'Mad Men' recap: Dark, dark shadows

Betty, Betty, Betty. Where have you been? Well, of course we know where she's been: January Jones was pregnant, MIA during early production rounds, gave birth mid-September, and so .?.?. had to be written around for the first part of the “Mad Men's” fifth season.

But she's back and -- please allow this brief digression -- to mixed results, I think. The problem seems to me one of personal life intruding on a creative process. Jones needed to step away, naturally, and the show needed to go on. But bringing Betty back -- a slightly more zaftig Betty-- presented challenges and she ultimately had to be force-fed to both writing staff and audience.

How to bring her back, organically, and how to seamlessly make her part of the season's overall themes? The idea of wanting what you can't have -- in her case, food -- was obvious, and the idea of imbalance was cleverly integrated as well.

The idea of Betty as vengeful, regretful or even -- on some level -- still in love with Don made sense. Shake and mix all that up with Betty's natural-born repression, and you end up with .?.?. last night's “Dark Shadows.“ There were some brilliant moments -- OK, more than a few brilliant moments last night -- but I'm still slightly left with the sense that this one felt a little too pat, too convenient.

OK, let's move past this opening digression to the show, and away we go.

“Man versus fish:” All the great conversations of “Mad Men” happen in elevators, where temporary confinement forces small talk that invariably is BIG talk, full of meaning and suggestion. “Man versus fish!“ scoffs Bert Cooper to Roger, after his weekend of angling. “How is fishing competitive?“ Roger corrects: No, “man versus man. The weighing, the measuring...." This invokes, as all us Biblical scholars are obviously aware, some famous line from Psalms..."lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath...." Ah, the vanity of human life, the vanity of “Mad Men."

Tonight's theme laid on a platter, next to the fish. The fish, of course, is one of those symbols pregnant-with-meaning symbols in Judeo-Christian heritage, and in Western culture -- oh, hell, all cultures. Symbols aren't readily defined, but I guess think happiness .?.?. freedom .?.?. abundance... But consider what fish  mean in the “Mad Men” context -- something slightly sinister (recall Sally's allergy and that scene when she flopped the flounder carcass on the plate).  

Measuring .?.?. Meanwhile, measuring, a profound theme of this episode, as captured in the very first shot, with Betty's fingers groping for the food she can eat and placing it on a balance. But weighing and measuring what? In this instance, I think the idea of balance, or imbalance is being invoked. The idea that by adding something in one place will create balance in another. Now, think of the various dualities -- I'm sorry for that word, but I'm in a rush -- throughout this episode: Don and Michael; Betty and Don, Sally and Megan, Roger and Jane. In each instance, one is taking from the other, seeking balance, and instead, the result is imbalance.

“Man-O-Manischewitz What a Wine!“ Roger's cynical usurpation of the Manischewitz account was the high point of the episode on many levels, but just to get back to our measuring and balance theme, consider the great agita of Peggy when she learned that Roger had back-dealed the wine much as he had back-dealed Mohawk to her. Roger said Michael was Jewish therefore appropriate to help out with the client, and Peggy responds, that she could have done it just as easily because “after all, I'm not an airplane either,“ or words to that effect. Man versus man, says Roger at outset. A lie versus a breath. Together, they equal nothing.

Don and Mike: Fascinating interplay between Don and Mike -- the latter flirting with how close he can come to getting fired without quite getting fired. Don studying his portfolio at night -- in the dark shadows, when everyone's gone -- and from one quick glance at a snowball in the face of Hitler concocts his own inferior idea of the devil and hell's gate. It's a terrible idea, really, but Don sells it to the client (Snoball) instead of Mike's on the pretext that it's “weak” to come in with two separate executions. No, it's not, Don -- it's humiliating when they choose yours over Mike's. Don, Don, Don .?.?. like Roger, feeling the hot breath of obsolescence and not liking it one bit.

The whale and the harpoon: This was, I guess, the key scene of the entire episode. It did what “Mad Men” does better than any show in television and better than what any show in television has ever done -- present a scene that is so rich in meaning, almost all of it hidden.

Let's break it down: Betty picks up a sheet of paper that has a drawing on it of a whale with three harpoons on its back; her son has drawn it -- with the colored pencils that Don never bought, by the way, linking back to the third scene (or so) -- for reasons unclear. She turns it over to read this: “Lovely Megs. I went to buy a lightbulb. When I get back, I'll see you better.“ Betty studies this. A brilliant moment because we now must consider the root meaning and time frame of several things at once.

Why a whale -- a lanced one in fact -- Betty wonders. Had her son overhead Don about Betty's weight (and calling her a whale?)  She notes the instant association between Don and the “whale” via the note, so she certainly makes the association. Light and shadows? Why does Don need a light? Knowing as we know that Betty is shrouded in shadows, metaphorical ones, too, back in Henry Francis' dungeon.

Plus, that rich idea of “seeing” -- Don peering out the window into the smog, Betts seeing Megs dressing .?.?. Bets saying at Weight Watchers that she's seen things she should never have seen... darkness and shadows."Dark Shadows” was the soap Megan's pal was auditioning for.

This all then sets in motion the dominant story line/domino effect of “Dark Shadows:" That Betty will tell Sally about Anna and Sally will then challenge Megan about her “lies” (and Sally does indeed know the tricks of Megan's trade now as well -- that great scene with the eyes.

So: That one little picture has succeeded in demolishing Sally/Megan's relationship and setting Don/Megan's on the course toward an inevitable conclusion. Betty did indeed “poison” them from 50 miles away -- nice food metaphor touch there.

Job well done, Betts. Imbalance achieved, but remember -- a lie plus a breath equals … nothing.