it is just too bad she couldn't just give the child up for adoption but of course the writers have other plans, can't blame the sister for being bitter

The most intriguing thing to me about Peggy is her detachment. To me it is utterly mystifying, but no matter what she is doing or has to react to, she is level - her personality or an adaptation? I was stupefied to see the priest who loved being in Italy connect with her as a person - as a writer - and then hand her that egg - I thought that was great writing, an unlikely bridge. I want to see Peggy do well. I think her sister is resentful on so many levels and I don't know if her sister's probably longer-standing resentments will turn out to have something to do with that adaptation. The Catholic thing is so dense (shame, guilt) it is hard to imagine if it has not been your experience - and even if it has! The new priest seems to be a liberal, like my uncle was - they are still in Latin Mass! Still fasting before Communion on Sunday! It's another planet of Catholicism!

I thought the scene in the confessional was very revealing in terms of cultural/class divisions. Peggy's sister is using the confessional as a substitute for psychotherapy. Unlike Betty Draper, whose husband paid for her to go to therapy to try to resolve her problems last season, Peggy's sister resorts to the only outlet available to someone in her situation. Like last season's Betty Draper, Peggy's sister manipulates her "confidant" to get back at the person who's causing her the distress. She's the "good" child, who did exactly what was expected of a woman in 1962. She married, had kids and is knocking herself out to be the perfect housewife, mother, daughter and parishioner, but her younger sister, the "bad" child, is getting all of the recognition. After the priest bows out of the dinner party she is hosting in his honor and makes a point of thanking Peggy for her professional advice, the sister decides to retaliate by making sure that Peggy doesn't "get away with it" any longer: she outs Peggy's lapse in hopes of diminishing the priest's opinion of Peggy. We don't know what kind of arrangement Peggy and her sister worked out to care for the child, whether or not it's supposed to be a "secret" or temporary or what. Since her sister's family is obviously well established in the community, it's unlikely that they're trying to pass the kid off as one of the sister's children, but I believe that there must have been some kind of discretion, and now Peggy's sister has betrayed that. In the closing scene, Peggy must be realizing that her sister is probably not the best person to be entrusted with the responsibility for raising her son.

You know, we are all assuming that the little boy is Peggy's child. Nothing has been said to indicate that the baby is Peggy's.

Don't you think that while Peggy's sister was in the confessional, citing her own good qualities while spilling the beans on Peggy, she would have said, "and I am raising her child while Peggy ignores him completely" ? She would not have left that info out. It surely would have her one step closer to sainthood.

Another thing that is interesting. If Peggy's family knows who the father is, would Peggy's mother be so "proud" of where she works? Wouldn't the attitude be more along the lines of "Now that you're off to your hotshot job, tell Mr. hotshot ad exec to start supporting his child" ?

Anita said she had a baby with a married man. We are also assuming it's Pete Campbell. Yet, Pete and his wife can't conceive. Maybe it's PETE who is shooing blanks and the father is someone we would never suspect. There could be a backstory here that is yet to be revealed.

Something just doesn't mesh. I am not convinced that the little boy is Peggy's baby. Watch the closing scene of last night's episode. Peggy looks over at the little boy and then at the Priest. The look on her face is not one of dismay at being "found out." It's almost an expression of curious amusement. As if to say, "Do you think he's mine?"

Time will tell.

I, too, have been aware that we are pointed toward the baby being Peggy's, but haven't had that confirmed yet. It could play out in several ways. Chesterton, Yes, I also think it is a very old resentment the sister is carrying. It made me wonder about Peggy's pregnancy. Those women, the Brooklyn mother and sister and their church women friends, could not have all not known about Peggy being pregnant. I can see, according to the times they lived in, that they might not speak of it to Peggy, but they had to be talking about it behind her back. Did their interference in Peggy's live from birth on make her into the detached person she appears to be? I wonder what she did witht he blue egg?

There was a thread about the blue egg symbolism last night, but I don't know what happened to it. This Talk Forum is getting more and more difficult to navigate.

I posted this same thought waaaay back there in the Season 1 boards, but I think it would be interesting if Peggy's baby's father is that potato chip guy she had lunch with that she apparently dated prior to her Sterling Cooper days. Maybe she was already knocked up before she even had her flings with Pete. I somehow don't think M. Weiner is going to have the father be the obvious suspect. We'll see, of course, in due time. Can't wait to see how that particular situation turns out.

scfan:

I'm starting to think (this may be crazy) that the father may be Anita's loser-husband. Anita told the priest "she seduced a married man." Is that one of the reasons Anita hates Peggy so much?

I agree that maybe the writers are not going to make it the obvious culprit -- Pete. We'll see.

Don't think it's Potato Chip Boy, though.

What if Anita doesn't know who the father is? Her imagination could be fueling the fire of her anger. Peggy isn't a very forthcoming person and if she had listed a name as father on the birth certificate, Anita might very well have already confronted the father. Anita might think it is the sofa rider husband, maybe she saw the confessional as a warning to the priest to protect him from predator Peggy. That is off the wall, but we don't know what Anita is thinking or how much she knows. Someone on another thread (I looked and can't find it now) suggested that perhaps Anita was birth mother to Peggy, with Peggy raised by the Mom. Things like that happened a lot. I think the writers are playing with us on this story line by handing out some red herrings, and I look forward to seeing what they do with it.