Critic's Notebook: Mad Men, Fringe Update
January Jones in Mad Men courtesy AMC
Some good news/bad news about AMC's
Mad Men, which has been firing on all cylinders lately. The good news: The show has already won four creative arts Emmys (including cinematography, main title credits, art direction and, yes, hairstyling), and let's hope for even more good fortune come Sunday. More good news: Fans of
Mad Men no longer have to choose between watching a new episode this Sunday or the Emmy telecast to see how the show fares. AMC has wisely decided to bench the show this weekend (replacing the scheduled new episode with a replay of the excellent "Three Sundays" episode from earlier this season).
The bad news, such as it is, entails asking the dear viewer to wait a week to see what happens next, which won't be easy considering the pivotal events of last Sunday's remarkable episode (go
here for Adam's expert recap)- which answered the question many have been asking: Is there anyone who would kick Jon Hamm out of their bed?
The answer is yes. Betty finally lowered the boom on her cheating husband Don, sending him away in a bitter confrontation while sending herself spiraling into what appears to be a serious depression. January Jones really came into her own in this episode with an Emmy-worthy performance. Her subtle work as Betty has sometimes seemed a bit robotically mannered to me, although I get the point that like so many others on this show (including the statuesque Joan), Betty is trapped in the role that 60s society, and to a certain degree advertising, has conditioned her for. But when Betty exploded: Wow.
Her controlled rage, first manifesting itself in a bizarre scene in which she calmly destroys a wobbly dining room chair while her kids gape, erupts after she feels Don has humiliated her at a dinner party they've just thrown. "You never mean it," she snaps at his weak apology. (He has no idea how long she's been itching to say these things, clearly.) "You just do what you want, and I put up with it because nobody knows." She calls him out about the Bobbie Barrett affair ("How could you? She's so OLD.") and tells him, eyes blazing with contempt, "You think you know me? Well, I know what kind of a man you are." (I'm not quite sure she does, but she has every right at this point to think so.)
The frost that ensues is chilling to behold, as she sends him to the couch (how many times have we seen that on TV, but never depicted with such bleakness) while telling him, "I don't want it to be like this. I don't know what to do." Don lies to her face about the affair, so when he looks her in the eye to insist he loves her, she isn't buying. In fact, her plaintive "Do you hate me?" says it all. And it's heartbreaking. This is going to take some time to repair, to heal, if it ever can. "I don't want to lose all this," Don pleads desperately. (How ironic that later, when Betty has a further epiphany while watching Jimmy Barrett's clownish Utz commercial, the classic
Make Room for Daddy is playing on the TV.) Her response: calling Don to tell him not to bother coming home. "I don't want you here. I don't want to see you." Where does it go from here? No fair telling.
As painful as it will be to wait a week for the next episode, let me assure you that it's worth the wait. There is a terrific funny-sad workplace story built around an unexpectedly tragic character, and it unfolds in the wake of a big news story that resonates among the office staff (and continues to haunt us today). The final scene is a jaw-dropper, punctuated brilliantly by the typically well-chosen song (and singer) that plays under the end credits. What a show.
In other TV news, I wanted to weigh in briefly on the first regular episode of
Fringe, airing tonight after the season opener of
House (which ought to deliver
Fringe a mighty lead-in audience). Last week's deluxe extended pilot had plenty of thrilling moments, but was so stuffed with exposition and set-up (the old building-the-team scenario) that it left me curious how a "normal" hour episode would play. I'm happy to say I had a great time watching it.
Much of the episode, from its freaky opening to the grisly twists- there are times
Fringe could be retitled "Cringe"- to the mumbo-jumbo science, reminded me of classic
The X-Files. Derivative, maybe, but also quite entertaining, with John Noble once again stealing the episode as Walter Bishop, the eccentric, mentally fragile genius who helps put the pieces together. Olivia, still reeling from the betrayal and presumed death (we know better) of her partner/lover, hasn't emerged for me yet as a fully developed lead character, but Anna Torv is fascinating to watch in the role and there's plenty of time for us and her to figure her out.
What I'll remember most from tonight's hour are the insights we get into the mad Dr. Bishop, as he muses over the pitfalls of being a scientist: "Trying to maintain that distinction between God's domain and our own." And in one terrific scene, advising his frantic son Peter (Joshua Jackson) over the phone as Peter is trying to revive a victim. "Do you have any cocaine?" poppa Bishop asks while munching popcorn. That's what
Fringe needs: someone who doesn't take it all so seriously and sees the show for what it is. A weekly popcorn movie.
