The second season of AMC's Mad Men is a tour de force of television drama. And while Don Draper remains the most intriguing leading man on television since Tony Soprano, this season belongs to the women. No surprise that Don's wife has quickly turned into the Queen B among them. (Check out the episode recap on TVGuide.com)January Jones is absolutely riveting as Betty Draper. She's the anti-June Cleaver who compares her children to horse manure on the bottom of her riding boots, flirts with a mechanic because she's finally realizing the power of her own sexuality, and pushes her husband because he won't smack their son. While Betty seemed a sad child in the first season, she's matured to something of a conniving teen, playing the kind of psychological games with her philandering husband that just can't end well.
Betty had the least amount of screen time among the women in episode five. But she had the last words.
Don has revealed to her that he has high blood pressure. He comes home from work and his wife and children are at the table eating meatloaf. He takes a bite, looks around the table, and asks for the salt. Better shakes her head.
"You'll get used to it," she said.
"Why can't daddy have salt?" the daughter asks.
"Because we love him," Better asserts.
Though we believe her, there is something cold and unsettling in her delivery.
Her pronouncement silences the table, and the family eats their all-American meal as the scene fades to black.
This, my friends, is TV.
Mad Men airs at 10 p.m. Sundays on AMC.
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