‘Mrs. America’s Latest Episode “Betty” Is So Good It Hurts

FX’s latest miniseries about the Equal Rights Amendment is teeming with electric scenes, from Phyllis Schlafly’s (Cate Blanchett) chilling, hypocritical smile to Shirley Chisholm’s (Uzo Aduba) straightened back in the face of defeat. But only one episode of Mrs. America truly captures how tumultuous, exciting, and unintentionally heartbreaking this period of the Women’s Movement was: “Betty” is a skewering and surprisingly uplifting examination into how the male-dominated media shaped this revolution.

“Betty” picks up with Betty Friedan (Tracey Ullman) and Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne) at their most contentious. Mrs. America has teased a fight between Friedan, the Mother of the Women’s Movement on her way out, and Steinem, the new face of feminism and media favorite in the first few episodes. And in Episode 4’s first moments their confrontation heats up.

While at a party, Betty warns the leaders of the Women’s Movement about Phyllis Schlafly. But instead of unquestionably listening to her as these women have for years, they turn to Gloria for her input. With an eye roll and her casual drawl, Gloria dismisses Phyllis Schlafly as a bored, unknown housewife who doesn’t deserve any more attention from their group. It’s in that quick moment everything changes. What Betty has been fretting about and Bella Abzug (Margo Martindale) has warned Gloria has come true. Gloria is becoming the new leader of the Women’s Movement. She just has to decide when she wants to take her crown.

What follows are two truly horrible days for both women. Instead of listening to Gloria, Betty agrees to debate Phyllis Schlafly at a college campus about the Equal Rights Amendment. The debate starts strong, but after the cool Phyllis gets a few of her own jabs in Betty loses her composure and calls her a witch. Even if Betty Friedan technically won her confrontation with the leader of the anti-ERA movement, by the reporters surrounding her opponent it’s clear that Phyllis is the real winner. In the bathroom taking drags from her inhaler, Betty has to face the truth. The movement she loves, the movement she created, is changing. And she can’t do much about it.

Meanwhile Gloria is forced to stare down the sexism of her critics. After a flood of perverse phone calls, Gloria discovers that the pornographic tabloid Screw magazine has run a full-page cartoon of a naked Gloria Steinem with the headline “Pin the cock on the feminist.” All throughout this series Gloria has dismissed comments about her appearance and sex appeal from both her allies and opponents to instead focus on her message. But there, in this perverse moment, Gloria is stripped of her bravado and made into something small. Despite her hard work and brilliance, she’s still been condensed into a sub-human sex object.

Those are the battles these women have waged separately when Gloria calls Betty at the end of the episode. Both women should be on the verge of screaming, pushed to their wits’ end and ready to take their anger at the world out on each other. But instead, Gloria does something that proves her claims that she doesn’t see the movement as a sorority: she thanks Betty Friedan.

Though Gloria doesn’t say much beyond quoting Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and Betty says nothing, volumes are spoken. These are two women who have devoted their entire lives to giving women more choices in life, and yet they both understand that luxury can’t extend to them. Betty is an old leader who has been rejected by her followers, and Gloria is a ruler who doesn’t want the power being thrust upon her.

Gloria understands Betty’s warning that they will never be able to draw the battle lines or control how the patriarchal media will portray them. Yet these last minutes aren’t tinged with defeat, but hope. Betty and Gloria may feel helpless after their respective battles, they may feel victimized and ambushed, but they know that even as they’re helpless to choose their own roles, they can give that hope to the next generation. With three words — “You were right” — Gloria doesn’t just assure Betty they’re on the same side. Those words say that they’re in the same nightmare. And they both know they will do anything possible to fix it.

New episodes of Mrs. America premiere of FX on Hulu Wednesdays.

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