Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 2 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT The Devil You Know
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 9 | Aired on 05.13.2012
Roger's on the phone when Bertram enters and closes the door without fanfare, a note in his hand. Bertram's presence does nothing to hurry Roger's chat up, but when he's off, Bertram tells Roger to get "Max Rosenberg," whom Bertram met at the "Javits Fundraiser," on the phone as he's got some business involving a Jewish wine. Roger wonders why Bertram doesn't just bring it up at their next partners' meeting, but Bertram was apparently more stung by that "Sterling Campbell" comment than you might have expected and tells Roger that the account needs his "finesse." It would be hilarious to go into all the ways that is hilarious, but even Bertram knows what they really need is Roger's "Semitic wife." I don't believe I mentioned it, but I think it was during the acid trip that Jane mentioned she's half Jewish. Regardless, Roger barks at Bertram that he and Jane are getting divorced. Bertram theatrically pulls up his sleeve to reveal his watch and asks, "Already?" and it's no "You sold your birthright so you could marry that TROLLOP!", but I'm still pretty happy with it. Roger at least reacts with a resigned smile and asks exactly how Jewish the execs are ("Fiddler On The Roof: Audience or cast?"), but all Bertram can tell him is that the company is Manischewitz and Max will know the answer. Roger picks up the phone and starts dialing...
...and let's cut to another ex of Roger's -- Sally Draper. She's getting a lesson in fake-crying from Megan, skipping the section on whining as she proves she has that down pat already by begging Don not to forget colored pencils for her family-tree project. I hope poor Adam's entry doesn't come with a tasteless illustration. The branches kind of set the whole thing up, you know. Don heads to the office, whereupon Megan resumes the tutoring and it's probably not a huge surprise that Sally seems to have some talent for the subject.
Don's in the office, but instead of actually working, he's sitting and smoking and seeming bereft of ideas. Between Bertram's declaration that love had made him stupid and soft and Ginzo essentially being a one-man show, you could see how he might be feeling a little pressure. Sometime later, Don is leaving the office when he conveniently notices a light on in the Creative room; after he turns it off, he sees a folder of Ginzo's labeled "Shit I Gotta Do" and he opens it to see some drawings for Sno Ball (the shaved-ice drink, not the Hostess snack food). There's a pig getting hit with a snowball that I take to be a 1984 reference, but even though that might be lost on Don, he's as impressed with Ginzo's work as the rest of us are unimpressed by his disrespect for privacy and he settles in to read more...