I don't think of Miss Farrell as free thinking and liberal; I think she will prove to be needy and messed-up sort of a Gloria Trillo (Sopranos) type, and Don will have trouble getting rid of her.
She is playing at being hip by bringing up Medgar Evers at the Parent/Teacher conference and talking about reading MLK's speech to her students, yet she is clearly a looney by calling the Draper's home the night Betty went into labor. She had no idea with whom she would speak, but she probably suspected that Betty would be insecure in her marriage to a man like Don while she was 9 months pregnant so either way her call would work. She started flirting with Don right there in the classroom and most likely began planning how she could seduce him. Of course, Don being Don, if he is at all interested, there is little seduction necessary.
I don't think it is Rachel Menken who is the old client coming back in episode 11, but if it were, and she were divorcing Tilden Katz, that would be the end of Miss Farrell.
I have been a fan from the start of MM, and I don't care for the character at all--no subllety and no real sex appeal--so I'm kind of surprised at MW for introducing her.I hope she is gone by the end of the season.
It is not that I don't expect him to or really even mind that Don is going to have affairs, but I do think it needs to be believable; this one is not. The pilot was exceptional. He romanced three women , and you believed he loved them all but not Miss Farrell. It is just not believable.
One final thought. I wonder if Betty had not been so cold to Don when he came back home the evening after their return from Rome, if he would even be doing this. I know he was both hurt and puzzled by her attitude when he gave her the charm. People try to put a modern spin on what Betty may have been feeling about being back home after the thrill of Rome and that Don should have been sensitive to that, but you have to remember the time period. Most women just did not get to travel at all after they had children.

The grifter on the road was more representative of the changing 60s culture to come than Suzanne is. She's relegated herself to one of the traditional occupations for women (teacher, nurse, librarian, waitress) and is clearly not happy but is also not making any move to change her lot in life beyond fooling around with someone else's husband - a thoroughly old-fashioned move on her part.

Her dress may be modern but her actions are not. She "knows how this will end" because she's done this before. It's not the new morals (or lack thereof) of the 1960s, it's the old as sin, temptation and infidelity that has plagued human relations since the dawn of time.

Congrats, all.....let us know if you get that cool travel (?) mug....(unless you want the poster)

I hope the swag is not just being awarded for commenting on the main Talk page because I still can't get on there. I think the MM avatar maker freaked my computer out or Explorer 8- I still haven't figured it out! I got the pen a long time ago; I'd like the mug or poster.

I'm glad I'm not the only one unimpressed with the modernism of Miss Farrell. Unless MW is trying to use her to represent the freedom Don is lacking this season, I just can't imagine what he is thinking. And really, a garrett over the garage in his own neighborhood, the Don who fired Lois for not "managing people's expectations of him" would never do this. Someone has really dropped the ball here
Don's women of the past: Midge, Rachel, Bobbie, even Joy all had that spark. You knew it was cheating, but you looked forward to their scenes together With Miss Farrell, I cringe.
I'm glad she knows how it ends, and I sure hope it ends soon with her.

@AA and kathiemarie: Enjoyed your comments on Miss Farrell. AA, I agree...and I think that Miss Farrell is maybe a hypocrite (or more dramatically a wolf (as someone else said "feral") in sheep's clothing. Agree, kathie, that she almost makes me "cringe," but I think the writers know what they are doing. I cringe, but with suspense, because this is just another female "type" that Don is experimenting with. She's definitely different from either Midge, Rachel, Bobbie, Joy or the airline stewardess. With those women, we knew who they were pretty quickly, i.e. they weren't playing games in trying to be something other than they presented on the surface. But, in reading through many different comments on the blog about Suzanne Farrell, it's clear that she enjoys playing disparate emotional roles, and wants to keep Don guessing. This is a way of attempting to stay in control, I think. I don't think Don's encountered this in a woman before. One thing we suspect that Don doesn't know yet: she's not "dumb," and I doubt she's "pure," --in any sense of that word. But I could be wrong as to the latter, I suppose. Maybe she is pure (and ultimately loyal) to a core set of ideal values (like trying, in the way she can, to promote MLK's message). We shall see.

After seeing Episode 10, My opinion of Miss Farrell is even lower. She said she did not care about Don's marriage or his kids or his job as long as she knows he is with her! What a load of **** (I censored myself)! She is going to be trouble, and will probably do like Adam did when Don eventually cuts her off, or worse. She definitely called the house that night; next time he doesn't call her, she'll probably show up at work and then on his doorstep!
Don has really screwed up this time!

It's funny, most women hate Ms. Farrell, well, I think it's because she is so attractive in that "girl next door" kind of way - wavy brown hair and she is beautiful.

Betsy is beautiful also, but quite the bitch usually (although interestingly not so much in the last episode before finding the shoebox from the past).

Absolutely fatal attraction. Suzanne definitely called the house (Henry wouldn't, hang ups are childish). She is a new sort of trouble for Don, although I am one of those irritated women that finds Miss Farrell annoying and wishes Don would have hit her with his car that dark morning--so some may count my opinion as frivolous. Betty is fantastic, just remember she is doing double duty with those kids. She fills both parental roles because Don is too busy with other things.

Love ,love this show. I graduated from college in the late fifties and married soon thereafter. Brings back a lot of memories. I , too, think Miss Farrell is trouble. She is a predator in girl-next-door clothing. Oh Don, you have met your match this time!! She went in "with her eyes open" and those eyes want what Betty has.Just my take on it. These writers are brilliant with so many twists and turns and constant surprises. The consensus of my friends is that Miss Farrell is not a sympathetic character and we hope her saga ends soon. Don is a looney but a sexy looney!! Betty is a long suffering wife (typical of the time). Also , unlike the little teacher she is well-educated and had an interesting life before Don. Can you blame her for feeling frustrated, from a career to a housewife with three kids with a philandering husband. A little aside, when I went to BU school of nursing we did our psychiatric affiliation at Bedford and no way could Don have made a round trip to Framingham, Mass and back to Ossining before the dawn. At least a five hour plus trip one way in those days. That brother is also a potential time bomb.!

I think Don has got himself a bunny boiler on his hands. She was the one who called the house and Don is going to wish he hadn't fallen into her trap. I love Betty and I feel so sorry for her because she is being both mother and father to those kids while Don is being a jerk bedding everyone with a pulse. Last season he said he loved Betty butthis season he realized how much his kids mean to him but Don is reluctant cahnge. I think that Miss Farrell is going to get more needy and possessive as the affair continues and Don is going to have to do some quick thinking if he is going to keep his marriage and family.

Ever since we first say Miss Ferrell doing the Maypole Dance with the children, I thought she represented the free-spirited "hippie" type that emerged during the '60's. With her hair and her bare feet and the way she dresses and she even jogs (!), she is definitely a free spirit. Even though she is in a traditional woman's job as a teacher, her looks and behavior and the things she says place her outside of the norm. Think of the other women Don has been involved with -- he is definitely attracted to strong, independent women who do what they want and don't care what sociey thinks of them. Midge -- an artist who lives in the Village and smokes pot. Rachel -- runs a department store, she's powerful and independent. Bobbie - manages her husband's career, knows exactly what she wants and goes after it. And Joy -- could anyone be more unconventional? Poor Betty is so confined and uptight and restricted -- everything these other women he's attracted to are not. He escapes from her to be with the free spirits. Someone said that Miss Ferrel may be the one who helps Don loosen up and lose his button-down life stype. Doubtful he will remain on Madison Avenue if that happens. Love this show! Can't wait to see Betty come home & find good old Miss Ferrell waiting for her in the kitchen, butcher knife in hand. Or whatever the M.W. equivalent of such a scene will be!

I agree that there is a lot of animus directed at Miss Farrell by many posters, but not because she is attractive, but that most women's intuition is on high alert with females of her ilk.

Women can just sense trouble and try their best to avoid it yet men want the trouble and can't wait to take the ride. I see Miss Farrell as the she-wolf in Little Red Riding Hood's clothing; Don will find that he has gone to grandma's house a few too many times, I fear.

Peaches of 8--you look just like Donna Reed. Lovely!
Yes, we women are sensing trouble with Miss Farrell. Here's why. She-wolf is right on the mark. She and her "brother" may well be grifters and, perhaps, lovers themselves, out to shake down our Don. Clues? Miss Farrell's libido seemed to take a dive after she got Don to do her bidding, by transporting her dear, hapless brother to his new job in MA in the middle of the night. Why, oh why, did Don give that creep his business card? A moment of uncharacteristic empathy, and one that will no doubt come back to haunt him. Miss Farrell's power lies in her ability to tap into Don's deeply buried guilt feelings about the past. Who knows how much she knows?

It's easy to imagine Miss Farrell doing a bit of background work on the parents of her little charges. Who's got the big bucks? Whose Daddy has a reputation as a brazen skirt chaser? Whose high-profile career could suffer if his extra-marital affairs--or worse!--came to light?

Even after last night's episode, I still have not changed my opinion of Miss Farrell, and I hope Don is through with her for good.
He had better be because if Betty catches him again, she will divorce him and take most of "all this" from him.
More importantly, all hell's getting ready to break loose at SC so he needs to focus on the company.

Ok, I'm a woman and I gotta say, I don't think Ms. Farrell is a bunny boiler at all! I don't get where anyone is seeing this! So she drunk dialed him one night! People do that, they don't have to be nuts. I think she was just as attracted to Don as he was to her, and I think so far she's been a very independent, grounded person who resisted his advances, unlike many others. "Women of her ilk" - seems a bit harsh. Lot's of different women have had affairs with Don, it doesn't make them evil. I don't sense a wolf in her at all. It seems like she's a good teacher, sensitive to her students. She's a career person, in one of the only careers open to women of her time: a nurse, a secretary, or a school teacher... unless you had money, which she doesn't. Betty is the right woman for Don Draper, but Dick Whitman is a lonely man, who found solace in the arms of Ms. Farrell. I like her, and I totally see the attraction. Don could be his real self with her, in a way he can't be with Betty. The proof is in the pudding: she sensed something had gone wrong and she waited until dark to discreetly leave the car. She didn't come barging in the door w/ a meat cleaver. I thought that image of her walking away in her little flat shoes, carrying her suitcases was as poignant an image as I've seen on the show. I wish Ms. Farrell well, and hope to see more of her. Her brother on the other hand... OY! Now, HE looks like trouble.

NYLolo11, I think you are right about Betty and Miss Farrell suiting Don/Dick, but I do hope that now that Don has finally confessed to Betty, that he can repair the dichotomy in his personality. I hope Don wins out, and if he does, Betty is definitely the wife for him. Otherwise,as Dick Whitman he is better suited to Miss Farrell.

I figured she'd get the hint and go back home when Don didn't come back out, but my husband thought she was going to come to the door. The scenes were well written and added an element of suspense to the revelations. When you look back to Nixon Versus Kennedy, though you realize that he is really is Don Draper like he told Betty. He gave a couple of faint attempts to go back out once he saw that his family was home, but that was only Don's self preservation pattern not Dick's flight pattern. When he saw realized that Betty knew, Don Draper completely took over and what Don had to lose was way more important than what Dick had to lose, ie. Miss Farrell. Don did the confessing to his wife, Dick would have run out the back door when baby Gene cried. I do think he felt bad that she was sitting in the car, but he slept like a baby (first time he'd slept like that at home in a long time) after he told Betty almost everything.

Can you blame Don for being attracted to Miss Farrell? She is real. Betty is not. She is a bird in a guilded cage, born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She was educated but has not job, has a maid to help her take care of the kids, is cold and distant to her daughter. Her talents are as followings

being beautiful
shopping
gossiping about her friends.
feeling sorry for herself

Miss Farrell, on the other hand, seems like a very giving person, giving to her students, to her brother, and to Don.

I think mad men divides women into two basic categories, losers and winners.

The losers are:
Betty Draper
All of her married friends.
Lane's English wife always complaining about NYC.
Roger's new wife, Jane
Roger's old wife, Mona
Lois, the incarnation of incompetence

The winners are;
Joan(definitely kicks ass), loved it when she smacked her crybaby husband with a vase
Peggy
Rachel from Menke's department store
Miss Farrell

MIss Farrell's personality is a total farce. The lines she has spoken are so weird.....She contradicts herself over and over. Hard to believe we are hearing what we are from her because the writing for EVERY other character is impeccable. Maybe it's the actor's delivery? I hope we've seen the last of her. I don't think there is any reason Don would be attracted to her other than her willingness to be available sexually.
Her brother is probably going to be back and it will be HIM that is trouble for Don.
I agree with the "winners and losers" list from DonNotDraper...Except that Miss Farrell is definitely a loser.