I TOTALLY DISAGREE!!!!! Don is controlling himself and you can see it in his face. He was subjected to violence as a child and he does not want to repeat that pattern with Bobby. Betty bugging him is so annoying but then I realized she didn;t know about his childhood until he told her in that scene when they were laying in bed. Maybe she'll back off now

The fact is that there have been too many signs demonstrating that Don is a volcano waiting to explode.

I am glad he pushed her. She has been pushing him for a while now. I don't condone physical abuse but it is going both ways. Betty needs to deal with her issues. Don is far from being the best husband in the world but she knows him. Hopefully, she will back off.

I agree but he is figting it with all of his might and I do not see him as "thuggish". I gasped when he pushed Betty back but in retrospect I expected nothing less. And it's his own fault because he never shared that with Betty before.

I see their relationship (Don/Betty) blossoming a little. They are now dealing with REAL issues (like raising adolescent children) and are learning as they go along. They are 2 people who really don;t know how to be parents yet.

I side with lorantscan. Don is controlling himself as best he can. His reactions are very common for a man who was beaten by his father as a young child. Looking back, I see that my own father's outbursts of temper, usually when my mother was "at him" to "do something" came on the same way. Years later I found out that my father had been beaten by his father, and he had vowed never to beat his own children if he had a family. He never hit us or my mother and I don;t recall him throwing things, though he did blow up verbally (much worse than Don) and storm out to cool off. Yet I now see he just did the best he could, in order not to act out physically. I admire him for doing the only thing he knew to do. People did not get counseling in those days and it was considered normal to knock your kids around to vent your own anger and frustration, even if it had nothing to do with the kid's misbehavior. My dad grew up in the depression.

Don't get me wrong - I see nothing wrong with punishing your kids when they deserve it - but there is a line between punishment (Spanking) and violence/cruelty.

What amazes me is how little Don and Betty know about each other. Know wonder they are not on the same page regarding discipline. Wonder if Sally got in trouble for having a few at the office?

What amazes me is how little Don and Betty know about each other. No wonder they are not on the same page regarding discipline. Wonder if Sally got in trouble for having a few at the office?

Oh Puh-LEEZ! I wanted to push Betty through the window myself. My heart breaks for that little boy. Betty is all about Betty. The violence was not about Don breaking a plastic toy. The violence was in Betty wanting Don to physically punish that child. She truly seems to dislike Bobby.

My take is that the little boy has either a learning or emotional disability going on, during a time when these things were not understood or tolerated in children.

Don's brother had the same traits. He was a little slow and very innocent. Bobby reminds me of a younger version of him.

I think Don will take anything from Betty ... except what he views as mistreatment of his children.

No, No, No,...if that speech Don gave to his wife in bed says anything it's that he's aware of how violence effects people! I might be going out on a limb here but someone on another thread commented that Don's son reminded them of Don's little brother (who we met in season 1)- it was implied that Don's (when he was Dick Whitman) little brother might've be 'slow'. Pair that with MicheleKay's thoughts on a learning disable theroy.

Is it not possible that Don's younger brother was 'hit one too many times'?? and Don always protected him after that...till he went to war in Korea.

I LOVED the scene with Don and his son. His little boy asks about Don's dad and says we need to get you a 'new one' and it's sooo touching! - He later reveals how much he hated his own father for being violent and you realize Don wouldn't hurt his kids out of anger.

Betty is a 'nagger' it's like that scene from "Terms of Endearment" with Jack Nicolson...Betty should be happy with ALL that Don does for her. Geez, she's even got a Helper!....Maybe Don deserves to be the 'Hero'! Betty never considers the pressure Don's under daily!...she's living the 'Domestic Dream'....it's not all about Betty!- Go get Don a sandwich Betty!- lol.

Except for the part about not knowing ANYTHING about each other (if Don't parents are alive or not), the Drapers are like a lot of couples - they have major emotional issues from their past to overcome.

I agree with others about Don trying to control his anger. Like many people who were abused as children, Don could easily become an abusive father and husband himself. He's trying to hold back, and he's disgusted with himself when he does act on his anger in a physical way. He wants to be a good father, and he is very sweet with his kids. When his son told him he needed a "new dad", it broke my heart. Don needs to give and receive more tenderness in his life.

Betty obviously has issues of her own, especially in the way that she treats her children differently, being fanatically harder on Bobbie than Sally. It probably is wrapped up in the way her mother raised her, and her ideas of gender roles, but she seems to have contempt for Bobbie, and perhaps males in general. I can understand her feeling overwhelmed with being a stay at home mom (what mother doesn't feel outnumbered by her kids sometimes and just wants someone else to pick up the slack!), and now that she understands Don's childhood a little better, I hope she doesn't harp on him to be the strict disciplinarian.

Give it a frickin' rest. This is violent behavior? Did anybody spit out any teeth? In high school, when I had a "ferocious rage" I picked a punk up, who was tramping on my heels on purpose, over my head and threw him down a flight of marble stairs. He didn't land too well and was busted up fairly badly. Interestingly, he never tramped on my heels again. That was a righteous "ferocious rage". A little shove that doesn't even cause anybody to fall over is not a "ferocious rage" but a love tap. Clearly you were'nt born into a German family. My brother and I did more than that on a daily basis and we love each other.

I still say his violent tendencies are alarming.

Bobby's lying is really bugging Betty because Betty is married to someone who lies. It's not hard to see how she makes the connection between Don and Bobby, so she doesn't want history to repeat itself. Spanking was considered fairly normal back then I think, but Betty and Don should have discussed discipline somewhere between conception and now. That's typical because a lot of parents just wing it. My mother NEVER used that line "Wait till your father gets home", but I remember hearing my friends' moms use that threat all the time. My mother was the one to give the swats (not hard...just one to get your attention). I never spanked my kids, btw.
I was waiting for Betty to start the spanking but now, since Don has finally decided to share some of his shadowy past, perhaps she understands. It's too bad he couldn't have talked this out with Betty long ago. But no, he's too busy covering up and being preoccupied with work. He could have diffused some of his anger by talking to Betty about his bad day just as she asked him to. No, he finally explodes. Childish! Maybe Don needs the shrink.

Jolie10 - Yes! Don definitely needs his head shrunk. If only he'd suck up his pride and perception that only sad housewives go to shrinks!

That's right, Hanna. It's almost 50 years later and I think there's still a stigma attached to a "manly man" seeing a psychaitrist (or is it "therapist" now?). Not to be sexist, because many women have the same feelings.
Another thing going on here is that Betty hasn't caught on that Bobby's only way of getting Mommy to express her feelings or get her attention is by acting out. The washing machine, the stereo, the stove, the bed jumping (I still can't see how THAT broke the bed!) the toy at dinner: all ways to get her near him. She's not giving him hugs.
She also mentioned "I have them all day", but I thought they were both in school. She needs Sundays off too? Quality time with Bobby is needed here. Oh well, I'm not sure "quality time" with kids was considered important back then.

Betty may be with her kids all day, but she's not taking the time to ENJOY her kids. Bobby's acting out to get some love from her, but she's just mad that she can't control him, like she'd like to control Don. She's taking her anger out on that little boy, but she's really mad at Don for being a cheater. Oh, if only there was couple's therapy in 1962!

I giggled at Betty's comment that she feels "outnumbered" by her two kids - try 9, Betty. My folks had 9 of us to contend with and believe me they never felt outnumbered.

Yes, they are in school. So afternoons are "all day" to Betty. And she ignores them anyway. Just wait until Summer!

fyi: adolescent=teenager.

I definitely feel for Betty. Even though she's very immature herself, THIS is not what she dreamt of when she imagined her life. Boring days filled with bratty kids in a suburban drab world and other boring women. Married to a man who she really doesn't know...I mean, haven't they had ANY conversations about their childhoods? I know Don would normally change the subject, but still, how it could take like 10 years to find out he was beaten as a child, I don't understand, but this may be a way of showing how marriage wasn't really about "relationships" or "communication" back then.

And that's the cycle of abuse--the abused becomes the abuser. On these very boards, people like Dennis actually think it okay b/c it happened to him and, look, he's "okay." But clearly it's not okay, despite rhetorical comments like that.

From here on, I will probably refrain from the threads where people make silly, inflammatory statements that exalt Don's violent behavior as an acceptable expression of his manhood. I'm here for the more evolved conversations with people who accept certain premises and don't go "hoowah!" at violent or molesting behavior.

Is it possible that the young Dick Whitman was responsible for his father's death? He tells Betty that the father's violent behavior "made me fantasize about murdering him."

Didn't he tell the doctor that his father died in an "accident?" Wonder if Young Dick had something to do with it.

Betty's behavior towards Bobby is truly upsetting to me. She's blowing the kid's actions way out of proportion. Interesting comment above about a possible learning disability. Those things were definitely not dealt with in the 60's.

I think you've got a point there. We've seen an ever-escalating streak of violence within him. Hopefully, things won't come to a head.

Maybe he'll start having to see the shrink about his anger...

Does anyone know exactly what Don did to that woman in the restaurant??

Wasn't the father drunk and got kicked in the head by a horse? The kid didn't kill him - unless you think he could somehow incite a horse to kick his father's brains in.

I must admit, I was afraid he would slap her when she pursued him into the bedroom - then she pushed him - I was surprised that all he did was push back.

Also, it's true that Don's reaction is somewhat childish, but emotionally he is, in some ways, stunted. Like most women, Betty has no idea how or when to approach her husband with family problems. The moment he walks in the door, obviously upset from a day's work, is NOT the time to insist and nag at him. Part of this is the great divide between their personal experiences: Betty has never had a real job (a few months of modeling does not count) with real pressures and she also has never had to support herself, much less a family. That's a lot of responsibility and pressure. She should handle issues with the children as they arise during the day - including giving Bobbie a good talking to and punishment for lying. A child needs to be taught not to lie. The message is, if you have done something wrong, admit it - yes there will be some punishment, but if you lie to me there will be more.

Don is too easy on the boy and Betty's too hard. Also, notice the size and personality differential between the girl and the boy. They are only 2 years apart but the boy is very small and shrimpy and whiney and meek. He almost seems depressed. The girl is very big and somewhat fat for the early 60s, and very dominant. Notice how she barges into the parents bedroom. I don't like either of these kids. I'm surprised Betty doesn't tease the girl about her weight, as her own mother did.

Don should've gone straight Ike Turner upside Betty's (Self-Absorbed Bitch) head for shoving him, but more importantly, for treating their son so badly!

Visan you are missing the point. Don does not want to hit anyone.

I'm not missing the point at all. Don doesn't want to hit anyone because he was hit and beaten as a child. I got that!

But I can still want what I want! And I wanted Don to go "Ike Turner" upside the head of Self-Absorbed Bitch!

Visan, It's just you and me honey versus the damn liberal arts majors. For the record my Father seldom hit me. My mother took care of business as it should be. Kids don't respond to "wait till you're father gets home," hell by that time they've forgotten what it is that you're mad about. They need the swat right there and now. Mom was built like a middle linebacker and really didn't need dad to handle things. Frankly, if dad was around I might be able to plea bargain. Mom just didn't want to hear it. What's wrong with these clowns that think that kids can be raised without punishment.

I'm going to lay it on the line here for you losers. I intentionally pushed by mom and dad just to see what their limits were. When the hand of God struck, I got the answer to that question. Without this discipline I'd have likely gone very, very bad.

I got involved in fights at school because I was normally the biggest kid and all of the little bastards who later ended up joining to Marines because they suffered from small mans disease wanted to take me on to prove how tough they were. Several of these I smacked down including the previously mentioned clown that flew down the stairs, After high school I was drafted and after a series of physiological tests the Army trained me to become an assassin in Vietnam. I enjoyed this job a little more than perhaps I should have. It never bothered me to kill. This gene must run in the family my father was a sniper in WWII and killing never bothered him for a minute either.

Without the firm limits defined by my parents I would have done whatever I wanted to do. I thank them for hitting me when I deserved it (which was almost every time) because I guarantee you that a "time out" wasn't going to get the job done.

Hey, I don't like Betty either, and I don't blame Don for pushing her! You can want him to go upside her head all you want, it's not in his character - YET. Wouldn't it be funny if SHE went at HIM? Maybe with an big iron frying pan aimed at his temple. Then he'd have an excuse to subdue her. He'd have a flashback of his horrible step mother coming at him, and he'd unconsciously just smash her one. The daughter would see it all. Then she'd start nipping from the liquor cabinet to calm down from the fright.

bocaraton, I could actually see Betty getting more violent, too. I think she's the one with the repressed rage. She seems hellbent on whittling her son down to nothing. Poor kid can't do anything right in Betty's eyes, and she lets him know every single second. Wait till he's a teenager towering over Betty - will he make her life a living hell or what? I'd guarantee it.

My only beef with Don is his passivity about Betty's bullying behavior/tendencies with their son, Bobby. Don needs to nip that in the bud, now!

I think Don is restraining himself from being more physically aggressive than what would be acceptable, but it is popping up more frequently (Bobbie Barrett, pushing Betty, throwing the toy robot, swiping his desk clean, the post-Roger home dinner visit grabbing). It seems more plausible that Don will end up with a heart attack from hypertension and anger, than getting a chance to beat anyone to a pulp.

Dennis, you and me and perhaps a few others, are the only ones not blinded by Self-Absorbed Bitch's blondness!

She treats her son like dirt and that's unacceptable! So because she's emotionally abusing a very little boy, the Self-Absorbed Bitch has entered into another realm of my intense dislike for the character! She needs to cease post-haste with visiting her grow-ass shit on her little son!

I guess the trolls are part of the scenery...let's put the Ike Turners/Chuck Barris's on "ignore" and have an adult conversation with real men and women, not Rambowannabes.

But if we must indulge...yes, Boca, I would love to see Betty bonk Don with a big, cast-iron frying pan and knock him out cold (and maybe he'll wake up and have amnesia and forget he was living as Don Draper and start calling himself Dick Whitman again and have a real identity crisis--imagine Betty's chagrin when she finds out who her husband really is...).

I know more than a few guys who will not tolerate their women acting disrespectful or bullying towards 2 people...their Momma and their Child(ren)! They will choke a bitch!

Don was very restrained in not choking Self-Absorbed Bitch! She'd been riding little Bobby's back for weeks and days. I'm glad Don stood up for his son, finally!

"They will choke a bitch"....yeah, we get it. You like to say "bitch" a lot. Good shock value, shows dem bitches who's boss.

You put me in my place, I'm just a dumb bitch and I need to start showing you your propers...otherwise, you choke da bitch.

Betty Crocker, I don't make personal attacks toward posters on some MB!

I'll fully insult and disrespect fake TV characters on a fake show! It helps keep me in shape!

Whoa! Lots of Betty Bashing going on here!! Betty is stuck in a dead end job (wife)where all that matters is how she looks and that she maintains the manse in an appropriate manner. Arm candy. She is going to get liberated shortly, and re-set the ground rules OR she will leave Don to deal with the day to day boredom of caring for kids and houseOR Don will leave her and she will rediscover herself in relative poverty... with a more self actualized man ( or women). Count on it!! This was the 60s!

Oh, puh-leeze! SAB isn't in Auschwitz or some concentration camp from which she needs to be "liberated!" She's a homemaker, with more resources than most!

Anyway, floved watching Don getting his freak on with Mrs. Unfunny Comic! He's such a fabulous whore!

Visan, I feel the same way about Betty. I look at the opening credits in such anticipation to see the name of the actress that plays Rachel comes up (I miss her SOOO MUCH!)

this is to answer to confused question. Don pitch and pull that woman clit. And yes Don is trying to stay in check he is leaving a double life

MMforever...!

Rachel (that is the lovely Maggie Siff in my avatar, BTW) reperesented such a breath of fresh air! AMC/Mad Men let a good one get away with that actress!

Yeah, Betty is becoming the ultimate narcissist! Complain, complain, complain........I don't blame Don for throwing the toy robot. Better that than Betty or Bobby.

I think Don needs to see Dr. Wayne for his temper tantrums!

That Rachel indeed was a liberated woman for the time and she definitely wouldn't let herself get in the situation of most other women like Betty put themselves in--can you imagine having to be married to (as opposed to "enjoying the company of") men like Roger or Don Draper?!

Granted, I would love to enjoy their company though....yummy. But certainly have no use for them as husbands. You're right--Betty's gonna find a new man and leave Don to raise the kids.

Don can't be a proper husband and father because he is a fraud. Betty doesn't know about him. He hides himself from everyone. Cooper said "Who cares" about Don's identity. I think his violent temper will out him as Dick Whitman. People will care when the truth about Don is revealed. Perhaps he's the executive taking the express jump to the street from the opening credits. Don't get me wrong, Don is a great character, but he's a phony too. Maybe that's why Pete rubs him the wrong way. Pete knows that he's a fake, and he can't get Cooper to punish him. Maybe that's what this show is about, punishment. Betty seems to me to be the only character not trying to be somebody else, yet she gets slammed for it. She sees that her son lacks character, (George Washington picture) yet she's the bad guy when she tries to get her son's father involved in his character building. I just empathize with Betty I guess. Don shows moral character, but I don't think he really has it. He stole someone's identity for heaven's sake and he's a deserter. He's not the most redeeming character. We love his antics, but he's got some serious issues too.

Visan- I honestly don't think that Miss Rachel is completely over. I remember in one of the commentaries last year that they made it like it was gonna air for one season. So, when the show got its renewal, it is possible for her to come back again. She was a real compensation for me whenever I saw Betty for too long.

As a boy growing up in suburban New York in the early 1960s, the family dynamics depicted in the Draper household were familiar. Family member roles were defined. Raising children was a mother's occupation. Fathers showed their love by being providers. Spanking children was commonplace, not abusive. My mother used to warn: "Wait till your father gets home. You're going to get a shellacing." Though we acted like children and misbehaved, we respected adults. It was hardly a perfect world, but was a more orderly one.

MMForever...from your lips to God's ears!

Ravishing Rachel brought the fi-yah to Mad Men! She and Don's sexual chemistry was off the chain!

Frankly I can't get a handle on the character of Betty and I suspect the writers are having trouble there, too. Is she a sympathertic character or not? Sometimes she is a victim, sometimes a persecuter.

As for the treatment of her kids - my parents in the 60's meted ot stuff that today would land them in jail - and it was perfectly accepted as their parental right- and even duty -in those days. I'm not saying it was right. My spouse today has NO IDEA what was done to me and neither does anybody else. Even our principal in public school had a big paddle and the legal right to give kids "swats" if they misbehaved. Nobody questioned it. Today my mom just doesn't understand "time out" as a disciplinary tool - and I don't leave my kids with her, either. One more thing I want to say: anybody who has to use severe corporal punishment is just admitting that they can't out-psych a child.

I thought it was pretty clear that when Betty pushed Don back she knew he wasn't really going to put her through the window despite his threat.

Visan- much agreed! I'll settle for a tease at this point, she was amazing =D

I wonder if Don was dreaming about her when he woke up when Betty answered the phone.....

>>> She sees that her son lacks character, (George Washington picture) yet she's the bad guy when she tries to get her son's father involved in his character building.

Did we watch the same program? I had to ROAR at self-riteous Betty calling the little boy a liar because his drawing of George Washington looked like a book cover.

EVERY picture of George Washington looks the same! It's like the same head is transposed on different poses. Have you ever seen a picture of George Washington where his face or expression varied at all?? From Mt. Rushmore to the dollar bill ... it's the same mug!

Maybe the child traced it ( doubtful. As Carlton pointed out, did he bring the book to school? Betty said he didn't ) and maybe he drew it freehand. The point is, every picture of GW looks like a carbon copy.

Betty is either incredibly thick & shallow, or she was looking for a reason to disparrage her son.

The little boy doesn't lack character. There is definitely something going on with him, but he is not mean-spirited or intentionally disruptive. He seems to have the same awkwardness as Adam ( Don's brother. ) Maybe a little slow, but innocent and loving. Bobby seems to adore his daddy the way Adam adored his older brother. Perhaps this is what Don sees in Bobby.

This blaming a child for Self-Absorbed Bitch's shitty behavior shocks me! He's just a little boy! How can he lack character when he's too small to really have character? It's the parents' job to instill that character, no? If little Bobby learns to lie it's because SAB's a compulsive liar and is full of herself! And of course, Don's a fraud!

I do wonder how the heck Betty got into Bryn Mawr...granted, the Seven Sisters schools were more like finishing schools back then, but you had to have some brains to get in...you were the brightest of the rich girls.

Oh, KenDahl, love your pic!

Maybe Betty's one of those screwy type of women who eggs someone into hitting her and gets off on it? Weird as that sounds, sometimes getting any reaction, but especially a physical one means "they care". There are women like that, and I think Betty is one screwed up lady.

I love the dynamic between Bobby and Don... remember in season one when Don went into Bobby's room and woke him up and said "Ask me anything; I" ll never lie to you." THAT made me tear up. Poor little Bobby, burning his little chin on the griddle. Hey, I wonder if Sally had a hangover?Her scenes in the office were hilarious (yet disturbing)

I grew up in a violent household. (Yes, even a German one) Violence towards kids and violence towards spouses sucks. It's bad, unhealthy, and unproductive and of course it occurs in wealthy as well as poor homes. Setting discipline for kids in a home without violence is much tougher and probably too tough for some folks who find it easier to use fists. Some who endure it claim it made them stronger...I say that's crap. It takes years to overcome, if you overcome it, that's all.

That said, I believe Betty meant well. She simply parroted the stuff she'd heard Dad and other adults say about how to raise a manly boy. Don know the real results of such behavior and is fighting not to become his father. I think she didn't realize that and her own anger at him for his betrayals came out. She thought he wanted out of their lives, to be free to gad about with his girls. The hopeful thing is that it led to him finally speaking up about his childhood and the really hopeful thing is that she listened and realized he wasn't opting out of parenthood but suffering real turmoil. May it lead to more communication.

Those of you who are advocating violence against Betty should stop it!

No one deserves to be violently beaten!

Think of what you are actually saying!

Wow! There are some nasty people watching this show. Any violence against anybody is terrible. Please remember Don is a morally bankrupt guy. He took another man's identity and left that man's family to ever wonder about their loved one's fate, then he abandoned his own kid brother (twice) who loved and needed him. Remember how horrified Rachel was when she realised Don could abandon his own children to run off with her. And he screws other women with abandon. He's definitely the son of a whore and a physically violent father. Betty is wound way to tight and deeply disappointed and confused by her marriage and her man but she has no clue of the darkness this man has in him. What the writers plan to do with his story line, I don't know, but I hope it doesn't entail throwing Betty thru the wall (or making him a sandwich either). I'm 47 and can remember in my lifetime when calls to the police about wife beating next door meant the cops would show up, joke around with the husband, tell him to "kiss and make up" then leave the wife to get more shit get kicked out of her. So lighten up on the rage against a make believe Betty on TV and be grateful it's 2008.

Wow! There are some nasty people watching this show. Any violence against anybody is terrible. Please remember Don is a morally bankrupt guy. He took another man's identity and left that man's family to ever wonder about their loved one's fate, then he abandoned his own kid brother (twice) who loved and needed him. Remember how horrified Rachel was when she realised Don could abandon his own children to run off with her. And he screws other women with abandon. He's definitely the son of a whore and a physically violent father. Betty is wound way to tight and deeply disappointed and confused by her marriage and her man but she has no clue of the darkness this man has in him. What the writers plan to do with his story line, I don't know, but I hope it doesn't entail throwing Betty thru the wall (or making him a sandwich either). I'm 47 and can remember in my lifetime when calls to the police about wife beating next door meant the cops would show up, joke around with the husband, tell him to "kiss and make up" then leave the wife to get more shit get kicked out of her. So lighten up on the rage against a make believe Betty on TV and be grateful it's 2008.

Don is a loose cannon. He's a liar. He stole a dead soldier's identity. He is unfaithful to his wife. He disavowed his own brother. Now he's threatening violence towards a woman who married him in good faith...a woman who only wants to be a part of his life...a woman who loves him. His little boy is just as confused as Betty...because Don is living a lie.
Don's going down hard one of these days, but it won't be at the business end of Betty's frying pan.

Catt:

Thank you for being a voice of reason and civility.

GailKlein: I don't think Don had anything to do with his father's getting kicked in the head by a horse.

Let's just say that Don and the horse had the same fantasy. LOL!!

Oh, and I guess I sounded a little harsh up there about good old Don. I think he's trying to overcome. He does have many redeeming traits, but right now he still sucks at some things. Sometimes I really adore Don and other times he really gets my goat. Like he's making it with that slut Bobbie again????? Gawd! He'll wind up with a disease for sure. Pull your head out, Don. Forget the shrink....Don needs the new priest!
Father! I think we need a 911 exorcism over here, STAT!

With Rachel MIA, Don has become the show's most fascinating character for me. The first 2 episodes where this formerly virile man couldn't get it up, even for the likes of that moronic SAB and his sporting those hideous ol' man sweaters, sucked BIG time! I don't look for this show for some re-hash of The Cosby Show, with Don acting the faithful hubby. Hell to the no! I enjoy watching him being a total man-slut, screwing the low-rent Bobbie just for kicks. It was fabulous to watch him push that nag SAB!! He needed to stand up for his little boy, who seemed to be getting the brunt of that loon SAB's anger!

I dislike Don acting like a punk at work. It's time for him to put a foot in the ass of that prick Duck!

P.S.

Where the eff is Rachel?

Speaking as a woman who worked in a high pressure executive position my entire life, I can tell you that the last thing I ever wanted to deal with the moment I came home, was an insignificant discipline problem for a six-year old child. Why can't Betty, or any other caregiver, be expected to handle the behavior of a small child? If it is his role to make a living, then it should be her obligaton to manage the household, including the children - which isn't to say he shouldn't be involved as a full partner in their rearing. When they were sitting at the table being annoyed by his playing with the toy, I thought "take the toy away from him and quit whining!" And that business of "wait until your father gets home" is out of sync - I think women stopped doing that in the mid-50's. Not that I condone any sort of violet outburst by either Don or Betty - it is stupid and non-productive and they should both be ashamed of their infantile behavior. They also need to be honest with each other about what is pushing their buttons.

Hey, isn't Don/Dick low-rent too? When did he become so posh? Oh, yeah when he took the dog tags off the smoldering carcass of Lt. Don Draper. What school did he go to? The University of Identity Theft? Bobbie's exactly what Don deserves, an uncompromising survivor doing who and what she wants to get to the top. I'm waiting for Betty's visit to her gynecologist to explain the itching and burning sensations she's been having. Bobbie's a BROAD and she's tough. Betty's a WIFE and she's neglected. I'm sorry folks, but I still feel empathy for Betty. How long until the violence leaks onto the kids? Daddy is such a great example of control and decorum.

Yet another who thinks "Suburbia" is some plantation from which SAB needs to be "emancipated!" Puh-leeze! SAB had more resources, financial and otherwise, than most women of that era! Uh-unh! No empathy from me for that entitled-acting flake!

This was a good episode that defined parenting roles of the time. I don't see where there is anything disturbing or wrong with Betty or Don. Betty is a suburban housewife running into difficulty dealing with boredom and loneliness while raising two children by herself, which she seems to have no interest in. Don is running into difficulty commuting to work, working and dealing with nitwits all day, commuting back home, and then having to be a father. I don't pity or empathize with either one of them. They don't communicate, and they know little about each other or what each one does with the majority of their day. They don't talk about how to raise the children until something happens. When Betty was in labor, Don was probably on the golf course smoking cigars and drinking Scotch. They both lie to each other, but thats what the world runs on. Don doesn't help out around the house, he is hardly home, and he has sex with other women in the city. Betty wants more help around the house, is always home, and wants Don to stop having sex with other women in the city. Don throws inanimate objects when he's mad, yells but has never hit anyone. Betty shoots birds and pushes Don, when shes mad. Don pushes Betty back. The so called violence ends there. Today, child protective services would have taken the children away, put Don in jail, and left Betty in the house to continue complaining to herself. Soon Betty will eventually probably start putting on weight, while Don will continue to lose hair and only have difficulty getting it up when having sex with Betty. Betty will probably end up on valium, while Don will be treated for Syphilis. Don will continue to fantasize about being able to get out of his current situation. I'm sure Betty does as well, but her prospects of doing so are a little more stifled. Welcome to 1962.
They ending of the show will probably be them celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. If Don hasn't already died from a heart attack, lung cancer... or Syphilis.

Im ok with Betty.I think with her what you see is what you get.Don obviously went for a trophy wife.Someone to legitimize him.Blonde,wealthy,educated,beautiful and refined.I think Betty is getting pissed because she is living up to her end of the "bargain" and Don is not.She is maintaining her beauty and all that she had when he married her "in spite of" the children, all she wants in exchange is to be adored.I think she believes its her right and her reward.Don on the other hand is cheating on her.I'm not saying this is right or wrong but I think we can all agree this was part of their particular marital contract..Don is defaulting..Betty is unraveling and fantasizing about attention from another source (even that weird little fat kid)

Wait a minute. When did swatting a kid on the ass with the back of your hand (or in my mother's case using a broken Fly-Back paddle) = punching him in the face with a closed fist.

I say that you've got to discipline your kids and that means swatting them when they do something unacceptable. It doesn't mean (to quote Visan) going all Ike Turner on them even though that was a really great line from my girl.

Kids have padded asses for a purpose. Nothing wrong with using it for that purpose when deserved.

Oh hell to the no! Don is more than living up to his end of the "deal!" The man is working hard, buying a fat-ass house in the 'burbs, nice car, maintaining his handsome looks, great clothes, a housekeeper, actually being affectionate to his kids, and to top it all off, he's spending an assload of doe on bullshit horsey lessons for Self-Absorbed Bitch!

So what if he's screwing around? That appears to be the only way he's into SAB--literally!

I chuckled at Betty and Don shoving eachother like little kids. That's about the maturity level they are at in dealing with marital conflict. I don't see serious violence occuring here, but there will be blood!

Everybody loves Rachel, everybody hates Betty. Rachel was the single, hot, powerful woman in her own right that Don could talk to about himself, no joint children to dicuss, no household issues, or bills, or relatives, or ANY mutual marital responsibilities. She was free and he felt free with her, Now if she had become pregnant (and maybe she is somewhere, waiting to make a surprise guest appearance) or if she'd truly agreed to run off with Don, I think her sexy allure would have left her, both for Don, and we viewers. Wives aren't too sexy and mothers never are. Bobbie is so much like Don and how creepy she shares the same name as his son.

BTW, in my prior comment I was being facetious and I don't really want Betty to brain Don with a cast iron skillet. I said that to point out the ludicrous tone of some other commenters.
That said, can we at least concede that the emotion that caused Don to push back at Betty is understandable? Not condoned, not approved, but understandable on a human level?

And you made me laugh, bettycrocker, suggesting that if Betty knocked Don out, he'd come to as Dick Whitman!!!!! Plotwise, unlikely, but very funny.

Jamm is also right again - Betty is a narcissist...a form of infantilism.

As much as I loved Rachel with Don, I'd hate to see her married to him! He's a guttersnipe and man-ho and Rachel deserved to be *married* to a better man. Don's good for slumming, that's all!

I doubt Rachel could lose her appeal, to the fans who found her appealing, because she was truthful and could see a world outside herself! She'd keep ya guessing!

I liked Rachel.I saw her as the burgeoning feminist way more than any other character.She accepted responsibility for herself and played the game by her own rules.She did not seek to please herself or further her career at the expense of others.

MadManiac, I totally agree with you. Of all the woman portrayed thusfar, she is the only one I'd want to become friendly with. The rest of the women are too neurotic and can't be trusted. You know how some women make good friends and others not? Most of these would not.

Rachel, by far, has the most integrity and class of all the women. In his own limited way, I think Don loves Rachel. But she truly is too "good" for him. I hope to see her again on the show soon.

I really sympathized with Betty until this episode - how she could be so mean to such a precious child is beyond me - even if she is alarmed at Don's negative traits she's seeing in him. The psych was right - she's emotionally a child herself.

The "wait 'til your father gets home" comment was said even when I was growing up in the 70s - not directed @ me, but my brother! So, I totally believed it when she used that line.

I doubt couples talked much about child-rearing before marriage - as many of you have said, there were very defined roles in families then. It was generally taken for granted who would do what.

I'm waiting for Betty to make something for supper that calls for a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup - I think every recipe from that era called for it - or @ least in my Mom's cookbooks!

I really want to see the frying pan, crock pot, fondu set go upside his head, just once! He's driving her crazy. He's neglecting her emotionally, big time PHYSICALLY (I still can't believe the kids didn't get a general beat down for coming into their bedroom without knocking). Mad_Maniac gets me about the whole Betty thing. She's playing by the rules that her class and society set for her, yet everyone is o.k. with her identity theft, deserter, cheater husband. Don's hot and I wish they would show him with less clothes, but that doesn't mean he's not right! I like Bobbie too. She's a SheDon. She got off on his manhandling and I think deep down Don did too. He is all about male power and using it against women, especially the nutso wifey. Rachel obviously has low self-esteem to get involved with an unavailable man. Rules are rules and real women leave attached men alone. She's without a doubt the best dressed woman on the show imho, love her chunky necklaces. If she respected herself she would have kicked Don/Dick to the curb for treating her like a whore. Men who really care about women don't put them in compromising positions. I'm just sayin'.

Well, if Betty is going to be on the main menu for Don, let's at least see some steamy marital foreplay (without the kids interrupting)!

Or can't there be some hokey dream sequences about Rachel? Do it in flashbacks, I don't care - just throw in a hidden picture of Rachel somewhere, pleeeaaassse! Please, please, please, please..........

I call bullshit on Rachel having low self-esteem! She, Helen Bishop and Midge had the best self-esteem of all the women on that show! They were far from perfect but they had a sense of self, could see outside their own world and owned their sexuality!

Weiner and Co. chose to focus on the more psychotic females this season, sadly!

Don has trouble understanding and respecting women because his own mother was a whore. He was never lovingly parented by either gender so he's operating on pure gut instinct with regards to his own children. No one modeled parenting for him. He was too young to assume so much emotional responsibility for his little brother and all he could think of was escape. I think he's uncomfortable at home because he's called upon to expose his softer side and he doesn't know how to deal with it. It was also typical of that generation for men to not talk about their feelings to their wives and he's got so much baggage, he's about to explode.I think for Don, Rachel represents a type of perfection he's never known. Also, I think he mailed the book of poems to her.

Gail Klein said:

"Is it possible that the young Dick Whitman was responsible for his father's death? He tells Betty that the father's violent behavior "made me fantasize about murdering him." "

Gail Klein, my thoughts exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't revealed somewhere down the road. Is it my imagination or did he say it was a "wood chopping accident?"

Women who allow themselves to be sexually used by men of power have low self esteem. What woman in her right mind wants to be hidden away by someone who cares about them. Don discards these women like tissues and they allow it. Rachel is the most socially classy, but morally she's a dirt bag just like Don. I thought that Rachel was looking for a possible husband, not just sex. She seems to me to be a woman who has ambition and power, but not morals. She can't feel good about herself knowing that Don was even thinking about abandoning his family. She should be looking for a decent man, who doesn't cheat. That's why I think she has low self esteem. If she contemplates cheating too, maybe she feels she doesn't deserve a good guy. I think people who are promiscuous hate themselves.

Rachel had big issues, too. She knew he was married. She wanted to be with Don, to have a future with him. How could that happen without Don leaving his family? The only thing that threw Rachel was the alarming, unhinged way Don suddenly showed up in a panic and wanted her drop everything, leave her business, her life, and run away with him. This unstable, almost crazed behavior so drastically challenged and changed her view of Don, she could not continue in her fantasy of who he was. It snapped her into reality of what she was doing.

I was afraid for a moment that after Don and Betty's pushing episode, they would fall into each others arms and passionately kiss just like those old movies. You know, the ones where we were led to believe that some playful physical violence would turn the woman on?

missholloway:

Thanks for agreeing with me on this. I think it's entirely possible that Young Dick was in some way responsible for the old man's death. Not that he deliberately killed him, but may not have helped him out in his moment of need. (I'm thinking of the evil Regina in Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes").

That would be a pretty big secret for a young kid to be carrying around throughout his life. I'm no psychiatrist, but a traumatic experience like that may be contributing to his duplicitous behavior in later life.

By the way, I've read your posts and like them very much.

By the way, I don't think Rachel ever really expected to have a "serious relationship" with Don. I think she was tremendously attracted to him (and who wouldn't be?) and let her sexual desire get the better of her.

She was an educated Jewish woman at a time when sexual experimentation was becoming "de riguer" for young women of her class. She may have used Don (unconsciously of course) as a way of getting a good-looking, sexy WASP notch on her belt.

When the possibility of a real relationship with him was offered to her, her cooler head prevailed and she rejected him. I think she'll take her sister's advice and stay away from the "goy." She will marry (if she marries at all) someone more appropriate to her background.

I agree - if Rachel actually marries, it will be a jew of her social class or above. However, she did want to be with Don. In those days, a "mixed marriage" was less common and highly disfavored, even among non-religious jews. As well, gentile men did not often marry jewish women (it's more common for a gentile woman to marry a jewish man, and they often convert.). So the attraction to Don would be somewhat forbidden.

If I recall correctly, Don/Dick's father died when a horse kicked him in the head. Let's imagine that the kid was there. He was about 10. The only involvement he could have had was to witness the accident and then, possibly, not go for help - but a horse's kick would usually kill instantly. The father would have been close, down by the horse's leg, whewn the blow came. It wouldn't have mattered.