Good point. It's also interesting that Betty was the only one who never had anything to confess before this episode. It's like, a reversal of roles in a way.

Hi DW. Betty always seems to be a bit behind. My perspective, 'The Mountain King' episode was all about role reversals. Peggy wearing Don's pants, so to speak, and her masculinization as the boss. Bertram emasculated by his sister. Joan, the usual sexual aggressor, was forced upon. Don's regression from his cold facade, to a warmer Dick Whitman (and his eventual baptism/rebirth). Confident Pete, embarrassed about the whole adoption and family situation. Betty is developmentally a little behind. She's just now able to communicate and relate to Sally.

Whoa! Off topic! Funny how a nuclear war has folks seeking reconciliation. Peggy admits the loss of her faith, the loss of her child and the loss of Pete in one fell swoop. (That was a great scene!)

Betty's baby in her womb (where her *ahem* secret happened) is her personal burden to bear. But I love how she still puffs some smokes and sucks down a Gimlet.

I agree with you that Betty is behind the times. I loved what one poster said about how the three girls represent the thre tenses: Betty is the past, Joan is the present, and Peggy is the future. It definitely explains why I adore all three women in their own right.

And it makes sense that people would be more forgiving and seek comfort in each other in a time of turmoil and fear. That was what the last Betty/Don scene on the table was representing: that he'll be there for her, and she'll let him be.

Smoking and Drinking weren't considered bad for the child in the 60s. The only thing she shouldn't have done was go riding after the doctor told her not too. But people have speculated that she's trying to have a "natural" miscarriage.

Hey Thirteen - here are my thoughts on Betty's baby:

In "The Inheritance", there is the scene where Don is sleeping on the floor and Betty, wrapped in a blanket, mounts Don and we know the rest. In the morning, Don wakes up from the floor and looks for Betty in the bed. The same blanket is tightly tucked into the foot of the bed, giving the appearance that it has never been disturbed. Was this scene imagined by Don? Was it his first hallucination of the reality he desired but didn't exist (similar to the bar scene in the Jet Set where he imagines Betsy at the bar)?

In "Meditations", notice the dialog with Francine in the beauty salon. Betsy tells her she is pregnant and mentions that "it isn't a good time" twice. The first time it is mentioned, Francine says that her daughter was an accident and look at how happy she is now. The second time she says it, Francine suddenly takes the discussion in a different direction - she mentions the doctor in Albany and the hospitals in San Juan. I am sure Francine doesn't know that Don is out of the house. Having a new born with two small kids to raise is not a happy situation for a possible divorcee. When Bets says it a second time, Francine understands that its not Don's baby!

Now, notice Don's reaction to Betty's news of the pregnancy. No kisses, no cheers, no hugs, no jumping up and down, no drinks and toasts. He hesitantly reaches for her hand. Look at the expression on his face. The bastard son, Dick Whitman, has found it in himself to still love his wife and the bastard child she is carrying. Many of us thought poor Don Draper incapable of love. Anna's comment about him being in the "lavender haze" shows us that at one time, he was capable of great love. His years of living as Don Draper ate away at the innocence of young Dick Whitman and along the way, he nearly lost the only things he every really cared about - Betsy and the kids. This is what I love about this show - a gesture, so small as holding someone else's hand, has such powerful meaning.

Every episode I think of how we viewers are given a God like perspective, in that we know the future. We see the mistakes without needing to hear the confession. We know the charcters' intents and motives, even when they don't tell those closest to them. We can champion two sides in a couple, because we know their hearts better than they know themselves. We hear the lies without needing to open locked drawers to discover their proof. The writers give us that gift. I watched JFKs speech in blinking black and white and felt all the fear that the characters felt and yet I knew the ending of that Crisis. I also knew how long President Kennedy had to live, and what was going on in Viet Nam and other crisis that our cast had no idea would be part of their lives so soon. Life brings Crisis with it, if we survive one, there will be another along soon enough.

Does it take a crisis to have a confession? I believe keeping secrets is the enemy of the soul. But, some confessions are just too self serving to be a good thing. When the campaign about how to protect against HIV came out, one of its key points was that no one ever had sex with just the one person. Everyone both partners had ever been with were brought into the equation of infection. Confession is like that. It never touches just that person who hears it, but waves out to change other lives, also. But, that is true of not confessing, as well. To confess or live with the secret, ah there is the rub.

I found it great that Betty kept her secret to herself,..about her little tryst in that back room of the bar. I also thought she had it coming,that it was about time she felt desireable,even if it was for only a moment. Don had really been a total jerk to her,in my own opinion,and I always hated that. She was a pretty,sweet,loving mother and wife,and he was always cheating on her,just because. He had no reason,as she wasnt unsightly,foolish or anything.Don was becoming very unsavory. So,..when I saw her actually go for it,I was 'YES!!",girl,..go for it!"
Now,Don's back home,without a job,
possibly,Pete's got his shotgun,and everything is up in the air! Lol!
Cant wait to see,...

WhiskeyRiver:
Pete only has a .22 rifle, not a shotgun.

Betty didn't need confirmation that she was desirable. She'd already had that from Stableboy, Arthur Case. She wanted a short walk on the wild side. So she went to the bar, drank a gimlet which was enough to loosen her inhibitions, and went to the ladies' restroom. Which was occupied.

Interesting that the guy at the bar was a Don clone, down to his narrow tie. If I saw correctly, she wasn't wearing her wedding ring and later told the guy in the hallway she was married. As if he'd care at that point. She just wanted to put him on notice that this was going to be a one-night(?) stand, not something permanent. She also knows that she can't get pregnant by him.

Now she's gotten a taste of what life might be like on Don's side of the fence. She came home after the experience and guy-like, ate the leg of fried chicken by the light of the refrigerator. Now THAT'S funny behavior for a former Bryn Mawr girl/model.

Yes, Ritt, and when she gets back with Don she knows she has leveled the field slightly. Although, she kept the safety net of not telling him. They aren't even yet, but her ego was soothed somewhat.

> Was this scene imagined by Don? Was it his first hallucination of the reality he desired but didn't exist (similar to the bar scene in the Jet Set where he imagines Betsy at the bar)?...Francine understands that its not Don's baby!

Polar Bear, I think you're going too "soap opera" here. MadMen is NOT a typical soap opera, and what I mean by that is that the writers/creators rarely cheat.

We have never seen Don having hallucinations--which we, as viewers, also see, and where we wondering "Is it real or a dream?" The show has never done that to us. Seeing Betty at the Bar is not at all the same; that was something that could happen to anyone. You see someone who looks a lot like someone from one angle, and get a little shock ("Is it them?"), but then realize, as they turn and you see them full on, that it's not them. That's not the same as having a dream or hallucination of having sex on the floor with your wife. That was no dream.

Besides which, we are in BETTY's point of view when it happens, not Don's. We go DOWN onto the floor with her. We are not on the floor with him, waking up to find her on top, which is the way it would have to be filmed if we were to doubt that it happened. So yes, that happened. And that's probably when Don impregnated her.

And yes, it's Don's baby. Like I said, the creators rarely cheat. If they wanted us to doubt the father of Betty's baby, they'd have shown her having affairs with other men. But the one thing that's been emphasized ALL season, from the car mechanic, to Arthur (the guy at the stable) is that Betty has been tempted to have an affair, but has resisted. She's stayed faithful to Don. She finally gives in at the bar. But she's only slept with Don up till then. And the baby is Don's.

There is no need to make things more complicated, more "soap opera-ish." It's really that simple. You don't believe it because you, like the Doctor, can't seem to believe that a married woman would want to abort her husband's baby. But many married women did and do want to do that for a variety of reasons--then and now. When Betty says "It's not the right time," Francine doesn't think it's not Don's baby, just that something is wrong and Betty can't deal with this baby. Which is exactly it.

If she has the baby, she's stuck with Don. Don who cheated on her. If she doesn't have the baby, she can leave him. Unable to rid herself of the baby, she has a quick affair at the bar. And NOW she can deal with having the baby and staying with Don.

I know that's not as fun as speculating that it's someone else's baby--but someone else's baby is so cliché. And this show is not cliche. This show presents us with real people who have real dilemmas, and a lot of times those dilemmas aren't "I'm having someone else's baby!" they're "I don't want to have my husband's baby because he's a cheat and a lair."

Now she's a cheat and a liar. Now she can have his baby.

Thirteen: Points well taken and you are probably right. Here is the thing that still throws me - why is Don's reaction so off? At the very least, summoning him home and letting him know that he will once again be a father should have prompted some kind of verbal response from Don. Or a smile, a hug, a kiss, something. I understand Betsy's inability to speak, not our favorite suddenly enlightened ad man.

I am guilty of having an active imagination but the bar scene in the Jet Set definitely had two different actresses playing the role of the blond. When the blond and brunette are at the bar, the blond looks like she could be January Jones but the viewers are not quite sure. When the blond is right next to Jon Hamm, it definitely is not JJ. However, the next edit cut clearly shows JJ looking down and away. Two actresses, one dress. You can't miss her face if you slow down the frames on your DVR or on demand. Either that, or my school days at Berkeley have finally caught up with me and I am the one hallucinating.

You are correct that a decision to abort her husband's child would have been the ultimate moral dilemma (Kay & Michael Corleone come to my cinematic mind). However, our history forms our bias. What I think is important may be your red herring. I just didn't see it coming that she would have to have her affair before taking Don back. Her character just didn't strike me as one who would lower herself to such things. Then again, the flesh is weak, especially around an old washing machine, so what the heck, make your move. The world was going to end that weekend anyways.

>When the blond is right next to Jon Hamm, it definitely is not JJ. However, the next edit cut clearly shows JJ looking down and away.

Oh, I'm sure they used JJ in order to give us that same feeling that Don has, that shock, "Ohmygod! It's her...." and then, "No it isn't. I was mistaken." That was a clever camera trick, all from Don's pov, that worked to get that feeling across. But that's all it was doing; it wasn't trying to tell us that Don is prone to hallucinations.

And I'll grant you that Don's time in the desert is dreamy, filled with a "mirage" as it were. Unreal. But this is not like the Sopranos where we could find ourselves in Tony's dreams at any time and who knew what was a dream and what was real. We have never been allowed into Don's dreams...just his memories. And everything we've seen so far has been real. What I'm saying is, I think the writers try to play fair with us most of the time. And if they wanted us wondering if something was real or a dream, they'd have let us into Don's dreams before now, just as, on the Sopranos, they let us into Tony's dreams frequently enough for us to wonder.

> Her character just didn't strike me as one who would lower herself to such things. Then again, the flesh is weak, especially around an old washing machine, so what the heck, make your move. The world was going to end that weekend anyways.

I think there was more of a "world going to end" element than "flesh is weak" and more of a "changing herself" rather than "lowering" herself. As I said, it's been clear this whole season that Betty has wondered and been curious about having an affair. But I don't think the temptation is a sexual craving so much as a desire to be immoral and wild. She is the picture perfect wife, a rigid moralist, wanting her boy spanked for his lies, as well as someone who is always put together and in accord with society's rules and expectations. The temptation for Betty is to try the other side, the side that doesn't care what people think or what the rules are. To be, just once, the "other woman." Which is undoubtedly why he went with a man who was a Don clone. Betty made herself into the woman Don cheats with rather than being the wife he cheats on.

She gave into that temptation at the bar not just because it was an end of the world weekend, but because the Betty who follows the rules cannot stay with Don. A woman who believes in fidelity, that cheating and lying is immoral and wrong, cannot stay with a lying, cheating husband. Yet she's pregnant and can't get rid of the baby. It's 1962 there, it's hard enough for someone like Betty to imagine raising her young kids without a dad, but a new baby as well? Solution? If you can't get rid of one baby, get rid of that uncompromising, moral self. That's why she did it...because that Betty, the moral one, could never compromise with Don. And given the baby, a compromise had to be reached.

That's my analysis at least; that quick affair allowed her to not only finally give into temptation and see what it was like to be the "other woman," but also to invite Don back and tell him that she was pregnant.

Well Thirteen, I have to hand it to you. You do bring up some excellent points. The more I thought about it, I have to agree, Don is the father. With that settled, I know it is cliche but for all of these characters, the question is "who am I?"

Based on your thesis, the new Betty must shed the old Betty to accept Don back into her life. Now the mannequin scene has new context for me. She is trying on a new suit, which also ties into the Maidenform campaign. Yet, decisions like infidelity, are not something that are as casual as trying on this season's outfits. The old Betty would live her life in shame; the new Betty may say "I kinda liked this; maybe I'll do it again." Or maybe, women are just better at compartmentalizing their lives. The question for me is which one is the "true" Betty? If they are both Betty, then how will she reconcile the two? can they coexist? She's facing the same dilemma as Don Draper/Dick Whitman. I'm gonna stop now cause my brain hurts.

Betty was wearing her wedding ring and she told the guy she was married pre-sex, as you will remember, Don told Rachel HE was married pre-sex. That seems to be a little ethical rule they are following. I am old enough and open enough that people, even casual acquantances, frequently confess things to me and I am stunned at how many wives and girlfriends cheat, and don't feel too bad about it (especially after I tell them not to feel too bad about it!) and hell, Why tell? Why tell anything that gives you a feeling of power to keep to yourself. Don thinks she is a pillar of virtue and that is good for her to have him think that. She doesn't need him being suspicious about her. I think she was a little pissed that he was waiting around at the stables for a half hour to see her. The stables are HER place to go and he should stay away. I don't sound like nice old lady, do I? Nice is no damn fun. Nice is not power.

It's interesting, Polar Bear, that you would say that women compartmentalize their lives because all the pop culture womens magazines will tell you that MEN are the ones who compartmentalize. I think you are dead on. Look at Peggy who ignored her own pregnancy and looked away from her child. She had her eyes on a prize and it wasn't a baby or life with Pete. She literally ignored her own body for months to compartmentalize that and then move on. When Joan walked into Don's office where she had been raped on the foor, she was fine. She had put that ugly scene away in her brain and moved on. (Although I do think the pain is still there. She is just dealing with it for work.) Betty will keep her little infidelity to herself and the only changes Don will see in her is that she is more assertive. And he can chock that up to being left on her own to grow a little. Women also justify things to themselves very well. We often hold ourselves in high esteem and think our flaws are not flaws but tiny little beauty marks.

Now the mannequin scene has new context for me. She is trying on a new suit, which also ties into the Maidenform campaign.

Oh! Good call! Yes. I think she was trying on a new suit, as well as becoming the "third" mannequin. You can almost see her thinking, as if choosing between the two outfits--on the one side....on the other side....and she finds a third side. Thesis (I can't be with a cheater), Anti-thesis (I can't raise a baby and family without a husband), Synthesis: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

:-D Something like that. And you're right as well. There's the Maidenform campaign. Be the perfect, Jackie Kennedy wife to a powerful man, or be sexy Marilyn to all men? And Betty seems to say, "Neither one works for me. Isn't there another choice?"

I don't know where Francine has gone, Betty/Don mentioned her watching the kids at one point, so she must still live next door. But, the woman in the beauty shop was called Marie. Or did I hear wrong? This is a good thread, Thirteen. I notice that several of the above referenced scenes made use of a dress similar to the one Betty was wearing the night she found out about Bobby and Don. The blue/aqua one. The manniquins, the mistaken id at the bar, and I think one other time. I know Betty had lots of reason to throw up in the new car that night, but when she threw up, I had been thinking taht whole episode that she was pregnant then. Did we hear a due date?

When she threw up, I had been thinking taht whole episode that she was pregnant then. Did we hear a due date?

According to Weiner himself, it appears that I was correct. She got preggers at her dad's house that night she climbed on top of Don.

Yes, Thirteen, I read that, too. I am easily manipulated by red herrings! The night at her father's makes it more interesting timing anyway, I think. I wrote a post and deleted it yesterday and later read what you wrote (much clearer than what I planned to say) that MM is not contrived in its plot lines. And by contrived I mean they stay true to people's emotions instead of bringing in some soap opera technique. Novels, movies and TV shows, especially in the last 10 or 20 years, seem to be built around a twist, some fantastic non-life like verging from the truth. The audience has come to expect that and I think that is why so many of MM viewers are plotting those ideas into the character's lives. But, the writers do their craft well enough to let us develop those thoughts as we figure it all out. It is part of the fun to wonder at motives and actions. In life we don't get an easy resolution or an end to a story line. I always look for your analayis on a thread and trust your views.

PolarBear: You should read the interview with Matt: He states it WAS January Jones in JetSet because he wanted people to know Don was thinking about Betty - and seeing her everywhere. It's not because there were two women Don was sleeping with.

From Matt's Interview: "I will say this: in the scene where Don thinks he's seeing Betty at the bar, a couple of those shots are of Betty. That's deliberate, and that was written into the script. And Phil Abraham just hit that one out of the park. I was very proud to be involved in that."

I think that Betty has a lot to confess. She is an outright flirt (Roger Sterling, Arthur Case, the A/C salesman, the car mechanic, Jimmy Barrett) but backs off when it gets too hot to handle. If Betty didn't plan to pick up a man, why didn't she go to a coffeeshop or ice cream parlor? Betty also has a lot of time on her hands and can leave the kids with Carla at any given time. I'm waiting for Season 3. Don didn't really confess to anything except disrespecting Betty. That could mean anything. Good cover, Don! As long as they are both satisfied, that is all that matters.

Zabadu: thank you for the clarification/verification. Good to know that I'm not hallucinating. Matt Weiner and Phil Abraham should be proud of that scene.

Lilyann: "Women also justify things to themselves very well." Understatement of the year. However, Shakespeare warned us of the unconscious mind - we know what's right and wrong. Our conscience can not run away from the rationalization of our actions.

I wish more women held their flaws as beauty marks. Instead, this culture views them as something that needs to be erased, or medicated, or psychoanalyized, or surgically removed/enhanced, or dyed (you get the picture).

Peggy felt relieved by her confession to Pete, and was able to prayer once again, or to allow her Faith to surround her once again. But, what will hearing her confession do to Pete?

Sizzie,
The lady at the beauty salon called Marie was the hairstylist who was working on Francine's hair. Francine is Betty's best friend - she keeps the kids a lot, although we never see Francine's kids at Betty's - writers, work on that next season. Francine moved from the beauty chair to sit a chair with a dryer next to Betty to talk - that's where the conversation about the pregnancy took place. Last season Francine came to Betty to tell her about Carlton, Francine's husband, cheating on her.

I agree with you about Peggy finding peace after being truthful with Pete - I don't think her confession will mean much to him. Pete is very self-centered. I think Trudy will divorce him and Pete will be a pathetic version of Roger.

I'm thinking that Peggy is the character to watch. I'm mesmerized by her motivations. The threat of the nuclear attack, the thot of being hell bound has brot her to begin to deal w/ her decision about giving her baby to her sister. She begins w/ her confession to Pete but as she's in this moment, we begin to see that she has made a more conscious and deliberate decision than we were led to believe in at the event. Having the child in her family dynamic yet ignoring her connection to him kept me on edge about her . Her prayer before lights out tells me that she now believes that all is calm all is bright.... I don't think so...
It will be interesting to watch the new interaction between her and Pete as the new season begins. With his promotion in "accounts" and Peggy's rise in "creative" there's bound to be a lot more tension coming our way....

Peggy did make her "confession." Just not in the confessional to a priest who could give or suggest her penance of some sort and absolve her. She made it to Pete.

The point is, she has unloaded this secret to someone. Someone who is involved with the situation. Think of Don telling Betty he'd cheated on her. So when Peggy prays and does the sign of the cross, she feels that the burden of secrecy has been removed.

Don's secret of Dick Whitman is/has been known but only to Anna. He has confessed his love for and his philandering to Betty. He may not be absolved of those "sins" but it's a start.

This series is staying so true to the convergence of the ways of the '50's and 60's and how changes came about, as they always seem to, with each new generation. As we became more and more liberal during those times, women,and of course not all women, but alot of them seemed to "catch up" with men and took more power over their lives. I guess what I'm trying to say is that women really wanted to change big portions of their lives and that included their sex lives. It was a time that allowed them to say "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" which included their status in the job world, their home life and, again, their sex lives. They no longer wanted to sit by and wonder why their husbands played around or why it could possibly be their own fault but found their confidence regained or renewed in the attention of another man. Of course, not all women felt this way but it was the beginning of the sexual revolution for women and with that came a feeling of power. There are so many scenarios in this great show that come from the attitude so many men had toward women in the working world; including, how promotions could could be "procurred", how your secretary's discretion was relied upon to shield your boss or cover for him. So much went on during that time that it's no wonder women seized the opportunity to "stretch their wings"! Peggy's feeling new confidence in her life and her job. She sees that in order to be taken seriously she has to be heard and to do that, she has to jump into each meeting, each conversation and interject her ideas with that confidence. She has to dress the part, feel the part and think the part and that's enabled her to let loose on Pete. She's found freedom and what the hell - - tell him like it is and let him deal with it! I think Pete's going to go thru a crisis of some sort thinking that he loves Peggy so much and that THEIR child has been given away. Pete's got issues anyway! As for Betty and Don, well, Betty's just beginning to feel her oats! I think she's just plain sick and tired of trying to be Mrs. Perfect, as she was brought up to be, and has decided to take her life back. She's feeling more and more like women started to feel during that time and, not only wants to feel worthy, loved and desired, but wants a little revenge! She's had it with the lying and deception and is taking control. Each character in this series is contributing so much to the "telling" of the way it was during that time and the writers are fabulous and have tremendous incite. I EAGERLY await the returning characters and series and find it such a refreshing change from all the shows that are on tv now. Keep up the great work writers! ! ! !

I am still waiting for Betty to confess to what she was doing in Manhattan when she met Don Draper. She wasn't really a top model and apartments in Manhattan were expensive. When we were kids, there were an awful lot of "models" around. We later found out that these models were call girls/prostitutes. Remember her roommate, Juanita? Hmmmmm?

Juanita moved to Mayberry and took up with Barney FIfe

Is the baby Betty is carrying her husbands?

I don't think Betty was a prostitute. She reminds me of someone who was planning on being a nun.