Mad Men - S5E3 - Tea Leaves

For me the weakest part of “Mad Men” has always been Betty. She in the past several seasons has served little purpose except as an object that Don first desired, then obtained, got bored with and finally overcame. The episode “Tea Leaves” focuses on Betty and where she is now. It turns out that Betty has actually gone through some changes now that she has achieved what she thought was what she wanted. A house wife with a devoted husband. She doesn’t have to work at keeping Henry like she did Don. Henry worships the ground she walks on and lets her know that. Don never really did that so she had to maintain herself better than she has with Henry. Eventually she has her cancer scare and we learn a few other things. While she did try to find Henry first, the first person she calls is Don. Why? Because he will tell her what she wants to hear, he always has and she knows it. It also gives Betty the chance for her to examine her life and how she would be remembered by her family in death. The mourning would happen but life would move on. They would get over her death, symbolized by Sally turning over her chair. This could have been a catalyst for change, but once she learned she did not have cancer it was easy for her to settle back into her comfy housewife life as she snacked on the sundae her daughter didn’t want to finish.

Back over in Don’s neck of the woods we see how much he has changed as he attends a Rolling Stones concert with Harry. Their goal is to get the Stones to sing for Heinz. Don barely feels the need to be there as he doesn’t think it’s going to work and the idea isn’t that good. The old Don would have never gone to the concert and would have sold the Heinz people on something else. During the concert while they are waiting we see how Don has grown and no longer chases after the young. He is now worried about them. With a growing daughter at home it is nice to see Don showing care for the younger generation. However, this probably means that he is going to have a hard time relating to them as well. Harry on the other hand is trying to be the type of person that he thought Don was only to learn that that isn’t who Don is anymore.

Back at SCDP the big stories come from Peggy and Roger. Peggy is given the job of hiring a new copywriter. And being Peggy wants to do the best she can. Her candidate is a brilliant ad man but he doesn’t seem to act appropriately for the interview until he is brought before Don where he becomes someone different and then later he acts different again with his father. This also gave us another glimpse at Don as the old Don would not have given him an easy time during the interview. He would have asked him harsh questions and made him think. This time he just sat back and took a bunch of compliments. Roger on the other hand finally admitted that he doesn’t know his worth and that Pete has essentially stolen his role. It should be interesting to see how Roger reacts. He has always been able to use the bottle to solve his problems in the past but I don’t think that will work this time. Will he rise up and reclaim his place or is this the beginning of the end for Roger. I would guess the later.