AMC
(Season 2, Episode 10)
“I hate my mother. What do you think of that?” – Pete, to Peggy
It’s amazing how much terrain a single episode of Mad Men covers. It tonight’s show we get sadness and fear and jealousy and confusion and anger. Children dealing with difficult parents, couples unable to have kids of their own, the civil rights movement, couples about to have a child of their own, families with money problems, and a whole lot more.
Oh, and two undeniably uncomfortable scenes, including one involving a dad feeling up his adult daughter. Hey, no one said this was My Three Sons.
Mostly this episode is about the increasingly sad marriage of Don and Betty. Just when you think that they might be getting back together after having sex at her Betty’s dad’s house, it turns out that, well, Betty just needed sex (“Nothing changed. We were just pretending.”) and tells Don he still can’t come home. After all of the cheating that Don did, I still feel sorry for him when she does that to him. Don really does love her, and I think a big part of him wants to stay with her even though he’s confused about his future too.
Some more observations from “The Inheritance:”
– Betty being felt up by her dad (looks like he’s showing signs of Alzheimer’s – not sure if that was known about in 1962) has to rank up there as one of the top three creepiest scenes in the show so far, right up there with Glenn walking in on Betty in the bathroom on purpose and Don putting his hand under Bobbie’s dress. Speaking of Glenn, I didn’t expect him or mom Helen to come back on the show in this episode. Glenn is still rather odd (really, now that Betty has “rejected” him, is he going to become a serial killer?), but it’s actually rather cool to see Helen and Betty confiding in each other at the end.
– Betty’s dad, by the way, looks exactly like John McCain.
– Weirdest piece of dialogue, Pete to his brother about their mom: “Remember Rope? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
– Funniest moment: a tie between Rich Sommer in a baby bonnet and Robert Morse making a 6 second cameo just to say “I just wanted to say ‘Happy Birthday’ ” during Harry’s baby party. I like how all of the gifts from his office mates are products they’ve handled: Luckies, Pampers, Martinson coffee. Kind of a mini-summary of the show so far.
– Saddest Line, from Betty: “Sometimes I feel like I’ll float away if Don isn’t here to hold me down.” It’s sad in its own right, but also because I don’t know if Betty floating away would be a bad thing or a good thing.
– Good to see Paul’s girlfriend back. Looks like she might be the way the show ushers in the civil rights movement. It’s actually interesting how many characters this show has and how it fits them all in. In the first half of tonight’s ep it looks like it might be a very Don and Betty and her family-heavy show, then in the second half we got a lot of the Sterling Cooper office and one scene each from Roger, Cooper, and others. I like that. It’s something you don’t see a lot of in one hour dramas. It’s great that pivotal characters aren’t just pushed aside every other episode to make room for a plot, even if they are just in it for a moment. It’s more realistic that way somehow. Next week it looks like the show will be heavy on the Duck side.
– Vincent Kartheiser is really underrated on this show. In one episode you get so many different shades of Pete Campbell, jerky and blunt one moment, longing for and nice to Peggy the next.
Clacked by Bob Sassone 
on Oct 05, 2008 @ 23:40 EST5EDT
I still see VK as Connor on Angel, so it’s a tad jarring to see him in this show. However, it’s a great ensemble and a great ep. I love that Betty has the power to punish Don, and she uses it to keep him in her universe. When she really does unspool, it will be interesting to see if Don will stay or go. Something tells me he will leave. I disagree; I don’t believe Don loves Betty; he loves the idea of a “perfect” family and her truth pierces that facade. Don lives via the facade, it’s his business and he keeps secrets (Betty’s father’s one lucid moment).
I don’t feel sorry for Don. Don got what he seemed to want. His freedom. He never seemed comfortable in his own family growing up, and seems equally comfortable in his own.
I saw John McCain, as well. At first I had to do a double take! LOL
Why did Don go to California? Just to get away? Away from his home life, Roger and his dalliance and work in general? And does Roger really think that twit will marry him? And why would he want to marry her? I assume this is a man/heart attack thing.
FINALLY Peggy had on a dress that made her look like a grown up businessman. Thank Goodness! :-)
It was a sad episode, overall.
*POST AUTHOR*
I really like the ending, with the subtleness of the sun breaking over Don’s face through the window of the plane. I wonder if is symbolic of some realization that Don has, a new world about to open for him.
i saw connor the first season, not anymore, he is a great actor.
Wonderful episode, as usual. I just hate when the show ends. My mother grew up in a similar home to Don and Betty’s. She was 11 in 1962, so a bit older than their kids, but the upper middle class home is shockingly similar to the one I see in pictures of her childhood. My mom even has one of the same mirrors the Drapers have in their foyer!
Anyway, while her parents dressed beautifuly, had a housekeeper/nanny, smoked like chimneys, and drank like fishes, I think my mom’s world was filled with people who were more open to each other. I think they were more “shoot from the hip” people than those in the Mad Men world. In every family scene (Pete & brother & mom, Peggy & sister, Betty & dad & stepmom, Don & anyone), no one ever seems to let their feelings out. Maybe because I only knew them when they were older, but the closed offness of so many characters is getting a little stale. Didn’t anyone tell it like it is?