A few weeks ago, Todd VanDerWerff of the AV Club wrote an essay comparing Betty Henry/Draper to Livia Soprano, the most frightening mother figure in television history.
And while Betty hasn't put a hit out on Sally -- not yet anyway -- she's slowly becoming more monstrous. The more time we spend with the new Mrs. Henry, the more those comments about how Mad Men is actually the aduly Sally Draper's recollections in therapy seem on target.
Actually, this week's episode -- which was almost as strong as last week's "The Rejected" -- finds 10-year-old Sally on her way to therapy after mom and dad decide she's out of control. The evidence against her: she chops off some of her hair, and is caught -- to borrow a phrase from Dr. House -- "marching the penguin" at a sleepover party. (Everyone else is asleep, and she's caught by a friend's mom. For obvious reasons, it's kind of a jarring scene.)
What's interesting here is the time Betty spends with the therapist, "Dr. Edna," before Sally has her first session. We've spent the episode -- and most of this season -- horrified by Betty's behavior towards her daughter, but with Dr. Edna, she's more sympathetic. (Note that she tells Betty to call her that, because it's "what the kids do." A telling line, although I doubt the therapist has had enough time to glean what we already know: Betty is herself still a child.)
Hearing Betty talk about her own mother -- long dead before the start of Mad Men -- we realize she's only treating Sally with the same iciness her mom had for her. It doesn't excuse things like her slapping Sally or casually threatening to cut her fingers off, but as we reflect on what we already know about Betty's upbringing, we can see how she got this way.
Livia died as unredeemed and malignant as when we met her. Maybe there's still hope for the former Mrs. Draper.
Other thoughts:
- Most of the world was in love with the scene with Peggy on the scooter, and while that had its charm, I was more taken with the fact that she had to know how long the drinking bird kept drinking.
- Don to Faye: "Why does everyone need to talk about everything?" If Betty is this show's Livia, that was Don channeling his inner Tony Soprano, who longed for the days of the "strong silent type."
- I'll never get tired of Don's new secretary -- who, believe it or not, played Ralph Macchio's mom in The Karate Kid -- even if Don and everyone else clearly has.
- I wonder if it's an accident that the head Japanese businessman was named "Saito," the same name as the honor-obsessed colonel in The Bridge on the River Kwai.
- Roger's refusal to work with Honda -- and his outright hostility towards the company's reps -- was the only part of the episode that didn't work for me.
- But I did like Don's scheme to win the Honda contract and outwit his self-proclaimed nemesis Ted Shaw. I realize the show can't do a client of the week story where Don, Peggy, etc. has to charm some new company, but I like when the show can pull off little capers like this one.
Tom Coombe
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