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
At the emergency meeting, Peggy is trying to tell the Koss guy that no one has really made the connection he's so worried about. He points out a flaw in her argument, that being that no one has actually seen the TV spot yet, but Peggy replies that the print ads have been going for three weeks, and they've heard squat. The client acknowledges that, but it's clear he's not going to let the TV spot proceed as planned, so he wonders if they could cut the "Friends, Romans, countrymen" part and just talk about how great the headphones are. Peggy's face is like, it's true that meets the definition of an "idea" in the dictionary sense; her mouth is more diplomatic, but she does offer that this play would make the whole toga idea a non sequitur (they've already filmed the spot, which is why their hands are tied on a lot of fronts here). Peterson doesn't give Peggy any help, and the client is like, I'm handing you a solution here, but Peggy sticks to her guns: "It needs more than a solution. It needs to be a great ad." Peggy, having watched the Super Bowl for many years, I'm not prepared to go that far, but I agree it should at least be the goal. She asks for a little time, pointing out that the idea they just scrapped took a while to come up with, and when the client asks if it didn't just come to her, she evenly tells him no, it didn't. "You rejected a lot of things." She leans forward and gives the client some...I won't say "Draper-esque" - for one thing, there's no theme music playing - but inspiring words, and when the guy agrees to give them a couple days, Peterson's like, great meeting, let me walk you out - only to turn back to Peggy when they're alone and drop the smile: "You gotta get a hold of [Chaough]." Heh. And indeed, Peggy does not look nearly as confident as her words would suggest. Another thing she and Don have in common.
Don is reviewing artwork for a Dow oven cleaner, but all the versions have the tagline "Love Is In The Air," which Don doesn't like, nor does he fancy the one drawing of a guy carrying his new bride, saying that "anything matrimonial feels Paleolithic." The two new Creative types take the opportunity for some hippie-bashing, but as much as Don would like to join in - and I really, really think he would - he tells them to focus their attention on using the word "love" more substantially. The woman counters that she's not sure that's possible in this context, but Don argues that if that's the case, they should contribute to the trivialization of the word, as, essentially, it's powerful when used properly, and they don't want to diminish that. Of course, diminishing love isn't something Don's proven opposed to in the past or present, but Bertram will be relieved that he's back to taking his work more seriously than his wives.