MAD MEN 3.5 - "The Fog"

WRITER: Kater Gordon
DIRECTOR: Phil Abraham
GUEST CAST: Mark Moses, Jared Harris, Kiernan Shipka, Anne Dudek, Ryan Cutrona, Le Monde Byrd, Abigail Spencer, Yeardley Smith, Jayne Taini, Matt Bushell, Michael Canavan, Peter Breitmeyer, Jared S. Gilmore, Alexa Alemanni & James Howell

[SPOILERS] It felt like season 3 actually got started with "The Fog", as preceding episodes have been a slight preamble. Ironically, this episode was about those big life-changing decisions that come along; the stress of deciding whether to make a change or be satisfied with the journey you're on, and the potential pain when you realize you're on the wrong path and missed your turn...

The core of this episode was undoubtedly Betty's (January Jones) labour, which was treated in a beautifully plausible way, not unlike how the show dealt with her father's death last week. No big dramatic rush to the hospital or tense problems encountered on the way, just a calm journey to the hospital with a relaxed Don (Jon Hamm), as happens to most people. But it was fun to see how different the birthing process was in the '60s (and for many years to come), as Betty was wheeled off to have her baby and Don had to quietly sit in a waiting room, passing the time by discussing parenthood with a prison guard and expectant father called Dennis (Matt Bushell) over some Scotch.

Betty's pregnancy is quite a painful affair that required heavy sedation, which sends her into two ethereal dream sequences -- the first showing her walking barefoot down an idyllic neighbourhood, before catching a caterpillar in her palm and crushing it (symbolic that she's complicit in not allowing herself to transform into her full potential?), and the second showing her again being infantilized in her own kitchen by her father (Ryan Cutrona), who pushes the point she's just a "housecat" ("you're very important, and you have little to do...") while mopping up blood, while her mother stands at a table beside the seated ghost of murdered black civil rights activist Medgar Evers, who demonstrates her point about what happens to people who want to rock the boat.

There was also the suggestion that Don's going to cheat on his wife again, this time with his daughter's teacher Miss Farrell (Abigail Spencer), who calls the Drapers in to discuss the issue of Sally's (Kiernan Shipka) bad behaviour in class, which Betty posits is how she's channeling the grief of losing her grandad. Farrell later calls Don at home that evening, ostensibly to apologize for her bluntness in chastising Sally's behaviour, offering the fact she herself lost a relative at the tender age of eight, but it's clear from Farrell's body language and the vibe in the air that her apology was just an excuse to speak to Don again. And Farrell seems like one of those women Don seems to go for in his mistresses: beautiful, intelligent, strong yet tender, forward-thinking.

Betty's third child is eventually born, a boy she names Eugene after her father, although Don notably doesn't admit a name's been made official while at work (he never really liked Gene), and she returns home after the titular "fog" of her labour. In the final scene of the episode, Betty awakens to tend to the crying tot, pausing in the hallway on her way to the crib, assumedly regretting that having a baby hasn't really changed anything in her marriage or life, it's just extended the mother/housewife role she quietly hates. Betty clearly thinks she's made the wrong life choices, or just suspects that to be the case, so it's interesting that a smaller subplot for Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), who has already turned her back on motherhood for a career, appears to present her with a fork-in-the-road moment...

Pete (Vincent Karthesier) is called out of the blue by former Sterling Cooper exec "Duck" (Mark Moses), who was responsible for the company's merger with the Brits and is now working for a rival firm called Grey. After inviting Pete and Peggy out to lunch with him (without the two of them knowing the other would be attending), Duck reveals that he wants to essentially poach them both for his own firm. Pete's not easy to flatter into being disloyal, so storms out, but Peggy appears more tempted by the offer. "This is your time," insists Duck.

In an effort to give Don a chance to keep her secure and happy where she is, Peggy asks for a raise based on rights for equal pay, but due to Sterling Cooper's recent belt-tightening Don says it's out of the question. "What if this is my time?" Peggy asked reluctantly before leaving, sensing that Duck's offer is perhaps an opportunity she needs to embrace (to fund her recent move to Manhattan), but unsure if it's wise to turn your back on Don, whose faith in her is largely responsible for her career thus far.

We finally got some purpose to the introduction of Lane Pryce (Jared Harris), too, who appears to be a strict bean counter and irritates Don by chairing a meeting to complain about staff using too much stationery. It's a petty meeting Don walks out on almost immediately, but later tells Lane exactly what he thinks about his concerns of company wastage and excessive expenses, claiming that letting "creatives be unproductive until they are" is what's made Sterling Cooper a roaring success. I'm still waiting for Mad Men to utilize Harris better (do the American writers have a poor grasp on British characters?), but I guess this Lane/Don antagonism is better than nothing almost halfway through the season.

There was also a side plot for Pete, who was trying to find way to increase their client Admiral's declining TV sales. After realizing the negro community buy more Admiral's than any other brand -- although SC's elevator attendant Hollis (Le Monde Byrd) is apparently the exception to that "rule" -- Peter tries to convince Admiral's bosses to pursue a dual campaign that would simultaneously target black consumers. That's not something the conservative Admiral execs are comfortable about, so Pete's idea is shot down in flames, the meeting ends, and he's later reprimanded in front of Lane, Cooper (Robert Morse) and Roger (John Slattery) for his leftfield thinking. However, "stranger in a strange land" Lane senses a social change on the horizon that Sterling Cooper should prepare to take advantage of, so it's another sign that Pete's avant-garde nature is actually something SC should champion if it's to remain at the top.

Overall, I find that Mad Men's stranger episodes are particular gems, although this one didn't quite reach the giddy highs of, say, last season's "The Jet Set". But I continue to love how it tackles particular themes and finds ways to show where certain choices could lead characters that are almost funhouse mirror images of each other: poor Betty stuck being a bored housewife married to an unfaithful man (when she could perhaps have been a renowned horse-rider or model calling the shots), and Peggy trying to avoid her life going down a similar path to Betty's by focusing so intently on her career.

Asides

-- Amusing to hear Duck claim he knows Pete and Peggy have a "special relationship", only for his apparent insight to be proven amiss as he thinks they just look out for each other at work.

-- More social issues tackles in this episode; from Peggy's unequal pay to the marketing of products to negroes. I hope that continues, as highlighting the history of the period is something the show does especially well without beating you over the head with it.

-- This episode's status as one of the "odd" ones Mad Men does so exceptionally was made clear by casting Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson) as a brusque nurse.

-- I found it interesting when Dennis failed to acknowledge Don after their heart-to-heart chat in the hospital's waiting room as they passed each other in a hallway later. Was that to signify that the promise Dennis made Don to be a better man after the birth of his son was something he could never hope to honour now the stark reality of fatherhood has hit home, so now he can't even look Don in the eye?

17 FEBRUARY 2010: BBC4 / BBC HD, 10PM