of the showroom's models, and we cross-fade into...
...a used-car dealership. Don, hair a bit less heavily slicked than he wears it in the show's present day, pitches a used car to a college-aged boy and his father. A blonde woman enters and looks pointedly at Don, so he hands the keys over to the boy and sends him off to sit in the car again and have a chat with his dad. The woman asks if he's Don Draper, and he affirms that, but when he starts to say he's sure he can find her a car, she tells him that's not why she's there, and that he's a hard man to find. He freezes a little behind his eyes, and when she goes on, "You're not Don Draper," his smile fades. The British salesman's voice cuts in...
...and then we're back in the showroom, where he goes on, "Let me take you for a ride." Dude, don't bogart all the gay innuendo -- Sal's got a storyline coming up. Don's flashback, however, has soured his enthusiasm, and he leaves in a hurry. The salesman doesn't say, "You'll be back," but he's surely thinking it.
Jane's typing away when Roger shows up and greets her warmly. After learning that Don's not in but will be back, he references her rather form-fitting sweater in saying, "Where'd you get that? I want to make sure my daughter never buys it." A "how the heck do I answer this" sentiment clearly plays over Jane's face for a moment, but she recovers admirably: "Klein's. I doubt your daughter shops there." He tries to segue into asking where she lives, but she tells him, not for the first time, that he can just look at her file. She's then rescued by the return of her boss, and Roger asks her to get Duck in there as well. And I don't want to condone sexual harassment at all, but as Jane stands up I have to admit that Roger has a point, much like each of Jane's breasts, which look like they could take your eyes out if you're not careful during foreplay. As Roger heads into Don's office, Jane tells Don that Bobbie called "again," but didn't leave a message. She then goes to get Duck...