Mad Men Season 5, Episode 9: "Dark Shadows"

 

This episode begins to reap dramatic spoils from seeds sown earlier in the season, specifically regarding Michael’s employ at SCDP, although it manages to do so in a characteristically unexpected way. We’ve seen his talent manifest over the course of previous episodes (his Topaz pitches were particularly inspired, while last week saw him succeeding with his idea for Chevalier Blanc), and it was not a far stretch to anticipate his becoming a creative rival for Peggy (more on that later). However, this episode pits him not against Peggy, but against Don. We see this develop throughout the episode, first as Michael expresses mildly condescending surprise that Don could come up with an idea as good as the devil campaign after going for so long without writing. Later, both Michael and Don thank Ken simultaneously for Ken’s compliments on their work in the conference room scene – Don’s thanks sounds perfunctory, whereas Michael makes his thanks sound overly gratified, as if in relief for the recognition Don didn’t give him (and Don is rather annoyed in his glance at Michael after they both thank Ken). And of course, there’s also the uncomfortable scene in the elevator, where Michael confronts Don over not giving the client a chance to hear both pitches. While it’s not completely unexpected for Michael to be as good as Don – there are many talented people in advertising – what is surprising is that Don feels just a little bit threatened by him. Don has always been a pragmatist when it comes to selling clients ideas, so it might be true that approaching Snoball with two campaigns could have been perceived as a sign of weakness, but the show made it pretty clear that his decision came from a place of insecurity over Michael’s talent, rather than one of confidence in his own idea.

For one, Don doesn’t yell at Michael or seem affronted at all when Michael confronts him in the elevator the next day, behavior which seems to indicate that Don has a guilty conscience. There have been plenty of times in the past when we’ve seen Don be surprised or become irate with Peggy when she’s complained about not receiving the credit due to her (most memorably in “The Suitcase”). Each time, Don’s reaction has been conditioned by his confidence in his own actions; he can yell at her because he thinks he’s right and she’s being ridiculous. Here, however, he doesn’t raise his voice or even act surprised at Michael’s indignation, or even seriously appeal to team spirit or the benefits of a little healthy competition. Instead, he only smugly appeals to his own authority. Admittedly, Don’s reaction here could be an effect of his not knowing Michael as well as Peggy, and his having less of a personal stake in Michael’s professional development. However, after coldly telling Michael that he doesn’t think about him at all and exiting the elevator, the worried look on Don’s face as he enters the office says otherwise. Don might not always be on top of his job (the first half of season four is our best example), but this is as insecure as we’ve seen him regarding his professional capabilities since he struggled with the Lucky Strike campaign in the series pilot. Given Don’s mental absenteeism this season, this rivalry is a very well-motivated dramatic development, and probably a more satisfying one than if the show had pursued this issue with Peggy. If Michael’s talent lights a competitive fire under Don and forces Don to put his own talents to use, I’m all for it, since Don’s is often at his best when he’s being creative (and we see that Don is indeed rusty – and knows it – as we listen to him struggle his way toward an idea on the Dictaphone).

After four blissfully Betty-free episodes, she returns here in a big way (snicker), although the show does something somewhat new with her in this episode by turning into the skid and making her an outright villain. Rather than having her be a malicious force sheerly through the unpleasantness of her personality, her terrible parenting, or her perpetual dissatisfaction with life, in this episode (and perhaps for the first time?) she is actively, intentionally malevolent.* She accidentally comes across Don’s whimsical away message to Megan, and combined with her uninvited tour of Megan and Don’s home, and Megan kissing Betty’s children goodbye when Betty picks them up from Don’s, the letter serves as painfully obvious evidence that Don is getting along just fine without Betty, and that he’s just as in love with Megan as he ever was with Betty, if not more so.** Don’s marriage to Megan, while somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster, is more loving than anything we ever saw between Don and Betty. Granted, we don’t have a good point of reference because we never saw Don and Betty at the start of their marriage, which was presumably happier than the years covered by the first three seasons of the show. But still, it’s hard to imagine them being happy together when Betty’s default mentality seems to be self-pity and/or misery. In any case, out of jealousy and spitefulness, Betty tries poison Don and Megan (as Megan puts it) by telling Sally about Anna Draper.

* The closest she’s come to behavior like this in the past is jealously barring Sally from seeing Glenn.

** It was a good creative decision to have Jon Hamm read the letter in voiceover when Betty discovers it, because it both shows us how Betty imagines it’s tone (loving), and reinforces the powerful effect it has on her. It helps sell her motivation to immediately sabotage Don with whatever’s closest at hand (Sally, in this case).

Betty’s act is a fun dramatic development, as it begins to explore how divorced couples can try to dig their claws into one another (it works on Don – he only has Megan to thank for not taking Betty’s bait), and one completely in character for Betty: Of course she’ll try to use her children to hurt Don, without any regard for the effect her ploy will have on her kids’ well-being. Poor Sally is manipulated ruthlessly here by Betty, and it’s difficult to watch Sally blame Megan for keeping Don’s secret, because Megan’s such an obviously positive force in Sally’s life (we’re reminded of it again earlier in this episode, when Megan teaches Sally an acting technique for crying). Sally’s bratty confrontation with Megan made me realize suddenly that despite all of the rightful resentment Sally has for her mother, being raised by Betty could also turn Sally into just as unpleasant a person as her mother (she certainly can be manipulative – her savvy shifting of the fault of her grandmother in-law’s fall from herself to Bobby in last week’s episode is a good example). Luckily for Sally, Betty’s emotional maturity seems to have stopped right around the age of twelve (as described by the psychiatrist from season one, and as evidenced by Betty’s unwittingly receiving therapy from season four’s child psychiatrist), and Sally, as a 14 or 15 year-old, already has the emotional awareness to realize she’s been used by her mother to hurt the parental set she actually cares about (especially after overhearing Don and Megan arguing over what Betty did). What’s more, Sally also has the cunning to deny Betty any pleasure from her ploy. Sally’s smugness in fabricating for Betty Don’s calm and reasoned family history lesson was particularly delicious; Sally might not have the power to make her mother a better parent, but she at least can deny Betty the satisfaction of dragging everyone down into her vindictive cesspool.

Other thoughts:
- Peggy and Roger are both right in their elevator spat. Roger’s thinking is completely backwards regarding his targeting Michael for Manischewitz simply because he’s Jewish, but Peggy is also upset only because she’s looking out for herself and wants Roger to consider her first over Michael. This is certainly the motivation for Peggy’s smug satisfaction after learning that Don discarded Michael’s pitch. It’s more plausible than her feeling any particular creative rivalry with Michael, or her wanting to see Don succeed over Michael. Although honestly, Peggy, try drinking the stuff sometime, and you’ll quickly see what a blessing it was for you not to have to come up with a way to make that sugary cough syrup appealing to “normal” people, as Roger so hilariously puts it.
 
- Boy, was Betty’s journey through Don and Megan’s apartment uncomfortable. It was like watching an invasion, or a shark swimming through an aquarium: silent, yet powerfully threatening. I knew she would react with self-pity and resentment no matter what she saw, but I was also concerned over how she would vent her displeasure (most likely by taking it out on Sally). However, I did enjoy the staging and framing of Megan and Betty’s first shared scene (and first shared screen space): a nice long shot placing them on either sides of the frame in a very symmetrical composition (the image to the right is a still photo, rather than an image from the episode - the distance between them was more pronounced and the framing closer in the actual episode, further heightening their contrast). Their costuming accentuates the contrast as well: Megan is in a slimming outfit in warm tones – red, orange, and black – while Betty is dressed in cooler blues, whites, and a neutral light brown. It’s a nice visual contrast that supports the narrative: Megan is fiery, Betty is an ice queen. There’s a nice touch as well when Megan breathes a sigh of relief after closing the door behind Betty and the kids.

- Bert Cooper, comedian: Roger tells Bert he’s divorcing Jane, and Bert checks his watch and asks, “Already?”

- Peggy’s having a rough go of it, creatively. Heinz shoots down her great ideas, and her Snoball idea is terrible.

- Don’s letter to Megan serves another purpose aside from setting off Betty: depending on when it was written, it provides a little update on the status of their relationship. That the sheet of paper somehow made its way into Bobby’s hands could indicate that it’s a relic of their honeymoon phase, but equally plausible is that it made its way into Bobby’s things because Don and Megan write many such notes to each other, and that they simply don’t keep track of them. After all, this episode also has Don finding a similar (although less clever) note from Megan about going to get bagels.

- Even though Sally doesn’t get to see it, I savored Betty’s outburst as she knocked a box off the kitchen table in frustration over her apparent inability to get a rise out of Don.

- For as much as I made fun of Betty not seeming to grasp the concept of calories in the last episode to feature her prominently (episode three), to her credit, she’s managed to learn a lot in the time since. Weight Watchers was a smart move on the part of the writers, as it prevents her from seeming completely ineffectual: At least she’s trying to overcome the latest cause for her unhappiness, even if she’s doing it as myopically and dourly as everything else in her life. Spitting out the whip cream you’ve just sprayed straight from the canister into your mouth is the first step toward better living, Betty.

- Betty’s deliberate attempt to be Machiavellian and hurt her ex is contrasted nicely with Roger’s inadvertently hurting his ex. John Slattery played Roger’s reaction wonderfully when Roger realized he has deprived Jane of the quality she most wanted in her new apartment: freedom from memories of Roger. He’s feels deeply sorry here, even as it’s a perfect (albeit inadvertent) demonstration of the “everyone’s only out for themselves” credo he tells Peggy earlier (behavior that Don also displays in the scene immediately following Roger and Peggy on the elevator, when he leaves Michael’s work in the cab).

- Yep, Jane’s Jewish. Funny how the show went from having it be very unclear in earlier seasons to having it be a plot point in this season, a change also mirrored by Roger’s shifting desire to draw attention to it.