Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B- | 425 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Beyond The Veil
By Couch Baron | Season 6 | Episode 1-2 | Aired on 2013.04.07
Peggy enters the CGC conference room, and Peterson asks how her Christmas was. Peggy: "Same as the last five; ruined by work." She turns the question around, to which Peterson sighs that he's a widower - you'll remember that Joan told Hooker about Peterson's wife being ill when he was fired - and Peggy and the other dude in the room are like, ohhhhhhhhh yeah, but Peterson doesn't let them twist for long, instead bringing up the client-related issue - there were a bunch of jokes on The Tonight Show about servicemen cutting off people's ears in Vietnam, which means that their ad - the print version of which shows a dude in a toga with the copy "Lend me your ears for five minutes and change how you listen to music forever" - has to go. Peggy asks what exactly was said, which is the other guy's time to shine - Peterson couldn't get a transcript, but "Lawrence" is a devout viewer. Lawrence also does not appear to be the sharpest tack, but he's all they have to work with at the moment, so he gets up and gives a rambling account of the routines done on the show, and the fact that Peterson is entertained makes Peggy even more impatient than she already was, which is quite a sight to behold.
Anyway, the joke in question was about GIs cutting off Vietcong soldiers' ears and wearing them around their necks like trophies; Peggy winces and asks if they really did that, and Peterson grimly informs her there's an upcoming court-martial. The punch line involves a general telling a GI that the ear isn't regulation, at which point the GI asks the general if he could speak into his necklace. Peggy's like, offended on behalf of actual humor everywhere (and also surely can't believe that something so ridiculous is causing them such problems). After establishing that the client is coming at one, Peggy declares it an emergency meeting, so there will be no need for any wining and dining; then, when Lawrence offers that he'll practice, Peggy's like, the client already saw it, numbnuts. "Go home. There's no second show." But Peggy, what about the two-drink minimum? Given the day you're having, you really don't need to restrain yourself. Peterson asks what Chaough said, and Peggy tells him she left a message. Peterson counsels her, essentially, not to fuck it up, as it's a Super Bowl campaign - I think the subtext is that she needs to check her ego at the door, and Peggy, reluctantly but sincerely, says she gets it. She then mutters about Carson, but Peterson displays some surprising clear-headedness: "I think it's the Army that's really at fault here." It's a truth that's so obvious that it got lost, which is why I don't have a problem with him saying it.