Much like at a CYO dance, the ladies were the ones who drove the action this episode. Betty did something
she never though she'd do, Joan lost something she never thought she'd want, and Peggy faced something she never wanted to face again. In a delicious turnaround from the normal Mad Men story, the women drove the action and the men took a back seat.In the aftermath of Jimmy Barrett's malicious bomb drop of last episode, Betty is clearly destroyed. Ever the perfect wife of her social milieu - in fact, as Don inadvertently proved to her, typical of it - Betty once again tamped down her feelings and devoted all her emotional energy to doing what she does best: keeping up appearances. The Drapers have an important dinner party to plan and Betty is consumed by it, to the point of destroying her own furniture for the crime of being less than perfect. Her face as she slowly breaks her dining room chair into kindling is flat and dead. Even in her rage, she is perfectly composed. The only being that sees her sweat is her beloved horse. That doesn't mean her own children are unaware of her emotional state. In fact, they're far more attuned to her rage than Don is and the fear on their faces as it manifests in such a creepy fashion is heartbreaking. The Draper family seems irrevocably broken and we can't help thinking that everyone involved would be better off if they just all went their separate ways.
Meanwhile, it's become increasingly obvious why Harry's wife had to push him so hard to go after his promotion several episodes back: because he's not too ambitious and seemingly not too bright. His brand new television department makes its first major mistake and he immediately whines that he can't keep up with the demands of the job. Instead of giving him his asked-for new hire, Roger suggests he pulls from the secretarial pool to get the grunt work done. E
nter Joan Holloway.We really need to stop trying to anticipate the potential future directions of characters and plotlines on this show because they consistently pull the rug out from under us. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense. Joan made such an issue earlier in the season of her complete non-interest in furthering herself or attempting to enter "their world," (the male world). At the time, we thought it was a way to draw a clear distinction between her and the so-hungry-she-can-taste-it Peggy, but instead, it was a way of setting up this new development. She starts off by rolling up her sleeves and helping Harry with his work load only to find that she really enjoys the work and not only that, she's good at it.
We finally meet her doctor fiance and - what a shock - he's a total jerk. He's clearly uncomfortable with the idea of his blowup doll of a wife displaying any brains or ambition and with visible irritation tells her that her job is to walk around and look pretty and her future consists of nothing more than sitting on the couch and eating bon-bons. In typical Joan fashion, she indulges his frustration while blithely going back to her newfound interest.
Peggy finds herself at the mercy of the good Father Gill, who with every good intention to guide what he sees as a lost sheep back to his flock, ropes her into doing pro bono advertising work for the upcoming CYO dance. Peggy's discomfort with the priest is palpable, likely because she senses not only his intentions, but also his knowledge of the past she very much wants to forget. Don told her in that psych ward that it would shock her how much she'd be able to bury her past
but he didn't tell her there would be people in her life desperate to remind her of it. We wanted to hate him for being so pushy with her, but he's really only doing what he sees as his job and frankly, Peggy needs someone to shove her into dealing with it, even if we don't think the church is the way to do it. She's obviously modeled herself on Don Draper, whether she realizes it or not, and Don's life built on lies is clearly nothing to work towards.The Draper dinner party goes off beautifully on the surface. The house looks beautiful, the children are dutifully entertaining, and the host and hostess look like walking advertisements themselves. The guests, insofar as they're capable, are charmed. The role of the Sterlings as the inevitable future of the Drapers is once again reinforced when Mona tells Betty to enjoy it while she can and laughs bitterly and knowingly at Betty's furious "What an interesting experiment." We have no doubt that Mona has had a lifetime of experience being nothing more than a servant to her husband's ambitions and recognizes in Betty a time when she allowed such things to bother her.
Betty confronts Don for humiliating her at dinner but of course what she's complaining about isn't really what she's complaining about, as is so often the case. We thought this was going to be another of those confrontations that would be nothing but subtext, but she yanked the narrative into the direction she wanted it to go and did something so anathema to her that it was kind of shocking. She went straight for the jugular and told Don that she knew about him and Bobbie. She finally said what she meant. It was a wonderful and riveting thing to see, especially her wrinkled-nose distaste that he would cheat on her with someone "so old." How perfectly Betty. And what does Don do? Like the sociopath he is, he looked her right in the eyes and lied to her. Again and again.
But Don is reading off an old script and this one isn't going to blow over by acting earnest and hoping for it to go away. Betty spends the entire next day disheveled and drunk in her party dress, rifling through Don's suits and desk drawers, ostensibly to look for evidence of the affair, but it shifts into a semi-desperate attempt to find out anything about this lying enigma she's been spending her life with. Once again, kudos to actress January Jones who made Betty's slide
into despair heart-wrenching to watch. "How could you this to me?" she says to Don, looking like an exiled princess in the middle of their bed, her makeup smeared and her dirty dress surrounding her. "I would never do this to you." Although we don't really believe that with all the extramarital flirting she's been doing lately. Still Don lies to her and to our surprise, she still wouldn't even entertain the idea that he might be telling the truth. As pathetic as she looked, she still displayed a spine we didn't think she had.She gives him one more chance to come clean and fix the situation when in the middle of the night, totally stripped bare of her normal perfect wife trappings, she confronts him a final time. And while we believe him when he says he loves the kids and doesn't want to "lose all this ("this" being the perfectly constructed life he spent his entire life coveting),"we don't quite believe him when he tells her he loves her. After all, he continues to lie to her face. Still, despite the perfectly composed face, we can see the fear in his eyes.
The ability of the writers to wring tension out of emotional drama astounds us. We didn't realize we were doing it, but we were holding our breath through the various scenes of Betty's
emotional breakdown. When we see her kneel in front of a broken wine glass, her wrists out, or opening an oven door, we can't help but fear that she's going to attempt to kill herself. Of course, they surprised us by having Betty once again do something we never thought we'd see her do. She coldly calls Don and tells him not to come home, she doesn't want to see him. So great was the tension that the four of us who watched it last night broke into spontaneous applause at her actions. When was the last time a television show made you applaud?Meanwhile, Peggy is struggling with Father Gill and the CYO ladies. She's annoyed that she's been dragged into doing something she doesn't want to do and frustrated that she's not even being allowed to do it the way she thinks it should be done. Again, we wanted to hate Father Gill for being so pushy, but he's only doing what his job dictates. He picks away at Peggy's scabs and she doesn't like it one bit. In perfect Peggy style, she simply does not respond to things that she doesn't want to face and stares at him wide-eyed, then looks away. We see her later, stripped bare just like Betty, staring ahead in the bathtub when suddenly she covers her face with her hands. The good father got to her and it remains to be seen where she's going to go from here.
Back at Sterling Cooper, Joan fulfills her newfound duties so well and the clients are so happy with her work, that Roger comes around to the idea of hiring someone to do it full time. Of course, this being 1962, no one even entertains the idea of Joan actually moving up to fill the position
. Peggy Olsen lucked into a couple benefactors in Don and Freddy Rumsen, but Joan has no one on her side to plead her case. Up till now, she hasn't displayed a shred of ambition and even though most of the men in the office are intimidated by her intelligence, the packaging is just too distracting for any of them, least of all Roger, to see her as a worthy contributer in "their world." Christina Hendricks knocks it out of the park with her acting in the scene when she finds out she's been replaced. It's not just that you can see her hide the disappointment in her face; she's also hiding her own surprise that she's disappointed at all. And in one of those perfect, real life bits of writing that this show does so well, we see her at home that night, wincing and rubbing the grooves her space age bra have cut into her shoulders. The weight of being Joan Holloway is literally cutting her down.A recurring motif in this show is one where people are constantly shown putting on or taking off their armor. From Pete adjusting his tie and cufflinks approvingly in front of a mirror, to
the female characters getting in or out of their restrictive undergarments, everyone goes through life hemmed in by their roles and how they manifest in their clothing. To Joan's painful undergarment moment and what that says about her we can add Father Gill's lengthy disrobing of his vestments. Once again another character is stripped bare and he sits on his bed in his undershirt with his guitar and for the first time truly comes to life in front of our eyes as he passionately sings a Peter, Paul and Mary tune. The scene shifts and the music almost seamlessly goes from Father Gill's warbling to the actual Peter, Paul and Mary recording as we see Don sitting in the breakroom, his life broken as he drinks a Heineken. He made the Heineken people happy with his pitch, but inadvertently started the ball rolling on the destruction of his marriage in doing so.[Photos: Courtesy of amctv.com]
Post a Comment
9/15/08, 4:29 PM
I was thrilled when Betty stood up to Don and refused to believe his lies. Go, Betty, go!
Next week: Peggy confronts Pete. (or possibly Don?) I can't wait!
9/15/08, 4:30 PM
Dearest Tlo,
You hard-working darlings. I can't believe you've put up so meny wonderful new posts in such an unbelievably short time. Big MWAH!! both of y'all. But thumbs are only human, typos inevitable. " as her it manifests in " ? (2nd paragraph) I think you meant "as it manifests in her"? The perfection of all your blogging suggests to me that you have a pefectionist streak - as do I - therefore I lovingly point out this teeny teeny little typo in the greatest affection as a loving friend will let their nearest and dearest know when they have that teensy shred of spinach between their teeth.
Please delete this post after you've read it. I'd do it myself, but this thing won't let me.
I will comment something of more substance after I've read you entire delicious post.
love love love ....
9/15/08, 4:33 PM
Fixed it!
We're so tired, kittens!
9/15/08, 4:35 PM
Dearsets TLO,
Sweeties! You are so quick! You've done it already! Please be dear hearts and delete my posts, mkay?
love ya!
Dogbreath
9/15/08, 4:43 PM
Terrific recap - you covered everything!
My heart goes out to Joan - I've been in that position of being asked to train the younger MAN hired to do a job I had been doing in addition to my own responsibilities (with no extra pay). Ah, the good old days!
And I gasped when Betty told Don not to come home! Who'd a thunk it??? Can't wait for next week.
9/15/08, 4:54 PM
This episode was delicious!
I watched it again immediately afterwards.
I can't believe you guys cranked out such a lengthy and insightful review so soon. Amazing! Thank you! My head is so full. I'm still trying to process everything.
I am infuriated, but not surprised by Harry's ignorance. And that new guy-he basically hired a version of himself. I really hope that this arc leads to an amazing exchange between Joan and Roger over the position. Love it when those two are together on the screen.
-laydlo
9/15/08, 4:58 PM
You've nailed it in such a delightful way. It's like watching the episode again without actually having to sit in front of the telly to do so.
Sundays can't come around fast enough sometimes. I relish every moment of this show to the point that I'm disappointed when the episode ends.
I, for one, will continue to speculate that Joan will not go gently into the good night and predict her marriage will not happen.
Betty, for all her protesting, will take Don back because she won't be able to manage the children and the world without him. Although, she will continue to have more of a backbone.
And Peggy will have Pete roasting on an open fire before long.
By the way, just how do they manage to make Joan look so curvy when she's so tiny in real life? I mean, she has those curves, but they look larger than they really are. Artful padding? (I am now going to claim I'm dressed by the costumers on the show.)
9/15/08, 4:58 PM
The Joan storyline was so good and you nailed it when you commented on her performance — I literally gasped out loud when she lost this job she so obviously enjoyed and thrived in.
But while I love this show and I also loved watching Betty confront Don, it rang a little off to me. Betty would not have done that, she would have first looked for evidence. It would have simmered in her a lot longer than it did. Someone who is wound up so tight simply does not do that kind of confronting so quickly. While I admire her backbone and see how it moves along the story, it just didn't seem true. And I speak from experience, as I was a Sally growing up. Those two little kids reactions were dead on.
9/15/08, 5:10 PM
i too cheered aloud when betty told don not to come home - halleluiah!!! i didnt think she had it in her... im so proud of her for everything she accomplished this episode. her decline was masterfully acted. bravo to ms. jones! (glad to know im not the only one who got a little nervous when she reached for the oven - lol!)
now its up to don to realize that all of his self-hate is manifesting itself in hateful behavior towards those he claims to cherish. will that ever happen?
and my heart broke for joan this time. i wanted her to fight for the job she grew to love. she was so perfect at it and enjoyed it so much... she could have had it if she let herself break out of the mold she's trapped herself in. oh joan - you're more than just a rockin' bod... i hope she changes her mind.
9/15/08, 5:10 PM
I thought it was terribly sad when Betty told Don not to come home. But, how could she live with herself otherwise? I liked her turning off the oven after the phone call. Forget dinner. I am done.
I laughed when Betty destroyed the chair. Hee Hee. So much like my Mommie Dearest. The looks on the kids' faces were me and my sibs.
Great, great show. I want Sal's apartment. Thank you for the recaps. Really enjoy the read.
9/15/08, 5:12 PM
I loved this episode! And I have to say it again. It's because of your wonderful insight into the characters of this show that I am completely intoxicated with Mad Men. But it's hard for me to determine which I look forward to more: Sunday night's new episodes or TLo's recaps.
9/15/08, 5:12 PM
Great episode and great post! January Jones just nailed portraying the confusion, anger and despair Betty went through. Heartbreaking to watch. Amazing acting all around, as usual.
The Drapers need to start saving money for the kid's future therapy sessions.
How about the drunk guest at the dinner party? I felt bad for Duck when he asked for tomato juice and Mrs. Drunk-o gave him a hard time about it. Then I remembered what he did to his dog and I didn't feel bad anymore.
9/15/08, 5:17 PM
Great recap, but you missed the best line of the show:
"Duck, Crab. Crab, Duck."
I think Joan is pregnant.
9/15/08, 5:17 PM
Yes this was a powerful episode
Actually I accept Betty's reaction since Jimmy shattered the skilled wall of denial that was created in Betty's mind by her and by Don. She was forced to stare into what she's always known about this man. He does not love her. He loves the idea of her. All her suppressed emotional repsonses and passive behaviors couldn't work this time because Jimmy was too thorough. She simply cannot ignore the fact Don uses her and looks at her as a prop in the world he created. It was all too saldy obvious when he said he couldn't afford to lose "this".
It's brought home when Duck describes Betty as wanting to be the perfect wife, mother and hostess. I saw such major anxiety coming from Don.
What's funny didn't anyone notice when they panned onto the icebucket of Heinikins, it looked like almost no one took any. It's another comment on Don's life. He is such a skillful adman that he knows how to sell a product to people that really don't need or likely want. It nicely parallels his homelife. On the surface a success but in truth not much to it.
And poor Joan. In 2008 we can really sympathize with this woman. She's played the game too long at being the office sexual center of attraction. The sad part is even before this incident you can see she is sharp, realiable and ethical-really a model employee. Someone who is being overlooked owing to the social mores of the time. Ironic that she refuses to sleep her way to success
BTW I too wonder how much padding is on Christina Hendricks. I've seen this woman on the show Firefly. There's no way I believe she's that curvy in real life.
Frank
9/15/08, 5:19 PM
Does anyone think we could be in for a "Betty and therapist" flashback. In S1, she wanted Don to be faithful, did the doctor convince her he was? Or was this just the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back in regards to Betty and what she will take?
And on the other side of the coin -"She's playing Piglet" or something similar, but I thought the look on Betty's face said it all.
MM needs to have a flash forward episode at some point so we can see how screwed up Sally is about her weight.
Don't get me wrong, I am glad Betty stood up for herself finally but she does have a mean streak when it comes to her kids.
9/15/08, 5:20 PM
I hate that moment when I realize that this is going to be the last scene. Mad Men always leaves me wanting more! So I come here to see what you have to say about it, lolz. I don't know if I've ever watched a better show.
9/15/08, 6:15 PM
Beautiful and thoughtful as always. And that was just your post.
I want to just add in terms of Peggy, that I think she's in a unique position. Both men, the Father and Don, actually wanted to help her move forward by releasing her from some constraints, real, traumatic and - in the case of the hospital - legally binding.
Peggy is working with Don's modus operandi.
Don, in the earlier episode scene in the hospital, introduced Peggy to his m.o. because he truly believed in her, and wanted to save her from the situation where she was unable to move, psychically paralyzed.
The priest, who as we find in the end a proto-Vatican II figure, is invested in Peggy confessing precisely about that hospital, in order to "save her" spiritually, bu in his case, to have her enter into the dialog from a new, human angle (Vatican II ahead etc..Peter Paul and Mary etc..)But for Peggy to do that means refuting Don's m.o.
Peggy takes a commanding central role, drawing between two changing guards of control and desire - the church and the ad-agency. She will have to resolve a way out, which will be interesting.
Especially as she is somehow a kindred spirit to Don on but some levels, not all.
9/15/08, 6:32 PM
The Father Gill and Peggy scenes make me think of Sadie Thompson. Sadie moved away to start a new life, but a maniacal missionary dregs up her past and drags her back into her old life of prostitution. Not that Peggy will become a prostitute, but I'm not sure she can handle her past after her psychotic break. Maybe Father Gill thinks he's doing good, and/or maybe he has same fatal flaw which will cause him to compulsively hound Peggy, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadie_Thompson
9/15/08, 6:33 PM
Great commentary, especially how the broken wine glass and the open oven door appear as invitations to suicide. There is something so spooky about the way they are portraying Betty right now, I don't know how she manages to stay in control. When was valium introduced?
9/15/08, 6:48 PM
This show really helps me to understand my mother, who is from the Betty generation. She had that same pursuit of suburban perfection and the eventual depression when life doesn't live up to the advertised bliss. Thankfully, my father was not an ass like Don. Betty has a tough road ahead.
Funny story - my mom recently told me that our neighbor's husband was a pharmacist, and my mother and the neighbor used to take speed (diet pills, they thought)every day. They would chain smoke and gossip and frantically cook and clean the house before the husbands came home. Mother's little helper, indeed.
9/15/08, 6:57 PM
Anyone else notice that the title of this episode is also the title of a famous book about the sinking of the Titanic?
Coincidence?
9/15/08, 7:07 PM
Boys, when do you have time to work? It's exhausting keeping up with all this excellent writing on so many fronts. Kudos to you both. :)
9/15/08, 7:28 PM
Betty's rage seems to be an integral part of her personality, hidden by her 'good girl' veneer with ever increasing effort. I will never forget the shocking glimpses revealed in the previous season's episodes: when she grabbed the rifle and killed the neighbor's flying carrier pigeons, standing barefoot out on the front lawn in her nightgown; expressing her barely concealed loathing for her widowed Father and his new 'lady friend'; her incredible, palpable sorrow at losing the soda modeling job and the freedom to regain the young free Betty of her daydreamed life. She is incapable of nurturing her children or Don, for that matter, a major roll assigned to women of her era. She married him to attain the BBD (bigger, better deal) as the trophy wife of a hot young executive~all Stork Club, champagne and Manhattan shopping. She apparently was in denial that kids and the suburbs were going to be part of the equation. By the way, I think that she won't let Don come home until she 'evens the score' by having a tryst, maybe with Jimmy, maybe with the Stable Guy, maybe with someone she picks up. THAT is why she was so intent on finding evidence that Don cheated~to give herself permission to do what she wouldn't have had the courage to do otherwise.
What I thought was really intriguing about Peggy this week was the way she and her sister interacted without the presence of her Mother, and the furtive way she revealed that she brought colored pencils for her sister's 'boys'. The priest is corrupt and being a total jackass, unconsciously punishing Peggy for his ruined sweaty night time fantasies of her purity and eventual deflowering.
Dear Joan..Joan's shoulder marks also conveyed to me a sense of how much pain she was willing to endure to be the in control bombshell Joan Holloway everyone thinks she is and that she could only 'let down' at home, alone, in the privacy of her bedroom. Her fiance's irritation at her forgetting to get his water was certainly worth noting as a harbinger of his future behavior.
I think the name of the episode should have been 'Denial'.
9/15/08, 8:06 PM
The scene where Joan rubs the irritation from her bra strap was brilliant!! Such a small little act that says so much!!
Thanks guys, for another beautifully written recap.
Auntie L
9/15/08, 8:14 PM
That episode just thrilled me to the bone. Watching the Jackie and the Marilyn (and the Irene Dunne) react to all the smacking was just devastating. And if January Jones isn't nominated for an Emmy, something seriously stinks.
9/15/08, 8:54 PM
Joan's story-line stole the episode for me this week. I was devastated for her. She seemed happy for the first time since the series began. I'm so interested to know whether she focuses her rage in a destructive way or decides to become a career woman.
I don't know if her fiancé is a jerk; it has always been Joan's dream to marry a doctor and spend her day at home eating bonbons. It isn't really his fault that she doesn't want that anymore.
9/15/08, 9:12 PM
I had a little trouble with the whole Heineken thing. I completely believe Betty buying it at the store because of a classy display. But serving it at dinner was a bit much. I understand she was doing a "trip around the world" theme but the guests are still going to drink wine with dinner so it seems like a stupid option. It would have made more sense to offer it as a cocktail. It's a small detail but it made the whole dinner issue feel contrived to me.
9/15/08, 9:34 PM
Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, started as a study of marginalized college-educated suburban housewives. These were women who, post-WWII, were forced out of the workplace and back into the role of the stay at home wife. Betty, Joan, and Peggy are all faces of the women Friedan wrote about. Joan didn't even know she could be good at anything beyond being an office manager, and Peggy knows she has talent but has hit the glass ceiling already as a junior copywriter, but Betty has the most difficult road ahead. She's backed into a corner, and she may have lashed out this week, but ultimately what choice will she see for herself but to let Don back? (Friedan sent out surveys to graduates of the seven sisters--I wonder if Betty got one.)
9/15/08, 9:42 PM
Could the Peggy in the bathtub scene be analogous to a baptismal font?...washing those sins away.
9/15/08, 10:07 PM
You two are so gifted! Reading your description of this harrowing episode is almost like seeing it again. Do you ever SLEEP? Thank you, darlings!
It was wonderful to see more about Joan and her life. The disappointment on her face in being "replaced" as a script reader was fleeting; always falling back on the image of the perfectly coiffed, perfectly corseted, perfectly made up, totally under control woman. Yet the scene where we see the red gouges from the bra strap and Joan's expression of distress tells us that she silently suffers every day.
I hope this series eventually goes through the entire 60's decade. Character development aside, the opportunity to see them in wide ties, plaid suits, mini skirts, ironed hair and so on is irresistable!
9/15/08, 10:18 PM
More kudos, Tlo !!
Don't know how you DO it!
Well done on the recap this week, I so look forward to it...Awesome job!
Note to Amy C about Valium--It wasn't invented until 1963.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazepam#History
I'm thinking Miltown was the "happy drug" of choice at the time...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meprobamate#History
Carol
9/15/08, 10:20 PM
"Could the Peggy in the bathtub scene be analogous to a baptismal font....washing those sins away?
- anonymous (9:42) -
That was my reading of the scene. It seems like a pretty commonly used technique or convention in television in film. Especially after scenes depicting victims of non-consensual sex, abuse, other crimes, etc. and sometimes a character with guilt, shame, etc.
At least that's my take on the scene.
Loved the episode. I could not wait for this re-cap. There was so much material in this episode. Loved the focus on The Women of Mad Men. I can't say that I'm completely convinced that Betty and Don are through either. They've got history and had a pretty solid co-dependency going on with years and years of hard work put into it. Like others, I thought Betty would do a slow burn rather than the actions shown in last nights episode. It was painful, but an amazing thing to witness. I absolutely cannot imagine what Don will do without his pretty crutch. And does anyone out there think that Don actually might hate Betty? It certainly made me think....
- edina -
9/15/08, 10:25 PM
Everytime the screen fades to black at then end, I mutter, 'God I love that show." And I swear I'd love it almost as much with the sound off. The staging and cinematography are just stunning. The shot of Betty on the floor beside the bed after the wine glass broke was just gorgeous.
9/15/08, 11:05 PM
Strange as it seems, I kinda think Joan's predicament might to forecast seven or eight years ahead to 1970 and... the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Joan would still be in her thirties (OK. Late thirties), but I could see her sluffing off the heavy marriage + kids expectations and deciding to go for her own independent life, whatever that may be.
The downside of this, of course, is the image of Joan in early '70's clothes... .
9/16/08, 10:26 AM
mazeway said...Everytime the screen fades to black at the end, I mutter, 'God I love that show."
I'm with you, mazeway. After every episode, I get up from the sofa to head up to bed and always find myself whispering with delight, "I LOVE this show!" I don't know why I have to say out loud, but I do.
Regarding the "tamped down feelings," "not responding to things you don't want to face" and "devoting all emotional energy to keeping up appearances;" having grown up in the 60's & 70's as an Irish Catholic, this is such normal behavior to me that I wholly relate to so many of these characters.
I can't wait for the Draper children (who have been soaking up all of this behavior since birth) to hit their teens and start really acting out if/when the series makes it to the 70's.
9/16/08, 12:27 PM
I was sooo happy when Betty called him out AND THEN threw his butt out!!!
Woot!!
9/16/08, 1:20 PM
"My heart goes out to Joan - I've been in that position of being asked to train the younger MAN hired to do a job I had been doing in addition to my own responsibilities (with no extra pay). Ah, the good old days!"
And people wonder why Hillary Clinton has a posse.
But, politics, eew, sorry, won't happen again...
9/16/08, 2:16 PM
cgeye,
my thoughts exactly.
side note: my mom did that for over 30 years, and fought tooth and nail for every promotion. completely fed up, she retired early, and the org descended into chaos. they literally begged her to come back.
she didn't, and enjoyed telling them so. sorry for the comment jack, TLO. i just couldn't resist responding.
9/16/08, 3:15 PM
SO I followed the link on the PRGay page about the fact that JLo ditched the judging job, and at the bottom of THAT page is another article about how Mad Men was virtually ignored at the technical Emmys. They won like best hair or some ridiculous shit. WTF??
Assholes. This better not happen with the MAIN Emmys.
9/16/08, 3:17 PM
One thing did make me very happy this week - at least they are avoiding some horrible cliche that the priest and Peggy will have some unrequited thing going on. Or God forbid (pun intended) an actual thing going on.
9/16/08, 4:14 PM
I watched the episode again on demand.
I have to say that I am loving Colin Hanks right now. "Do you feel that you don't deserve his love?"
Then he leaves with Peggy clutching her stomach....
It gave me the chills!
9/16/08, 5:36 PM
please bring back the posts on top design!
9/16/08, 5:56 PM
My God, the two of you write an amazingly insightful recap. Bravo!
9/16/08, 8:07 PM
She is incapable of nurturing her children or Don, for that matter, a major roll assigned to women of her era. She married him to attain the BBD (bigger, better deal) as the trophy wife of a hot young executive~all Stork Club, champagne and Manhattan shopping. She apparently was in denial that kids and the suburbs were going to be part of the equation.
pj, you nailed it. I don't think Betty even loves her children that much - she is clearly not that maternal a character. Her children exist as palpable examples of her "perfect" life. She's done exactly what an upper middle class girl was supposed to do in the 50s, complete with the wild summer in Europe (a sedately wild summer, you can be sure) and at the age of 30 she is realizing how empty it all is. She is as much trapped in the fantasy of her marriage as Don.
I loved at the end, after calling him, not only does she shut off the oven, but her oven mitts are hanging by the oven door - she's literally hanging up her gloves on this sham.
Given her displeasure for the divorced neighbor in Season One, though, I can't see her going all the way to divorce - yet. It is great that she is finally showing a backbone, but Betty's also shown again and again that what she wants most from Don is honesty, and it remains to be seen if he can fulfill that need.
As for the entire episode, I echo the I LOVE THIS SHOW! sentiment. I was totally appalled that none of the women were nominated for Emmys, and this episode just demonstrates why. All three actresses were brilliant - I especially loved how Elisabeth Moss showed the cracks in the facade she's created since the baby - very similar to the reaction of Don in last week's flashback; she hasn't perfected the act just yet, and the past is clearly haunting her just like Don.
9/16/08, 9:39 PM
It was fascinating (and weird) to see the women drive the action this week.
Someone commented last week--Betty has the whiff of Carmella Soprano about her--she won't be able to give up the life style--so she'll learn to live with the lie.
Joan, on the other hand, is tougher and smarter. She may avoid Betty's plight.
9/16/08, 9:42 PM
Am I nuts or did anyone think that Peggy's pony tail was over the top phallic this week? Am I reading into this show too much??
I love this show, and having this blog to read makes it 10 times better. Love you guys.
9/16/08, 10:53 PM
"I had a little trouble with the whole Heineken thing."
Yeah. It was the first of the ad campaigns that didn't ring quite true for me, either. I thought Miller High Life "The Champagne of Bottled Beer" had already gone after the house wife in the supermarket consumer by this point.
Note that Don defies Betty by bringing his cocktail to the table after she asks people not to.
Also, is this an oh so rare MM mistep--was Don sleeping on one side of the bed in the morning when Betty came home from riding and in the other side the night she crawled into bed with Sally. Does any couple do this (ie not have designated, even sacrosanct,"sides.")
9/17/08, 12:02 AM
Redspring,
I think the reason Don appears to switch sides of the bed is that he was shown in the mirror when Betty came home from her ride. Ah, those MM guys love their mirrors.
smfdoc
9/17/08, 1:03 AM
Off topic, have you ever watched the show Rome?
9/17/08, 1:34 AM
'It is great that she is finally showing a backbone, but Betty's also shown again and again that what she wants most from Don is honesty, and it remains to be seen if he can fulfill that need.'
cpt_doom, I am not sure if Betty really does want honesty from Don. It feels to me as if asking for the truth is a manipulation. She wasn't pleased she didn't find anything indicating Don was unfaithful. She seemed disappointed and disoriented; if she was wrong and Don was faithful, she would have no justification to choose what was behind Doors numbering 1, 2, or 3: a divorce, an affair, or a retooled life in which she could make unlimited demands on Don and his guilt would motivate him to give her whatever she wanted. Otherwise, her life would inevitably go back to 'normal' and that would be even more unbearable as an alternative. All three of the Doors had one thing in common: each would provide her with some type of power and freedom.
Just my take...
9/17/08, 8:03 PM
This is a quibble, but I cringed when Don talked about displaying Heineken in grocery stores in Connecticut and New York. In 1962, alcoholic beverages could only be bought in licensed liquor stores in CT, where they're called package stores, and New York. In fact, I think those rules still apply. When I was a kid (another Sally here!) my mother always sent my dad to buy the beer or wine because the package stores were rather seedy. Which is all a long way of saying that beers could only be marketed to upscale housewives indirectly.
I meant to comment on this last week, but did anyone else notice that Jimmy only became self-righteous about Don's affair AFTER he got his show, with Don's help?
And oh. my. gawd. Guitar-playing priests.
9/18/08, 6:23 AM
I cheered for Betty when she sttod to Don!!!!
9/18/08, 9:28 AM
Does anyone know if the baby that is living at Peggy's sister's house IS actually Peggy's baby? In the flashback a couple of weeks ago, Peggy's sister looked pregnant when she (Peggy) was in the hospital.
And I kept asking myself WHY Peggy should unburden herself and confess to her priest at WORK? It just seemed a completely inappropriate place, with people coming and going to The Copier all the time.
9/18/08, 6:45 PM
Amen to loving this show - the marathon of Season 1 was a scorchingly hot day in Illinois, and my dh and I sat through every episode were hooked. Now we can't wait for Sundays, even though it's the end of the weekend.
Anyone else think the client may ask where Joan went and perhaps want her back? That could stir some stuff... God knows she could do the job.
Who's going to blink first - Don or Betty? He's being awfully reflective (on, sorry for the inadvertent pun)
One last thought - we don't have designated sides of the bed, but I've never met anyone else who didn't. It's been twenty-five years, so you think we would have.
9/18/08, 10:48 PM
Okay - you guys got me hooked on this show now.
I watched the show for the first time this past week and then lost myself for a few hours watching all the episodes from this season. I love it - I figured that you guys love it so much that it's got to be good. It is a fantastic show.
Now, I just have to see the first season...
Thanks TLo!
9/19/08, 5:27 PM
You say that Joan "hasn't displayed a shred of ambition". She got to be office manager, rather than just being Sterling's whore.
"everyone goes through life hemmed in by their roles and how they manifest in their clothing" I was a young adult in the early 60s. I don't remember wearing any clothing that I liked, but I dressed the way I was expected to. The rage Betty expressed in this episode resonated with me. Middle class women were expected to be props in their husband's career.
9/22/08, 7:22 PM
i feel Joan's shoulder pain......
Maybe Father Gill has the hots for Peggy huh?
love the craziness
9/29/08, 1:42 PM
Again, we wanted to hate Father Gill for being so pushy, but he's only doing what his job dictates.
Not really. At least one Catholic priest and a former priest both believe that Father Gill is going too far in regard to his pushiness. The priest even went so far as to admonish Father Gill for trying to push his help upon Peggy. He believes that Peggy has to take that step in acknowledging that she wants or needs help.
11/19/10, 4:57 AM
I just re-read this post today and it inspired me to re-watch the episode. One thing I noticed on second viewing is that when Betty is going through Don's drawers and gets to the note that says "What to women want? To get closer. Right Guard" (a slogan he figured out while in bed with Midge, his first mistress), the paper is from a Yahtzee game. The show's director is telling us that *this* is the answer Betty is really looking for. Yahtzee.
Post a Comment