They Still Have Eyes For Each Other?
Ah Mad Men. Now that SYTYCD is over, I lean on you for entertainment until LOST comes back. Well, that and the Olympics! If anyone caught the Mens 4×100 Free Relay last night… Wow! And the US Women’s Gymnastics – very tense moments, but so far, so good.
Now, to Episode 3 of Mad Men.
So, we took a break from the emerging Pete Campbell story line involving Duck Phillips. We also took a break from the Peggy story line, though we saw a glimpse of how hard it will be for her to escape at work. Even something random like a television show brought in to a client harkens back to her “illegitimate child”, as described in the show clip. We stepped back from a lot of the newer story lines and looked mostly at the Don and Betty Draper relationship. What did we learn?
1. Don has definitely made a conscious, sincere decision to be a better husband and father, but this line of work just won’t let him.
This most likely stems from that devastating moment at the end of Season 1 when Don realized that he wanted to be with his wife and kids during Thanksgiving, two years ago. Betty had basically thrown his affair in his face (by talking about how their neighbors/friends were dealing with the husband’s affair), and Don definitely made the turn towards his family at that point.
However, I think we saw that until Don quits this job, he simply will not be able to remain faithful. He can certainly try, and he will be able to “minimize” his actions if he wants, but there will always be … well, the need for amoral actions.
What do I mean? Obviously, there was this incident with Jimmy and Mrs. “Utz”. In order to smooth it out, Don had to deal with Jimmy’s manager. At first, Bobbi was quite simply more than a match for Don. In fact, I think it’s clear that she was playing Don like a fiddle, and she was lording it over him. Don’s glib talk wasn’t making any headway. He couldn’t get to Jimmy. He couldn’t even fend off her advances! (Notably, Betty Draper was able to succeed at exactly that in the stable, more on that later.)
Don could not “win” this battle until he dropped that barrier, and so we had the scene in the restaurant powder room. Quite a shocking scene, to be honest. I was not at all expecting that. For those who missed it, Bobbi was basically taunting Don with Jimmy’s contract, demanding $25K for any sort of (presumably insincere) apology, and seemed to be heading for the win. But Don grabbed her hair, used his right hand in another body part, and (to be crude) played her like a puppet. Quite a moment… and you could see the terrible effect it had on Don afterwards in the car with Betty. How would you interpret his facial expression at the end? I’d call it self-loathing, hatred of his job, and a desire to be free. (I think the fact that he was at the movies during the work day, even if for research, is a sign that something big will be in the future, perhaps at the end of the series.)
2. Betty will have a breakdown very very soon.
We saw a lot of Betty this episode, and every time we do, (a) Betty’s character becomes more and more interesting and (b) January Jones’ acting becomes more and more impressive. The aforementioned stable scene shows that in some ways, Betty is a stronger person than Don, at least for now. She is able to stop sexual advances in the moment, though maybe that has more to do with fear – fear of what will happen if she lets that dam collapse, fear of losing Don and the kids, etc. But I also think that it is evident and obvious that she is “profoundly sad” as stated by Mr. Romeo in the stables.
She obviously wants so much for her and Don to be a true couple, truly in love. Not just from the end scene with her crying “happily” about being more involved in Don’s life and work, being a “great team” (such an ironic scene all around), but even from something simple like the watch she had fixed and monogrammed for Don. It seemed to touch Don, and it certainly was a very thoughtful thing for her to do.
Even Jimmy called them the JFK and Jackie couple. And I think it’s clear that Betty desperately wants that image to be true, that their home is the Camelot of suburban New York. Now, will that ever happen? My money is on yes, perhaps at the end of the series, but there will be much trial and tribulation before we get to that point.
My guess is that at some point in Season 2, Betty will finally have her affair. It will be passionate, and it will be discovered or revealed to Don in the last episode of the season. How will Don react? I honestly could see it going both ways – Either Don will be understanding (doubtful right away), or he will break down, loath her, but somehow come around (more likely to me).
3. BTW, love the Joan Holloway character.
Queen Bee
How GREAT was it to see Joan as Don’s secretary for a minute! She obviously is the queen bee in that office for a reason – in the words of Don, she is suited for that job.
Next Week’s Episode:
Looks like from the preview that we will return a bit to Peggy’s story, but honestly, I’m most interested in Don’s line. I wonder if his standing at the firm will continue to drop? How will the Duck and Pete collaboration develop?
