Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 631 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Mystery Date
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 4 | Aired on 2012.04.08
I guess he went home for the weekend (or is still in the bar), but it's a little surprising, given how green he is, that he wouldn't have come back to the office, although it's not like he'd be any more sober, as Stan and (especially) Peggy seem wasted. Stan pays Roger all the respect he's earned before heading out, leaving Roger to ask Peggy what she's doing that night. Peggy mock-seductively asks Roger what he has in mind, prompting him disapprovingly to ask if she's drunk, and Roger Sterling has said and done some hypocritical things, but him acting stern about drinking in the office threatens to rupture the very fabric of space and time. Roger tells her he needs her to work up something for Mohawk, but Peggy replies that for that account, "your quote man is Ginsberg." Heh. Already fresh out of ideas, Roger reaches into his Pocket O'Bribery, hands Peggy a bill, and tells her he needs her to work it up and on Monday explain to Ginzo and Pete that Roger asked her to -- only sometime last week, which I take to be before Ginzo was hired. It's not a story that should hold up to any kind of strict scrutiny, but Peggy takes the money; however, Roger then clarifies that there's no brief because he never told Ginzo about it at all, but since American Airlines is taking everything big and giving their northeast corridor to Mohawk, they need this campaign to capitalize. Peggy, drunk enough to be slurrily amused with herself, comes up with a couple strike-themed slogans, prompting Roger to reply, "Hey, Trotsky, you're in advertising." Hee. Peggy asks what, then, the angle is, and Roger babbles some half-baked nonsense before heading for the door, but Peggy's like, wait just a minute -- ten bucks for an entire corporate-image campaign is not nearly going to cut it, and when Roger points out he could make her do it for nothing, she replies, "You're right. The work is ten dollars; the lie is extra." You guys, I don't know a lot of things, but I'm pretty sure Joe R, consummate Peggy-lover, is enjoying this moment immensely. Roger asks what she makes a week, and Peggy is once more drunkenly pleased with herself as she notes that him not knowing is helpful, even looking around at a nonexistent crowd with an "Am I right?" look on her face. I love this scene so much. Beaten, Roger hands over all the money in his pocket, which is FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS, like does he have a side gig as Monty Hall's understudy? Roger heads out before Peggy can take his watch (seriously, she threatens that, it's awesome), and then Megan enters and asks if she's staying. Peggy says yes, as something "came up," and asks Megan to tell "Patricia" she can go home. When she's gone, Peggy gleefully counts the money, and rarely do I watch a scene more times than I need to in order to recap it, but this one's an exception.