Dude, when I saw Lois, I was like, "Um, didn't you, I don't know, freaking run over someone's foot in a lawnmower?! At the office?!" Yeah, I bet Pete made her give him a sad handy j in the office restroom in order to keep her job.

Loula, I am so behind on Mad Men but because of you and your awesomeness I'm up to speed.

Egad, Miss F did just what I knew she'd do and why she did it. She is straight out of the book "Why Do Women Love Too Much". She's been setting herself up for a minute: she called Don out for what he was and how he was. But instead of keeping her self respect she opened her legs. Not for the sex but so she can be a martyr. I thought that and it was confirmed when her ill brother comes along. She's got to save him- she's got to save everybody. That's why she's a teacher. I betcha one or both of her parents were alcoholic or emotionally unavailable or both. She's not married because she can't find someone. She's not married because no one excites her like a married man who wants a clandestine love affair only 2 miles from his wife. How can Don get rid of this bunny boiler? Say he wants to marry her and run away with her. She'll go ice cold. It's worked for him before. When he said run away with me with his old artsy mistress and with Rachel, they ran - the other way. He needs to do this before she gets pregnant. You know they ain't using condoms and I bet her use of birth control is sketchy.

If Sterling Cooper goes down, I think Don will disappear. He already said before if he leaves this company he wasn't going to stay in the advertising business. It's not like he needs money or anything.

I wonder what Betty is going to do. On one hand she can leave him because of fraud, take all the money, and get a brand new uber rich husband while she's still beautiful enough to do it. But this is also the 60s and I'm sure she's thinking: "All this time I'm really just his mistress and our children are bastards." Sad sad sad.

This is why Peggy will run a company of her own in 20 years: she gets it. Something Paul with his beatnik angst and Ivy league education has gotten yet. Don doesn't care if you come with nada to a meeting. He cares if you can't think on your feet and take an idea, a mere smidgen of one, and spin it out into this glorious slice of Americana.

Oh yeah why does Lois still have a job????

Betty the resentful bitch is way more interesting than Betty the histrionic housewife. After a few mediocre episodes, the show is back on track for me.

Funny, Loula, I thought the lunch Paul ate when talking to the janitor's was Sal's. I saw that as imagery of Sal actually being gone for good. I guess I only saw the S-A. How wrong was I?

What happened to Paul's marriage with the black woman (I can't remember her name.) And, when he was masturbating and screaming for Peggy... coupled with his admiration of her work ability, might he be attracted to her? Remember, she had sex with Pete in his office, men talk, and maybe Paul thought he could get in on the action.

I really hope that MM doesn't turn Ms. F into a total psycho, because that would not be interesting. As Betty pulls away from him, it would be more interesting that Ms. F starts to make more demands of his attention and time and his response to her. We all know Don doesn't respect women who "need" him, he values independence and is attracted to that quality. But as Ms. F mirrors him in some ways, he will become too entrenched in her life.

From what I've seen so far, Don isn't going to be leaving Betty anytime soon. Yes he is very turned on by Miss F but he was very turned on by all his other women too. She's no different in terms of what he's sexually attracted to, she is different in a couple of ways that have been pointed out by Loula and others in that she knows his family and lives close enough to increase his chances of getting caught. And she's already told him she doesn't care about anything else going on in his life.

But here's why he's not going anywhere. He's got a lot invested in the life of Don Draper he created. He took on that identity to create a life he wants...beautiful wife, a few kids, nice home, nice car, money, position, power, respect and a sense of worth. He can talk a good game telling her HE didn't care about who knows but he was trying to get into those panties. Don't men say anything for the price of admission?

And I thought the train scene was the most telling of his intentions. He got real nervous and stayed that way, handing her a piece of his newspaper and watching every passenger that walked past to see if anybody suspected anything. I know, I know he showed her some tenderness but again, the first of the affair seems to be the sweetest before the stank hits the fan.

One more thing, if he really didn't care about who knows he would have went to that dinner alone and made her excuses after Betty said she didn't want to go. After all he is Don, Master of His World but he knows his limits.

Just one more thing. I agree with slutty_whore (normally those are fighting words!)in her description of Betty as a "resentful bitch" now that she's found out Don was married before. Who wouldn't resent that secret being kept by her husband. This should bring an edge to her dealings with Don (possibly make her more appealing to him...again) or move her to seek out Henry creating more tension in the Draper marriage.

I still don't think she's put 2+2 together regarding his identity but a divorce decree and deed to a home in California, she gets that. If the swagger she showed in Rome translates to boldly going west, I'd say we're in for a treat!

s_w...Paul was never married to the black woman. They were dating and he went with her to some protest marches in the south but she broke up with him while they were away or shortly thereafter.

Thanks 1woman.... I wasn't sure what happened to her, but I guess I'd dump Paul, too! LMAO.

Oh, I definitely agree that Betty has a right to be resentful and I doubt she's put everything together also. (I guess these are the days before private investigators!)

On other MM sites, they've been reading a lot into Betty reading "The Group" because the main character is a lesbian. I recall Betty screaming at Sally about not becoming a lesbian or acting like one, which at the time, seemed out of place. Could Betty turn gay as a result of being rejected by Henry and Don's complete betrayal?

Has anyone that book that could provide insight? Loula, 1woman?

"Could Betty turn gay as a result of being rejected by Henry and Don's complete betrayal?"

Bitter?...Hell yeah!

Gay? Nah.

Well now that I'm thinking about it, if we really want to stretch the possibilities, how about she finds solace in the arms of Miss F after Don betrays both of them?

I know it's a wild "what if" but slutty_whore started it!

I don't know anything about the book btw.

You know, I remember when Betty made that little comment about Sally handling tools like a little lesbian (huh huh, tools) that it wasn't the first time she's said something like that. But now of course I can't remember what the other reference was. It might just be just another "it's the 60s!" thing, like this week when the car came to the house and Bobby said "The driver's Chinese!" like that was the most hilarious thing ever. So I don't know - I should have read more about The Group, because they don't just toss in props like that without it meaning something.

I think, though, that this is just another balance of power thing for her. Don's got his secrets, well, she has hers too now, and one of them is that she *knows* his secrets. It's a nice passive aggressive way to react to this new information, I like it and I hope they keep it simmering.

Re: Miss Farrell, I don't think she'll actually be bunny boiling crazy, but yes, she's very obviously getting a little clingy and needy - the train thing was really too much - and Don's okay with that now, but I don't think he will be for long. And with his other girlfriends, the fallout was easy to leave behind. With this one he's going to have a lot of trouble keeping it separate from his family.

And I guess I edited out the parts where I agree, I don't think Betty's put everything together, ie, that he's really Dick Whitman. I think she just realized that his secrets are deeper than she thought, and once she got to that divorce decree that's kind of all she could think about. Although she did have all those hours and hours with that box to think about it, so maybe she did put it together if she dug through it a few more times. I'd love for her to find out from Anna Draper though, mostly because I liked her, and I think she'd probably welcome Betty with open arms, and that might be fun to watch Betty react to.

Oh, and Paul's black girlfriend, I'm pretty sure, broke up with him because she felt like he was using her as a "look how hip I am, with my black girlfriend!" prop. Which he kind of was. Because he is kind of a douche. Although another thing I guess I ended up not mentioning is that I can see how he and Peggy might work together, and that's never occurred to me before this episode.

Cannot WAIT to see Joan next week!

Regarding "The Group," the two trains of thought are that Betty is either going to become a lesbian or she is suicidal. To me, the lesbian thing is more likely because she has mentioned it before with Sally (perhaps projecting her feelings) and the type of attention she desires to be lavished upon herself might be more likely found in a lesbian relationship than a heterosexual one.

As you can see, I'm not working much today...

Loula I like your take on the balance of power now that Betty knows a little more about Don's past. It will certainly influence her relationship with him and he'll see the change in her. Question is will he figure out she knows something before she tells?

Another thing I found interesting was she put the box and key back after the confrontation that wasn't. So, if she wasn't alerted to the question of his identity, she won't have an opportunity to go through those things again. She'll learn it another way. A trip to CA seems inevitable right now.

I read The Group and also saw the film a bajillion years ago. As I recall the lesbian, while part of the group of women from a women's college, wasn't really a main character--just the most colorful one back in the day. There were really only two or three main characters, and the lesbian was one of the "supporting cast." BTW, in the film, a beautiful young Candace Bergen played her--also an ice blond young woman.

Just remembered something else about The Group, one of the truly main characters kills herself by the end of the story. That brings all the other women who'd been part of the group back together, and THAT was when the lesbian character is actually outed, as she brings her butch partner to the funeral.

That's really interesting, because from the very beginning people have been comparing Betty to Sylvia Plath. I don't see them going that route, but most people in real life don't either, so who knows. I really hope this show ends with the Draper marriage still intact.

Good point about the key, 1woman. I wonder if she snagged anything from the box before she put it back?

I was thinking that the absolute most shocking way to end this arc would be for Don to just start from the beginning and tell her the truth. I don't think it would fix anything, or even change much, but I like the idea of him knowing when he's beaten and just saying "fuck it, why am I even bothering anymore." I like the idea of the two of them having that secret between them. And I think it's hilarious that that would be gasp-out-loud shocking.

Thanks all....You've given us lots to think about.Perhaps Miss F will commit suicide... leaving behind a beloved student body and an angry brother with Don's card & with great stories of 2 am meetings.I miss Sal and Joan! Pete has been way under the radar. Is there any Campbelll money left to buy SC? That would make Don shit himself!! Even better to see SC become!Campbell, Draper & Sterling!HA! as if! Could Anna Draper be a lesbian? now that would be a trip to CA! can't wait to see the last 3!!!

Oh yeah....could you imagine what Betty would do if the internet was available!

Fun piece, as usual, but to my surprise, you mispelled "Thally" and "Dwaper Residence."