Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 893 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Company Woman
By Couch Baron | Season 5 | Episode 11 | Aired on 2012.05.27
...and Roger waits to answer until the missing partners file in -- Lane and Pete, the latter of whom steps aside... for Joan. She and Don exchange a look that neither of them fully understands, but it's lost when Roger gets the news -- they got it. Even Joan manages a positive reaction, as well she might knowing that her investment, so to speak, will be paying off, but Don looks like he might actually vomit and not just because he's figuring out that the pitch they made was probably irrelevant. After telling the Jaguar guy that they'll be over that afternoon, Roger snaps Don out of his nauseated reverie with an embrace, while Joan and Lane share one that's a bit more fraught, but she does look grateful for his advice. If you assume she would have gone through with it for the fifty grand, it certainly looks like he helped her get a better deal, but if the better deal was actually the deciding factor, I'm pushing ahead of Don in the barf line. Reminding us of his ulterior motive, Lane squawks a bit more about the nonexistent bonuses before Pete requests a list of names that will be working on the account and then turns to Joan, Woman Of The Hour, and asks -- after Bertram opens the door so they can hear the celebration that's already begun -- if they should "address the men." Joan, her walk as sultry as ever, steps forward meeting Don's eyes once again and then they all file out... save Lane, who pours himself a drink as he contemplates how much up shit's creek he still is. Also, how horrible is it that this is what it took for a woman to become a partner at an ad agency? Between this and the way Dawn got her job, SCDP is going to have the most unearned reputation for progressiveness on all of Madison Avenue.
Everyone's whooping it up in the conference room, but before Don can trudge his way in there, Peggy appears with congratulations. And of course he's upset about Joan, but the fact that even now he can treat her like something he just scraped off his shoe really drives home the idea that she's doing the right thing here. Peggy thinks their conversation can wait, but Don's not in the mood for celebration prompting her to observe, "You really have no idea when things are good, do you?" I'm not sure I'd agree with that, but now is SO not the time, as Peggy -- already starting to sniffle a bit -- leads the way into his office. He asks her to drink with him, which signals to me that he's looking for some emotional solace, so this is obviously going to be even more of a blow than you'd normally expect. She tells him she has to discuss something serious and he tries to be conciliatory, but given that he babbles about how (a) he can't put a girl on Jaguar and (b) Joan just got made partner, he's not helping his case. Whether because of this news or not, Peggy steels herself with a long sip from her drink before stepping forward and telling Don that the day he saw something in her, her whole life changed and since then, it's been her privilege that he treated her like a protégé. Don leans back in his chair with a wry grin like he knows how to handle this, but the way the color drained from his face during the speech was the telling moment. When she concludes that she needs a new experience and has accepted another offer, he, with AMAZING fake amused condescension -- one second he looks like he's actually smiling and another his mouth looks like a dead clown rictus -- asks if she's done, but when she plows on about her notice and last day, he heaves an ersatz sigh and tries to tell her he knows it's been crazy and she's been feeling unappreciated and what's more, he's impressed: "You finally picked the right moment to ask for a raise." Don, you're missing the point; she doesn't want money and even if she did, she'd probably be afraid you'd pelt her in the face with it.