Mad Men, S05E03
Betty had a close encounter with her own death and struggled with her body issues. Don and Craine tried to get the Rolling Stones to do a song for an ad, but they got nowhere with that. Peggy had to hire a new copywriter for Mohawk and realized quickly that the new guy might be more trouble for her than she thought.
Craine was nearly adorable in the way he kept trying to hang out with Don, but Don had no interest to spend time with him beyond what was necessary for their business. I wonder if Craine is trying to avoid his family or if he really wants to be friends with Don. It's a little weird and suspicious because last time he was trying to avoid Don, less he take off his head for making fun of his wife (I don't think Don has a clue and he might not care with his "new" attitude).
I don't care much for Michael (I find the kind of characters Ben Feldman plays to be chatty and irritating), but the more Peggy denied that he would be competition for her, the more I started to enjoy his presence. Sure he seems like someone who might be up Don's ass at first (until Don teaches him that flattery will get you nowhere), but he also seems like someone with potential to outshine Peggy. I loved when she anticipated the first meeting between Don and Michael with anxiety, but he did about a 180 from when she interviewed him and was quite normal. Michael was pumped with how well the meeting went, while Peggy was disturbed that he could listen to her advice so well. So you told him to tone it down for the boss, and then you're irritated that he followed your instructions so well? Yeah, Peggy's definitely on the defensive now that Michael's in the picture. I can't wait to see how they will butt heads.
Now let's get down to Betty's return. Well, I haven't been following any of the Mad Men buzz, so I was totally unprepared to see Betty wider than I could have ever imagined. She looked significantly different, which made me more outraged that people were talking about Joan while Betty looks as she does. Insane. As much as I think Betty is too into her own world to really care about others anymore, I didn't want to see her die from cancer. Having lost a mother myself to cancer, I can't imagine how a mother would feel to know that they might be holding their children for the last time and wouldn't be there to see them as adults. And I liked that her cancer scare revealed Betty was human (I've started to see her as someone who only complains and freaks out about things). She even went to Don for comfort, which reminds me that he may have been a a sleaze when they were married, but he always genuinely cared for her.
I was relieved to know that Betty wouldn't be going through harsh cancer treatments and put her kids through all of that. However, I can't believe how quickly she went from being self-aware of her role in her family and in the world to whining that she was just fat, not sick. Betty! You got a fucking pass for cancer--show a little gratitude for your life! Henry is a trooper to not slap her in the face for her going on about how big she was and how he couldn't see it because his mother was also a big woman. Really?? Couldn't you have saved that for at least one day after you found out you didn't have cancer?? Just when I thought I could welcome Betty back into my good graces, I'm ready to throw in the towel with her. And she didn't even call Don (after calling him in the first place to tell him she might have cancer) to tell him the good news. Henry, who took his call, didn't seem to appreciate that Don even knew. Why not? If the mother of his children were to die, he should be up to speed about that as soon as possible.
I am interested to see how Betty continues to deal with her weight problem in that day and age. Her mother-in-law seemed to think that throwing back a few pills would slim her down (I wonder how frowned upon diet pills were back then), but Betty wolfing down her own sundae plus Sally's suggests that she's not going to go to any extreme lengths to drop the pounds. I'm glad that Betty has this angle attached to her character because I haven't been looking forward to seeing what she could bitch about this season. At least in this aspect, she presents something I'd like to know about from a historical point of view.
As usual, this show has it all. I can't complain much about the plot, only on how the characters behave. I wonder if Don will be able to "keep up" with his young wife, or will he just give up and admit his old age and stiff personality? Michael best give Peggy a hard time, and I'm crossing my fingers that it'll turn into something like the Roger and Pete dynamic (as Roger bitterly remarked, Pete was the last guy he hired). Oh, and we need Joan back ASAP! Less Betty time and more Joan, please.
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