The Evolution of Trudy Campbell, Business Housewife

One of the pleasures of TV is duration. You spend hours and hours with a group of characters, allowing for viewer-character relationships that can change dramatically over time. Few shows demonstrate the power of this better than Matthew Weiner's Mad Men.

In the most reason season, we've seen things from Trudy Campbell (Alison Brie) that shocked viewers, had them standing up and applauding. But how did Mad Men turn Trudy into such a complex character? Let's start from the beginning, and trace the Evolution of Trudy Campbell, Business Housewife.

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Written by Ross Scarano (@RossScarano)

As Seen In: "New Amsterdam" (Season 1, Episode 4)

During her first appearance, Trudy functions more as a device that humanizes Pete—we see how his home life has shaped him into a petulant shit, and also see that he doesn't really know the woman he's recently married—and digs into Peggy.

When Peggy meets Trudy, it destroys the possibility of a future for her and Pete. Ultimately, this is a good thing, but in the moment it's hard to watch Peggy hurt. Trudy's unwavering poise is on display here, though.

As Seen In: "5G" (Season 1, Episode 5)

Responding to Ken Cosgrove's publishing success in The Atlantic, Pete decides to write a story of his own (because he's helplessly a child). His story involves a bear, and Trudy, apparently a student of the classics, finds it too modern. At first, it seems like a joke made at Trudy's expense, but then the tables turn and Trudy's comment about the talking bear reveals Pete to be a hack: "The bear is not talking. It's what the hunter imagines the bear to be thinking."

Great explanation, Pete. You've got a real modernist masterpiece on your hands.

As Seen In: "5G" (Season 1, Episode 5)

But Pete believes in his bear tale, and asks Trudy to go see her ex, Charlie Fiddich. Fiddich works in publishing, and is still in love with Trudy (obvs).

This is one of the first real indications of Trudy's executive realness. She's a housewife during a time unkind to women, but she's also savvy (the extent of which will only be revealed much later). She's willing to ride for her husband, because she sees what Pete needs to be a success. And if Pete is a success, she will be too.

She recognizes the rules of this world and will play by them, fiercely. Thus, Trudy Campbell, Business Housewife.

As Seen In: "The Inheritance" (Season 2, Episode 10)

Trudy spends much of the second season wanting to have a child. She and Pete visit a fertility clinic, and eventually Trudy proposes adoption. Pete won't hear of it ("It's someone else's child...It's not natural.")

Viewers know that the baby won't change Pete into a better person. Margaret Lyons of Vulture has argued that the show is anti-pregnancy, and cited the failure of Pete to become a better father as evidence.

But the fact is, Mad Men is anti-betterment. It's a show about failure, punctuated by brief, sometimes shining moments of non-failure.

As Seen In: "My Old Kentucky Home" (Season 3, Episode 3)

At the party where Betty meets Henry Francis, Trudy and Pete stunt on every couple in the building the only way they know how: with the Charleston. It's tactical, see. Pete wants to impress Roger, needs to look like a good sport. And of course Trudy is game.

As Seen In: "The Grown-Ups" (Season 3, Episode 12)

Roger's daughter is to be wed the Saturday after the assassination of President Kennedy, and the Campbells are not having it. In one of the most human moments between the couple, one that suggests a striking solidarity to their relationship, Pete and Trudy decide to stay home. They curl into each other on the couch to mourn the loss of JFK rather than attend the wedding.

Anyway, they'd only clear everyone off the dance floor with the '60s version of the Percolator.

As Seen In: "Shut the Door. Have a Seat." (Season 3, Episode 13)

Trudy has Pete's back. She covers for him when he calls in sick while the agency is falling apart at the end of the third season. When Pete gets clued to the new plan—a guerrilla raid on the building and the formation of a new firm—Trudy's right there to help her hubby get his clients to move with him.

They embrace quickly before going into action.

As Seen In: "Hands and Knees" (Season 4, Episode 10)

Finally. She's done it; after the fertility doctor and the failed adoption pitch, Trudy is with child. Press play on R. Kelly's "Pregnant" and gaze into the round frilliness of Trudy in a maternity nightgown. It's a sight to behold.

As Seen In: "Signal 30" (Season 5, Episode 5)

Acting in accordance with the rules of the '50s, Trudy wills Pete to move to the suburbs to raise their daughter, Tammy. Pete isn't happy, and Trudy realizes it, but she holds firm to her position.

As Seen In: "The Phantom" (Season 5, Episode 13)

Until Pete comes home with another black eye. Without needing him to beg, she tells him he can get an apartment in the city.

At the time, it seems that she's lying to herself about what will happen at Pete's solo dolo pad...

As Seen In: "The Collaborators" (Season 6, Episode 3)

And then nothing's the same.

In the third episode of season six, Trudy blacks on Pete after discovering that he's been screwing the neighbor, Brenda. She also reveals that she understood the intent of the NYC apartment from the jump. She was letting Pete play out his masturbatory fantasies because it would all their marriage to continue to be a success from the outside. That's always the perspective that matters in the world of Mad Men.

"I refuse to be a failure," she tells him, and everything you've known about Trudy sharpens. She's always had a handle on business. She's helped Pete get to where he is now, allowed Pete to work her father over for a lucrative account. And it was all a part of the plan to build a successful life in the classic American mode.

Since Pete has fucked that up, she sets some new rules. Now, Pete can only approach their home, her, and their daughter when Trudy gives permission. She's the boss now.

As Seen In: "The Collaborators" (Season 6, Episode 3)

Then, for good measure, she assures Pete that she can destroy him.

On the one hand, the moment demands your applause and cheers. Pete is one of the most loathsome character on the show, and deserves this dressing down. Trudy has done so much to help him be great at business, and she's right that he's stupid to start dismantling everything with amateur-hour mistakes like this.

Give the moment some distance, however, and it just feels sad. Trudy was going to let Pete have his affairs to preserve their idyllic—on the surface—suburban existence? What kind of life is that? It's just another one of the sad conservative paths through life that the show repeatedly calls into questions. Trudy's vicious display of power is heartening, but what it reveals about her inner life is beyond troubling.

Please, let one of the women on this show win. Realistically, it won't be Peggy. So we're hoping for Sally.