Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 10 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Toeing The Line
By Couch Baron | Season 6 | Episode 9 | Aired on 05.26.2013
At the office, Margaret has brought her son to visit and Roger gets him to go up the steps with him as several of the women in the office stand by beaming. No wonder; the kid is frickin' adorable in his little shorts and suspenders. Roger picks him up and brings him back down, whereupon he tries to get the kid to hit on the secretaries and they're simply charmed by both of them. In keeping with the "two halves" theme, you can make your own joke about them being mental-age twins. Joan then appears and betrays no weirdness at meeting her son's cousin as she calls him "precious," and Roger explains that it's "Ellery's" fourth birthday, and as such he's going to the zoo and the movies with his "Pop-Pop." Given Slattery's appearance on the new season of Arrested Development, it's hard not to take that as a shout-out. Roger and the kid take off...
...so let's go to another pairing that was once somewhat paternal in nature -- Pete and Duck. Yes, this appearance calls for Duck to be sober, apparently, as he's got only a glass of water to go with his food. Also, he's a headhunter these days (he tells Pete not to waste his time like "Crane" did), and apparently a good one at that, as he got Burt Peterson a VP position at McCann. However, he goes on that the bloom is off the merger's rose at this point, and he's not really sure what Pete's situation is as he was cagey on the phone. Pete wonders why Duck didn't get himself a job, but Duck isn't particularly inclined to answer, which works out since Pete isn't really interested anyway. Pete does tell him that his Rolodex is in great shape, thank you very much, but Duck tells him the issue now is Pete's lack of a role in the new company's management structure, and with seven names (albeit two deceased) on the door that are not Pete's, there could be a problem. Not to mention, "What the hell happened with Vick's?" Pete doesn't want to get into all that, understandably enough, so he invitingly tells Duck to paint him a new portrait. Duck suggests looking at things from the client side, adding that he's got a Head of Marketing position in Wichita that Pete would be perfect for. Pete: "Anything back here on Earth?" Heh. Duck tentatively says that he likes Pete, so he's going to be straight: If Pete can do a little better as far as his qualifications go, Duck can do a lot better for him. Pete mumbles that he doesn't know what else he can do, but Duck tells him that he's been Pete -- another two-halves alert -- "and I went on interviews and I realized I was filling the room with desperation." That's not the greatest smell to give off, although I suppose it's better than gin. He counsels Pete to pay more attention to his home life, adding that one day he looked in the mirror and realized he was in crisis "because I didn't understand the wellspring of my confidence." Pete: "Gin?" You guys, I made my joke without remembering this line. Am I Pete Campbell? Do we want the same things? Hard to believe, although I will concede I don't think I'd enjoy living in Cos Cob either. Duck clarifies that he's talking about his family, and when Pete tells him his own family is a constant distraction, Duck tells him to work on that. It sounds sage enough that we leave before Pete can be like, "Sure, let me just introduce you to my mother."