Hi hanna!
I don't think Don and Betty reconciled. I think we were intentially left to wonder.

Have you been watching the show or did you miss some episodes?

if you watch the blog, Matt Weiner and January Jones say the reconciled, but you are left wondering if it was because of Betty's pregnancy or because of the letter. I think the letter, because you saw Betty cry when she was reading it. Plus they thought the world was going to end, and Betty needed him more than anything. Are their slates clean...No. That is why next season we will see what happens with them. But utimately like Weiner said, Family keeps people together whether we accept it or not.

Don and Betty are two people who love each other, even though each one of them is flawed. They will always come back to each other in the end.

Because they love each other.

Betty reached out to Don when she learned of her father's illness because she needed his emotional support. It would have been very easy to have explained Don's abscense due to proffessional responsibilities. Don instinctively went to her and took care of her while they were together. Betty went to Don that night because she wanted to feel close to him.

When Don was in CA trying to escape, he could not leave Betty behind He thought he saw her at the bar, he thought he heard her echo in the cadence of Joy's voice. He loves Betty. Once he cleaned his slate via confession and baptism, he was decisive. We next see him at the stables waiting for Betty. He was proffessionally dressed, but he did not go to the office until after seeing Betty. She was his priority.

When Betty first saw him at the stables, her knees buckled and she staggered just slightly before confronting him. Don's oblique confession was the beginning and Betty understood what he had said. Then she nearly fainted while reading his letter to her which was heartfelt and honest in dealing with the past as well as his feelings for her. She loves him.

Don's slight smile and gentle caress of Betty's hand at the dinner table told us all we needed to know about why they were back together.

Their path wont be easy, but it will be shared.

I missed the first few episodes, but I think Don never really cheated until Betty accused him of cheating! And I think Betty invited him back because of the letter. Finally, I think Don believes he has nothing to apologize for, but he knows he must apologize anyway or Betty will never forgive him. MOST IMPORTANTLY, I believe Betty is sweet but has some tragic mental problems (depression, delusions, who knows what else?), and I think Don is starting to realize this. He knew he had to come back because his wife isn't quite right and she needs emotional support right now; also the children need him there. He is basically a good man with a conscience -- but I don't think he'll be able to help Betty overcome her mental problems, and she will probably end up in an institution, like other victims of mental illness in the 60's (and before). That outcome would be true to the era.

No woman could resist that letter. What a letter! Don used his considerable creative talent to win back his wife with that letter, pregnancy or no.

Besides the letter, I think what was key for Betty was his admission that he had, in essence, played mind games with her (At least I know I'm not crazy). That was the honesty that Betty needed from Don. Hard to communicate real issues or feelings with someone who keeps thrusting it back on you with the "you're crazy" ploy in order to avoid answering you. Which Don did to Betty constantly. That alone can drive someone to the brink of crazy behavior. But, I also think if Betty wasn't pregnant, I'm not so sure that she would have accepted Don back.

In one sense, as Betty stated "without Don I think I'd float away", but I think she's worn out by Don. Don really broke Betty in so many ways (her heart, her mind), and he knows it by the admission to Anna that he destroyed Betty and his marriage. Whether coming back together is going to work for them, I don't know. How do you restore the love or lost faith in someone? Don has his work cut out for him, and so does Betty. It takes a monumental effort to learn to love, trust and believe in someone again, and I don't know that Betty has the energy or ability to do so. I hope so, for both their sakes, but especially Betty, who always really did love Don from the get-go.

kss91354: You need to watch Season 1 and Season 2. Don most definitely cheated on Betty. Betty isn't going to end up in the looney bin.

It was the Cuban Missle Crises that motivated Betty to ask Don to come home. Remember, at that point, most Americans believed they were facing nuclear war.

I don't think it was the pregnancy, since she was pretty much determined to make the ultimate decison on her own ( there were reputable doctors who would "assist a miscarriage" pre Roe v. Wade. ) It was not impossible to medically end a pregnancy, although it did fall within the gray-area of legality.

I think Betty and Don have come to neutral terms, but I'm not sure I'd call it a "reconciliation."

And Don, in his typical manner, never outright admitted to having affairs. He said he was not "respectful" to Betty.

It will be interesting to see what next season brings.

Zabadu: Here we go again. Sighhhhh.... "Don never cheated until Betty accused him..." Yeah right, KSS. Please go watch both seasons in their entirety, alone, by yourself, without interruptions.

Laurie B: I don't get it, I just don't. I just think people half watch it, or don't understand it when they do.

Well, you have to admit MadMen is a very complex series with a lot of convoluted storylines and a million nuances and clues. Something you can watch many, many times and continue to "pick up" information missed in a first or second viewing. I'm just finally relieved to know that Peggy's baby was put up for adoption (thank you zabadu!)!!

I think Betty's pregnacy and Don's letter is what made Betty decide to give Don another chance. Don might be feeling sympathetic now but I think as soon as he gets comfortable at home again he will revert to his old womanizing ways. But in the future I don't Betty will put up with his cheating anymore and will decide to get a career and move on.
What makes M M interesting and a little frustrating is the fact that the characters do not reveal their true feelings and thoughts to each other. Betty does not confide much in her friends, Peggy is tight lipped and keeps her feelings bottled up, the same for Joan whom we are left wondering how she felt about the rape.same for the male characters. The viewers are never offered any insight into the motivations of these people. We are left to observe their behaviour but are always left wondering why.

I have been where Betty is; an unfaithful spouse who wasn't decent enough to be honest when confronted. It is hard to move forward when the other person doesn't give you truth. That said, I believe that they both truly love each other and that Betty needed the truth to be able to move forward.

They reconciled because of all the things mentioned here, not just one. Come on. She was pregnant, he wrote some good pros, and he's a pretty pretty man. Plus she got a little somthin somthin in that bar (tit for tat). Expect to see more of that after she has the baby.

I keep wondering why all these "becauses" don't include the sex in the bar.

Here's how I read the reconciliation: Betty is the type of woman who can't imagine being a single mom with a baby--she's not that type of woman. On the other hand, she's also couldn't be with a cheater and a lair. But she couldn't get rid of the baby.

She had to alter the situation so that she could live with this man who she needed as father to her baby. So she cheated on her husband. That's why she can reconcile with him. Because now they're both cheaters. Now he doesn't hold anything over her, and she doesn't hold anything over him. Now reconciliation is possible.

In addition to the reasons already given, I would add:

She doesn't want to become a social pariah divorcee like Helen Bishop, and she dreads that her children would be emotionally affected by a divorce like Glenn was.

She likes the financial stability she has as a wife (one interpretation of her window shopping scene). She wants to continue to be able to afford luxuries for herself and her children.

Before her quickie she threw away the line about being a married woman and got no response. She allowed herself to be picked up to even the score, but I think she was also proving to herself that all men are pigs. This might make Don seem a little less guilty.

Just to clarify - I did watch the show, I do watch the extras on the blog. I just wanted people to discuss their takes on the character's motivation to get back together - which they have. :)

For some reason I have a feeling that Betty had one foot out the door in terms of her marriage up until she learned about the pregnancy, and that pregnancy trapped her into staying. I don't know if she would have been brave enough to go out on her own, but now she feels that she has no choice but to stay. She does feel validated in her suspicions now that Don has quasi-confessed, and that made it easier to call him back.

As for Don, I think Don is a very troubled person who built up this perfect persona and family life, and thinks that his salvation may be in having this perfect family. He screwed up and realized that he had a good chance of losing it all, so that this point he is willing to what he needs to to fix his marriage and keep his family. However, that doesn't mean that he won't go back to his old ways. I'm almost certain that he will cheat again, and when he does, then he probably will ruin his marriage forever.

hanna: I certainly hope not! I don't want them to divorce, I want them to really learn to love each other, warts and all.

Betty played her hand brilliantly, in my opinion. As her father said, "Elizabeth has a mind for cards." She really brought Don to heel by making it perfectly clear, in no uncertain terms, that she meant business. She was ready to throw him out permanently if he didn't 'fess up and start showing his love for her.

I think Don was given a real wake-up call by 1) Bobbie Barrett telling him he had a "reputation," 2) Jimmy Barrett telling him "you're garbage, and you know it," 3) Betty's father letting him have it about his treatment of Betty, and 4) Betty finally having the balls to confront him about his affairs and throw him out of the house.

He came perilously close to losing his wife and kids and he realizes it. That's not what he wants. I think he is positively thrilled about the pregnancy and will now be a much better husband and father. I see the new baby as a new beginning for Don and Betty's marriage. At least this is what I am hoping for -- I cannot imagine them splitting up. It would ruin the show. The real challenge is for them to stay together and work it out.

It would ruin the show if Betty and Don split up. This isn't Grey's Anatomy, TRYING to have some suspense in the main personal relationship of Derek and Meredith-will the get together, will the not-blah. This is a show trying to emulate life and it's complexities. What better way than to show the main couple struggling through life. I think Don will probably stray again, and they need to have a play in place for Betty to deal with it. They can't do this "kick him out of the house" number again, or it does become soapy. And I really want them to make it for the long run.

Betty reconciled with Don because of the pregnancy, the letter and the threat due to the Cuban Misile Crisis. I also think that Betty was feeling a little guilty that she finally cheated on Don. The only way this marriage has a chance of survival is if Don comes completely clean about his past and if Betty loves him enough to forgive him, but then we will have to wait until Season 3 to find out.

Betty reconciled with Don because of the pregnancy, the letter and the threat due to the Cuban Missile Crisis. I also think that Betty was feeling a little guilty that she finally cheated on Don. The only way this marriage has a chance of survival is if Don comes completely clean about his past and if Betty loves him enough to forgive him, but then we will have to wait until Season 3 to find out.

Regardless of the reasons, I agree that their relationship is "key" in this show. And when I watched her face on the screen when she read the letter and it faded out and Don's faded in almost simultaneously, I thought, "I haven't seen such wonderful camera work and editing since "The Thorn Birds".

@hanna: I reluctantly have to agree with you that the potential of Don cheating in the future is fairly high - mainly because Don doesn't believe that people can change. Until Don really believes that, more than likely he'll "fall off the fidelity wagon" at some point in the future.

The difference in the future being that Betty may also join him in conducting sideline affairs also. If Don discovers that, well then the marriage will really blow wide open and disintegrate.

The sad part is that Betty truly loved Don completely, and I don't know that her feelings about him will ever be the same or recover to what she felt before. I don't think they will. They may stay together because of the kids until they're grown, but by that time, the likelihood of Betty starting over with a new man will be slim. Betty had to grow up, but I hope that the circumstances that forced her to grow up don't make her an embittered, jaded person for the rest of her life.

I think in this finale, everybody grew up a little bit, everybody realized that life is NOT going to be like they thought it would and everybody is going to live with some compromises.

The day you realize that is the day you start to become a real adult, no matter how old you are.

I have a feeling Betty's going to stumble onto something that will give her a clue to Anna's existence in Season 3. Betty may take a little trip out west herself.

I was thinking the same thing, Laurie B., That Betty will find evidence of Don's support of Anna, say a canceled check or something. There's also a divorce decree out there somewhere. I inherited a piece of furniture from a relative who was in her late 30's and remarrying for the 2nd time in the early 60's. I found a small file box in one little drawer and it was full of canceled checks showing the purchase of a new home, a new car, furniture, and clothes. There was also a document that seemed to be an early prenuptial agreement. I learned as much, if not more, from that little box than I ever learned from her own mouth. I think Anna and Betty are the caralysts for Don to finally really be himself.

Catalysts. Sorry for the misspell.

TO: whatsamattaU posted @ 6:26 pm on October 28: You took the words right out of my mouth - I'm not sure "love" has anything in the world to do with Don and Betty's relationship...unless it's self-love. The stigma, becoming pitied and spurned like Helen Bishop...THAT was Betty's impetus!

A few comments - Betty started out saying "I..." with a long pause and then said "I'm pregnant" in the final scene. It seemed as if she was going to confess to Don that she had cheated and say "I slept with someone" and then changed her mind and told him she was pregnant. Anyone else get that? I think the main reason she let Don come back was definitely that she had her revenge. But even so I can't really figure it out. I don't really see Betty in love with Don as much as she was the little girl who wanted the fairy tale life and thought she had it. Once he was gone, I thought she was pretty honest when she said that life wasn't really any different without him. That letter? It didn't seem that convincing to me. And she seemed pretty ready to abort the baby. So I still can't see why she let him come back. Unless I was right and she really did just want to tell him that she cheated on him and have her revenge but she chickened out.

I also never really understood how Don went from being in the bar with Roger and telling him that he didn't feel anything bad or otherwise being separated from Betty, and then all of a sudden he needs to come home so badly. What did I miss? Was it supposed to be the visit to Anna because I didn't see the big revelation there.

Don was in deep denial about the depth of his love for Betty. Going to California, experiencing the emptiness of "The Jet Set," reconnecting with Anna and "Dick Whitman," made all the difference to Don. He finally realized the importance of his wife and kids, that his life would be nothing without them, and came back to New York a changed man.

I think Betty did all the right things to make Don come to his senses. She did not make it easy for him to come home; he had to earn his way back. I don't believe she ever intended to tell him about her one-night stand. That was strictly for her benefit. I think that even without the pregnancy, they would have reconciled eventually. They still have Sally and Bobby together, and neither one of them really wants to get divorced. Betty has seen the destruction of divorce in Helen Bishop and Glenn; Don saw it in "The Jet Set" kids. Both were repelled by it.

I believe that they really do love each other, deep down. The challenge for Season 3 will be in showing how they grow together, as a couple, with a greater knowledge of themselves and each other.

@megustamix: I think from the time of the Don and Roger bar scene until the "Jet Set" episode, Don was out of the house for quite a while living at the Roosevelt Hotel. Between those two timeframes, didn't he make a couple of attempts to come back, and also Betty's father's stroke, but Betty kept rebuffing him. But in that time, I think Don was starting to miss his kids, and even Betty, and sleeping with her that one time and then being barred from the home kind of sent him spinning. Don isn't used to not getting his way. When he couldn't get back into the house after sleeping with Betty, and ran off to California, I think he had every intention of never coming back. Talking with Anna, and meeting the Jet Set people helped him realize that he wanted his family, not to begin running again.

@megustamex: I wondered what Betty would say when she gave that little pause after I....but I was leaning more toward "I'm pregnant again and I want an abortion. You must know someone Don..." I would think that would be more painful than hearing "I had a fling too." Rejecting his baby would be the ultimate rejection. But, she will have it, and by having it, she takes Don back, though I'm sure with little love, and heavy reservations. The opposite with Peggy. She rejected the baby and so rejected the man. And she had the courage to confess. Peggy is a strong woman.

I'm not so sure Don has "learned a lesson" about cheating. I think he just got caught and almost lost what he wants to have solidly behind him (Betty, home, family, etc.) I think all this cheating bit with him ties in with his dual personality thing almost like he can be a different person to the different women in his life and is in a constant pursuit for the real Dick Whitman (he knows he's not DOn Draper) and perhaps the next woman is going to help him define Dick much the same as Anna has helped him to be himself. Remember, as much as he thinks he loves and wants the "Betty" life - it IS all a sham b/c he is NOT Don Draper. If you think Betty came unglued when he found out he was sleeping around - what do you think would happen to her when/if she finds out there is NO Don Draper??

I don't know madfordon, I've often wondered what Betty's reaction would be, too, finding out she's married to an imposter. I think she REALLY would go over the edge in hysterics.

Wish boca were around. Unless Don legally changed his name to Don Draper (in addition to assuming the identity), would that make his marriage to Betty invalid?

Doh! I just finally "got" the window scene with Betty staring at her reflection; The two mannequins represented the Madonna and the Whore. Betty was deciding if she wanted to try the other side for a change.

I think they have reconciled, but their road to happiness is a long one. She still needs to find out more about Don, and Don vice versa. Like Anna told him in Cali, You dont necessarily have to tell her everything, there is stuff that you probably dont know about her. I wouldnt say the clouds are clear for them, but I am happy they are going to work things out. Next season should be interesting.

I think Betty is still very much in love with Don, however now her eyes are opened. She is no longer wrapped in a bubble where she thinks she has this perfect life. She's no longer under the assumption that being married to Don is all she needs. This relationship is going to take some work. I think she got a chance to "wake up' when Don left. Yes she said that it wasn't much different when he was gone, but life financially and socially WOULD be very different if he really left.

I really don't see them not working this out. Neither one of them want the marriage to end. This is a re-evaluating period. Marriage isn't what either of them expected so now they have to work this out using what they have NOW, not what their expectations were. Betty did exactly what she was supposed to do. She didn't let him come back easily. This worked because it gave him time to put things in perspective. He needed to go away and get 'cleansed'. I don't think I've seen him respect her more this episode than all the previous episodes put together. If she would have immediately let him come back, it wouldn't have given him the opportunity to reflect on what he was about to lose.

Because this is TV and not real life, I think if next season has Betty finding out about Don’s true identity, it would be a mistake. This show does a good job of unfolding things at just the right time. In that aspect, it is just like real life. We’re anxious as viewers because we all know the truth (but in real life you get every truth all at once). And I like the mystery that his secret adds to the storyline. I don’t think he needs to tell her everything at once. My goodness, he hasn’t came right out in plain English and admitted to the affairs. I don’t think it is in the ‘Don persona’ to do that. He knows exactly how much to share and what to keep.

I cannot wait for season 3!

I agree sticky, I think Weiner is keeping the suspense and is building up to it. I could totally see season 3 end with Betty asking Don...WHO IS ANNA DRAPER?

jamm54 you hit it right on. If, in Season 3, they do expose Anna Draper and Betty meets her I sure hope Anna, once again, helps her like she helped Don. Anna has learned to live with and move-on from her pain it seems. I'm really glad the writers did not put Don in Anna's bed or make it something nasty. Also, the fact that Don came back and it appears they have reconciled for now. If they broke up that main couple, they'd lose fans. Afterall, Don is the main character and he has to have a believable love-interest that we (the audience) think is worthy of him & his wealth. I think they drag on the suspense just enough to keep us watching without dragging it on so much that we get frustrated and abandon the show. Perhaps in Season 3 they will go out West to take the agency or Don will start his own or whatever form that takes but yes, the family will go out to CA for some reason. Dear writers - we want Don & Betty to stay together, grow, love each other love all 3 children. Add the drama but please keep them growing towards each other, not apart.

I would be heartbroken if they got a divorce.

I would love to see a divorce. A divorce is an enlightenment, a new beginning. Really, I have never met a woman broken by divorce and most men get over it quick too. I'm not being nasty, really, I'm not. But we are surrounded by divorce in our culture and I don't think it's from selfishness or lack of character. I think it is a normal human condition. Humans seek change. Humans love love, and love the love story. And you can fall in love over and over and over again with many people. Exhilarating! Goodbye all til Matt the Genius creates again!

Matt Weiner said in the blog, that the future is still not clear for Don and Betty, but utimately whether we like it or not, he says that people back then stayed together for the sake of the children, whether we as the audience accept it or not. I dont think they will divorce, if anything they might fall in love with each other again.

I don't think that Don will ever reveal his true identity to Betty. What for? The name Dick Whitman or even that "person" that he was will have no meaning for Betty. Betty only knows Don Draper, and doesn't understand that person anymore than Don understands himself, really.

Think of it this way, from where we all begin in life, regardless of our name/family, we evolve over the years and can be radically different from our origins both mentally, emotionally, spiritually and morally.

Being in an assumed identity is not really the problem with Don - assuming that he has to eradicate every trace of the soul and humanity of Dick Whitman to "be" Don Draper is Don's problem. How do you explain that dilemma to someone else when you haven't even come to grips with it yourself? You can't, and Don can't for now with Betty or anyone, not even Anna Draper.

Anna was like the mapmaker or map guide - she's knows the starting point, and where how far Don has moved forward, but she can't chart the rest of Don's "journey" as a person or human being. It's still up to Don/Dick.

They're crazy about each other - period.

I hope so, because I do believe they love each other, but you never know how a marriage will go. Sometimes people just get worn out from it.

My mom and I always discuss the MM episodes(when she was younger in that time period - my mom actually had a resemblence to Betty) anyway the last episode....she believes that Betty wanted a reason to take Don back. So she created one, so the night they got together and had sex and got pregnant, she had that planned for that so that was one of the reasons she could take him back and then she needed to even the score with sleeping with an absolute stranger...(she had other men she knew that she could have done that with but didn't and knew she couldn't get pregnant because she already knew she was) So in her tormented mind she was able to 'allow' him to come back because she evened the score and she was pregnant.

Debbieak: You know, I also wondered if Betty secretly wanted to get pregnant and that's the reason she went to Don that night.

Thanks for your post. I like the theory that Betty needed a reason to get back with Don.

Hopefully, the new baby will bring them closer together, not further apart.

kss91354 did you watch the show? your way wrong about the cheating thing. that sounds like something someone who cheats themselves would say.

also i dont think betty is mental. she is just board. she has got everything she ever wanted: the husband, children and house but at the same time she has nothing. what do you do when you get everything you ever wanted and never thought past getting? i think it was a common problem of that time when the gender roles were about to change. thats part of why she is so interested in that divorced woman next door. that woman didnt put up with her cheating husband, she has a job and goes on walks!

I have a new angle on the Betty/Don situation. I actually know a woman who initiated sex with her husband when she found out she was pregnant by another man (one of her co-workers) . Of course, when the baby was born, he knew it could not possibly be his. He stayed with her until the child turned 18 and then, they divorced. Life is stranger than fiction!!! If Betty keeps horseback-riding, there may not be a baby at all. .

I think Don and Betty "did" reconcile! I think that her sleeping with the stranger in the bar was something she had been curious about doing with another man quite some time...I also believe that Betty being strong and not giving in easily to Don has made him realize he has a great wife and wants to be with her. (I hope)

I think Don and Betty "did" reconcile! I think that her sleeping with the stranger in the bar was something she had been curious about doing with another man quite some time...I also believe that Betty being strong and not giving in easily to Don has made him realize he has a great wife and wants to be with her. (I hope)

Don fell for Betty the first time he saw her...and she saw him as her knight in shining armor. He proved his love and won her by giving her the mink. They were both young enough to still believe in the fairy tale and "happily ever after" then. Then the kids came and Don spent more and more time away from home trying have the drean life he wanted.and Betty began to see that there isn't a "happily ever after". Dick/ Don was searching for who he is and Betty may never know who she is, accept she is a mother and a wife. I saw resignation in both of them. This is their life and they will always struggle with their marriage and Don will always try to find ways to make Betty happy. I expect there will be more affairs but Don will be more careful and Betty will learn to look the other way. They BOTH want the life they have....so they will at least stay together till the children are grown.

I've lived a life similar to that of Don Draper (hiding my own past). It was destroying me emotionally and physically. I had years of difficulty in living with myself, and constantly looking over my shoulder; it was horrible! I surmise that Don will realize this and come clean. When I came clean it was for myself first, then for my family. Eventually, I was able to plot a new course for my life and every aspect of it improved. Notice that I stated "improved". It was NOT completely mended in any way. My wife forgave me, but I can tell that she will never forget......and I don't blame her! Don will realize this as well.

He did some soul searching and decided to get honest with himself. At least he's trying, some people live in denial til death. That's got to be a living hell.

I really like this show because it is very realistic. Having joined the work force right out of high school and worked in a large male dominated office. It's like I have stepped back in time. And yes there were jerks just like Don, and sweet innocent girls like Betty who took their man back. But times have changed! As we baby boomers put our "big girl clothes on and learned to flex our muscles", I won't say the good ole boy club ceased to exist but they did know when and who to leave alone.

The show is great and I really miss it. Wish someone would post a schedule so we'd all know when it starts up again and PLEASE put all the shows back on Charter On Demand so we can watch them again!

Because that is what people do in 1962.

I don't think they reconciled at all. They got to an impasse and didn't know what else to do. The expression on Don's face (and Betty's) when she told him about the baby said it all. It's not going to be easy for them to reconcile as they face having another child together. They have too many conflicts and unresolved anger and resentment to simply kiss and make up.

i agree with zebra, season two ends with the news of a baby, not hugs and kisses. plus, betty's affair/one-night-stand/whatever symbolizes, to an extent, her independence and maturity. independence and maturity sort of forecasts whats to come; either she will be like don and stay married to save face, or follow in helen bishop's lone footsteps.

ow I have finished 2 seasons in 2 days.

I can say that Don and Betty doesn't have a real spiritual connection between them. For Don, Betty is a professional choice for marriage that he can control her and feel secure with her in home. He didn't want suspicion in house. So Betty was a good choice.

Betty is not a smart woman. She is a stereotype southern farm princess. Doesn't have so much mind but she is strong willed and faithful. Sure this will change in later episodes.

Well, on the other hand Don has a big identity problem. And the more important he is a lone man indeed. It doesn't matter whether he reveal all things about his past to Betty. Betty isn't capable to understand this at all aspects.

I think at final Don will fall from the top as it shows in opening clips. He will be a wandering man like he met in farm when he was a child. He will leave everything behind.

Children and women doesn't mean so much to Don though it seems so.

So at the end he will be lonely.

Betty reconciled due to the note and the pregnancy. And, perhaps, more than a little pity for her handsome hollow man. She wants to love him; but she also wants love; something she's not sure he's capable of giving her. A child, within the context of the show's timeframe, would be a reason they will stay together in an empty marriage. Betty might eventually crack up, but right now she's getting stronger,not weaker.
Don got back with Betty due to his epistle. He realized he can hang on to the Don Draper "persona" without her. She too big a part of the reality he chose to create for himself; his fantasy world (which came all too close to crashing down around him in season 2). The pregnancy is just as convenient for him as it is for her. He thinks she can't go anywhere now regardless of what revelations he makes about his past. And with $500,000 on the way, what can't be wooed by teary eyed honesty in a letter most likely has a price tag. Unfortunately he thinks the only price he'll have to pay is in the form of dollars, but Betty's a tad smarter than that - don't you think? So, in essence, they need each other for completely different reasons. Right now her need is less apparent than his, but the tables will turn again, I'm sure. And if the baby is born with some kind of "imperfection" or "defect," each will need the other to blame. And if the baby is born normal, each will need the other to blame. Don will say "she trapped me again" and start to feel antsy. Betty will feel like the stifled housewife again and need to cool her heels one way or another. There's going to be more "quid pro quo" in Season 3 and I'm sure we'll all be watching.

I think Betty is the most tragic figure on the series. She is so totally representative of the 60's housewife, smart and capable but completely controlled by what that time's society demanded. And miserable because she's bored, and feels guilty about not being "fulfilled" by children, successful husband, beautiful house, etc. She could be running her own business or living her OWN life, but she's kind of doomed to live as "Don's wife", as we all were in 1962.

Look at the neighborhood's reaction to the single divorced mom who moved iin. I don't think Betty has the courage (yet) to even sincerely think of herself in that role. Her only option would be to go "home" to mommie and daddy's house (what a snake pit that place is!)

I am glad she kicked Don out, that showed she is beginning to wake up to her own strength; but it would be really a stretch at this point in her awakening to think she could really go through with a divorce and all the societal shame that brought, as well as having no role at all in 50's poing of view.

So she had to invent a reason to get Don back (the preganancy), because she was desperate. And the fling was just that. She is so miserable having to live that "nice" lifestyle that even though (at this point) she thinks there is no other way, she is just so furious about it that she went out, got drunk (to get over the hurdle) and had zipperless sex with a total stranger - her way of striking back at Don and the whole male-oriented world of the time.

I think she would have gone through with an abortion, because when she first discovered her pregnancy, she was horrified at the idea of another baby to raise; but at the first sign of resistance from the (male) doctor, she caved into the status quo.

It took real rebels to resist living a role they hated when everything around them screamed that they were crazy to even think about bucking the system.

I think Don and Betty, by reconciling as far as they have, have at least decided to try. Betty could have gotten an abortion and avoided being even deeper into a stupid situation with Don, but she chose to keep the baby, and I think, kind of metaphorically, to keep Don in her life.

I don't think all is perfectly healed between them. They obviously will have to rebuild their relationship and each will have to give a lot more. What strikes me is how little they really know each other. Don, who obviously doesn't want his identity to be found out, sort of splits the intimacy that people might normally have with their one person, into several relationships with several women, including Peggy, though their relationship isn't at all sexual, and is almost fraternal. With Rachel, he confided about his mother, and felt at least a little bit free to share his fears and weaknesses (and parental issues). Betty is almost like the mother he never had. She's his ideal mother, but not necessarily someone he feels he can disappoint with his imperfections — and Betty is the same. Each woman has a part of him.

I think Don truly (FINALLY!) felt remorse for what he's done to his family. What is shocking during the course of the season is how much Betty tries to please him and confide in him and show her love, and he unabashedly betrays her. He seems to have no conscience about it at all, even well after he's caught. He's satisfied to just make her feel like she's insane. But I think the whole Mountain King episode really shows that HE had to choose to change. I hope he does. If this show is a metaphor for male-female relationships at that time, he has to.

I honestly think it was the pregnacy. she would not hide something that big from Don. honestly I don't belive that's in Betty's character.

I honestly think it was the pregnacy. she would not hide something that big from Don. honestly I don't belive that's in Betty's character.

I honestly think it was the pregnacy. she would not hide something that big from Don. honestly I don't belive that's in Betty's character.

I honestly think it was the pregnacy. she would not hide something that big from Don. honestly I don't belive that's in Betty's character.

I don't know that they have "reconciled," but they will stay togetherat least until the late 60's when Betty goes on the pill and burns her bra! Appearance is way too important to both of them. Betty knew she was going to let Don come home when she dropped the kids off at the hotel. Note her reaction when he asked if she wanted to join them. Also note the suit; she looked tons better in it, but it was the kind of suit that Bobbie Barret would have worn. Nothing like Betty's regular "girly" wardrobe. Betty is as much of a competitor as Don, and quite simply, she had to even the score.

In the complexities of their relationship there was and is love at the bottom. I believe after that first season pull back to Betty-the "nostalgia" romance of "The Wheel"'s great speech, Don made an effort, then stumbled with Bobbie Barrett, despite his distaste for her. Now he's been shocked to the core and turned to the one person who could understand him, Anna. Apparently Anna doesn't believe he should come clean with Betty...I assume she has a certain pride in the "Don Draper" she helped to create and perhaps it's a final act of love to her Don to see Dick succeed in his shoes...But she has set him on the right path again. I think Don will now do his best and Betty will do hers best to help him as well as herself. Hopefully we'll see a growing and stronger relationship, maybe even culminating in Dick revealing his true self to Betty as she does to him (not the perfect "Nordic" fairy princess of his dreams). Through Don and Betty perhaps we'll get a look at how so many marriages did survive the coming changes... After all we have Pete and Trudy, Roger and Mona to give us the failed outlook.

Yes Gertz I think the wheel speech, which was brilliant, also shows us what Don wants.

Will Don reveal his past to Betty. On one level I am sure she already suspects. Her father knew someting was wrong, as he said in his alzheimer induced "truthtelling". I suspect don is afraid that if Betty knew who he really was that she wouldnt love him...getting to that point, where he accepts that she can accept him, warts and all, will take some time.

Bert accepts him, but in a different way. Bert doesnt care about his past but who he is and what he does...seen in the Pete campbell confrontation scene. Bert is a devotee of Ayn Rand, we will see if that ever shows up again.

Anna accepts him for what he is. Don, well we need to see more of what his real mother was, his dad claims she was a prostititute (I wouldnt believe that at face value) and his step mom was clearly religous woman (more madonna/whore stuff) These are the things that complicate don, including his very toubled relationship with his Dad.

Is Don really looking to find both a father (as in an example and teacher of how to be a man) and a mother? Neither of these key figures are stable for him. I wonder if we will see more of Dick Whitman's past?

Well we are moving into 64? Post Kennedy assisination, the Beatles are coming, youth exerts an amazing influence on the culture....including California beginning to steal cultural influence from New York. So much to look forward to.

But to finally answer the question, yes Betty and Don have "reconciled", or come to a truce for the moment. Their marriage isnt the same and never will be, the birth of child (assuming one is born, I sure hope they dont touch on Thalidomide, or only as a bullett dodged) gives Don a new chance to recommit to family. Often the unexpected child, a little later is the one that parents truely enjoy.

Boy or Girl? (my bet is a boy)

I'm not sure they really love each other. I think they use each other:
For Betty, to achieve her dream of marrying a prince charming, and be a princess by his side
For Don, to found the family he did not have

Betty needs a social recognition, that's why she cries after reading the letter. The letter doesn't really say: "I love you." It says: "You are a great person"; you make men's heart alive, you fill our life, without you I am nothing, I don't exist, you give birth to me every day I spend by your side, "I need you (morally, emotionally) to live like you need me (financially, materially) to live".

Betty's dream is broken. She must grow up, she has to become a real woman. She doesn't want anymore to expect too much from Don. So she will keep the baby, but Don would have to take care of him. She will seek a job or an external occupation, and Don will work less (thanks to his new fortune) to enjoy life, his family, his baby. He will stay at home when Betty needs to go out.

It's the '60s so of course they reconciled, to the degree that he's back home "where he belongs". Why? Because they are having another child, and men didn't dump their wives as recklessly then as they do now, and women turned the other cheek for the sake of the children. Doesn't mean they'll sleep in the same bedroom, though.
And it certainly won't mean he'll stop finding other females to have martinis etc. with while mom is home raising the children. Yup, it's the '60s and that's how it was done back then. Tupperware was in. Now, 40+ years later, it's styrofoam cups - throw them away and get a new one, even though the styrofoam never goes away and wrecks havoc on the family... eer... I mean society.... eer.... I mean family.

" By debbieak on November 5, 2008 12:13 PM
My mom and I always discuss the MM episodes....she believes that Betty wanted a reason to take Don back.
By Gail Klein on November 6, 2008 8:48 PM
Debbieak: Thanks for your post. I like the theory that Betty needed a reason to get back with Don."

that is it, Exactly. She needed a reason to stay, but she also had to make it okay so she got pregnant and she had an affair. she got to stay, but she got even. The funny thing is she may even think she has made an improvement from her mother's generation because she "got even".
I remember those days, and even I forget how completly different the world is now. that is one of the things that I enjoy about the show, it reminds me of the major changes in the last 40 years. I also love reading the posts because somtimes I get so "taken back" that I am surprised to see the show discussed based on 2009.

I think the reason is a little sadder, a little greyer, .... and has more to do with the de facto restrictions placed on the Drapers in terms of social class at the time, and the confining roles of the sexes extant at the time....

Like 56chevy said above, "because it is what people do in 1962".

Don couldn't really run away with the weird Euro-jetsetters.... he's not of their league and he knows it. And he doesn't want to be anybody's kooky boy-toy, either. Too much of a free agent.

I think he actually loved Betty. But Betty is woefully naive about the natural (unchecked) sexual proclivities of the human male.... ie., to be polygamous.

Now Betty is knocked-up. Could she live with an abortion? No, she adopts the tactic that so many young wives have, "Maybe the baby will bring us closer together!" "If I just love him enough, maybe he'll change...."

We remember that wives often had no access to their own money in the 60's; their checking accounts listed them as "Mrs. Donald Draper" and every transaction they might have wanted to make needed to be cross-signatured by the husband.

Don Draper enjoys and observes progress of the 1950's, he doesn't propagate or spread sin. New York City is a relief.

I don't think it was clearly a reconcilation. I believe her pregnancy was the trigger in Betty asking Don to come home. It is 1962 and women of Betty's stature don't get divorced with a baby on the way. I couldn't see Betty as a single mom even with just Sally and Bobby, because she doesn't see herself as that kind of person. She doesn't see herself as the kind of person to get an abortion either, and I think the horseback riding after the doctor told her to stop was her way of just wishing she would have a miscarriage. When Jimmy Barrett was talking to her at the Stork Club about Bobbie and Don, she referred to him as "you people." Betty definitely thinks she is above other people. And in 1962 there were definitely "nice" upper class women did and things they didn't do. I believe that in spite of his infidelity, Don loves Betty. And he loves his children; that is clear. I'm not so sure how much Betty loves Don anymore. The pregnancy is a trap for both of them, I think. I have to add that Betty is my favorite character. January Jones does an awesome job portraying her.

A few things that haven't been mentioned:

Betty likes sex. A lot. Thanks to whoever above wrote the comment about the mannequins being Madonna/whore. I didn't make that connection. Betty had to try the whore. She had to see it from the other side. By making herself less perfect, it made Don less dirty. It also showed her that she has the power to walk into any situation and do as she pleases.

It also made her friends less dirty. She was truly appalled that her friend slept with the young. engaged horseback rider. While she set the thing up, she really didn't seem to expect it to go that far, and she really seemed shocked. As pointed out, she calls Jimmy Barret one of "you people" and perhaps she's realized that it's everyone; everyone is dirty in some way or another. Her innocence has died, and we are going to see an even sharper, stronger Betty emerge, but she is gong to have new desires...

We don't know yet how much she enjoyed the physical aspect of the stranger sex, but it was clearly an act of power, but perhaps also becoming more accepting of reality. I think she had to know she could have sex with a man and not fall in love with him to be convinced that Don could have sex with others and still love her. Us gals tend to confuse sex and love in ways that men often don't.

Something else that hasn't come up is Don's desire to run away. With the beatnik chick, it's "let's go to Paris" and with Rachel, it was somewhere else. Each new woman was an attempt in his mind to start a new perfect life, the "real" one this time. Of course, each time he's fooling himself, and I've seen other men do this. They generally never really want to leave their wife, but think, hope, they'll fill some emptiness they can't place and hang onto the wife just in case this new "perfect" woman doesn't work out. They don't. Finally, Don does run away with the Jet Set. Then, appalled, he runs away from it all by going back to the start of his adult, non-combat life. With Anna's help, he revisits why he married Betty in the first place. He revisits why he ran away in the first place as Don Draper, although that hasn't been fully revealed to us yet. He revisits all the things he ruined, including his brother's death, for which he feels at least partially responsible.

In this sense, he may become an even better mentor to Peggy. He knows her secret (although probably not the Pete Campbell part, which could get interesting later) but perhaps now he'll recognize some of her coldness as being too extreme. He'll recognize this from his own experience.

An interview with the guy who plays Jimmie Barret reveals that he comes back. I don't know if Bobbie will return as well, but Don is done with her. Don will be good for a while as he has been in other parts of the show, as when he rejects the advances of the Asian "waitress" before he stumbles with Bobbie, whose own ugliness, upon his discovery of it, revealed his own. His reply to Betty that he disrespected her was the best response, because it showed that what he had done was an act of dirtiness, not an act of loving someone else, although during his past affairs, he had sometimes thought it was love he was experiencing.

Pete telling Peggy that she knows him was also a very dramatic depiction of the difference between the sexes and how men and women, particularly then, think. He's convinced she knows him, but he knows nothing of her. When she's being herself, having fun, he rebukes her. Like Don with some of his exciting flings, he feels something when he's around her, so applies a fantasy persona to her and doesn't see who she really is. I've been in this situation with men too many times myself, and being "in love" with someone and discovering that they really don't know anything about me is... well, it's hard to describe. Peggy is sharp enough to see this with Pete, thus her confession, but alas, she still feels something, too. Gawd, she could do so much better than a jerk like Pete!

S3 is going to be amazing, I can feel it!

I think many things let to their reconciliation. The possible End of the World, the Letter, the Pregnancy but I think mostly Evening the Score was what helped Betty really get over Don's infidelity.
As for Don being faithful? Like Betty said...He can't help himself.

I think many things let to their reconciliation. The possible End of the World, the Letter, the Pregnancy but I think mostly Evening the Score was what helped Betty really get over Don's infidelity.
As for Don being faithful? Like Betty said...He can't help himself.

We call it the "Get some d1ck for free" card. When the husband cheats and the wife finds out, she gets the GSDFF card.

We call it the "Get some d1ck for free" card. When the husband cheats and the wife finds out, she gets the GSDFF card.

Laura B.

All I know is when Don puts two and two together he will be in a nose dive that he can't pull out of. Don needs to reconcile his demons with Betty and start being a man.

I would have let Betty wear the yellow bikini. She looked hot in it!!

After Betty did the DIRTY DEED
with her pic-up at the bar....was her
pay-back to her husband...after she
balled her pick-u guy (they said balled back then)AFTER THE REVENGE SEX THAT BETTY HAD
with the guy at that bar, that night when Betty got home, gave the green-light to HER HUSBAND-to come home and is when she STARTED TO EAT.
Sexy-tary

They reconciled because Don schmoozed her by bringing ALL his formidable talents to bear in closing the deal. As we have now seen - any reasserted promise to trim his adulterous nature were immediately squashed by Don's glib retort of '....there are plenty of chances.......' Besides, who wants to watch a monogamous Don Draper??? Not I, said the cat.

I think we are romanticizing marriage, by associating modern values with old fashioned pragmaticism. Women in 1963 looked at marriage as a means of support. Unless born into wealth, a woman had virtually no chance of being middleclass on her own. She needed a husband with a good job - auto assembly worker, electrician, ad agency executive. Without Don, Betty was penniless - no benefits and no means of support.

I agree with WhatsamattaU.