‘Mad Men’: The Benefactor

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You know, it must be hard to be Don or Betty Draper: People are always hitting on them. Such was the case in this episode, wherein Don’s fidelity streak was broken and Betty’s -- while much longer and still intact -- perhaps showed signs of fatigue in the face of flattery and the bitter truth. Harry Crane acquired a backbone, a promotion and a raise, and poor Lois got fired.

The title, however, refers to a series of events surrounding a Sterling Cooper-produced television commercial gone horribly wrong, and this thread not only created tension for this episode but nicely ratcheted up the tension of the season. Don Draper is certainly not as infallible on the job as he was in Season 1, and he’s taking more and more chances.

In the first scene, we’re dropped into the shooting of an ad for Utz potato chips. The actor -– obviously accustomed to starring in such ads -– bosses the crew around, and they acquiesce. When an older couple arrives to watch the filming, the actor lets loose with a brutal stream of improvised comedy regarding the woman’s weight (in short: Hindenburg, buffalo, whale) and shooting comes to a screeching halt. You see, the man and woman are Mr. and Mrs. Schilling -– aka ‘Mr. and Mrs. Utz.’

A crisis ensues at Sterling Cooper: How do they get an apology out of the comedian, Jimmy Barrett, and forgiveness from the Schillings? It turns out that Jimmy is well known for this sort of thing, particularly while drunk, and clients are not supposed to get into the same room with him. But Ken Cosgrove brought the Schillings by Don’s office, and Don was out -- otherwise this whole fiasco might have been averted. And where was Don? He was at the movies, watching a French film, presumably since the French really get ennui, malaise and any other French words Don might be feeling. Don says he was at the printers and fires Lois for not doing a better job ‘managing people’s expectations,’ by which he must mean something like telling them that he’s in a meeting and they ought to remain in a state of frozen animation until his return.

With the responsibility of gaining an apology from a narcissist on his shoulders, Don meets with Jimmy’s wife/manager, Bobbie. She’s smoky-voiced and gives him some tips on how to manage Jimmy (stroke his ego) and then the next thing you know they’re having sex in the front seat of Don’s car as hail falls on the windshield. Oh, sure, he tried to resist. If you believe that, John Edwards has a story to tell you. When Don gets home to Betty and the kids, he washes his hands and mouth out, pours a stiff drink (so much for the doctor’s recommendations in the first episode of the season) and looks tormented when his wife gives him the watch that she had repaired and monogrammed.

Don then schedules a dinner with the Schillings, the Barretts and the Drapers at Lutece. Doesn’t that sound like the worst idea of all time, other than maybe carrying on an affair while you’re planning to run (again) for president and your wife has cancer? And at first it does seem to go off the rails -– Jimmy orders up two drinks and Bobbie tells Don away from the table that Jimmy’s contract with Sterling Cooper is airtight and that this apology will cost $25,000, which must have been like $5.4 million in 1962 dollars. Don then slips his hand up her dress and tells her that he will ruin Jimmy if he doesn’t apologize. Shortly thereafter, Jimmy apologizes and bites his tongue when the amply proportioned Mrs. Schilling says that she knows comic insults are his stock in trade but that she just doesn’t ‘have the stomach for it.’

In other threads, Harry Crane opens Cosgrove’s paycheck accidentally on purpose and discovers that Cosgrove makes 50% more than he does: $300 a week versus $200 a week. Harry’s pregnant, nauseated wife tells him to march into management and demand a raise. Instead, Harry calls up a friend on the business side of CBS to see if they’ve got any openings. They don’t, but the friend tells Harry that he’s lost all his sponsors from an episode of ‘The Defenders’ that revolves around abortion. Harry has the reels sent over, and he and Don pitch the idea to Belle Joli Lipsticks, which could get the ad space for pennies on the dollar. The Belle Joli guy doesn’t go for it, but he does like the client service. It also appears that he likes Sal. Sterling and Cooper get wind of Harry’s actions and decide that it shows initiative, and Harry finds that he’s head of the newly created television department, and he gets bumped up to $225 a week.

We’re back at Betty’s stables this week, too, where she and her friend Sarabeth Carson speculate about the lone man at the riding ring, Arthur Case. His fiancée, Tara Montague, makes an appearance; like Betty, she’s blonde and pretty. But a few days later, when Sarabeth is off at her daughter’s ballet recital instead of at the ring, Arthur tries to forge emotional and physical connections with Betty, whom he finds more appealing than Tara, since Tara is apparently from a wealthy family where no one works and they just ride horses all day. I hope they had good financial managers. Arthur tells Betty that she’s so beautiful -– and also ‘so profoundly sad.’ In a bit of comic writing more hilarious than any of Jimmy Barrett’s gags, Betty says, ‘No, it’s just that my people are Nordic.’ Insisting upon her profound sadness, Arthur tries to kiss her, but Betty, demonstrating much more effective resistance techniques than her husband, fends him off.

At the end of the episode, after the Lutece dinner, Betty weeps in the car. What’s wrong, Don wants to know? Betty unconvincingly says it’s because she’s so happy –- that they’re such a good team on nights like the one they’ve just had. What do you suppose the over/under is when she lets Arthur kiss her after all?

--Sarah Rogers