As the discussion and griping over the last two weeks about Megan’s increasing presence on the show (not to mention Jessica Paré’s Emmy submission as lead actress alongside Elisabeth Moss), Betty Draper has understandably taken a backseat. Only for the occasional episode did she ever feel as well-drawn as the rest of the cast, her icy personality notwithstanding. The Betty Francis storylines grew tiresome over the course of season four, and by her reappearance this season, she was but a distracting punchline for fat-joke enthusiasts worldwide (or as I like to call it, the internet). So what made this episode so remarkably strong for January Jones? Physically, she’s expressing herself. And finally, her actions have consequences. Francis tells her nobody cares about divorce anymore. But whether or not anyone “cares,” it doesn’t change the fact that Betty’s life will never be the same for it.
“Dark Shadows” was a surprisingly stand-out for Betty not just for her more involved plot, with actual ramifications and actual results this time, but for a great acting performance from Jones. Betty’s character has traditionally been read as one with a lot of real pent-up emotions, but without the capacity or the distance to pin them down or express them clearly or rationally. With this episode, the weight plotline finally starts to make sense. Her feelings are much better expressed, as it turns out, by a can of Redi-Whip or a pitiful little Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t think anybody would have thought Jones could be this good of a physical actress before tonight. I also hope it will be a lot harder to dismiss the plot as a loose end for the character to wander from now on.
At the Draper’s apartment, Megan gives Sally an acting lesson and helps her out with a school family tree project. When Betty arrives to pick the kids up, she happens on a view of skinny Megan getting dressed. The rest of the scene plays like a Wild West stand-off; between the two shot of them across the room and Betty’s POV/tracking shots, it was the most memorable camera work of the night. You can practically feel Betty holding her breath, trying to keep it together. She picks up the kids, but she’s not happy, and she takes out her anger towards Don and Megan vis-à-vis poor Sally. She passive-aggressively tips her off to Anna, deceased wife of Dick Whitman. It sets Sally off on a tear, and it isn’t until Don sits her down and explains himself (and overhears an argument between Don and Megan) that she realizes what’s happened. She turns the tables on her mother—“they spoke very highly of [Anna],” she calmly waves in her mother’s face. Not only does it work perfectly, but the best part is it’s pretty much completely made-up. Sally has “arrived” to the real meat of Mad Men’s universe now, and it’s awesome. Deceit can only make things more interesting, after all.
At the office, Don’s finally coming to terms with what Bert had told him episodes ago—he really hasn’t been doing much around here lately at all. Late at night, he sneaks on Ginsberg’s work on a Sno-Ball account and puts in an all-nighter to get a leg up. The day after, he pitches his idea like he made it up on the spot. It’s childish, but like Sterling says—“It’s every man for himself.” When that doesn’t work, he resorts to flat-out dumping Ginsberg’s competing pitch in a taxi. It’s even more childish, but well, you know.
There’s a lot of backstabbing going on at SCDP lately, of course, to ill-effect. Sterling can’t keep commissioning his work under the table when it’s convenient. Nor can he keep pretending he doesn’t hate Campbell’s guts. Don is sadly starting to resemble him in a way, as they struggle to keep up with the times. On the work he did for Sno-Ball, Ginsberg bragged and quoted a sonnet from Percy B. Shelley, “Ozymandias.” “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Of course, like Rizzo tells him, “You should read the rest of that poem, you boob.” But if anyone should take a look at that, it’s Don. No matter how mighty the empire the leaders build in their time, the decline is inevitable.
“Who’s the child here?” Don snaps at Megan as she talks him off the phone. Is there anyone watching that didn’t think to themselves, “Who isn’t the child here?”