Mad Men Recap: Dark Shadows and Base Insecurities
By Ty Duffy
Betty returns, still dieting and depressed. This time, she’s attending Weight Watchers meetings. She visits Don’s apartment and sees both the younger, skinnier Megan getting dressed through the window and the modern, glamorous life she doesn’t have. This exacerbates an already latent depression. Henry’s work mistake of betting on the wrong candidate, parallels what she feels has happened in her personal life. She mollifies him, and herself, with the same vapid cliches from the Weight Watchers clinic. She stabs at Don’s happiness, by casually mentioning Anna to Sally and hitting at Don’s weakest point, after inadvertently reading a sweet note he wrote for Megan. She blurts out an awkward comment about wanting no one to have more than she has, at a cringe-worthy Thanksgiving dinner.
Perhaps, it is because the denial of food is the one human condition January Jones grasps, but this was some of her best acting on the series. The mouthful of whipped cream spit out, the bite of steak and gulping down the small portion of Thanksgiving dinner were very believable.
When confronted by Ginsburg, Don goes into attack mode. He cuts down Ginsburg by prodding his insecurity with the “I don’t think about you at all” burn. He does a similar thing to Pete, when he calls about the New York Times article. “Don’t wake me up and throw your failures in my face.”
Roger wants to land the Monarch Wines account and enlists the Jews at his disposal. He pays Ginsburg to come up with ideas for him (though ends up crediting him generically at the meeting). He also bribes Jane into playing his charming Jewish wife for the evening. Roger gets jealous when he sees Jane flirting with the client’s son. He “marks his territory” by seducing her in her new apartment. This satisfies his ego, but absolutely ruins Jane’s fresh start. Jane calls him out. Roger responds with uncharacteristic sincerity: “I feel terrible.”
As usual, Sally is the sponge. She continues her foray into adulthood. At the beginning of the episode, Betty manipulates Sally into bringing up Anna in front of Megan. By the end, Sally is manipulating Betty, not giving her the satisfaction of getting one over on Don and prodding the open wound about her weight when Betty starts eating immediately at Thanksgiving dinner.