Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A | 479 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Bertram is Evil. Evil!
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 7 | Aired on 2009.09.27
In the new gracious living room, Betty's laid out some tea for her company, which consists of Francine (awesome, but I wish they'd get her back for more than a random scene here and there) and two other women. Long story short, the women are from the local chapter of the Junior League, and they're meeting with Betty because she's expressed interest in replacing Francine as their Secretary. One of the women says she's joining at a crucial time, because there's a three-million-gallon water tank proposed to be constructed in their area, which she says will drain the Pleasantville reservoir and "blemish the natural and financial health of our community." Francine compliments her on her turn of phrase, and given that she's still taking the minutes I wonder if kissing up is part of the Secretary's job description. The other woman, roughly old enough to be the mother of any of the other three, opines that the Junior League needs to take over and explain the issues to the community -- to elaborate on the other woman's shorthand, the "natural health" refers to the need for conservation of the environment and the beauty of the Hudson River Valley (she mentions Silent Spring, which had just been published), and "financial health" refers to the fact that there's "worthless real estate on both sides of the river because some industrial park on Route 9 needs our water." The younger woman pipes up that they need to go over the village board's head and appeal to the governor: "The Rockefellers own half the land here." This gets Betty's mind working, and she announces that she knows someone in the Governor's office: Henry Francis, who felt her stomach at Roger's party. Well, she doesn't mention that last bit. The younger woman looks up Francis's name on some handy list and is suitably impressed, and the older woman recalls that he used to be the Republican Party Chairman for Westchester County, and says she knows him. Francine excitedly encourages her to call him, but the older woman, with a crafty look on her face, says she thinks they'll have a better chance if Betty calls. So she really does know him, then. Betty looks down demurely, but Francine will have none of that: "It's not adorable to pretend like you're not adorable." You see why I wish they'd write her in more?