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Attitudes about the cars
Do we remember what Betty said about her basically brand new Mercury Colony Park station wagon when she was finished riding horses? Her friend asked her if she minded getting manure in the car, and Betty said, manure...little children...what's the difference? We know that the station wagon was brand new because during a later episode, during the scene with the mechanic, Betty tells the mechanic that the car is new and she didn't want her husband to know about the repair because the wagon was new and because Don doesn't like the way she drives. Now that Don has a brand new Cadillac, he asks Betty to check the kids' hands before they get in the car. He is kind of fanatical about keeping the car clean. (That's why the scene where she vomits is so funny.) Did anyone notice the difference in attiudes each one of them has about their cars? They kind of have the opposite attitudes about their marriage...Don cheats and cheats and cheats, while Betty tries to keep it together.
A well-considered point. Cars in general can speak volumes about the people who drive them, especially in the context of the Golden Years of Detroit.
Say, if Betty did refer to manure and little children and asked rhetorically "what's the difference?"- Does that mean she thinks her children are little turds? Trust me, no one would want horse sh*t on the carpet- especially with the heat on! Yikes!!
And we saw the way Betty drives last season when she parked on the neighbor's lawn- Don's right! Though I am glad she christened Donald's new Caddy, maybe he will retaliate with her Mercury wagon. I can see it now, after Don borrows the wagon, Betty will be driving- the kids in the back seat, and one will be wearing a strange bra as a new winter hat- with ear muffs!
What Betty probably meant is that both were messy. If she's a long-time rider, the smell of horse s*** is probably comforting. Certainly far better than puke.
In the interest of accuracy, the Cadillac Don bought is a Series Sixty-Two (the "base" model), not a Coupe de Ville. In any case, it doesn't seem like the kind of car a 37-year old man would buy, even in 1962. A Corvette, maybe, but a Cadillac?? I don't thihnk Don views himself as a Cadillac kind of guy - way too conventional (or maybe he's just trying to fit in - this show is based so much on the psychology of its characters...). As for Betty, does it strike anyone as odd that she equates her kids with manure? She seems pretty disinterested as a mother - she ignores the girl and verbally abuses the boy...
Did you notice Don throwing the beer can when they finished the picnic. Betty, left used paper plates, napkins, etc. without a thought of picking up the trash. Maybe littering wasn't a big deal in the early 1960"s or else the Drapers were arrogant and expected others to pick up their trash.
....when Betty and Don were kissing in the new car and Betty said they had an hour before the kids were home... Don said "not in here". Does he think cars are only suitable for sex with women other than his wife?
I am all for over-analyzing this show, but Don is doing what everyone has done since the invention of the automobile: baby the new car and protect the new car smell.
Betty is an ice cube, melting only for Don. Her kids are really nothing to her but Don seems to be genuinely fond of his kids...more tender and nurturing than Betty. Betty does not know how to be a mother or how to love and is frozen in some emotional white out waiting for Don to reach some deep part of her so she can thaw out and blossom. I love her character and think January Jones is a supreme actress giving a fiinelly nuanced performance that is riviting to watch. Watching Don as his past surfaces here and there is almost painful but I just can't wait for more to be revealed about him and see where he is going.