Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT My Left Foot…
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 6 | Aired on 09.20.2009
Bertram, Don, and Roger each remove their shoes outside Bertram's office, and after Don snarks about how very subtle the timing of the British brass's visit is, the three of them sit, and Bertram offers his theory: They're coming to see Don. Don doesn't get why that would be, and while Roger sniffs that it's because he "swung around [his] privates in the boardroom with Duck" during the visit the year before, Bertram offers a more nuanced (and admiring) view, that being that they've tracked Don's work and are impressed with his particular "American genius." Roger asks Bertram if he thinks they're going to offer Don the presidency, but Bertram thinks it's more likely to be a "creative umbrella with a dual position in London and New York." The idea of London seems to appeal greatly to Don, and after Roger jokes, "Bye-bye, Don," Bertram sniffs that it's so nice to see the two of them getting along. "I hope you can maintain this pretense when they arrive." Which reminds me of another scene that seemed incongruous from last week -- the phone call from Roger to Don in which zero animosity or awkwardness was displayed. It's not so much the fact of the call -- I'd expect Roger to make it even while angry with Don -- but there was no undercurrent. But Bertram insists they reconcile -- "everyone wants Martin and Lewis" -- and has his secretary make a dual appointment for Roger and Don to get their hair cut. Because when two military men who have been at odds get together to clear the air, it's always best to have straight-edge razors around.
Cut to a shot of Pete's door and a very loud noise, and before I can even start wondering what Pete could be doing in there to cause such a racket, he comes busting out and sees Ken atop a new John Deere riding mower. He brings the thing to a stop and announces that the deal with Deere is done, and then comes over to Pete, Sal, and some new doofus with thick glasses to chat. He learns of the PPL visit and is jazzed that he'll have something so great to report to them, and takes off, hopefully to hide that thing in the break room.
Betty's lying in bed with the baby when Bobby busts in, followed by an unenthusiastic Sally. Bobby tells Betty he's bored, and she replies, "Go bang your head against the wall." I'd make a joke about her being Mother of the Year, but I'm guessing I might do better to hold it back for later in the episode. Bobby asks for and is granted permission to "pet" Gene, and strokes his leg gently, but when invited to come closer and presumably do the same, Sally refuses. Betty then sends the kids off to play, and smiles at her "little pig in a blanket." Now I really want something with spicy mustard on it.
After a close-up of Don getting shaved with a -- wait for it -- straight-edge razor, we see Roger flirting with the mute woman currently giving him a manicure. Don refuses an offer of same, and Roger takes that as a bone-picking opportunity, saying that Don obviously feels that it's not masculine, but his military dad got his nails done. He adds that he had his fourth heart attack while driving, and when he crashed his car into a tree, "the windshield severed his arm." Whether from the heart attack or the accident, he died, so they never put the arm back on. "In the casket, he had one hand. The nails were perfect." Don announces that he doesn't believe the story, and I'm less surprised at that than at the fact that he was even listening, but Roger plays along: "Okay, so he hit another car, not a tree." Heh. He wonders why he's nervous about the British visit, and when Don offers that it's probably because he sold the company, Roger wonders if that's what he did to Don that he's holding such a grudge. Come on, Roger -- you certainly know very well what you did that pissed Don off so much. You may not know why that got to him the way it did, but feigning cluelessness isn't going to help. Seeming to hear me, Roger brings up Mona, saying one day, she started judging people out of nowhere. "I'll tell you right now, Don -- I don't like being judged." The subtext reminds Don of how tiring the effort needed to stay mad at Roger can be, and he offers that they don't have to talk about it any more. That's good enough for Roger, who brightly suggests that maybe Don will have it all now -- money and glory. Don just gives a little "that would be nice" eyebrow-raise, and isn't it adorable when boyfriends reconcile?