John: After all that Roger has done for you and your country, you stab him in the back . I hope you don’t have any orchidectomies in your closet! We’re also ducking the question. Two significant characters have to go , not one.
I will take the easy way out and nominate Betty. I will also throw in Henry Francis as a free bonus. I actually think Betty’s character has been unfairly neglected, and the rigid acting of January Jones kind of works. But consider what happens if Henry and Betty swerve to avoid a deer and plunge into an icy Westchester reservoir: Sally, Bobby, and Gene come to live with Don and his new bride Megan. That would create all kinds of knots for the show to unravel.
As for my second victim, I wish Lane Pryce’s dad had hit him a little harder with his cane. Whenever he’s on screen, my thought is: “This show makes no sense.” (Though I do admire the mannered way that actor Jared Harris folds his glasses.) Keeping Lane in London would instantly increase the show’s realism factor by 15 percent. The bold move, of course, would be to replace Don with a new, supremely charismatic head of creative, played by Charlie Sheen.
Photograph of January Jones as Betty Draper courtesy of AMC.
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