“I’ve seen the man sober. He’s not funny.”
Ahh, the first appearance of Jimmy Barrett! This acerbic comedian from hell is a pretty fun character. Right out of the gate, he roasts the planetary Mrs. Utz in the midst of filming an Utz commercial. He compares her to the Hindenburg, while Kenny and Freddy try to put out the fire. So mortifying.
image courtesy of ONTD
Cut to Betty and Sara Beth at the stables, they’re talking with that weiner guy Arthur and his blandly attractive fiancée, Tara. Sara Beth is verklempt whereas Betty is more subtle about the attention she receives from him.
“You are so beautiful. So different than Tara.” #thingsmensay
Later on, Betty has a funny interaction with him. He unloads a lot of fragile man feelings about his rich fiancée, looks like a doofus in the process and makes her sound like a hellish brat.
Arthur: “You’re so profoundly sad.”
Betty: “No. It’s just, my people are Nordic.”
As an aside, how bizarre is horseback riding as a hobby? I mean, really. Sitting atop a massive animal while it runs round a dirt field and jumps over shit.. what?
Harry opens Kenny’s paycheck, turns out that mannequin is making bank! His wife talks him and his talents in the office way up, and he decides to take a risk with a pretty out there episode of The Defenders. Essentially this episode is Abortion: The Show. He decides to try a power move to show off his worth, playing an excerpt to the Belle Jolie people; he coins it as scandal that all women will tune into and a unique opportunity for their lipstick business.
Don: “Controversy means viewers. Women will find a way to watch this. Maybe just because they don’t want to get left out.
Elliott: “Is that true?”
Peggy: “There’s no doubt in my mind.”
Belle Jolie doesn’t buy it, but the execs notice and are pleased. Harry gets his raise, and is made Head of the TV Department. Boss!
Since Don was at the movies seeing some French crap, he missed the Jimmy Barrett apocalypse. He gets the job of damage control, and begrudgingly agrees to take care of it. Partially due to that, and Lois’ radiating idiocy, and he gives her the axe.
“You do not cover for me.. you manage people’s expectations.”
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Enter Jimmy’s wife and manager, Bobbie Barrett. She’s an attractive, older, fast-talking gal; a woman who manages her husband and doesn’t take shit. “I like being bad and then going home and being good.”
After fooling around in his car during a hail storm with Bobbie like a flushed teenager, Don frantically washes his hands like a weirdo as soon as he gets in the door. He sits down at the table, and Betty gives him a lovely gift; she had his watch thoughtfully monogrammed. He looks at it from a million miles away, and ponders, “what is life?”.
Betty’s hands are shaking again. She’s visibly deflated that the fancy French dinner in the city is a work gig for Don, and she automatically asks which version he’d like her to be and without missing a beat, he replies shiny and bright; he needs a better half. This is humiliating, I really feel for Betty here.
image courtesy of Mad Men Google Play
Dinner at Lutèce. Even though Jimmy’s down a quart, he immediately hits on Betty upon being seated. Don is a little horrified and tries moving things along via Bobbie, but she tries to swindle some extra cash (to the tune of $25 grand) for an apology.
Don forcefully fingerblasts Bobbie, wielding sex like a weapon just as she did with his vaguely unintentional car boner. His threats work, as it gets Jimmy to apologise at least. Yikes on bikes. “A guy like that must know how to make a charming apology, or he’d be dead.” Roger ain’t wrong.
Betty cries in the car on the way home, and spins it to Don as happiness that she’s a part of his life. She really is so profoundly sad.
“What is better than tears to make a girl ready to hear she can be beautiful?”
the MARS DEN 