Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 3 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT It's A Man's World
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 2007.07.26
It's Francine (Anne Dudek)! She's Betty's best friend, and in her kitchen, she's bitching about some PTA president or other, prompting Betty to titter, "Francine, you're terrible." Yes, that is one of the reasons I love her. Also, Francine informs Betty, a woman named Helen Bishop is moving into the Dutch colonial down the street, and she's -- get this -- divorced. She doesn't suggest that they pin her down and paint a scarlet "D" on her chest, but given her tone, she might as well have. Francine adds that Helen has a nine-year-old boy and a baby, and that she can't imagine having to worry about money at this point in their lives. She then notices that the kids are being too quiet, and calls "Ernie" (presumably her son) and "Sally" (Draper) in. When Francine stands, we see that she's pregnant (not that that's stopping her from smoking, of course) and then the kids promptly appear, and Ernie announces that they're playing Spaceman. We see that Sally's wearing a plastic garment bag from the dry cleaner's over her head, and when Betty sharply calls her name, we expect to hear a safety lecture. Betty: "If the clothes from that dry cleaning bag are on the floor of my closet, you are going to be a very sorry young lady." Hee. The kids go away, and Francine says she hears the Helen situation might be bad for real estate prices in their area. Betty: "One divorcee." Betty, you've been in the suburbs for years. This can't be the first time you've ever heard the "there goes the neighborhood" mentality.
Betty's driving back home, and as the kids horse around in the back, the car passes the ostensible Helen Bishop, who's trying to wrangle some boxes out on the front lawn. After they've passed, Betty's hands start shaking, so we're probably meant to think that some anxiety about losing Don and being on her own is manifesting itself here. Before she knows it, she's lost control of the car and it runs up onto another lawn before stopping. Betty stares in shock at her trembling hands for a moment before rushing to the back seat and finding the kids unharmed and giggling down on the floor. She closes the door and sinks down to the ground...
...and we get further evidence that her vague fears aren't groundless, as Don is just finishing up in bed with Midge. He rolls off her and, noticing that she's got a television, asks about it, noting that she recently went off on a diatribe against the things. He gets her to admit that someone gave it to her, and the tone of the conversation, coupled with what we know about her, is enough to suggest that she doesn't have a policy against refusing gifts from gentleman callers. She tries to ask him if he's seen a show called People Are Funny, but Don's clearly kind of jealous, so Midge unceremoniously takes the TV, throws it out the window, and asks, "All better?" That depends, Midge -- did you hit any passers-by? And if not, why not? Don smiles and says yes, and Midge kind of endearingly drops the bravado and rushes to the window to see if she at least squashed a rat.