Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 11 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT "Mr. Campbell. Who Cares?"
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 12 | Aired on 2007.10.11
...and then Don has made it to Bertram's door and is obediently, given Bertram's Japanese-themed office, removing his shoes. Pete catches him and follows suit, and they head in. Bertram diffidently looks up from some business with pen and paper and warns that if Don's looking to drown his sorrows, he's not really much of a drinker. Don, however, tells Bertram that he's hiring Duck, and Bertram congratulates him and goes back to what he's doing as Don looks at Pete like, "Well, Tough Guy?" Bertram then seems to notice Pete for the first time and asks him what's going on, and although I really never imagined that Bertram would fire Don, I was not at all sure that Pete would go through with it here. But he does, albeit with the disclaimer that the information he's relaying came to him by accident ("chance" would have been a better word) and he's only doing so for the good of SC. Your toadying nature is noted, Pete. Again. Get on with it. As Don stares daggers at Pete, Pete tells Bertram about Don's true identity, and says that it stands to reason that Don is a deserter at the very least. When Pete's done, Don lights a cigarette, which is a nice touch -- it's like he's having the last smoke before the firing squad executes him. That of course is said with the realization that attaching meaning to something that happens ten thousand times an episode may be reading into things a bit. Bertram takes a long moment to consider, gets up and moves close to Don, looking him right in the eye, and then turns his attention to Pete with this: "Mr. Campbell. Who cares?" I normally hate to repeat things I wrote in the recaplet, but I'll make an exception here: HA HA HA! Oh my God, nothing I write could possibly express the unbridled joy I felt at those four words. Don and Pete look equally bewildered, and Bertram takes care to cover his own ass by saying Pete has "imagined" the information in his accusation, but even if it were true, the country was built by men who have done far worse things (nice dig at Kennedy there), and adds that the Japanese have a saying: "A man is whatever room he is in." He pointedly counsels Pete that there's more profit in forgetting this information, and he'd be well advised to focus his energy on bringing in business. Pete looks at Don balefully, and Don is either too smart or still too stunned to gloat. Pete bails, and Bertram tells Don he's allowed to fire Pete if he wants, but it might be smarter not to. "One never knows how loyalty is born." Oh my God, how I love Bertram -- notice how that statement can apply not just to Don and Pete, but to Don and him. Robert Morse fucking rules. Don slowly leaves...