*SPOILER ALERT*
This week we got the November 22, 1963 episode we’d all been waiting for. The theme seemed to be the “turning point.” On a seemingly normal Friday, something very bad happens in Dallas. Roger realizes he’s married a child-woman not so different from his spoiled-brat daughter. Betty realizes she doesn’t love Don. Maybe Don realizes he loves Betty? Henry Francis makes Betty a completely insane offer of marriage.
And yet, some things stay the same: Pete is still a whiny, entitled waste of WASP DNA. Joan is still with Rapist Ken Doll and Peggy has another smokin’ hot “go-round” with Duck.
Join us as we “take a pill and lie down” to discuss…
BeckySharper: Ugh, creepy belly-fondler Henry Francis is back…do you think Betty would seriously run off with him? I mean, it would make NO sense whatsoever for her to leave Don for him–she doesn’t even know him. It’s just exchanging one cage for another…and I suspect the Henry Francis cage could hold a lot of unpleasant surprises too. If she’s going to dump Don, he’s hardly a good alternative.
SarahMC: Henry Francis reminds me of a character from The Twilight Zone. I find Betty’s “relationship” with him strange and empty. I don’t really want that to go anywhere, but I wonder what’s going to happen now that Betty’s told Don she doesn’t love him.
Pilgrim Soul: They have never given us enough flavour of Don’s feelings for Betty to make her telling him she doesn’t love him actually tragic for the audience. I mean, I can intellectually rationalize this out: Don has never had to think about Betty loving him, because she is a crutch, the person who always has to take him in, even if he’s flitted off to a creepy Mexican household filled with Eurotrash stereotypes. So it comes as a shock when she says she doesn’t, to him. Okay, fine, but Don has played fast and loose with Betty forfuckingever, behaving with remarkable indifference at times. The first season Don, the one who kept tabs on her psychiatrist? Maybe I could see him being devastated by this. But this one, the Don who is profoundly ambivalent about the baggage his perfect life has accumulated? I don’t know. It’s almost liberatory for him, it would seem – that is, if one were treating Don as an actual human being with consistent, if occasionally irreconcilable, notions about what it is to be a man in the world he lives in.
PhDork: I don’t think Betty’s confession was ABOUT Don. It was about Betty. Yeah, it will effect Don, because she IS a crutch, and he’s going to find out just how much he relied on her emotionally (while resenting her, all the while). But it’s way more about Betty. I can’t imagine that she’s going to marry Creepy Francis, because she doesn’t know him–although she doesn’t really know Don, either, I guess.
SarahMC: I almost cried when Carla started crying about Kennedy. It was surreal to watch the characters go through that.
BeckySharper: Yeah, I thought Carla’s grief was horrible too, and I kept thinking “Just wait until ’68.”
SarahMC: I wish we could follow Carla home. Maybe in an upcoming season.
PhDork: Carla’s grief WAS horrible, SMC. And I fucking hated Don for refusing to explain anything to Sally. He’s losing everything, and desperately clutching onto his “I’m the Man” role. It makes him even more ridiculous. “There, there, it’ll be all right” was always a load of bullshit, but now it’s transparently so.
What I mean about the show not being clear enough about the psychic break is that sure all the characters SAID things are different now, but it was sort of emotionallly unclear – given that the show has invested so little time in the context of the Kennedys and Camelot and whatnot – why the characters were upset. I mean, I can fill in the blanks, sure. But I think it’s lazy writing nonetheless.
PhDork: Wait, now. Up there you said: “it was sort of emotionallly unclear – given that the show has invested so little time in the context of the Kennedys and Camelot and whatnot – why the characters were upset. I mean, I can fill in the blanks, sure.” Was it unclear, or overexplained?
Pilgrim Soul: I said “sort of emotionally unclear,” in the sense that I found it told, not shown. You see?
PhDork: …I guess? I don’t think it was either unclear or overexplained. And Don & Betty ARE (were) Camelot. And that shit is ovah.
BeckySharper: Yes, and I think the ovah-ness is all the more obvious to us 21st century viewers, who have the benefit of hindsight. We know that the reality of JFK and Camelot was a sham like the Draper marriage; a good-looking, much-admired man who in reality was an emotionally tormented philanderer and lousy husband married to a long-suffering paragon of glamour and feminity who had to muffle her anger and swallow her pride and intelligence because that’s what was expected of her.
What did you think, gentle readers? What’s up with Roger and Joanie? How gorgeous was Trudy’s cobalt blue dress with dyed-to-match pumps? What did Peggy’s roommate mean by “I’m glad you’re being more selective now?”
We know that the reality of JFK and Camelot was a sham like the Draper marriage; a good-looking, much-admired man who in reality was an emotionally tormented philanderer and lousy husband married to a long-suffering paragon of glamour and femininity who had to muffle her anger and swallow her pride and intelligence because that’s what was expected of her. Brilliantly put, Becky.
Regarding how they handled the Kennedy assassination, the show, so far, feels like it has played out in a kind of bubble, so the sudden intrusion of ‘exterior’ reality was kind of jarring. Maybe they should have had more scenes throughout the two series that were about what was going on – socially, politically – in the wider world? I don’t recall any mention of JFK, Jackie, Camelot, the Civil Rights Movement, Russia, Cuba, etc in other episodes, although I might have just missed them.
As far as Betty and Don go, I think it is obviously a watershed for both of them, but I interpreted Don’s dismay as a reaction to his carefully manufactured world falling apart, rather than any realization of love for Betty. As for Betty, I would love to see her join a women’s group, get her consciousness raised and pursue her own dreams – although I suspect she will just divorce Don and marry Henry, only to discover he’s even more narcissistic and controlling than Don. Heigh-ho.
Also, I think Roger’s this close to telling Joan he made a terrible mistake in not marrying her.
I think it was actually shocking to Don that Betty doesn’t love him. I’d venture that people who go to such great lengths to built facades desperately want the facade to become the truth. Don wants to be a successful, suave, irresistible man, not just play one. Whether he loves Betty or not, his image depends, in part, on her loving him. That he fails to inspire in Betty the feeling he thinks he should is another big reminder to him that he is a lie.
“What did Peggy’s roommate mean by “I’m glad you’re being more selective now?””
Wait, wasn’t that Peggy making an underhanded jibe at her roommate, and not the other way around?
I don’t have a lot to say about this episode in particular — Jane was annoying as shit, Margaret was annoying as shit, Pete and Trudy seem increasingly well-matched as kind of nasty people — but I am really excited about next season now. It’s my understanding (as a child of the 90′s…) that the Kennedy assassination really inaugurated what we would generally think of as “the 60s”, or at least accelerated it greatly, and I think seeing how these characters react to the increasingly radical social changes will be soooo interesting.
I also thought it was interesting that we didn’t see the Drapers until almost a quarter of the way through the ep. I agree that Francis is a creeper — I hope that Betty’s using him as a stepping stone, something to pry herself out of her marriage, and not as a destination.
Anyone have any idea of what the symbolism of the too-cold, too-hot office was? I know it’s meant to signify something, but I can’t put my finger on it.
@Dziet_Sma: Thanks!
There have been mentions of current events before–the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon election definitely entered the plot, as did the Cuban Missile Crisis. Civil rights definitely get mentioned; there was a scene where Carla was listening to Dr. King’s eulogy for the victims of the Birmingham church bombing on the radio, and Paul Kinsey (reluctantly) went to Mississippi with his black girlfriend to register voters. I don’t think the writers hammer it home in a heavy-handed way, but there are a lot of mentions dropped into conversations or the background.
I totally agree with you about Betty and Henry. Leaving Don and marrying him would be the absolute opposite of liberation for her.
And did he or she even think about the fact that she has three kids who he’d then have to raise? Uh, no.
@Diziet_Sma – Yep, I agree. Roger fucked up and he knows it. I wonder if Joan would leave Rapist Ken for him? How scandalous would that be — wealthy blue blood exec leaves wife for younger secretary and then leaves younger secretary for older secretary.
@tallgirl – Which is why he basically ignored her. He’s gotten this far by flat-out pretending, right?
@BeckySharper: Oh, my bad. I remember some of those scenes now. Doh. Which means the fact that it was jarring is absolutely as it should be (and was, in reality), now I think about it.
I really really hope they are setting up Betty for a second bad marriage (to Henry), so that by the late-60s she joins a women’s group, gets her consciousness raised and starts pursuing her OWN dreams and ambitions. (She needs to re-evaluate her relationship with her kids, if nothing else.) I think she has it in her. That scene from the first season where she takes a shotgun to those pigeons, cigarette in mouth, always stuck with me – yeah, she can be a bitch, but she has potential, you know?
Oh shit. I just realized I totally repeated myself almost word for word. (Eds – please feel free to edit it out!) Yeah, time for this one to GO TO BED. Nighty night.
I’m not sure what to make of Henry Francis. In a lot of ways he is the anti-Don–much more open and communicative with Betty in the few scenes we’ve seen with them together. Not to mention he hasn’t forced himself on her in the way Don does with women. It seemed like the office scene was going to go that way, but instead of talking her into it he, asks her what she wants and listens.
Kind of like with the teacher, I can’t tell if we’re supposed to read Henry as being a bit off or not.
wealthy blue blood exec leaves wife for younger secretary and then leaves younger secretary for older secretary.
He’s wealthy but Sterling isn’t a “blue blood,” he’s noveau riche. Think back to the first season when we saw (the real blue blood) Campbell’s family and his father said, “Advertising? What kind of job is that for a White man?”
They have never given us enough flavour of Don’s feelings for Betty to make her telling him she doesn’t love him actually tragic for the audience.
I dunno about that, just last week during the big talk Don told Betty that he was surprised that she ever loved him. That’s probably about as open about his feelings as a man like Don is capable of being.
I cried for Kennedy watching this episode. It was unexpectedly familiar–sitting in front of the TV all day, watching the news, crying, and Betty’s reaction when Oswald was shot. It felt so much like 9/11 to me. Like you’re watching the world end on TV (or out the window, for us NYers).
I’m also unsure of Don’s feelings about Betty. He seemed devastated. I never thought he loved her before, but since he admitted being Dick Whitman, he does look at her differently. Maybe he thought their relationship was finally growing into something truly loving, and now this.
I want to root for Betty to leave, but I agree with you all–it doesn’t make much sense to go straight to Henry Francis.
Pete’s a major weasel, but he’s also sort of progressive… he’s always been a Kennedy man, I believe, and this was the first episode where I felt myself siding with him and Trudy.
Finally: Duck is a jerk.
@Spark: What, you didn’t like Duck’s compartmentalizing/prioritizing?
I thought the same thing when he was all “Oh, btw, something happened…let me just turn the TV back on.” What an asshole.
PhDork’s Dude and I also felt there were some 9/11 parallels. I suppose it’s inevitable, since both events led to a massive national Losing of the Shit, followed by a sea change in the course of American politics/policy. And, of course, the Kennedy assassination was the first time something like that was covered so thoroughly on broadcast media, which eventually led us down the path to the 24-news cycle we saw with 9/1l coverage.
Did anyone recognize the newsmen who were not Walter Cronkhite? Which newsreel was that pulled from?
@Becky: It was particularly gross for Duck to sleep with her while the first Catholic president was on his deathbed.
I don’t know why, but I thought that being glued to 24-hour news coverage was a modern thing. Maybe the difference is, today we would all be watching the same thing on different channels.
@Spark: I think the number of places we get the news from has increased, but the Kennedy assassination was the same full-on saturation news coverage for the three or four channels of the time. Didn’t Harry Crane bitch about counting up how much money they were losing from commercials that weren’t running?
The other newsguys were David Brinkley and Chet Huntley, who were the NBC evening news team at the time.
Oh, that’s funny. I grew up watching Brinkley hosting This Week, but I totally didn’t recognize him as a young man.
@HillRat — “He’s wealthy but Sterling isn’t a “blue blood,” he’s noveau riche.” I believe you, but I have to admit that the distinction between blue blood and just rich WASP has always been a little fuzzy for me. Roger’s father was rich, right? Or at least rich enough for him to playboy around Europe when he was younger. Although I suppose the blackface thing at his party was tasteless in the way one associates with the nouveau riche. Does Margaret count as blue blood? How many generations do you go through before you’re no longer nouveau? I find this very confusing.
@baraqiel: HillRat’s right. There’s a big difference between merely being rich and being a blueblood. Pete Campbell’s family were one of the original founding families of NYC. Age trumps money. The Dyckmans didn’t make their money as shills in recent days like Roger’s family–they’ve been rich and powerful for a couple hundred years. To people who care about such crap, the distinction is huge.
I think Roger’s father was in Europe because he fought in WWI, not because he was a playboy. That’s what Roger meant by “when he came back from Europe.” And no, I don’t think Margaret would ever count as a blueblood. She’s the daughter of an ad man, and advertising is hopelessly declasse.
@Becky — Right, but wouldn’t a family like the Sterlings have much more of that sort of status in the present day if they had continued to be wealthy? This has very little to do with Mad Men, I just find this question…sort of confusing and Mad Men has a lot of useful characters to talk about it. Like, Connie Hilton: nouveau riche, yes? So is Paris Hilton still nouveau riche or does she count as sort of old money on American standards? I understand how this works in Europe given that they had nobility and such for centuries, but we’ve had so much less time to build up that sort of aristocracy and our economy has been so much more volatile. What about Betty? She definitely grew up rich, right? But what kind?
@baraqiel: Nah, because another generation or two doesn’t matter when you’re talking about a couple hundred years of history and and being on the Mayflower, etc. The Sterlings would be rich and socialites, but not blue-bloods, same as the Hiltons.
Betty’s from an upper-middle class family, from what I can tell. Affluent, but not society people.
Wow. How did you guys have such a strong reaction to Carla? She walked in the room and said “Is he okay?” She was on screen for about 20 seconds. I was more shocked to see her light up a cigarette.
I don’t want MadMen digging into the lives of secondary characters, it will just take away time from developing the main characters, and it would make no sense to do it 3 seasons into the show.
And am I the only one who thinks the show is losing whatever magic it had in the second season?
@Dirty Laundry – Actually, I loved this season way more than the second one — I found the second to be a low point in between the first and the third. Especially that weird California interlude…
@Becky – It’s interesting, I feel like they’re getting into stratifications like class and race much more this season but at the same time I feel like the sort of blue blood people that you and Hillrat have illuminated the identification of for me (thanks!) haven’t played nearly as big a role as they might have, not even from the Brits’ side. But perhaps it’s just the milieu.
@bar: Peggy said that to her roommate.
For starters, I’m glad Betty said she didn’t love Don. She needed to hurt him and I believe she did. But Henry is not the answer.
Also, that moment when Carla joined Betty on the couch to collapse in tears… very poignant. When would these two ever share a seat? Never. I bet Carla eats her dinner (if she’s allowed to eat the leftovers) standing over the washing machine. But that in that moment, they were equals: equally grieved and equally in dire need of a cigarette.
Let me also explain Carla’s grief… my mother (protested in Texas during the CRM) explained her thought process…
1. “Damn, if they can get to the President, what’s to stop us from being killed too?”
On top of Till, Evers and all the other brutal deaths, it was a common theme that anyone who stood for anything was a target.
2. “Now, they will come for King. And Malcolm.”
3. In reference to Kennedy “There goes our only hope.”
To many Black Americans it was much MUCH more than losing a President.
The Kennedy assassination has never really resonated with me until this ep. All I could think about was the safety of our current POTUS and how I would feel if…. jeez it makes me shudder!
@ceejee: Don’t go there. I wake up in a cold sweat thinking about that sometimes.
Something the Dude said Sunday night walking home from Becky’s referenced the connection to POTUS you mention, ceejee. He was being jokey, but I got a little snappish: “bite your tongue.” I’ve never really gotten the Kennedy/Camelot thing, even though I’ve had the “where were you” conversations with older family and friends. But yeah, I think I get it now. *shudder*