Mrs. America season 1 episode 5 review: Just a phase

The fifth episode of Mrs. America examines what a “happy” couple looks like as Fred and Phyllis Schlafly face off against Marc and Brenda Feigen-Fasteau.

The fifth episode of Hulu’s Mrs. America opens in 1974 with 33 of 38 states having ratified the Equal Rights Amendment and two polar opposite couples preparing to debate.

As we’ve previously seen, Phyllis and Fred don’t have quite the conservative-ideal of a marriage that they want. While Phyllis pretends to be a homemaker, as Brenda points out in this episode, she’s in fact a full-time lobbyist, and her political aspirations are in direct conflict with the type of life that Fred believes they agreed to build together.

In the opening moments of the episode, Fred is getting profiled by a local paper. They suggest Phyllis join him for the photo, but she declines in an attempt at humility. However, it doesn’t prevent him from being called “Phyllis Schlafly’s lawyer husband” in the headline when the story comes out.

This sets up the perfect foil in Marc and Brenda Feigen-Fasteau, a couple who couldn’t be more opposite (unless they weren’t white, maybe). Marc and Brenda are such proto-feminist hippies, they’re among the first wave of heterosexual couples to joint hyphenate their names.

This is further evidenced by their introduction in the first act double dating with Gloria and her boyfriend, Franklin (Jay Ellis, Insecure), at a weird, feminist play about marriage. The Schlaflys would never be caught dead there.

All of this sets up the challenge that Brenda (an always fantastic and persistently underutilized Ari Graynor, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) issues to Phyllis to debate her on the ERA, fully sanctioned by Bella this time. (If I were Betty, I’d be rolling my eyes so hard they’d get stuck.)

Mrs. America does some subtle groundwork here to show us why this debate will go differently, though, with a casual introduction of Brenda’s ACLU colleague, Ruth Bader Ginsburg!

Phyllis is rightly intimidated, but Fred counsels her to ignore it. However, Phyllis doesn’t want to appear weak, so she basically whines until Fred suggests they turn it into a couples debate so he can protect her and help with the legal arguments.

Meanwhile, Brenda meets a photographer, Jules (the great and good Roberta Colindrez, Vida) who takes her for a swim at the Watergate, natch. The chemistry between them sizzles — though I’m pretty sure Roberta Colindrez could have sizzling chemistry with a potato — so it isn’t too surprising when they begin to carry on an affair.

All of this simmers on as the rebuttal for a couples debate comes, and Marc and Brenda have to appear to be the perfect couple. Brenda confesses that she slept with Jules, and Marc (a very ’70s babe-ified Adam Brody) takes the whole thing in stride. “That’s practically a rite of passage for a radical feminist.” There’s a lot to unpack here and it’ll involve some IRL spoilers, so beware.

Brenda’s story deals with a multitude of tropes/stereotypes at once. First, there’s the idea that all feminists are woman-loving man-haters, evidenced by Marc’s response. However, as has already been hinted at in previous episodes, the women’s liberation movement wasn’t the best at being inclusive.

Similarly to the way that women of color were sidelined during suffrage, queer women were sidelined during the women’s liberation movement utilizing the same argument: that they’d distract from the goals of the cause.

Second, Marc’s response, while trying to be kind, inadvertently lays another fear at Brenda’s feet:  “It’s just a phase.” For many women-loving women, the idea of wanting to be with another woman, whether romantically or sexually, is often dismissed as normal experimentation as long it’s just that.

For both of these reasons, Brenda’s continued affair with Jules remains a secret. She doesn’t want to be sidelined in the women’s movement, but she also doesn’t want to lose her husband, who appears to be just about as perfect as you can get.

This all comes to a head when it’s time for the debate and they arrive in Hollywood (with some fantastic ’70s archival footage) and Brenda reveals she’s pregnant. While Marc is elated and immediately jumps into planning, Brenda is overwhelmed and confused, and even this he takes in stride.

But then she tells Marc she didn’t see Jules just the one time. She tries to regain composure with the debate looming. And finally, Marc cracks just a bit: “We can smile. We can fake it. That’s apparently what you’ve been doing anyway.”

The two couples meet ahead of the show in the green room and exchange pleasantries. As they discuss their one commonality — Harvard Law School — Phyllis is immediately outnumbered and left out, reminding us of the other big conflict brewing in this episode.

In the hegemony of the Schlafly household, law school is the one true path. While Phyllis helps one of her sons prepare for the LSAT, her eldest (gay) son, John, refuses to take the test.

Ultimately, the other son does, too, but Phyllis takes it in his place anyway. Once again, her desires (a career, education, independence) line up with the goals of the feminist movement. The irony never ceases.

Finally, “Phyllis & Fred & Brenda & Marc” take the stage with an excellent Bobby Cannavale as Tom Snyder. Phyllis’s discomfort and unease radiate in the scene as she sits ramrod straight despite the five-inch wooden cross hanging from her neck.

Phyllis and Brenda clash immediately. Phyllis tries her usual tricks, but Brenda won’t have it. She’s an actual lawyer, after all, and much harder to rattle than Betty.

As Phyllis tries to make her usual claims about the ERA leading to broken homes, Brenda calmly and repeatedly demand she cite her sources, namely a fictional law case that has apparently already set precedent for how the ERA would function.

After enough hooey from Phyllis, Brenda finally insists:

"“You have scared the women of America into believing something that is not based in reality, but when you argue an actual point in the real world in a court of law, you need to cite a case to support your argument, so cite the case.”"

This was the biggest fist-pump moment of the show for me by far (especially as we live in a world that increasingly denies objective facts. But that rant is for another time…).

Unable to form a coherent response, Phyllis literally just makes up a case, which, of course, Brenda calls her out on. There’s nothing better to describe this scene than delightful as Brenda delivers one last punch:  “Maybe you should stick to baking and leave the interpreting the law to lawyers.”

Tom Snyder tries to involve the husbands, but at this point, blood has been drawn and the real fight is over. Marc and Brenda leave the taping temporarily healed having successfully fought as a team, with Marc in awe of Brenda’s performance.

Fred and Phyllis on the other hand, are not so happy. Phyllis is frustrated that she brought Fred all the way to the debate for him to watch and do nothing to defend her. However, he points out that he couldn’t possibly defend her when she was making things up the whole time (and wouldn’t stop talking).

Things get ugly fast as he tells her she’s too old for law school and she asks him what he’s done with his law degree for their country. Fred storms out, and in a moment that will go on all of Cate Blanchett’s awards reels, Phyllis slaps herself.

As the episode closes, Marc and Brenda have decided to keep the baby, despite the fact that Brenda seems to still be conflicted about her identity. Marc is supportive of her path, though, saying:  “We can choose to build our family however we want.”

They ask Gloria and Franklin to be the godparents who agree despite Gloria’s reticence. As the four prepare to watch the televised premiere of Free to be You and Me, Brenda tells Gloria, with tears in her eyes, “It was just a phase. It’s not who I am.” Despite the progress that’s been made, more lies ahead.

What did you think of “Phyllis & Fred & Brenda & Marc”? Let us know in the comments below.