Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Hitting The Fan
By Couch Baron | Season 4 | Episode 11 | Aired on 10.03.2010
When we return, Harry, Don, and Bertram are going over some accounts, the need for which Harry moronically questions, forcing Don to be like, "They need to know we're still alive, doofus." Joan enters, waking poor Pete up, and announces that Pryce estimates their billings at around twenty-two million without Lucky Strike, but he has to check everything to make sure. And on that note, I'm surprised he's not in the air already, but maybe given the news he's trying to downgrade to coach. Also, I'm guessing that number puts them in a pretty precarious position, notwithstanding the random accountant's public assessment of the situation. Bertram brings up the fact that the funeral of the guy Ken referenced earlier, David Montgomery, is the next day, and given that he was an SVP at the fourth-biggest agency in town, "there's going to be a lot of vulnerable clients in attendance." And here I thought Elaine Benes was tacky when she trolled a funeral for an apartment. Don pipes up that Roger knew him, but before they can make any further morbid plans, Megan enters the conference room, which we should know by now never heralds good news. She tells Don that the guy they deal with at Glo-Coat is on the phone for him, which is a bad sign, given that Pete just talked to him that morning...
...and the news lives up to the portents, as the guy tells him they're dropping SCDP, although Don heatedly refuses to let him get away with claiming it's a coincidence, and tells him they'll want another shot at the account in the future, which the guy grants, "as long as you're around." After the call ends, Don smashes the Clio award against his desk, breaking it in two, prompting Megan to rush in and ask what that was. Given my opinion of the Clios, I'd answer "overdue." Don tells her it was nothing, and then asks if she'd please keep an eye on his drinking for him. I admire his attempts to curb his problem, but putting the onus on past, present, and future lays seems ill-advised to me. Hilariously, Megan expresses uncertainty about just how far to let him go, so he explicitly instructs her to cut him off at three drinks. Given that, you'd think he wouldn't chug the first one if you hadn't seen the show before.
Don rejoins the people in the conference room, in which Pete is telling everyone that the delivery is taking so long because Trudy's pelvis is too small. Bertram tartly opines that they should cut the baby out, and if this is bitterness over the unnecessary surgery he endured it's both welcome and highly amusing. Don then acidly cuts in that Pete should go to the hospital, as there's nothing for him to do at SCDP, and "it's obviously what matters to you." Unfair, most definitely, but no one exactly steps in to defend Pete, especially after Don goes to the blackboard, on which are all their current accounts, and erases Glo-Coat's name, causing another freezing wave of panic to wash over the room. Pete stands and asks if Don really is questioning his commitment here, but Don volleys back that Pete is distracted and as such "scared the shit out of [the Glo-Coat guy]." Pete, in a tone lower and more menacing than usual, asks who the hell Don thinks he's talking to, and for those of us in the know, the comment carries extra weight given what Pete did for Don last week. Pete storms out in disgust, and Don stares balefully after him...