TV characters, you’re grossing us out with your fictional hook-ups. Usually we manage to be pretty zen about the whole thing, accepting of the plain fact that on any television show with a decently-sized ensemble, everyone will eventually hook up with everyone else. (Call it The Rachel/Joey Rule.) But then something so totally unholy happens, like the repeat Dan/Georgina encounter on last week’s Gossip Girl, or, worse yet, Peggy’s liaison on last night’s Mad Men, as to shock and appall us anew. Spoilers ahead, obviously.
Knowing Sterling Cooper’s former Head of Accounts, Duck, as we do (divorced, recovering alcoholic, dog abandoner), we began to grow uncomfortable soon after he asked Peggy to have a drink with him in last night’s episode. Duck was in the midst of attempting to lure Peggy to his new agency. Earlier, Don had not only denied Peggy’s request for a raise but had scolded her for wanting too much too soon. Plus, she’s forever dealing with Pete, the infantile little weasel, who, having fathered the child she gave away, she will understandably always have some measure of fondness for.
So Duck caught Peggy at a weak moment. (And remember, Duck totally knows there was something between Peggy and Pete. He pointed it out at lunch last week, and then, we assume, added it to his list of ways to extort the two in the future.) Had he been planning to come on to Peggy all along? And then his little speech? (“I want to take you in that bedroom, lock the door, take your clothes off with my teeth, and give you a go-around like you’ve never had.”) It was all too much! We’d like to be able applaud Peggy’s newfound get-it-girlness, but Duck is just too much of a creep.
So Peggy walked into the office the next day wearing the same clothes, and since Joan the vampy-yet-all-knowing office manager bid goodbye to Sterling Cooper last episode, there wasn’t even anyone around to notice. Which made us sad for Peggy all over again. Last time she met a guy, it went down similarly without incident or comment. What does Peggy have to do to get noticed? Something tells us this encounter might not be a one-time thing. Gross.
Perusing a few “worst couple” lists, we’ve also seen George/Izzie on Grey’s Anatomy thrown around, and obviously Jim/Karen on The Office was also a trying time. Who are your nominations for worst TV hook ups?