Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 3 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Draper's Eight
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 13 | Aired on 11.08.2009
Pryce asks why he would, his loftiness offset to some degree by the fact that he's still having the conversation, and Don tells him he'll be dead weight once the merger goes through. Pryce still drags his feet and looks down until Bertram offers to make him a partner, at which point his countenance changes magnificently to one of slyness: "I should think this is worth more than that." Don smiles at the fact that they're at least negotiating, but when he offers to put Pryce's name on the door, Roger balks. Don, however, asks Roger if he knows how to do what Pryce does, and I assume he means running a cost-efficient operation rather than simply firing people. Bertram votes with Don, and after Pryce takes a moment to consider, he announces that it could be done. However, as they all sit, he goes on that getting them out of SC isn't the difficult part -- as Bertram mentioned before, they need accounts, and while Lucky Strike is sizable, they'll still need some smaller additions to the list for cash flow. Roger says he can't take anyone else, "or Lee Garner Sr. won't think that he's special." Given what happened to Sal when the son didn't feel appreciated, I can only imagine that that would be a Very Bad Thing.
Roger asks Don about Hilton, and Don, hilariously, just replies, "No," like, "You couldn't pay me enough to go down that road again." Pryce tells them that if he were to send a Telex to London informing them of the firings at noon, it would be after close of business over there, so they wouldn't read it until around eight AM Monday Greenwich time, which gives them until the middle of the night on Sunday to get the accounts they need secured and to obtain a skeleton staff to service them. "And of course, we would have to obtain all the materials required for continuity of service." Don clarifies that they'll have to steal the files, and Pryce doesn't bother acknowledging that, instead going on that anyone approached about the new entity must be a certainty, for if news spreads, they'll be locked out. Should SC survive, my guess is that anyone canned in the future will be escorted out by security before their tear ducts even have time to process the information. Don looks around and asks if they need to vote, and Roger's hand is cutely demure as the first one to go up. When Bertram and Don follow suit, Pryce grins: "Well, gentlemen, I suppose you're fired." Roger: "Well, it's official. Friday, December thirteenth, 1963. Four guys shot their own legs off." The plot could use some fleshing out, but I'd read that script.