Girl of the Day - Jessica Pare

The Mad Men premiere last night was shocking, to me anyway, because it threw such a curveball to its audience.   Seventeen months ago, when we last saw Don Draper, he had just proposed to his secretary, Megan Calvert, a character who had been somewhat in the background throughout the fourth season.   She was a pretty young thing, sweet, spoke French, had a model's body, but a somewhat strange smile.   (As an aside, it's another strange aspect of modern society that you almost never see any actor or actress who doesn't have absolutely perfect teeth.... the miracle of orthodonture.)   Now, at least in the first episode of the fifth season, Megan (now Mrs. Draper), dominates the action.   What the hell?   From her sexy rendition of Zou-Be-Zou (Sophia Loren's novelty tune from the early 1960s) at Draper's 40th birthday, to her black lacy underwear for doing angry housework after the party, to her tearful confession to Peggy, plaintively asking "who doesn't like a birthday party?" (Draper, that's who), Megan -- played by Jessica Pare -- stole the show.   Wow.   I would have predicted that they never got married and she was off the show, or else relegated to a bit part.   But Matt Weiner, the show's creator, obviously saw something in her.   Last night was the payoff for that trust.   Seriously, the Zou-Be-Zou number might have been star-making for her.

P.S.   She also semi-reminds me of the Regular Wife.   :)