Don Draper looks on in Mad Men
Photo Credit: AMC TV
A review of this week’s Mad Men as soon as I take a vacation
like trip to the beach…
“She doesn’t know that loving you is the worst way to get to
you.”
-Betty
Over the course of 6 seasons the weakest portion of Mad Men
may have been most of family life that happens outside of the office. Often
times during the family sequences I would wonder what is going on at the office
at the moment as it always seemed to be the more interesting alternative. When
Mad Men gets the outside life right on the other hand, it can be fantastic to
watch. “The Better Half” was a gem of an episode as it followed last week’s
office craziness with a calmer, character episode that dealt with what’s going
on outside the office and how it affects the inside of it. Surprisingly enough
it worked very well in ways that I would have never expected it to work.
Betty! For the first time since maybe mid season three I
thought the use of Betty wasn’t out of place, and in fact was the best part of
the entire episode. Maybe it was the fact that Betty was almost always
interacting with Don this episode (something that would usually be the case
during the first two seasons before Betty kind of went off the rails) and that the
chemistry between Jon Hamm and January Jones was spectacular throughout this
week’s episode. Maybe it was the fact that for the first time in years it
seemed the character, actor, and writers have a new confidence the kind of
which is very unusual with Betty. For the first time in seasons Betty wasn’t
angry, deranged, or going off the rails but was instead perhaps the most sane
and enlightened character to come along throughout the entire episode. Betty
felt young, energized, and introspective in ways that she hasn’t gotten to feel
for a very long period of time. This version of Betty needs to stick around all
of the time.
Going back to the first point about Betty, which was that
yes Don and Betty, while coming to Bobby’s summer camp, did hit it off. I
admire the way the writers handled the situation though as it wasn’t presented
as a moment of weakness but instead almost a moment of understanding and moving
on. Betty understands and loves Don in ways that no one else has been able to
due to the fact that she was married to him for a long period of time. The
chemistry between Hamm and Jones in that scene as previously mentioned was
absolutely fantastic and helped play the sequence in the perfect way it was
played. This is the most flirtatious and fun to watch the two characters have
been in many years and it was a true blast to watch.
The Betty sequence also allowed us to peer deeper into the
brain of Don Draper in more interesting ways. The simple interaction between
Don and Betty where Don admits to Betty that “sex means very little to him”
provides the final straw of understanding to the character. The sequence was
also interesting as it pretty much negated the existence of the sometimes
clunky flashbacks of last week and then earlier. The scene was simple,
introspective and more powerful than has been done to get inside of Don’s head
throughout the entire season.
Even better though was the way Don handled the situation
after the fact. Don moved on, as it was more about the revelation Don experienced
then it was about the sex and love. Both Betty and Don, at this point know
there place with each other and their spouses and the sexual moment between the
two of them was a moment of clarification and revelation about themselves and a
chance to start over as both began to feel distracted in their own marriages.
Don leaves his trip with a new sense of realization of how awful he’s been to
Megan and finally tells her that he’s been distant. It was a near perfect way
to end the episode and I cannot praise Mathew Wiener and the writers for taking
Don’s head games in a direction that are more interesting and unexpected then
before.
If there was one weakness to the episode it was the extra time we spent with Megan and her acting friend. While it’s possible to see where the scene’s use is, as it’s suppose to be a contrast to Don and Betty, it felt a tad clunky within the context of the rest of the episode. Maybe it’s the fact that Megan’s acting life seems irrelevant to everything, even Don’s feelings at this point, but it just felt a little flatter than the rest of the episode.
The Don psychology was only a small part of “The Better Half”
as the rest of the episode focused not only on family life but the contrast of personalities
presented within life and general. At the beginning of the episode when Megan
is struggling to play twins (lovely Mad Men esque symbolism for you) describes
how her director is telling her to play the role. “They are two halves of the
same person and they want the same thing, but they’re trying to get it
different ways.” The characters on Mad Men all connect and often times have
different goals, as presented through the episode in many different examples.
Take for example Don and Ted (and poor Peggy who gets stuck
in between) this week. The two want the same thing but go by it in contrasting
ways. Don is a little more uptight, preferring the harder communication approach
giving off that he’s cockier with about his ideas. Ted is a little softer but
equally as driven in with his ideas. Both can crush Peggy at a moment’s notice.
Don is more aggressive towards Peggy telling her to pick a side instead of
trying to be the mediator. Ted crushes Peggy through denying a relationship
with her while trying to do the right thing something that’s even more painful
given the events of Peggy’s already now complex personal life.
Speaking of rest in peace Peggy and Abe’s relationship as
Peggy stabbed (quite literally actually with her stabbing poor Abe) their
relationship to death this week. Peggy and Abe are an example of two people
with similar goals (trying to get the relationship to work) but a wild
smattering of personalities. Peggy is grounded in the past; the corporate and
societal structure is first and foremost, not following it is the wrong way to
go. Abe is more along the lines of the early 70s and believes in diversity and
giving the new way a chance. They had been working until Peggy’s paranoia gets
her to accidentally stab Abe, ending the relationship. Peggy is devastated
leading her back to Ted and Don who manage to crush her even more.
The final issue to deal with is Pete, Roger, and good old
Bob Benson. Pete is going through tough times and Bob is there to help. Bob is
a reminder of young Pete who may actually be out for the greater good (but
probably isn’t) and wants to help Pete throughout the time. He’s also dating
Joan! That’s where Roger seems to come in. Roger has to deal with trying to be
a father again and isn’t being accepted as one. Joan doesn’t want Roger to be
present within his life and the final straw was Roger trying to see Joan only
to find Bob with her. Roger can’t be the father to Joan’s child that he wanted
to be and it’s making him feel more lost by the minute.
The magic of Mad Men is that after a strange episode like last
week it’s able to transition into a saner more focused episode while feeling like
the same show. This week’s Mad Men was back to being a great episode providing
powerful psychological character moments that were done very, very well.
That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?
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