Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 345 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT To The Moon, Connie!
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 9 | Aired on 2009.10.11
In the editing room at SC, an editor is playing the footage back as Sal and Lee Jr. each watch over a shoulder. After some talk about how the voiceover is temporary, Lee Jr. says he knows he's supposed to wait for the finished product, but he's fascinated by the process. Sal asks if he'd ever get into movies, but as he pours a drink, Lee Jr. responds, "Not while my father's alive." Interesting that he doesn't apply that restriction to certain other upcoming forays. The editor leaves the room to get to work on the final sound, and as Sal busies himself with the projector, Lee Jr. drains his drink and asks Sal if he'd please forget what he just said about movies and his father, as he had "a long, wet lunch." Sal absently asks if he had too much to drink, and Lee Jr. says that, and other things: "Secretaries nowadays, they don't give you a choice, know what I mean?" It's kind of doubly tragic that Sal lives in such deep denial of his homosexuality, because if he were clued in, he would notice how clearly Lee Jr. is subtextually feeling him out here. Like here, that last line clearly implied that Lee Jr. wouldn't choose women if given the freedom not to, and if Sal were on the qui vive, ironically enough, he'd have a chance to ward Lee Jr. off by making a big hetero show by talking about how he loves banging secretaries. I mean, he probably wouldn't fool him, but it would send an unmistakable signal that might allow him to escape the situation alive. Instead, though, he obliviously tells Lee Jr. that he doesn't have a secretary, and when Lee Jr. pointedly then asks how his take turned out, Sal gets him to lean over his shoulder, so that whole thing's a done deal, and it's only a matter of seconds before Lee Jr. puts a hand on Sal's chest and another on his shoulder. Sal jumps up like he just got a cattle prod in the back, but I doubt that's what happened with Lee Jr. having had so much to drink. Lee Jr. says the editor won't be back for a while, and offers to lock the door, but Sal, instead of trying an approach that wouldn't lead to wounded pride (perhaps pointing out that maybe Lee Jr. isn't appreciating the risks of the situation, or better yet, using his Catholicism as an excuse), he tells Lee Jr., with an air of offended dignity, that he's married. There are a number of reasons why this is the exact wrong thing for him to say, but they all tie in to this: He is a flaming homosexual. Any other gay man could see him coming a mile away, so for him to pretend to Lee Jr. that he doesn't go that way is to call him stupid, which is not what you want to do to someone who could hold your fate in his hands. And anyone could see his wedding band, so if his "I'm married" is meant to convey that he's staying faithful to his wife regardless of his sexual orientation, that's no good either, because then he's saying he's morally better than Lee Jr., who's also married. I hope it goes without saying that I'm of course not condoning Lee Jr.'s actions at all, but basically, Sal needed not to assert himself over Lee Jr. in any way here in order to deny Lee Jr. what he wanted and still escape unscathed. And really, Sal has my sympathy, but he's not completely blameless, because if he were more comfortable in his own skin he probably wouldn't be standing there giving off the impression that the very thought of Lee Jr. touching him is so unmentionable, which is clearly not helping the situation. I'm also surprised he didn't think to run down the hall and offer Kurt as a sub. Anyway, Lee Jr. says he gets it -- Sal's at work, and it's too bad, but at Minute 15 you had to know it wasn't going to end here. Once Lee Jr. leaves, Sal throws a couple of film canisters into the wall in frustration. Little late to be playing it butch, hon.