Phil Campbell and Don Draper still compete. Phil is tired of being considered minuscule in Sterling Cooper so he pitches an idea to a client behind a big steel company (Bethlehem Steel: The Backbone of America), and it works much to Don's dismay (he spends all night coming up with an additional campaign when his other offered idea is shot down as "flat"). Don's wife, Betty (January Jones, an absolute beauty, but her life is so blatantly hollow and soulless), is asked by her divorcée neighbor, Helen (Darby Stanchfield; Scandal), to watch her kids which she does. When it appears as if Don will be firing Phil (the episode allows us to meet his opinionated, pushy, and always-gets-her-way wife, "motivating" him to get a five-room apartment he really can't afford thanks to his vocally unsupportive lawyer father who won't help him put forth a down payment), the main boss thinks otherwise. So Don's boss (and really growing good friend), Roger Sterling (John Slattery) steps in, telling Phil he should appreciate what Don did for him in support! It was certainly a lie but it allowed Sterling to repair Don's disgust and disappointment and put Phil in his place. There's this code. Don't go around the boss to pitch your own ideas, even if this does make the client quite happy. Phil and Betty's episode is this one. Phil is trapped in a marriage with a wife who gets her way. He has a father who disapproves disgustingly with his choice of career. He has a passion in advertising but his insecure boss, Don, considers him a clod unworthy of a job at the ad company. Yet, but the end, Phil attains his job at the company thanks to "his name". Betty agrees to watch Helen's kids, and he's a bit odd. He stares as she pees and Betty scolds him for doing this, although he seems oblivious to her anger towards him. Helen supports a particular presidential candidate and is off to a gala in his honor...who is this candidate? JFK. When Betty gets Helen's son to apologize he wants some of her hair! Just weird, but the kid wants a hug and even sheds a tear due to her getting on to him. Betty still goes to the psychiatrist even though he could care less and she rambles on about how Helen envies her (ha!), suffering from this "awful life as an independent woman". The show really paints Betty as a clueless ditz who has no clue how empty and shallow her existence is. Meanwhile Don is challenged by this young upstart (he has confidence in his self but marriage and his own father are weights that seem like a yolk upon him) and overacts. So the episode certainly shows that all is not as perfect as life might seem for Betty and Phil. And while Don is good at what he does, the man needs to get over his self.
Review of New Amsterdam
