Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 3 USERS: C- YOU GRADE IT I Went To A Garden Party…
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 08.30.2009
and ended in coal country. And then just like that, the meeting is over, and Connie heads back to his affair while Don just leans back against the bar and sighs.At S(toner) C(entral), Paul's munching on chips while Peggy notes that she's hungry, but it's not worth moving. Oh, yeah. Smitty comes up with "Bacar D. Eisenhower," which gets some giggles, and then Paul ribs Jeffrey for being a "drug pusher." Jeffrey responds by calling Paul out for his hoity-toity and very fake accent, saying Paul used to be a total Jersey boy. "I guess that's why they have scholarships." Paul, not enamored of being called out by this trust-fund trash, stands and tells Jeffrey to get out as Peggy hits another stoner mark perfectly by looking hilariously over-interested in the impending drama. Jeffrey stands and ups the stakes: Not only is Paul arrogant, but he can't sing. Hilariously, Paul literally tells him to take it back, but Jeffrey rubs it in that Paul got kicked out of the Tigertones (one of Princeton's many, many, many singing groups), and it's probably best I didn't get stoned for this scene as I think I would have giggled myself to death by now. Paul opens the door for Jeffrey, but before he can get to the "I. Said. Good. DAY!" that's undoubtedly coming, he huffily informs Jeffrey that he left the Tigertones because he had mono. Jeffrey challenges him to sing a little for the crowd, which Paul clearly wasn't expecting, but he rises to the challenge, very passably singing the first verse of "Hello My Baby." Peggy and Smitty applaud while Jeffrey sulks, but Paul turns the scene by holding out a hand Jeffrey's way and starting the second verse, and after hesitating for a moment, he joins Paul in a duet, with the two of them putting a reconciliatory arm around each other. A glassy- and wide-eyed Peggy: "I am so high." Olive's not laughing, but she's the only one.
Betty's standing by the bathroom when some gray-around-the-temples guy tells her he wishes she were waiting for him. Something tells me we just met Jeffrey Graves's father. In the past, of course, Betty would have firmly discouraged such an advance as inappropriate and rude, but it seems her dip into adultery combined with her insecurity over her pregnancy look has altered her attitude as she merely smiles. After turning the conversation to her pregnancy, he asks, blaming in advance the martinis he's had, if he can touch her stomach, and after a moment of consideration, she nods assent. He holds his touch rather longer than seems necessary, not pulling away until she notes that the baby isn't moving around at the moment. I'm going to chalk that up to the baby's good taste rather than worry that that's foreshadowing, so let's move on to where Betty asks who the guy is with, and he confesses he brought a date, as "you can't show up to these things stag. But then you run into people." Don't know if Ken would agree with either statement. Betty clearly catches his meaning, as amazingly subtle as it is, but makes no further encouragement, and then Trudy emerges from the washroom and awesomely doesn't even notice the guy as she spirits Betty away, saying she's in the mood to dance. She's not kidding, as we'll find out.
Joan serves a tray of martinis (bad sign, after the last scene) to her guests, who are doing the buffet thing, seated casually in low chairs or on the floor. Mrs. Stolich, who's about Joan's age and looks like she's carrying, offers to cut the cheese, which gets a round of giggles from the men; after the ladies roll their eyes at their immature mates, Mrs. Stolich says they have all kinds of private jokes, such as the "Code Pink," which is the signal that there's an attractive unconscious female on the floor. A joke about Greg here seems too easy, so let's move on to where Ettinger confesses he never heard that one, and Greg ass-kisses his wife and boss both by saying he hasn't either. Joan sighs that it sounds like where she works, and then the ladies repair to the kitchen to check on the roast. Well, to be more precise, Joan checks the roast while the two others discuss how little residents make, and Mrs. Ettinger tells them that when she first married her husband, she was teaching kindergarten and earning three times what he did. "We lived in a pit." Joan, perhaps taking a colder view of her and Greg's joint finances than before, looks wary, and gets more so when Mrs. Ettinger cautions her not to get pregnant during this time of financial hardship. Mrs. Stolich winces, given her situation, and Mrs. Ettinger confesses that she gave her the same advice, but "she doesn't listen. She's a nurse." Their relationship seems a little familiar, even for people who have known each other for a while, but let's ignore that to focus on the part where Mrs. Stolich counsels Joan to do what she wants, offering that if Greg gets made Chief Resident things will be easier, and Mrs. Ettinger sighs that knowing Greg could land a woman like Joan makes her feel good about his future. Translation: Your husband's on a one-way trip to Nowheresville, honey. Get out while you still can.
Carla calls Bobby and Sally for dinner, and then puts a plate in front of Gene and tells him he needs to eat something. He balefully bites that she can't tell him what to do, prompting this response: "You either eat, or you don't eat. But there'll be no more of that." Ladies and gentlemen, Carla has Had Enough. Gene brings up the money again, and nearby, Sally is sitting under the dining room table trying to figure a way out of this mess. I was sure, after last week's little issue with the melba toast, Carla was going to end up getting canned, by the way, but I'm happy they didn't go that route. Anyway, Sally comes to a decision and takes the purloined bill out of her sock, then gets up and peers in on the people in the kitchen. Satisfied they haven't noticed her, she tosses the bill onto the kitchen floor, waits a few seconds, and then pops out all, "Grandpa! Is this your money?" Heh. Kids. Gene orders her to bring the bill to him, which she does while acting like she's on a death march, just in case they had bought her transparent scheme up until now, and after Gene stares at her for a million years while acknowledging it's the one, the poor girl literally looks like she might implode from stress, so I'm happy when Carla, who clearly knows exactly what happened, chooses to let her off the hook by making a loud show about what a relief it is that the money reappeared. Gene, however, keeps looking at her like a hungry troll, which is just another reason he really needs to eat his dinner.
It's now night under the tent, and Don brings some wine over for Betty and Trudy. After the latter thanks him, she sees Pete smile at her, and affably tells Betty he's pretending they didn't have a fight on the way over. Betty: "He seems amenable right now." Heh. Turns out Trudy warned him that with "this set," there was a good chance one of her exes might appear, and he's now in a better mood because that didn't happen. At another table, Harry complains to Jennifer that he's got nothing to talk about besides work, but she pooh-poohs his discomfort and leads him over to the other four, where...they're met with silence. Heh. It's only momentary, though, as after Harry uncomfortably swears they're having a great time, Jennifer brightly notes she hasn't seen Don and Betty on the dance floor. Betty jokes that she doesn't move that well at the moment, and then lets us know she's changed her mind from before -- she doesn't feel like dancing, which she thinks is disappointing Don. He doesn't respond that the only disappointing thing to him is that they're not home already, settling instead for rubbing her arm, and then Roger appears: "Your asses are going to wear out those chairs." With Roger and Jane are Bertram, some woman, and the guy who had his hands all over Betty's stomach. Bertram, who I think could have been given the episode off at his age, introduces the ha