Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 6 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Tit For Splat
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 7 | Aired on 2007.08.30
Just to get it out of the way, last time I asserted rather definitively that Don was Jewish, thinking that the episode theme was finally revealing the familial secret he's been keeping so desperately. I realize now that I jumped to conclusions -- while I still think that's where the show is going, the evidence is shaded, at the very least, so until the show lets us in on it, let's just say the jury is still out as to what Don is hiding. Sorry!
So the Jew/Gentile in question has just placed a call to his wife's shrink, Dr. Wayne, to whom he apologizes, saying he knows he's supposed to call at night, but he hasn't been alone. I wonder if that's his way of saying Midge is really stingy with her phone. Don inquires about Betty, too-hopefully asking if she's making progress, but the doctor tells him that it's only been a short period in therapeutic time, and Betty isn't particularly forthcoming yet. "Mostly she seems consumed with petty jealousies and overwhelmed with everyday activities." I think Betty's hanging out with the wrong crowd, because among most people I know, she'd fit right in. The doc goes on that Betty's emotions are juvenile, and Don looks a little beside himself as he says she wasn't always like this. I think we're being subtly informed of just how much Betty relied on her mother, and the doc agrees that the death of a parent can be "extremely destabilizing." Don's unsympathetic, but that's probably because his happiest dreams are the ones in which he runs over his parents with a backhoe. The doc says that as they continue, they'll hopefully get to shed some light on Betty's deeper issues. Don: "There are deeper issues?" Not everyone's a print ad, ass, and I choose to believe that the doc's response of "These are not groundbreaking revelations, Mr. Draper" is his way of saying the same. Slightly chastened, Don says he's concerned, and the doc, not unkindly but in a businesslike manner, says that he recommends they stay the course, and reminds Don that evenings are better for him to talk. Don looks very worried, at least for him, as he hangs up.
Close-up on Roger pouring some milk into a glass as he assures his wife via the telephone that he is drinking it; what she doesn't know is that he tops it off with some vodka, and what I wouldn't give to share her ignorance of that revelation. Seriously, I have enough of a hard time believing that the boozy Walker family can regularly get out of bed and make it to work, but the drinking on this show is beyond the pale. I understand it's the point, but I got it before the vodka in milk, MY GOD.