This post, via its title, is dedicated to the memory of Heath Ledger.
Let me say this. It was this episode that solidified my love for this show. I’d been watching the previews, all the behind-the-scenes stuff, for quite awhile, and was excited about the prospect of this show. And I definitely liked the first two episodes, but the jury was out. The whole thing could rely on clichés and stereotypes and time travel references like Don’s remark about ‘some kind of magical machine that just makes copies’ in the pilot. Marriage of Figaro showed me that I didn’t have a clue as to what to expect. That this show felt like nothing I’d ever experienced before, that it wasn’t fucking around, that it was on its own ride, and yeah, I was along for it.
1. I love Rachel’s reaction to the chicken. While she herself resembles some kind of bizarre Gertrude McFuzz in that hat.
2. I love Rachel’s response to finding out Don is married. There are some who take issue with the fact that she jumped from one kiss to committed relationship, but I think she had it right; there was nothing casual about their connection. He says Don’t try to convince me that you were ever unloved. So her response of Well then am I supposed to live some life running alongside yours? to me, was so grounded. How many women would just close their eyes, kiss him again, and pretend it will all somehow work out? I saw right there (and not for the first time) what a whole, together woman she is.
3. I love that Don and Betty are fine. Through the entire morning of the party, when it is so obvious to us, because we are culturally informed, that every time Betty mentions the cake or any other chore, (and later the movie camera), she is actually freaking out and really wants to lunge, she remains sweet and composed. And with every request from Betty, we know that Don is a pressure cooker. But he never shows it. He remains good-natured (look how he handles the powder room moment). Rachel’s presence leads to what happens later, but this interaction… this is their life together. And they keep it terribly pleasant. (This starts to shift after a lot of drinks; see #7.)
4. I love that the birthday party has NOTHING to do with the kids. Betty prepares a killer spread, but it’s for the adults; she just puts out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the children. It is a party for the grownups; the kids are hardly an afterthought. There was supposed to be a clown, but they couldn’t get him, so the kids just run around inside and outside, playing on their own, with no planned activities. They are barely introduced to the adults, and that is reflected back to us, as they are also barely introduced to us, the audience.
5. I love Helen Bishop. What’s not to love? She reminds me of Rachel; she has killer foresight and the balls to speak on it (she puts that slimeball Carlton in his place, and fast). And she is liquid killer sexy, also like Rachel.
6. I love that after his kid is slapped by someone who isn’t him, after he asks ‘do you want some more’ (hitting), Carlton then tells his son to go get his mother to clean up the mess he made. His hugely pregnant mother, I might add.
7. Don has four beers before the party, by my count. Then drinks throughout, like everyone. He starts to become visibly affected when he is filming the party; this is when he finally appears agitated as well. I love that sitting on top of the cake box on the front passenger seat is an empty plastic cup… he had brought his drink with him for the ride to to HiTop.
8. I love what sounds to my unresearched ear as the anachronistic, We haven’t done birthday cake. (Nancy says this after her husband Chet suggests that they leave. Chet then follows with There’s not gonna be a cake. Am I the only one that knows that?)
9. I love that Betty’s hands, very subtlely, looks like they have gone numb while she is trying to cut the sorry looking frozen Sara Lee pie birthday cake thing.
10. What I love about this episode, what shocked and dismayed me upon the initial viewing, was that we stayed in Ossining. The first portion of the show was in and around Madison Avenue, and I assumed that it would go back there. I kept waiting for the scenes from the party to cut back into Monday at the office. It never did. It was… excruciating. I wanted to go back. This was awful. I felt like I was suffocating in this horrible world. And like I said, this was the moment when I recognized that this was unlike anything I’d ever seen on television before, and that I would never be able to predict where this show was going to take me, week after week.
Oh and fine. I can’t keep it to ten. I mean, I didn’t even mention Don at the train. But…
11) I love Don in his t-shirt building that playhouse. I’d offer to shower with him, too.
11 Responses to “10 Things I Love About Marriage of Figaro”
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Whoa, Roberta … this post nearly got me to do a 180 on this episode. As I've said before, this one is not in my Top 5 for its languid pace and torpid plot.
Your #10 is what did it especially … I HATED that it didn't veer from the homefront, and made us experience the painful day in what feels like real time.
Let me tell you, we spent this weekend making a party for our 4-year-old twins, and by the end, boy, I was looking for a train of my own.
And the comment about the kids, is right on … I think you can count on one hand the number of full face shots there are of Don & Betty's kids in the entire season … their purpose to the larger story is to be props.
"Liquid killer sexy …" – great line. A writer's line.
I loved this episode! OK, the first part where Don was in the City. The chemistry between Rachel and Don scintillated. Those 2 on the roof was no exception. The way Rachel shook after they kissed and then turned stone cold after she found out he was married, made me an instant fan of Maggie Siff. Fabulous actress!! Jon Hamm…damn him! He's da man! This guy made me cheer for a philandering cad!
Dan, I heard recently that MoF is where a lot of viewers dropped off, which may be why AMC, those rat-bastards, skipped from Episodes 1 to 4 in their first rebroadcast. I wasn't watching ratings at the time. For Season 2 I will (I gotta figure out how to do that). But my understanding is that the action in the office, and then the Don/Dick mystery, was what more people wanted.
Glad you didn't train. And I want to see pictures of the twins.
And as for those two non-existent kids, just wait until Sally and Bobby are teenagers, which, if Weiner keeps moving us forward, we will get to see. Sally turned 6 in spring of 1960. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy decade!
(And thanks!!!)
this was the episode that solidified my love of this show, too. bravo for such an articulate explanation of what was going on in my otherwise just emotional and non-thoughtful head before this.
I have to say I love Marriage of Figaro for all the reasons you mention…especially number 11 …
Your description of Don and Betty as “fine†is perfect. That’s one of those words that carries a lot of baggage. It’s innocent enough on the surface, but there always seems to be subtext to it. For example, that scene in their bedroom the morning of the party was tense to me. Everything seemed just “fine†as Betty putzed around while Don was in bed, but that shot of the cufflinks looming large on the nightstand was straight out of Hitchcock. There was such a sinister undercurrent there. I wondered if Betty had seen the cufflinks and what she thought about them. I imagine that wives back then had some sort of mental inventory of their husband’s jewelry, so finding something new and unlike any of his other pieces would certainly raise eyebrows — especially with a man like Don who admittedly doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry. But there was Betty, dawdling about, oblivious to them. Or was she? I got the sense she really did want to “lunge†at him as you said, but instead she was all “there’s a bacon and egg sandwich for you on the range.â€
The chicken theme was great. We saw actual chickens strutting around Sterling Cooper (particularly ironic since chickens are usually housed in coops, and the person who makes those pens is a cooper). Then there were the neighborhood hens, sitting around Betty’s kitchen table cackling about Helen Bishop and her walking excursions. Don fleeing his daughter’s birthday party? That too was chicken. Especially after admonishing his underlings at work that their jobs sometimes required them to do things they didn’t want to do. Yeah, Don. So does parenthood…and marriage…and life in general. How is it that you can recite something but not know it?
So many contradictions, that man. And this episode was filled with them. I loved how everything he boasted about to Rachel in the first episode came back to haunt him in this one. That night they had drinks he laid out his whole philosophy about being born alone and dying alone and love being something to sell nylons. Yet there he was atop Menken’s, gazing into Rachel’s eyes, and suddenly he’s sentimental–incredulous that anyone could ever be lonely or unloved. How fitting that Rachel’s store actually got its start selling – wait for it – nylons! He’s so selective in what he chooses to see or acknowledge. I love that Rachel has no problem calling him on his bullsh*t.
I love the weird parallelism of Rachel, trembling and breathless, not “knowing what to say†after Don kisses her, contrasted with Betty, who trembling with rage, doesn’t “know what to say,†after he ruins Sally’s party. Don is so skillful at unnerving the two of them. But I guess that's why they (and we?) love him…or at least are intrigued by him.
But my absolute favorite part of this episode was when he returned with the dog for Sally. He grabs her and kisses her on the forehead, but she wipes it off and pushes him away, choosing to hug her dog instead. Such a well-deserved slap in the face, although he was way too drunk for it to have registered.
Oh. my. god.
Am I the only one who never until this second connected his gift of a big dog for Sally to Rachel's dogs, that she has taken solace in since she was a little girl?
The parallelism of 'not knowing what to say' I had picked up at some point; just forgot to include it.
Great comments overall, Loo… really glad you're around.
(heh heh… chickens, the subset of the larger season's bird theme.)
Wow. No, you're not the only one.
Nope – didn't catch it either.
Man this bird thing keeps getting larger … love when the Acct Exec on the Belle Jolie account (name escapes me) refers to the secretaries as "hens".
I loved this episode. Possibly because it really showed the "Nuclear family" roles so perfectly. Also notice during the party the men and women were separated most of the time. As if they had nothing in common with the opposite sex to talk about.
Anyways, I've started watching the first season and this is the last episode I've watched. Thanks to the wonderfulness that is netflix, I get the rest of the season tomorrow and I'll dedicate most of my weekend to watching the whole thing! Then off to Season 2!
On a site note. I do find myself wishing I was in 1960 with all the beautiful clothes and cigarette holders. I instantly wanted to put on a pair of pumps with a pencil skirt, have my pearls on and my hair up just to do my dishes.
Also, this show really makes me want to smoke. CONSTANTLY. Granted I am a smoker and already smoke a few a day , but the first episode had me craving nicotine!
Jez, I'm so glad you're on board :- )
And you're right, that party was like a junior high school mixer.
[...] 1: Marriage of Figaro, the Drapers throw a party. Roberta writes: I love that Don and Betty are fine. Through the entire morning of the party, when it is so obvious [...]