That's a pretty interesting question, JAMM54. Personally, I think Betty is bored with the Don that comes home every night, doesn't get the job done in bed, and submits to everything she wants. Boy, that tow truck driver was sleazy. Someone on another thread mentioned they thought she could have been raped. I thought that for a minute too. As for the stable guy, his name is Arthur in the credits, so I think we'll be seeing more of him.

On a side note, I wonder if Betty is still going to therapy.

I think that all along, like many women of the time and in the series, Betty knows that she is supposed to play the role of the patient, supportive woman at home, but she doesn't like it. She's always tending to that responsibility in a latent fashion -- not on the tip of her toes to serve when Don gets home, but then almost being rattled back into the role to offer a "Should I make you something to eat?" In the season opener, she reaches out to Helen's son "because I can't talk to anyone about this" and she knows he is too yong to have a contrarian point of view on her feelings. All along it seems she has been toying with what it would be like to be one of the Manhattan girls. Remember she didn't like the way the family picture came across in Don's office? She imagines life in the city to be much more exciting, and I think she is jealous of Don's daily routine. She was almost giddy at going to the Savoy and was geared up for a night of fast living, but it didn't work out. She always has a fantasy picture in her mind that life doesn't ever seem to match. I'm wondering if some of it is driven by a dynamic that existed between her late mother and her father...she is almost obsessive about the pre-occupation with her father, her mother's passing and the new woman in her father's life. I wonder if her father was the same way as Don and she sees herself slipping into her mother's shoes? Betty continues to be one of the most fascinating characters on the show!

I don't know if it's payback so much as Betty finding her own strength and power. If in Season 1 she was anxious and angry, I think by now she's found ways to channel those emotions -- horseback riding, independence. I'm not entirely sure she wants revenge on Don, just to assert herself as an individual. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see some other young lad get a little further with her than did the truck driver (or Don for that matter)

I think Betty is very much suffering from 'The Problem that Has No Name.' She has "everything" a woman of the time should want - "adoring" husband, (for all of their issues it's clear Don loves or at least cares deeply for her), "beautiful" children and a "nice" house in a "nice" neighborhood. Oh, and she's beautiful - blonde hair, blue eyes, and to confirm society's approval of her looks, she used to work as a model. However with all of that, she is not happy and yearns for a more fulfilling, stimulating life.

We saw a bit of this conflict between her perfect life and her last season with her "hands" problem and the travelling salesmen (when she discovered the magic of the spin cycle LOL!), and her attempt to get back into modelling. She seems to be throwing herself into various activities like the horseback riding to deal with this.

I do think we might see Betty have an affair this year, as this episode alluded to several times (the horse, flirty chat at the stables and of course the mechanic). I think though, like her flirtation with the mechanic, that may be less about sex and more about Betty's increasing desire to assert herself and go after what she needs and wants, rather than what the men of the society say she should be happy with.

It will be very interesting in 1963 when Betty Friedan's (is the fact that they share the same name a coincidence?) "The Feminine Mystique" comes out to see how Betty reacts to that, as her character would surely read it!

......I'm hoping that's one of the reasons Colin Hanks is joining the cast; to give Betty "hot pants".

Jamm, I think Betty's path wil have many twists and turns this season - and not all of them leading to good places!

I read an interview withJanuary Jones in the New York Times that she was hoping that her character Betty will be having an affair this season, but the shows writer told her no.
Its good to see that there are fans of Mad Men who like Betty as while reading last seasons fans comments most of them hated her.
I found Betty to be the most interesting female on the show, you really don't know what she is thinking and she gives the impression that at any moment she will break out and do something wild.

I've been waffling on this issue for—is it only Tuesday?—two days now and I think it would be quite hypocritical for Betty to submit to an affair but continue to uphold her desire for Don to be faithful. Preliminary evidence is setting her up for internal conflict, but I'm hoping by the end of the season we'll end up with at least one faithful marriage. Nearly everybody on the show is cheating on their spouse!

Seems to me Betty is looking for reassurance about her attractiveness, because of Don's problems in the sack.

I think she will end up having an affair. I thought I saw something about her becoming friends again wtih a old friend. Maybe that will be the "Pary Girl" she and Don ran into. Maybe she will introduce her to a new way of looking at marriage and fidelity? (Just theorizing here).

I hope we're not going to see Betty sending the kids over to Francine, and greeting Don at the door in Saranwrap, a la "The Sensuous Woman". Of course it would be indicative of Betty's "creativity" a decade or less before the book came out.

Maybe she better buy "Sex and the Single Girl" because she's going to end up that way if Don finds out (remember Roger and the elevator?).

For all Don's apparent depression/apathy in "Thinking Young, Feeling Old", Betty fooling around with other men would steam him pretty good.

bluesonali, I think Betty already has "hot pants".

madisonave, Betty was almost unnaturally possessive about her dad. Especially when she went on about the girlfriend coming on to her dad at her mom's funeral (she didn't), and their sleeping arrangement at the vacation house. Both comments were about sex, in essence, regarding her dad and the girlfriend. It didn't "sound" right, like something was very strange about Betty's point of view.

Still think this isn't about Betty becoming a nymphomanic because she's starved for sexual attention/affirmation - I think it's tainted with revenge overtones.

Bocaratonfan: I agree with you all the way - Betty's in for a wild and hairy ride. She's just not as smooth as Don in that field, and might have a hard time getting herself out of awkward situations with men.

MadShrubbery, come to think of it, all the guys (Don, Roger, Harry, Pete) were unfaithful last season. Looks like they've all signed up for "Fidelity Fair" this year and are miserably depressed or subdued - take your pick. I think the good times are over for awhile.Only one who recovered and is happy in marriage is Harry.

Oh, I think Betty "passed" therapy, ekg719!

To me, Betty having child-like emotions explains her reaction to her Father's girlfriend. Very few preteen girls would have taken the new girlfriend in stride.

The thing about Betty that is really troubling to me, is the constant lying, especailly to Francine, her best friend. Maybe the, "No time for television", comment I could see, but lying that it was SHE that pointed out her friend was the party girl, not Don, is just pathological lying. Again, a lack of self esteem, I believe, is the culprit.

I believe we will have a much darker Betty, which should be fun. I don't see her wearing the bright cheerful "Fairy Princess" dresses. I think she is headed more towards the dark side of her character.

Maybe Betty's headed for stint of "Belle Du Jour".

You know fatphil, I never even noticed Betty's lying tendencies. A good trait to have if you're contemplating infidelity.

Her childlike emotions fits about her dad, because they were unreasonable for a 28 year old married woman of several years with kids of her own. Betty voiced her complaints just like a petty, jealous kid not getting enough of daddy's attention. The psychiatrist did say she had the emotions of a child.

It will be fun to see what she's up to! Yikes, Betty, the narcisstic "Lolita" psychopath.

I'll admit it from the start, I love Betty. I don't find her reactions unusual at all. Betty lost her mother and was angry/jealous about the father's new girlfriend. That seems rather normal. Don went looking for a Stepford wife to adorn his arm and that is precisely what he got. So she wants her husband to be faithful, who doesn't?
I thought that Don really kept her at arm's length all last season. She told him that she thought about sex with him all day long and he basically blew her off because he was seeing other women. I don't believe she has a dark side, I think she has a strong side that we will be seeing this season. I doubt she will have an affair because I believe that would be unrealistic for the time and also because I think she wants Don.
Personally, I find both the Rachel and Midge characters much less realistic than Betty. The stakes for women were very high in 1962. It was difficult to reliably prevent pregnancy. Pregnancy outside of marriage was unthinkable for people in this social class. Look at Peggy's denial. I can't wait to see what happens but I doubt it will be outrageous.
Betty lied to Francine to maintain her image of perfection. That was very important to people of that era. I think that was the reason for the Jackie Kennedy White House tour reference. Jackie lived in Camelot with her perfect husband and everyone wanted to be just like her. Betty rides horses just like Jackie did.

Betty, the quiet sweet one, who, until she's hit her limit, will erupt in rage, I think. I think she's REALLY angry about Don's infidelities.

One of the many things that I love about Mad Men is that there is good and bad in ALL the characters. Very, very believable and the same in real life. Betty is not all bad and she is not all good.

I disagree about the Rachel and Midge characters. Rachel, the smart as a whip son substitute, and Midge, the smart, powerful women who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. Both of these women, although attractive, give Don the hot pants because of their intelligence, powerful personallities and individualities , especially Rachel.

These women challenge Don. Betty, to this point, does not. Don is very, very intelligent. Bert Cooper may approach it. The other is Ken Cosgrove--"Let's see if Cooper is smart enough to know that Duck is the best candidate" and the line about Don having the noose with Duck's name on it behind his desk. Also, Peggy is another. She has more onions than Pete's whole group combined.

Don shows his intelligence when Sterling tells him it was Cooper who told him to get new blood and Don replied to tell Duck he said "something" about the the "new blood". It told Sterling he knew where the new blood idea came from, that it was Duck not Cooper. Slick.

Betty is an intelligent woman. She has a degree from Bryn Mawr, or so the descriptor on this website says. Some women in the early 1960's were beginning to create lives of their own. Betty might just do that, much to Don's chagrin. (Remember how she modeled for that other agency when that other agency was courting Don last season? Don didn't take the job, and the other agency got rid of Betty faily quickly.) Instead of an affair, some sort of job, even if it was part-time, would make Don uneasy. However, she would present the job in some sort of innocent way and Don would have no control over her success or failure. That would really upset him. I think deep down, Betty knows this.

In Season One, Betty was 28. Now she's 30, and although that's not a big jump in time, there's something, a rite of passage, that goes along with becoming 30 (at least to a woman). I'm not sure if age 30 meant "over the hill" to a lot of women in the 60's, but to Betty it might mean that she's finally discovering her sexuality. Maybe she's tired of being the blond, plastic perfect wife and mother. Now she's flirting around...but she's still not savvy.
As Don watched her walk down those stairs in the hotel, he looked at her like she was a beautiful angel and not a sex goddess. I guess her get-up just before bed didn't change his image of her and apparently isn't going to any time soon.

And yet, in the movie Heaven Can Wait (1943 version with Don Ameche and Gene Tierney) the lead couple were considered elderly (gray and white hair, wrinkles and all) while celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary - which put them in their late 40s, maybe 50. In fact Gene Tierney dies of a heart condition just about then.

I guess it depends on your definition of ingenue. Usually it's an innocent young girl, gentle, sweet, virginal and/or naive, girl-next-door type.

Liz Taylor, age 30 in 1962, hadn't had an ingenue role since maybe Ivanhoe ten years or so earlier. Cleopatra was yet to come but she'd already played Gloria in BUtterfield 8 in 1960. Shirley Jones is a couple of years younger but even in The Music Man she hardly seemed dewy (The Sadder But Wiser Girl.) Now Sandra Dee WAS 20 in 1962 and could pull off ingenue. Maybe Carrol Baker (31); Sue Lyon (Lolita) was 16, the real thing for age but not attitude. Mary Tyler Moore was 26 but while perky (early version of spunky) was not really an ingenue.

The "daddy's little girl" stuff is the most revealing thing about Betty, another symptom that Betty doesn't feel in control of her world. Episode 14's juxtaposition of Betty with real footage of 1962's belle ideal, the chatelaine of Camelot, Jackie Kennedy is fascinating. I had forgotten what a total Barbie Jackie was. Her trite, vacuous comments about the rooms, and that horrible voice that combined the breathiness of Marilyn with the tony accent of a Seven Sisters grad... egad! Scary stuff, kids!

If Betty, on the other hand, is a Bryn Mawr grad, she has asserted a certain amount of independence by not adopting "Locust Valley Lockjaw," the habit of drawling through closed teeth that is--or was, even unto my generation--a trademark of Bryn Mawr girls. Think "Bunny Upson" from "Auntie Mame."

Thanks for the comparison, paisley! If you hadn't mentioned "Bunny Upson", I wouldn't have gotten it. She was a hoot!

I like the name "Locust Valley Lockjaw" that's hysterical.