Tonight’s episode is brought to you by Jon Hamm’s John Ham.
Jon Hamm’s John Ham. If it feels like a slice of ham, don’t wipe your ass with it!

KUDOS to all that predicted Betty was pregnant.

I knew it she was pregnant, they wouldn't have made her daughter recognize she was bleeding!! oh man what will happen next! also Peggy looks horrible with that damn wool vest and collar shirt what the hell happen with the new dew!! Back to the show.

Foreshadowing... A few episodes ago Joan made a comment to Roger that one day he would lose someone close to him and then he would know how bad it feels. Joan now has an abusive fiancee. So Joan will probably be killed by said fiancee. Then Roger will feel bad for leaving Joan for his wife then his wife for Jane. It is no coincidence that Jane and Joan are such close names.

I was figuring Don's half a million bucks in today's money. It comes to about $7.5 million.

Wow mcmere! Is that enough to start another company? Can the no-competition clause be broken? I know I did not call the clause the correct name.

Hey 57,
Don does not have a contract.

AWWW! Thank you Lucky! I'm glad I misunderstood Mother-Ducker.

Don does have a non-compete, I think. At least, Duck thinks so. I don't think Don will leave S-C, and I don't think he will lose a power struggle with Duck.

BETTY!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Blech. She got it on with that dumb guy? Ew.

Don has no contract.

Betty is losing her mind.

Wow, chicken and a smile. What was the point of making Don confess his sins if you're going to go out and do the same? She and the old Don are perfect for each other.

Aw, Paul's showing himself for the true conservative he is. Poser.

Pete is a little blabbermouth and the Priest is rotten!

I think that is the first time Don said that he loved Betty. I have been listening for it. Before he left she questioned him and he said "I don't want to lose all this" but he never said that he did not want to lose her. I think she felt she was part of his perfect life package: The pretty wife, the nice house and car, the boy and the girl....I don't think she felt that he loved HER.

In yo face Duck!!!

Duck's goose is cooked!!!

Oooops. Lucky Strike had it right. No contract. No non-compete.

I nominate Chauncey for president since Duck obviously can't handle the job

Pete looked so happy when Don told him he knew he could handle it.

OMG...OMG...Peggy told pete!!

Tonight's theme: Confession!

Our little girl Peggy is all growed up !!

I love seeing Pete sad....

It is easy to confess when one thinks they are at deaths door. Remember the guy from the Nanny telling Fran he loved her on the plane, then he took it back. Funny he should be in this episode.

Score for Lucky, I think that is the theme too.

Sooo...is that the whole reunion? Don just sits on the couch next to her?

THEY DID NOT JUST END THE SHOW LIKE THAT!!!!!!

NOOOOOOO.....they cut it 10 minutes short!!!

HEY! I want another ten minutes! NO FAIR!

What is with Pete and the gun???? Peggy will now be guilty if he shoots himself....or was that Duck??

Do you think the baby is Don's?

Was Pete holding a shotgun in that last scene??

Somber.

FUCK BETTY......well thats what I thought at one point but then I looked at things from her point of view and I see she is hurt and needed to get revenge...WE ALL KNOW REVENGE IS THE SWEETEST JOY....

What does it mean for Don not to have a contract what does that mean for him?

The baby is Don's.....has to be....but now that Betsy has gotten her naughty oats sown, she'll bring Don back. She loved the note, it was about damned time Don came through

Betty's baby? Yes it is. I think she felt the need to get even. Even if she is the only one to know. Or maybe she slept with the guy so she can have a fall guy.

Betty sleeping with Random Guy makes her no better than Don.

I hope Pete doesn't shoot himself.

Was that Pete? I was hoping it was Duck!

Don is financially secure. He can retire......

Wow!! This episode should have been entitled "Truths". Yowsa!

Did anyone see one of the last scenes -- it looked likes omeone was sitting in a room w/a gun?!! It went by so fast - but it was someone sitting in a room w/a loooong thing by themselves at a desk.

Can someone tell me who/what that was??

Great episode! I'm still in shock that Peggy told Pete! I'm also shocked about Betty -- she's nuts!! LOL

pete did have a shotgun

Exactly 57 Chevy,
I was thinking about the last Seinfeld episode and the movie Almost Famous. Both had scenes with planes going down and people confessing their biggest secrets.

Ok, now I forgive them for cutting us short by 10 minutes!! It was so cool to see everyone dressed for the present times. Note how many are drinking Heinken. John Slattery is HOT.

Someone please tell me that there will be another season. I am losing 'The Shield', I can't lose this too !

The closing epidose...Confessions, Concessions, Collaborations, Consortings and Coniptions....can't wait for season 3!

Hah! Take that, Don Draper!

Love,
Bets

and...take that, Pete Campbell!

Love,
Pegs

that had to be Pete with the gun, remember he returned a duplicate wedding gift in season 1, bought himself a rifle.

Interesting that Don saying he would leave would get Duck cut out. Don IS Sterling-Cooper. He's the talent. Part of what the Brits were buying was Don's talent, and the knowledge (from Duck) that Don could not quit and compete. As soon as they found out that was not the case....everything changed.

The closing epidose...Confessions, Concessions, Collaborations, Consortings and Coniptions....can't wait for season 3!

"Stranger on the Shore," the old Acker Bilk song played in the background during Betty's pickup, is going to haunt me the rest of the night.

The closing epidose...Confessions, Concessions, Collaborations, Consortings and Coniptions....can't wait for season 3!

Don not having a contract means he's not bound to anything about the merger. He will not lose his job as Duck planned if he doesn't come aboard, which he showed he isn't going to.

I don't think Pete knows which way is up now. I don't think Don or Betty are thrilled she's pregnant, but I think they'll work through it.

I'm not sure Betty wants him back yet.

.....and the fawn lies down by the deer. Awwww.....

It was a great episode...don't you think?

Don just needed to tell her that he loved her. That was what she was waiting for.

I was thinking of something that happened in season one. Don and Betty were in bed and she told him that she thought about him all day and waited for their time together at night. He seemed freaked by that. The next night he told her that it was "too hot" and basically blew her off. I think he liked thinking that Betty was above all that. He tends to cheat with women who are sexually aggressive and Betty was his little blonde angel at home.

Is Pete going to do himself in? I forgot he still had the hunting rifle. He looked like he was going to have a coranary when Peggy told him she gave up his baby.

January Jones is very hot, even pregnant

Heee, Diva!

You left out "conceptions" !

MotherDucker..does everyone like that name? I think it suits him. What a piece, hope he had the gun. It's time to re-watch it now.

OH WOW!!!

Amazing!

What the hell just happened they ended the show like that!!!!!! My heart is so broken now. So much just happened, Pete with a shotgun, Duck about to get his head chewed in, Betty screwing a random guy, Betty and Don getting together, Peggy telling Pete the real dealc etc.... Why is this happening I don't want the show to end!!!! When will the next season start im about to cry literally!!! I love all you guys that blogged from the first season keep in touch!

Hey, y'all. Just wanted to comment on the priest's behavior. I think it's important to keep in mind that this episode takes place prior to Vatican II. The Catholic Church used a lot more fire and brimstone than it is today. Masses were still in Latin, reconciliation (confession) happened in a closed booth--none of this face-to-face stuff like nowadays--and purgatory was no laughing matter.

Given the threat of nuclear annihilation, I can understand where the priest was coming from. He was just trying to coax Peggy to seek first the Kingdom of God. Although, forty years later, such comments do sound abrasive.

Plus, Peggy's sin, according to Catholic teachings, was premarital intercourse. There's nothing in the catechism which precludes getting pregnant and giving a child up for adoption. If Peggy didn't feel sorry for sleeping with Pete, she can't really receive the sacrament of reconciliation. After all, why apologize if you didn't do anything wrong? Still, I like to think she's a good '60s Catholic girl who says her daily rosary and is on the fast track to heaven.

Not having a contract means no "non-compete" clause. Meaning he can start his own agency and compete against Duck!!! Who do you think will join him? (I know, dumb question!)

John Slattery is HOT.

--------------
I used to go with a guy who looked just like John Slattery.

Those were the days.:)

No it was Pete w/ the gun. He got it when he returned a wedding gift for himself.

If I was Pete, I'd be sitting w/a gun too! Poor soul - can you imagine just confessing your love to someone and then being told that you have sired a son and it was given up??

This show is EXCELLENT -- absolutely excellent. I can't wait for Season 3!!!

I didn't buy Betty's tryst in the men's room of the bar. I understand the motivation but...I just didn't buy it, in 1962.

Also, Pete was clever to go in and tell Don about the merger (although Don already knew). Pete is playing it safe, on both sides of the fence.

For some reason, even though Carla told Betty the note was for Don...I thought it was a letter from the other Mrs. Draper. ?

I'm glad Don manned up, in his own fashion.

Don's not going to start his own agency. The comment by Shawnassy saying "Duck could never hold his liquor" says that Duck is out and Don is in.

I'm not blown away by what Betty did, but she now has no room to complain, revenge or not. She could leave Don and look up Random Guy again, but he wouldn't want her - easy lay, two kids and one on the way. She'll still be miserable, but she'll be miserable in what she knows, not the unknown.

I hope Duck get his ass in alot of fire! He's such a none business man, and plus he used unethical reason to even emerge with this other company I hope they tell Roger and Bert what really was said in the meeting so he will look like the ugly duckling he is!!!!

The show was ten minutes shorter than usual due to FEWER COMMERCIALS (thanks, Heineken.)

The baby is Don's. Loved the knock-knock joke. I do wish Fr Gill would be summoned to the Vatican or something; what a pill. I think Peggy just absolved herself, having "confessed" to Pete.

Pete must feel like he's got a bad case of whiplash. Duck taking him into his confidence and making him head of accounts (screw Don); then Don telling he did a good job in CA and was ready to move up (oops, don't screw Don); crisis of conscience (as much as Pete can have) when he fills Don in on the merger "anonymously"; confessing his love for Peggy, getting hit with the news about his child given up for adoption - zowie!

Duck will get what he deserves! Duck is a dick. Now that Betty has gotten some sort of revenge, gotten "even",maybe her and Don can work it out, (if Don can keep it in his pants) It was a great way to end the season, cant wait for #3.

Yeh Mcmere, I agree, that just wasn't our Betty's style.

I didn't buy 'Lil Lolita in the Cali eppisode either. Women just didn't act like that, way back then.

Not only can Don start his own company, he can take all of SC's clients with him... because it is Don's creativity that keeps them with SC. I wonder if Draper Advertising needs a financial analyst... I would love to work for Double D!

The Shotgun:
Was he(Duck or Pete) holding the gun for protection from the Russians?

Why am I feeling sympathy for the males and not the females?

Don, no contract...BANG-ZOOM!!! UP YOURS DUCK!!, and your abandoned dog too!!

Betty: "I don't know...thing's haven't been that different without you."

Ouch....she can be one cold wife.

Was there ever any doubt that Duck would screw it up?

And wasn't there a suggestion of a quickie between Cosgrove and the telephone receptionist?

Next season will there be a moment when Don says, "Hey wait a minute - you went horseback riding *after* you found out you were pregnant?!"

Maybe with his new found $$$ Don will start his own boutique agency and take Peggy with him. I believe that the famous agency Jack Tinker & Associates was operating at this time and it spawned Well, Rich & Greene. It was a period when many of the super creative agencies were blooming.

Give props,
The British agency not only wants the money and accounts of SC, they assumed they'd be getting the one person that keeps all these clients happy...Don. But since Don does not have a contract that prevents him from working for, with or competing against his old agency, Don could leave SC if he wanted to and tell the clients he's starting his own agency. Many clients would probably leave SC to go with Don (because he's loyal and they trust him) and the British agency would have just bought 60 million dollars worth of nothing.

What a jerk that priest is! Cannot believ Peggy told Pete! And Don doesn't look all that thrilled about the baby news either. Wonder what the dress was all about that Betty was staring at? Like she'll never fit into another dress like that...or shell lose Dons $, and won't be able to buy a dress like that??? Hmmm, wish they would have thrown in, Joan dumping the ol' rapist!! Great great epiosde! Gosh, how long now do we have to wait : (

Don, no contract...BANG-ZOOM!!! UP YOURS DUCK!!, and your abandoned dog too!!

Give props,
The British agency not only wants the money and accounts of SC, they assumed they'd be getting the one person that keeps all these clients happy...Don. But since Don does not have a contract that prevents him from working for, with or competing against his old agency, Don could leave SC if he wanted to and tell the clients he's starting his own agency. Many clients would probably leave SC to go with Don (because he's loyal and they trust him) and the British agency would have just bought 60 million dollars worth of nothing.

Waiting for season 3 will be torture!

Yeah, Don can walk with all of the clients, Duck screwed up by assuming Don had a contract. Duck's had it.

Oh okay so Don no contract...........YEAHZZIIIIIIRRRR!!!!!!

Did I miss it...I am reading that Pete had a gun in his last scene..its a dark scene...did he have a gun...or didn't he..will watch the repeat now.

Why cant pete drive?

what theconq said: I don't think Peggy's sin was premarital intercourse. It was adultery. Her sister told the priest that Peggy's lover was a married man.
Did everybody see John Hamm on Saturday Night Live? I didn't think he was as attractive as he is when he's Don. He was OK - just not hot.
When did abortion become legal and available in New York? Anybody know?

What a season finale! I can't wait until season 3 rolls around...wonder if Pete is going to change his mind and consider adoption or he might go looking for his kid (pull a Don and disappear for a few weeks) or does he kill himself due to the news that he got Peggy pregnant and she gave away the baby. Peggy does mention she was interested in other things...in other words, she had no interest in raising a child, at this moment in time. Recall she said "eventually" when someone asked her when she was going to have kids. With Betty, she's caught in a quandry...can she trust Don to stay with her now that she's pregnant? Does she truly want another child? Her tryst with the guy in the bar, I think, was her seeing what Don sees in having sex with someone you're not really attached to...casual sex with no strings. Don't be fooled...people back then were getting it on...it just wasn't a topic that was discussed openly.

Pete's a New Yorker. A lot of them didn't drive, they lived in the city and took the train or the subway.

Pete telling Don that Duck was going to be president gave him a "one-up" in the meeting - Coop and Roger didn't know that until the London company told them in the meeting. Don knew going in what he was going to do.

Pete's wife telling him "if you loved me you'd be with me" should have been turned on her - if she loved him, she'd be with him, not her parents. Pete's feeling pretty unloved right now.

i wish season 3 would be on in march of 09, but they will need a new producer because the other one doesnt want to come back. let him go, lets get the new season started by someone ele very soon!

O.k- this is driving me crazy so I want to hear what everyone else thinks of this:

When Peggy tells Pete and Pete starts crying and says "why did you tell me"... what did he mean by that? Did it mean that he would rather not have known about it or was he referring to something specific?

Also, didn't Peggy give the baby up to her mother or sister? So in that case, wouldn't it be easy for her to get the child back, and Pete could see the child and get custody too if he wanted right?

Lucky Strike: You hit the nail on the head with your 10:08 comment. Without Don, and without Don having a contract, what they paid versus what they could potentially be getting in the end are two things of very different worth. Anyone with any business knowledge knows what move will be made - either the deal is dead, or Duck is out and they move on.

Don's interaction with Pete was what we're going to see of the "new Don". He's still smooth (talked his way out of it) and gave Pete some respect (which visibly threw Pete, who up to that point was having a very good day).

Betty got it out of her system. She was at a crossroads, made some moves and took a path to return with Don. Obviously Don's honest letter hit a chord with her. She may have even made the connection that he was writing the letter while she was out sleeping with the guy at the bar - the same as Don had done to her in the past. I don't think she will ever tell him what she did - that's a piece of power that she probably won't give up.

As for Peggy and Pete...wow...I don't even know where to go with that one. I think I remember that one character wasn't coming back next season. While I think we could assume it's Duck, it might just be Pete!

Not much about Joan in this episode...wanted to see more between him and her especially after the scene in the office last episode...well actually more interested in where she's heading...she can come over to my place I'll tell you that.

Abortion was not legal anywhere until the 1970s. There were doctors, however, that you could pay lots of money to and get it taken care of...but there was no follow up, no anything, and many women died because of it.

Peggy doesn't think God needs her to confess to the priest, only to the person she wasn't honest with and hurt - Pete. She is now absolved with God in her mind.

Whoa -- did Trudy go home to Mommy and Daddy? Looks like she did to me -- didn't Pete say "I'll pack the car"?

Not much about Joan in this episode...wanted to see more between him and her fiance especially after the scene in the office last episode...well actually more interested in where she's heading...she can come over to my place I'll tell you that.

mcmere, what do you figure $4M is in todays dollars? I figure if Don is 12.5% and made (a little over) $500k, then Sterling Cooper was sold for $4M in 1962 $$'s!

PS: Indeed she went home to her parents. Her ass belongs with her husband, not her family.

So when does Season 3 start ???? I think this is the best episode yet. Confession anyone ???

The production does an amazing job of capturing the zeitgeist of an era I remember well. Only one anachronism in tonight's episode. Unaccompanied ladies were not permitted to sit at a bar in those days. Betty would not have been permitted to sit at the bar by herself.
Great finale!

FYI, it was a .22 not a damn shotgun....

Go here: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

$500K in 1962 would be $3,392,840.24 in 2007.

Sofaking: I thought the same thing. Betty would have stuck out like a hooker - "nice" ladies weren't allowed in bars alone.

I'm confused - didn't Peggy give her baby to her sister? I don't remember her giving him up - just neglecting him and turning him over to her family. Wasn't she just holding him in her lap in church one Sunday?

I remember my mom talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis. She said it seemed like the world was coming to an end, that World War III was about to start. A very tense time in the U.S.

Did Pete really have a gun in his hand? I missed it.

I dont think there will be a season 3. amc should infrom the public what there intenions are!

Don't they make .22 caliber shotguns?

I dont think there will be a season 3. amc should infrom the public what there intenions are!

cathyx: Remember, Pete bought a gun with the gift money from the exchange he made. Remember how pissed off Trudy was about that?

That had to be Pete in his office, holed up with a rifle.

tjkimball, Peggy's sis was pregnant when our Peg gave birth. The baby Peg was holding at mass was her nephew.

Season 3 is already ordered and AMC would like to lock up a Season 4 (yippee!!).....BUT apparently Matthew Weiner hasn't agreed to anything yet and he is what makes Mad Men what it is.

I believe Peggy's sister had a baby...but remember the one episode where she looks in on a couple of kids and she zeroes in on one in the crib. But I think her sister also made comment about the state of New York taking care of Peggy's responsibility.

I know the show ended 10 minutes earlier to accomodate the wrap party, but I also think there were fewer commercials. I know I had a harder time than usual getting things done during the commercials during this episode....

no, basically a lil kids rifle, never under stood why he got it anyway...

Up yours, Duck, is right. I knew he was going to be hoisted on his own petard!

I don't know how I missed the shotgun scene. Should stay up for the encore, but just gonna take ya'll's word for it. Betty slept with random guy to even the score. The remark about things "not being much different" didn't really surprise me. I think many of women in Betty's situation would have fired that one back. (And I'm not even a Betty fan). Noticed that Don didn't ask whose baby it was. Pete took a heck of a beating and loved watching the Duck get shot down.

I laughed out loud when Pete told Trudy he would help her load the car!! She can drive, but he can't? Too funny!

Trudy left out of concern for a nuclear attack. She is not officially leaving Pete.

Yes, to those inflation figures, but it doesn't take into account all aspects of buying power...let's take a new car, for example. My dad bought a top of the line Cadillac in 1962 for $3,600. Now that car would cost what? $50-60k, I think. That means Don's half a million in 1962 was worth 138 Cadillacs. At $50k per car, 138 Cadillacs today comes to about $7 million. You could do the same math with housing prices, or eggs, or whatever. But whether it's the equivalent of $3.3 million or $7 million, it's more than enough for Don to open his own agency, retire or do whatever he pleases.

I wondered why that bar guy was so aggressive.

I think A) people were freaking out that day and ordinary behavior didn't apply, and B) subconsciously, Betty went in that bar looking for exactly what she got.

I laughed when Pete told Trudy that her parents deck chairs would be on 5th Ave. No Pete, they would have been vaporized!

Well, la di da, didn't they wrap up season two in a big ol' bow for us!!!
I admit that parts of season two were unsatisfactory for me, as it seemed to be for many of the other posters, but this last episode restored my faith in the whole concept.
I loved loved loved Don showing up at the riding stable, waiting for Betty, and I found their exchange satisfactory.....of course Betty had to get her own back by sleeping with the fellow in the bar, which struck me as very classic wronged wife behavior, and of course she'll never tell Don, she'll just hold that knowledge privately, for her own satisfaction.
And I loved the general pandemonium in the office, with the news of the merger......and Duck telling Pete he was to be promoted, and Pete eventually telling Don the secret. It makes me remember when Bert Cooper told Don that if her were Don, he'd keep an eye on Pete, that loyalty was founded in odd ways. Bert was right!!!
and the priest's talk with Peggy......and Peggy didn't go confess to the priest, she confessed to Pete!!!
I'm all happy and glowing, feeling a find closure on season two, at last

WOW! Kick Duck's ass, Betty is preggers?, Nice work Peggy ... stick it to Pete, Betty... really? a stranger in a bar?

wow...

I love the irony of Peggy giving away the baby while Pete can't have his own and won't take another person's child...

Shotgun, .22- Whatever- Point is it was Pete holding the gun, not Duck.

So, I've been thinking about the whole Peggy/Baby thing. Peggy had her baby in November of 1960; we are now in 1962. Those scenes with her holding a baby must have been her sister's baby because the baby in the scenes was too young to be hers.

Thoughts?

I liked thecong's explanation about the priest but I think the priest was trying to get it on with Peggy. He was very intrusive just like Betty's "friend of the moment". We are just now discovering what happened in the past between some priest's and their followers.
Also did anyone notice the the resemblance between the priest and Peter?

I think Pete is going to find a way to adopt his biological child. His family name and legacy are very important to him. Season 3 should be interesting.

This episode was incredible! It delivered everything that has been posting on here for weeks. Betty having an affair, getting pregnant, and now, of course Don will stay. But if Betty ever tells about her little affair she will create problems about explaining to Don that he is the father of the child.
This episode brought me to tears!! Literally. I have never witnessed such incredible writing like this. I watch all kinds of excellent shows but none can top this show!!!
Between Peggy alleviating her conscience and Betty getting her rocks off to finding out she is pregnant and now being more "stuck" than she ever was is just painfully moving.

GOTO the Mad Men Lounge!

Check back tomorrow morning!! love Clayton Neuman!!! Season 3 Will be elated when it starts!! Good night fellow Madmen family.

Peggy's whole speech tonight was about giving up a part of yourself only to never get it back. That was all about the baby.

Her sister said the State of NY made Peggy give up the baby because she was "mentally impaired".

Double Don, the $4 million purchase price would be something between $27 million and $40 million, depending on how you measure.

Oh and SCREW the priest. What the hell?!?!? Why is he condemning Peggy to hell and being such a jerk? He only knows what her sister said in confession. Drop it, father. NYDB if she doesn't want to talk about it... OR leave the priesthood and kiss the girl! Get it over with!

I'm glad peggy told Fr. Gill that he was making her uncomfortable. It is just that knid of stuff that makes Catholics run the other way. I'm glad that she was strong enough to follow her own gut feelings and think for herself.

I have to admit for a second I thought that Random Guy was not so random. Bets was standing by the bathroom, he walks 'round the corner and says, "What are you doing here?" like he knew her. She responded nearly in kind: "I'm waiting." Waiting for what, him or the john??? Their snogging seemed pretty familiar. However, random guy insists upon knowing her name after the hmmmping. Yup, random, indeed.

?

There's no way Pete could get the baby back - adoptions were sealed and private back then. Besides, he would have to reveal he was the father, which he wouldn't do, it would destroy his reputation. And they could have put "unknown" under the father on the birth cert. There was no DNA or paternity testing then.

Betty picked this opportunity to get even with Don because she knew she was pregnant. There couldn't be any consequences.

The key to the episode tonight is that people really thought there was a possibility of nuclear war. So, the priest tries to get Peggy to confess. He is fire and brimstone, but he cares about her. It might be her last chance. Peggy tells Pete about their baby. The Cuban missile crisis may have been the little thing that pushed her over the edge. Love how Peggy tells Pete only part of the truth. The baby is with her sister. Love how Pete tells Don part of the truth. He's going to be head of accounts. Love how he hedges his bets by telling Don anything at all. Pete has no moral compass but he can learn.

Peggy talked to Pete about losing a piece of yourself. Not being able to get it back. It goes over his head. He has no way to understand it. Because he is not morally grounded.

So, how about Betty eating that cold drumstick after rubbing uglies with the stranger... she's so cold!

I don't believe the baby is with her sister. The sister had her own baby, and with Peggy being "mentally ill" at the time, I doubt her own mother would bring the baby into the house and hurt Peggy more.

Fr. Gill tells Peggy that she needs to *reconcile with Him*. I believe Peggy does just that. She had two *he's* to reconcile with. God and Pete. Good for her. Now her transformation is pert near complete.

This episode should have been named something in regard to "bombs" -- they were dropping everywhere! The biggest had to be Peggy telling Pete about the baby. What a gripping scene! I love this show!!

I think it was convenient for Betty to have this affair now that she learns she's pregnant. I say this term reluctantly because I'm no advocate for extramarital affairs, but for her it was a "freebie." She ran no risk at that point for getting pregnant and it was a last ditch effort to have something of her own. She knew that at this point her window of opportunity to leave and be a free woman was about to be gone, so why not. If she was going to experience life outside of Don and the kids, it was now.

Oh my gosh!! Soooo much to say...
Loved the "we can get chinese food. You could come.?..." Sally: "Mommy doesn't like to eat." Hmmm. Anorexia or baby reasons?
I almost woke my husband when I yelped "NOOOOO!!!" when Betty hooked up with the guy at the bar. But the scene of her graciously eating the chicken in her kitchen afterwards told me that she needed to get that adulterous screw out of her system to accept what she needed to do. The scenes with Don and the kids. heartwarming... Duck was a drunk fool! I was practically hollering at the TV when Duck lost it. "He Doesn't have a Contract!!! Ha!!!!!" Loved the letter to Betty. That connected what Anna told Don: "the only thing keeping you from being happy is the belief that you are alone." to Don's "I know you won't be alone for long. But without you, I will be alone forever. I love you, Don." Finally.. I think that Betty is right that it wasn't a good time for a baby...but it's the perfect time for a new start. And I swear that Don had tears in his eyes. He is shocked but happy. Betty is just scared that he hasn't really changed. I hope he does her right. They both know when it happened. and even if Betty was just getting some on that bedroom floor Don was making love to her. That baby was conceived in Don's (and I believe Betty's) love.
What will I do for the next few months without this show?????

OK; now what is going 2 happen 2 Ducky. Maybe that he's over his head. Oh and Betty just wanted revenge!

Zabadu: What if Peggy's family just gives the baby to Pete? It could happen. Pete would satisfy his wife and have a child that would be truly his. Peggy's sister would probably like to see the baby with his biological father. Something is going to happen with Peggy's baby.

My head is spinning with all this episode revealed, but the Pete the saviour wasn't expected.

Pete was the key to Don's salvation.

Couldn't you just see Pete wondering how did I get so lucky when drunkard Quack Quack Duck took him under his wing.

You could just see his weasly little mind going Duck-Don Don-Duck Duck-Don Don-Duck

And thank god, he went with Don. Pete is not so dumb. But, Peggy really through him for a loop.

Can't wait for the next season.

please start new shows in march and give us a preview of season 3.

Notice Pete's hedging his bets by not coming entirely clean to Don on what Pete and Duck talked about. Canny little so-and-so, is Pete.

Also, though, he says "I'll bet the Russians will reconsider once we take a stand." What a nice little heads up, given what happens a couple of scenes later.

Did anyone notice that Random Guy also had on a wedding ring? Betty just wanted to feel what it was like. She had no intention of anything else.

Re RMG at 10:39. I loved Peggy's "confession" being to Pete, then cut to her lying in bed, praying, and crossing herself.

As for Don't reaction to Betty's news, I think he was shocked, probably happy, but cautious to see what Betty's reaction was. I'm definitely an optimist here, but I think Don has had a big wake-up call and sincerely wants his wife & family back. His letter (listening to repreat now!) showed -- finally -- true understanding of what Betty had been asking for. Think about how far they've come since he had her in with that whacky shrink who was calling in to Don with reports!

Can't wait for Season 3....

Why Betty? Why?! Oh I felt nauseous when that handsome but uninteresting stranger at the bar lifted her skirt and she his belt buckle. I hoped that she would push him away.

But I don't think her infidelity is quite the same as Don's, considering that they were definitely separated. Still, I don't approve and I can't help but feel that something in their marriage has been irretrievably lost, even with Don's love note and the conciliation. But maybe her infidelity now puts her on more of an even footing with Don?

I do wonder if Don will hold her to a double standard when he finds out about her fling with the stranger at the bar.

Sterling Cooper will not be sold. Don & Bertram will nix the deal and Duck will be gone. Betty is such a bitch. Don apologized, he came back, but that wasn't enough. She had to have her "pound of flesh", so to speak, with Random Guy. Next season will open with Betty 6 mos pregnant, and by the end of the season she'll have a little girl and name it JENNIFER. Fr. Gill is laying the guilt on Peggy to get her in the sack. Pete will start searching for the child he fathered and try to get it back.

I think that the baby's daddy may be the young guy at the stable - notice how they showed him trying to kiss her in the previews and how mad she got at her friend? Don may realize that it's a possibility, he's been away for quite awhile.

The episode showing Peggy's flashback to the institute--after the birth of her baby--shows a VERY pregnant, damn--what's Peg's sisters name--sister. Peggy told Pete she gave their baby 'away'. Different choice of words. Don't folks usually say they gave the baby 'up'? Same difference, different verbage.

OOPS!
I Remember: I must have been typing my comment when you posted yours, but WOW. I can't agree with you more....on everything you said. Those were all my thoughts too. What a great show. Never has there been anything like this on tv!

Whew!! The show finally got back on track with the season finale!! The episode where Don flew out to California with Pete was simply bizarre and rather slow and boring...but now we're back into the magic of the show.

My mother, 79 years young, whose only favorite series were "Gunsmoke" and "The Avengers", is simply agog over this show. She thinks it needs to run 52 weeks a year. Can you imagine that? The actors would be exhausted!! (They work 7 days a week during a single season.) But since that is not a possibility, we've all got to learn to knit, play cards or take up drinking gimlets until next summer!

Will amc please speak up, anyone from amc reading this blog? please reply so we dont have too put are lives on hold wondering what amc is going to do.

Will amc please speak up, anyone from amc reading this blog? please reply so we dont have too put are lives on hold wondering what amc is going to do.

Watching the repeat now. Duck's jealousy / contempt for Don is delicious! And Don's highly-justified professional superiority towards Duck's hack-ness hits the bulls-eye for the ad biz. "If that's the agency you want, then Duck's the guy to run it." Heh.

I think Betty had the tyrst with random guy to even the score with Don. Also, she was already pregnant, so... The random guy had a bit of a resemblance to a younger Don.

Don seemed to carry and express himself in this episode with more of his "Dick Whitman" ways. I think he finally just told Betty that he loved her, because during his time in CA he finally came to the realization how much he really does love her. The baby is a new beginning for them.

If you look at Betty's face while she chomped on that chicken leg by the fridge, you can see her thinking, "So, THAT'S what he felt like."

I WATCHED THE WHOLE SHOW I KNOW I DID !HOW DID I MISS THE FRIGGIN GUN!!!!!?

I HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF THE FAMILY GIVING THE BABY TO PETE, BUT WHAT WOULD HIS WIFE SAY.
AS FOR THE PRIEST TRYING 2 GET PEGGY; HE ALREADY KNOWS ABOUT THE BAB Y BECAUSE HER MOTHER TOLD HIM IN CONFESSION!

madwoman80- Good insight - You're right. They did get together when they were at her parent's house visiting her dad. She was reaching out to him in her time of need, and he was hoping they would get back together.
I still am not over her very manipulative sceaming to set up her friend w/ Arthur from the stables only to get all judgemental on her. Then she has her own encounter w/ a stranger. I don't really feel for her. She's very cold.

Wow! I loved the moment when Peggy told Pete she could have had him! Peggy is great, she really is the female Don. I never bought it until now.
I think Betty had her tryst at the bar so the she could could be on the same par as Don. Great finale episode.

Zabadu ~~

It was 'said' --- non-verbally by Pete. It was written all over his face, and implicit in the pat response he gave Trudy "C'mon
I'll help you pack the car...." (or whatever he exactly said.

That's brilliant writing ....... acted (thought) and implied, rather than spoken.

I don't like Duck at all. He is a snake in the grass. Maybe Don will start his own company and he'll compete with S-C/P-P-L. Duck's just jealous of Don's success, er, business-wise. They're kind of neck and neck where family is concerned.

I don't believe for a minute that Don was sincere in his note to Betty - this is a man whose gift is using the perfect words to convince everyone to see things his way. I believe he was sick of room service, sick of missing out on his children and their knock -knock jokes etc. Just everyone cross your fingers that Season 3 comes without a hitch and ASAP!

i wish season 3 would be on in march of 09, but they will need a new producer because the other one doesnt want to come back. let him go, lets get the new season started by someone ele very soon!

Perfect finale: Old threads tied up, new ones loosened. I'm glad to finally know the truth for sure about Peggy and Pete's baby, and I'm glad Betty and Don appear to be getting back together.

I think Don will begin Season 3 as president of the company, and he will actually keep the deal to make Pete head of client services. Peggy as creative director would be too good to be true, but you never know.

I just loved how Don finessed his disappearance: He did it on purpose to let Pete shine! What a way to defuse another person's anger. Add "How to Succeed in Business" to his guide to picking up women.

Speaking of Pete, I am somehow liking the little weasel more and more. He warned Don of the intrigue just to be a good guy, and he's ridding himself of Trudy and all her daddy issues. Good for him!

space-monkey, you're funny!! I have thought that Fr. Gill has wanted Peggy from the moment we met him!! Bwhahaha!
I don't get the JENNIFER reference to Betty's baby. Let me in, will ya?

Elsie: I don't believe Peggy's family has the baby, especially after Peggy's speech about losing a part of yourself, hoping you'll get it back but knowing it's "lost forever". I don't think that her sister would have taken in the baby - she doesn't like Peggy very much as it is, and "good" families didn't really have that choice back then.

Plus, if the State has said she was "unfit", they would not have placed the child anywhere near Peggy then.

DoubleDon ~~

She's had casual sex --- and it's an 'appetite' just like her
yen (yeah, she's pregnant too) for the drumstick. She's not
cold.... she's a human, just like Don is......

Alicia -- the gun is in a quick, dark scene at the end. I'm staying up specifically to catch it more carefully. My initial reaction was that it was Duck, but reading others' thoughts, I'm thinking it was Pete with the stupid wedding gift trade-in.

As for the priest / Peggy, I'm with the camp that says this was an old-school priest attitude, consistent with the era. And Peggy's baby was given up for adoption -- the sister's baby is a different child, her own. I also recall the very PG sister visiting Peggy in the hospital after she delivered.

So good! Too long to wait!

What did Betty's friend offer her in the hairdresser to "cam herself down" when she told her she was pregnant? Some kind of pre-valium mother's little helper? I could have sworn she asked her if she "wanted something" but I couldn't really hear what it was. It sounded sort of familiar though.

I too love how she keeps going horseback riding and having what must be "rough" sex (to Betty, anyway) and it still doesn't do the trick... I found a letter a few years back from my mother to one of her friends from 1971 when she found out she was pregnant with my brother. In this letter she kind of coldly explains how she doesn't want it and is sure she is "aborting" it. Seems such a cold way to say miscarriage, but maybe it was wishful thinking. You just didn't go around getting abortions in those days. Anyway, my brother Pete got born anyway and was the son my dad always wanted. You just never, ever know what's going on in your parents minds, do you?

What a show. I have been in love with it since day one and can't wait for next season! So nostalgic. Now I know what my advertising parents were doing at all those parties in the early 60's in LA. Good god. It's a wonder we grew up at all, so unsupervised and free as we were. We were definitely paraded out at the parties and I snuck my share of their drinks and ciggies just like little Sally is doing. This show has it down 100%, just like it was then. I'm so proud to have found it and watched it from the beginning!

Pete telling Peggy, "Who would miss me if I was gone?" and then being also rejected by Peggy after he told her he loved her. That's why we see him w/ the rifle.
He can never have his own baby, Peggy doesn't love him, and Trudy is worn down by him too.
I don't like Pete, but that had to really hit him hard.

The baby is Don's. He impregnated her at her dad's house when they visited. Peggy's baby isn't at home. When she turned her head in the delivery room, they took the baby and gave it to another family. The snarky priest is just trying to work it and get some.

aralston: It was a Miltown.

Miltown used to be a very well known tranquilizer company -- Miltown was more or less a trade name for a downer made by them.

Miltowns used to be the big thing in those days.

I believe Don was very sincere in his letter. After meeting with Anna and confessing he screwed everything up he knew that if Betty chose to, she could find another man, but he would lose all he had and that made him realize that he wanted that life, not the one he was leading.

I understand that Pete not throwing it back in her face was a non-verbal message, but I still think it would have made her understand how he felt. She thought he would be joining her at her parents house. She was wrong, very, very wrong.

Is it just me or did Betty look more grown up-older in the last scene when she tells Don she's pregnant?

I got a good laugh at the guys in the office pounding on the TV to make it work. I've done that many times with old TVs.

Mike: Let Matt Weiner go? Are you nuts?

Sofa King: My relatives owned a pub and there were ladies (not of the night) that came unescorted back in the 50s and 60s. They were not there to be picked up, just to be in good company. Of course, everybody knew everybody so it was not like they were strangers.

Great episode. I'm going to watch it again. Don's letter about made me cry. Pete turned out to be decent after all. Peggy is as cold as I thought she was. I hope Duck really gets shafted after what he did to Chauncey.

Can someone tell me during the first of the season Pete had brought a shotgun to his office. That did happen didn't it? What was the reason for him doing that, I cannot remember!

Everyone is talking about Peggy finally confessing to Pete but what about what Pete had to say to Peggy first? That she's perfect and then he tells her he loves her and should have chosen her! I was blown away! Didn't think he had it in him. As to the baby...all this time I thought he sister was raising both children, hers and Peggy's. But I think what some of you said is right...the state took the baby.

Since I always TIVO the episodes, I freeze framed the gun scene and it's definitely Pete with the gun.

Plus it rolled right into Peggy crossing herself. She feels free of the burden, Pete is now at a crossroads - will he become head of anything? Is his marriage with Trudy over? His inheritance is gone. He loves Peggy, but can't have her, and now he knows he was a dad and can't do anything about it.

The very last scene, when Bets tells Don she's PG, speaks volumes to me! Don holds his hand out to her--will you have me? Betty eventually puts her hand in his--yes, I believe I will.
I didn't realize I had been holding my breath until I let it out in a whooosh, after that scene.

Pete won't off himself. Remember that bit about remaining neutral during a merger? That's why Pete went into Don's office and clued him in to Duck taking over as president. So that story line has to be played out--Pete playing both sides. There would have been no point to developing that story line if Pete is going to off himself.

Besides, I'd rather not see Pete commit suicide. I don't want to watch a show in which a different character commits suicide each season. I realize that one will likely occur at some point owing to the fact that one is featured in the Mad Men opening. I just don't want it to be a regular thing.

But I love this show. So much is packed in between those commercial breaks. At times I swear I've been watching it for a half hour only to glance at the clock and see that just ten minutes has passed. I've been addicted to this show from day one. Thirteen episodes isn't enough. I'm already in withdrawal.

Callendar, I see Pete & Peggy completely opposite from you! To me, Pete is beginning to learn to be less of an a**hole, but he's still totally juvenile and self-absorbed. Peggy is very reserved and controlled, but IMO she's the only grown-up on the show!

(Clinking martini glasses...cheers!)

Does ANYONE know if the show is returning for a third season?

I don't think that Peggy was saying she didn't love him. She was saying she could have forced him to be with her, but she didn't want to have him that way. He would not have loved her in the long run if he felt he was forced, stuck, or pushed into the situation. Also, if she told him, she would no longer be working for SC. She might have wanted him and her job, but not a baby, and that changed everything and I think that was what she was saying about losing a part of yourself.

Wait everybody....

You're forgetting, remember when Peggy's sister confessed to the priest in confessional when she said that she resented Peggy and that she had taken something that didn't belong to her. In the commentary, it was revealed that it could have meant that she had taken Peggy's child. I'm not too convinced that Peggy's child isn't with her mother or sister. And just because the state deems you unfit to care for your child and makes you give the child up, it doesn't mean that you family members are ineligable to get the child.

However, it is strange that Peggy would say with finality the way she did somewhat tonight that the child was just gone. So...I guess that's why we'll have to wait untill season 3.

Besides, Peggy's sister in that episode confession that she resents Peggy for going forward like nothing happened and that she took something that wasn't hers... makes me think she has the baby.

And then there was that episode when Peggy looked in on that child in the crib, as well as the episode in which the priest gave Peggy the easter egg "for the little one" which I assumed might also be the toddler. So there was a small infant and a toddler I beleive in the same episode.

RMG, there were a ton of Jennifer's in my HS class, that's the only reason I predicted the baby's name.

I think that was Pete in the office holding a gun. I don't think he'll off himself. Too messy, and it would be bad for business. he's probably feeling low because he fathered a child with Peggy but Trudy can't concieve.

wasthere: Completely with you re Matt Weiner. He IS Mad Men just as he was Sopranos...without him this might be Swingtown!!!!

OK; now what is going 2 happen 2 Ducky. Maybe that he's over his head. Oh and Betty just wanted revenge!

Great season, hope we don't have to wait another 18 months for the next. By the bye, joan is the perfect secretary.

As for the gun, it's Pete's, he got it as a gift in one of the earlier episodes.

Don's my man, the perfect everyman (person) character for the new millenia.

Guess I'm going to have to start watching House, maybe HBO will bring back Deadwood...

BTW, Pete could have his own baby if he divorced Trudy. She's the infertile one, not him.

Pete exchanged a wedding gift for a gun, I just don't remember which season, since I just caught up on Season 1 a few days ago.

Peggy isn't cold. She's honest. She could have had Pete but she wanted something more.

Zabadu: Good point. However, I just can't see the writers dropping the story of Peggy's baby. I guess we'll have to wait for next season.

I believe that when Peggy's sister was in confession, she complained that her mother was raising her sisters child....anyone?

To the people discussing Peggy's baby:

Please read the posts that say that she gave it up (or was taken away by the state because of her mental status at the time). Also, she probably wrote "Unknown" for the father's name.

THERE IS NO WAY FOR PETE TO TRACK THE BABY DOWN.

I got a good laugh at the guys in the office pounding on the TV to make it work. I've done that many times with old TVs.
================================

I got a big laugh out of that.

And of course everybody remembers the little dot disappearing. :)

So these Brits decide to make a big step into the US and buy a company...but they don't perform due diligence first?? No one does that, not even in 1963. You don't buy a company that is based on services without checking employment contracts (or discovering the lack thereof) of all key employees, notably the head of creative who owns 12%. You don't trust the words of a guy like Duck when you think he is an alcoholic (interestingly, he wasn't anymore until that night he met with that guy (Mr. Sheffield)) -- you pay lawyers ridiculous sums of money to check it all out.

thank you for no political ads. Good Show

Don plays a very cool hand, never revealing what he is holding. Put a fork in the Duck. He is done. An old saying from my time in the service: "When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds are sure to follow." Good observations by posters Lucky Strike & Vento on the likely outcome the the merger if Don takes his clients with him.
Thanks to all the Catholics who try to offer insight through explanation of the Church's early 1960's approach and practices. Tonight, my wife noted that the parishioners offering prayers after Father Gill's sermon would have knelt rather than remain seated.
I remember how it felt living through the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were a bunch of 14 & 15 kids who didn't know if there would be another after noon when we would gather at the local sandlot park for a game of after school football. The uncertainty was on everyone's mind as they negotiated their everyday lives. It was a nice touch that they were able to portray and capture that zeitgeist.

I hope Pete shoots Duck...accidently of course.

Oh, almost forgot. I'm actually watching it on DVR for the 3rd time (can we say obsessed?). Anyhow, did anyone else notice that when Don is in the hotel room watching the news he picks up the phone and starts to dial. Then, he hesitates and hangs up. Who do you think he was gonna call? I think he was calling Betty because he is scared but then remembered what she said at the stables about how it must be nice to be able to disappear and think without worrying about what anybody else. then she says she can't deal with this right now and walks away. He was giving her her space!!! Ladies and gentleman, the new and improved Don Dick Whitman Draper!
AND... HE WAS THE ONLY MALE IN THE OFFICE WHO NOTICED PEGGY'S HAIRCUT!!! LOVE IT!!!!!

Peggy's sister saying she took something that doesn't belong to her meant Peggy took someones husband that didn't belong to her.

Alicia - In Season 1, Pete and Trudy received duplicate "chip and dip" platters for their wedding - Pete was given the job of returning one and when he did, he just exchanged it, on a whim, for the gun...brought it to the office to show it to the guys.

space-monkey. Thank you!! now I get it!! There woudl be Sally, Bobby and little Jenny then, right?

As much as I love this show, and as much as it pains me to say this...what can season 3 bring that would be as enthralling as the past two? We know pretty much what there is to know of Don's past, Betty and Don have some issues, but they are back together, Peggy's secret has been revealed, and Pete with the gun is the ultimate cliffhanger. We've had 26 hours of greatness. Think about it sportsfans, wouldn't it have been better to have just known that Darth Vader was Luke's father and left it at that? Would've been the best cliffhanger of all time, the film equivalent of what we just watched. I'm not saying I don't want a season 3, I just don't want Ewoks.

2 observations

(1) based on Don's conversation with Anna last week and his behavior this week I am now convinced that he truly, deeply, hopelessly loves Betty. He is just always been, shall we say, a mental retard. He really loves her and doesn't want to lose her.

(2) Peggy has moved on to greener pastures and that is what I got out of her speech to Pete. She regrets what she did - always thinking that if she waited he'd love her - but now that he does she doesn't want him. Maybe her success at work at something to do with hit or not.

gren1: you're right about peggy's baby. I remember those scenes you referenced. Pete will divorce trudy and marry peggy and take back his progeny. screw trudy's dad; he hates him for holding the clearicil account over his head.

57: No, the sister made a comment about how Peggy's mom treats Peggy as if she's done nothing wrong.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was thinking the baby is with Peggy's family.

Peggy will not marry Pete even if he wants her - she has moved on. That smile on her face when she went to bed spoke volumes. She has no more guilt about the secret and she washed her hands of Pete

I thought Betty's friend in the beauty parlor was suggesting that she knew a doctor that would perform an abortion, not give her a drug to calm her down. Did I get that wrong?

As for Betty being pregnant, it was to be expected. A few episodes back when Don, her, and the kids went to her father's house to visit, they did the deed on the floor. This was all prior to him leaving for Cali on the business trip which he unexpectedly invited himself to go on since Betty came to her senses about his infidelity and kicked him out.

Betty was trying her best to lose the baby since she didn't want to have an abortion after seeing the doctor. Continued riding, smoking, drinking... Wow. I was expecting her to throw herself down a set of stairs any moment now. LOL!

Don wasn't about to stay with the nomads in episode 11. It wasn't the answer he was looking for. And in episode 12 he contacted the original Mrs. Draper because she was an old friend of his best friend from his previous army "Whittman" days. Hence where he somehow came across the name to start a new life for himself since he had a shady childhood. The original Mrs. Draper made Don come to his senses about how much he loved Betty. It was to be expected by Don showing up again in this episode to confess how he really felt for Betty.

I don't remember in another blog who said that the time was around the 1962's but they were certainly right!

I had seen it coming with the priest. It's true. Peggy has been more religious since her mother started dragging her back to church after she gave up her child. I had originally thought her sister took in Peggy and Pete's bastard child, but I assume I'm wrong by this episode.

Wow the gang is all worried they might get fired. Start shaking in your shoes boys! I can't wait to see what happens to each of them during season 3!

Duck confessing to Pete about becoming the president of the company? Pete moving up? YIKES! I don't even want to make any predictions about this...

Quick, someone fill Don in! 'Oh yeah btw...' *looks at stack of papers*

Betty and the mysterious cute guy at the bar... She has NEVER been with another man before. She wanted to know what it was like. DUH! It was her "secret" she gets to keep from Don since he was out philandering previously and has his secrets. She's starting to realize he might be a changed man. ;-)

Ol' Petey boy finally got rid of that nagging housewife Trudy! Hooray! I always knew he would confess his love for Peggy. Although Peggy felt the same way, since it was confession time and remembered what the priest had said to her in the kitchen, she came out with it. "Petey, YOU ARE THE FATHER!" For some reason he doesn't do the Maury guest show dance. :-( Peggy is really kicking herself now, yet she got that off her chest. Poor Pete.

PPL knew Duck was a drunk ahead of time. The look on Duck's face was priceless though when Don wanted to leave the company. The 3 of them had no contracts. It was a nod and a handshake deal back then. They can take the money and run! But I doubt this is the end of the trio. Has season 3 begun, YET?

Pete with the gun... either he wants to go out and find the child, shoot himself or shoot Peggy, we will never know until season 3. Thanks a lot writers... Russians? Pffft, you guys forgot what happened on the radio.

Betty calling Don home, sitting him down and telling him she was pregnant was pretty somber. He kind of smiled, yet she had the same 'eat shit and die' look since she knew he wasn't faithful to her.

Go see Alan Sepinwall's blog which has an interview with Matthew Weiner. It's very enlightening.

Although I could see Pete divorcing Trudy, I think Peggy made it very clear that she was not interested in getting married to Pete. She wants something more than a marriage, and neither Pete NOR Peggy could find out where that baby went.

Zabadu,
That was a very good angle you have about Duck being out and Don is in! At first I thought Don was going to start his own agency, but this is another great possibility. The very fact that they asked Duck to leave the room says a lot. Duck's goose is cooked, LMAO!!!

Oh, can't wait for the new season!!

Lucky Strike, jon hamm's John ham was hilarious! The whole show was. Having Slatery and Peggy as surprise guests was great. Did you think that the speech given by Don about the hoola hoop was like the one he made for the "The Wheel"? I did and I know that it almost made me cry just like the first one. Anyone remember the panic over the Cuban Missile crisis? I was just 6 so I don't remember all the panic. Found it interesting that Pete was using the crisis to tell Don that he needed to make a stand . He said, " you know they stopped a ship today". To Give Props, Pete can't drive because he grew privileged in Manhattan. I lived there and people most often take cabs, trains, and subways, or have a driver. Which he probably had since he was rich. To Jendalessan, As a wife of a Dr. who is never home , and when he is he is just a ghost, I don't think Betty was being a bitch, she was just saying her truth. Goes along with all the other truth in this conclusion. Will miss this show a lot.

lorantscan -- right on about Peggy moving on to greener pastures. She's way done with him. I also wondered if part of her speech about letting a part of yourself go / it's really gone referred to him on some level, too (although really about the baby).

Peggy has really grown up. She speaks forthrightly, stands up for herself, and is growing in self-confidence thanks to her well-deserved progress in her job (esp for a woman in early 60s!). She has left Pete in her dust and she knows it.

Is Weiner leaving? I read some earlier posts that suggest that but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Who is the producer that might be leaving? Someone else also posted about the fate of the entire show. If anyone knows info please share.

Enough with saying the priest is hot for Peggy because he keeps sermonizing at her. That's his job, to "save" her soul. You may not like it, but he truly believes he has to steer her to so-called salvation. He's not a friend giving advice - He's a priest who, rightly or wrongly, believes it would be wrong to let up because he really thinks she's going to Hell.

I don't agree with him, but in 1962 that's how priests were

Same thing with Joan and Roger and her nasty fiancee. She's obviously accepting the rape as some sort of ugly trade-off for the almost-perfect man. Women put up with a lot that was even worse than that. She probably feels lucky that he doesn't hit her.

Roger doesn't give a shit about anything but himself - he's not going to "avenge" her, assuming she would even tell him.

I'm not so sure, space-monkey! Peggy has really grown. Don't you think she would have thrown herself at Pete there in the office instead of confessing if she wanted ANYthing to do with Pete Campbell? She has had taste of what it's like to be a man. She lives on her own. Has her own office, (though I HATE how she asked Don if it was *okay* to get Jimmy's old office), and pulls in more and more accounts on her own. She said it to Pete, she's got other plans for her life.

Pete did not tell Don about the merger, to be a good guy.

He is self-serving.

SPECTACULAR episode. Just....the best one all season!

madwomen and waditah, I totally agree with everything you have said. I personally, didn't like that Betty "got it on" with another guy because I thought it was very..predictable. But I re-watching the episode, and i have a feeling that betty was very much in the mental state of leaving Don. Before Don showed up at the stables (LOVED that, btw. He's never shown interest in what she loves/her hobbies...but he didn't want to disturb her. awe!) I think Betty really thought that he would never show up again. Which is why she told Sally last episode that she might not always be able to afford her things. She really believed that Don had abandoned her. For the first half of the episode, she kept saying that it wasn't a good time for a child because she was sure that she would be separated from Don. Even during her tryst with the Don look-a-like she was still "divorced" from him in her mind. I don't think she expected or even let herself hope for the letter (which, I LOVED). It's all she wanted, and she took him back right away.

I loved how cold she was during the stable scene. It showed strength that she didn't run towards him and cry into his arms with apologies and pleas of him never leaving her again. I don't understand why people (my brother) expected that. But it's true, Don was neglectful of her, and her line "it wasn't all that different with you gone" was true. It's funny because people consider Betty the child in the relationship--and in many ways, she is. But when the going got tough she held out and took care of things. She didn't have the luxury of "taking some time off" whenever she feels like it. Score one for the women! lol But YAYYYYYYYY at the Don&Betty reunion! Teehee..I really hope Don-look-a-like doesn't come back. Betty was sleeping with Don in her mind. Now that they're finally back together, I won't be the least bit sympathetic if she continues whoring around. Same goes for Don.

Now, Peggy, peggy, peggy! I LOVED how she was so happy when Don came back. Did you see her face light up? And AWWWWWWWWWWWWEE!!! He was the only one to notice her hair cut without her having to say so! She was so happy about that. I loved it. The Priest was...too harsh, IMO. I am religious, so I understand where he's coming from but....poor Peggy. I however am not Catholic so I won't make assumptions about the ways of the church.

So, the ending scene with Pete? I SWEAR I thought he was going to shoot himself. While he was holding his gun in the dark? I'm like NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God they didn't end it like that. But the last scene with Peggy showed how much of a child pete really is. When he kept repeating "I don't understand" he seemed to innocent--so lost. And Peggy took on the role of the parent who explained things to him. I LOVE the pete/peggy scenes. They have AMAZING chemistry. Do I want them together as a couple? Not so sure yet. But I felt bad for Trudey, who hasn't really done anything wrong. I knew he'd fallen out of love with her though when she said "if you love me you would come with me" and he just answered "you're right" and stayed. That was sad. And the scene where he told Peggy he loved her? *sigh* It was brilliant.

I agree, not too much of joan, but I loved what we got. I dont know why, but just a step away from all the drama to show her just dealing with the office was....satisfying. Can't wait till next season where we'll delve more into her & rapist hubby storyline!

I loved that Pete went and told Don about the presidency beforehand. He said this right after Harry's spoof about "loyalty." Pete knows that Don is still the Alpha of Sterling Cooper. Success goes where he goes. Loyalty to Duck, though he is the president, will get him no where. Speaking of which, the guy needs anger management. I pitied him for about 2 episodes, maybe less. But he lost me this episode. Just...stupid decisions all around, really.

The Don was definitely the Dick this episode. I love it. I love this side of him and I hope the writers explore more of it rather than taking a step back again. The scenes with the children was soooo sweet. I confess that as a Betty fan while I was glad to see that Betty was mature and allowed the children to see their father rather than use them as revenge like those who consider her the Devils incarnate said. Yay for Birdie! and I'm sooooo happy Francine is back!!! YAY!!

the office guys transpiring to figure out what was going on was entertaining. Love em.

lorantscan- I agree that Peggy is done with Pete other than in a professional way. She made it very clear to him that she could have had him if she had been interested and that she had moved on. She equated telling him her confession and thus her little prayer and crossing herself before bed with a smile her own personal absolution.
I honestly think that even if Pete does himself in that she will feel no remorse for telling him because she told him the truth. What he does with the information is not her concern. She told him the truth and now she is done.

TO: expect the unexpected -Wow - Anna, the original Mrs. Draper was not the friend of Don's friend. She was the REAL Don Draper's widow, found out about Dick Whitman stealing Draper's identity - that's why when Don said she had a nice porch, she laughed and said "well, you paid for it." Theirs has been a symbiotic relationship - each gets something important from the other and they have a genuine affection for each other after all these years.

1) Duck has overplayed his hand--there is no Sterling Cooper without Don (or any creative department, for that matter.) Even the takeover company execs. knew that. Love the way Cooper and Sterling asked Duck to leave like they were dismissing the "help." :)

2) Man, has Betty been angling to be Ilsa, She-Wolf of the Main Line, or something? She's done everything these last few eps. but crack a whip over people's heads. :) Don better not mess around on her again. And I loved the way she walked the hell out on the patronizing doc--"blessings" indeed. :P

3) I thought Peggy's sister is raising the baby as her own, correct? So why tell Pete she gave the baby away--it sounds like she shipped the kid across the country or something...

4) Poor Pete--he grew up maybe too late. And it's interesting that Peggy not wanting him is making him miserable enough to smoke himself--and miss out on the promotion he would have done anything to get up till now.

5) Did anyone notice the guy Betty was hittin' it with looked and sounded a lot like Don? Given that Don kept seeing Betty in every other blonde out in Cali, I guess these two are in the other's bloodstream pretty bad...

6) Boy, I'm going to miss this show--summer '09 seems a million miles off...

As hard as this is for all of us to speculate when the new season is starting, I can only imagine that all the fine actors in the show have to be going crazy too!

Peggy has grown more than any other character this season. I couldn't help but feel that this is sort of "her" show anyway, from the opening scene in season 1. Now she's drinkin' & smokin' with the best of them, and how ironic that she just let Pete down as easily as Don let her down in that first scene way back when she put her hand over his, assuming he wanted action from her.

I loved the emotions crossing Don's face when Betty told him she was preggers. He looked happy, sad, scared, full of wonder if it's his child, what does this mean to them, etc. etc. Heck, he didn't even have a chance to tell her HIS news from the office yet!

Rock on to Matt Weiner and the entire cast & crew of this awesome show. What an amazing bunch of people you all are, talk about the right place at the right time for this show. The perfect storm!

lorantscan, you're right. Peggy's prayers that night and crossing before bed shows she took Father's advice and now is at peace with herself and her God. She's a rebel, taking the more liberal vs. conservative Catholic view. "Somehow, Fr., I don't see him (God) saying that."

I thought tonite's episode was great! As far as Betty's hookup, she was able to be bad without worrying about getting pregnant (since she already is) not to mention in her mind she will be stuck going back to Don and being able to experience any thing like that again. Karma for Pete, especially when in one episode I believe Trudy said it wasn't her fault that they couldn't get pregnant. Duck being so smug and pretending surprised when Don knew what was coming & then he being so dismissive like he, Duck, was in the inner circle of the new merger & was the important one & then when they dismissed him out of the office & tallked with the others. I think the reason why Don didn't look happy when he found out about the baby is because he just walked out on a job, and was Betty wanting him back for him or because she was expecting. Betty probably has postpartum depression and it spiraled into other issues (that was never discussed back in the day). Can't wait for next season.

I always have the sense that Peggy is a little "off", no matter who she is talking to or what situation she's in---other than when she's working.

The deal is on the shoulders of Don. The Brits were stunned , about the strife in-house with Duck and Creative head. The Brits are very proper and the deal is very much unbuttoned Now. Duck is screwed either way and in a very bad position. He did Nothing but embarrass the Brits in front of their New York new agency.
I never understood why Duck dislike Don and Don Duck, Don brought him in th SC.

Don said till Monday to the Brits and departed. He can bargain the Continent of England if he wants now before closing any deal with the British agency. SC is also worth more after an offer like this has been extended , So the agency's street value And it People has gone up. Roger wants and needs the deal to go thru, Don doesn't need shit except Betty and the children. He's refocused and if it includes Flushing The Brits, SC , Sterling or Duck well then don't Blink.

Pete is CRUSHED. He never knew he got Pegs Preggo, he had no choice in her decision about the baby , his child is gone.
He just AGED 5Years and he's mentally severed from Peggy now.

Betty just wanted to hurt Don , so she had a fling.
Also there was no wedding Ring except Betty's in the scene. Betty enjoyed sliding around the wall into the storage office , both coming and going when the bar keep came a knocking.
Dons Client is Betty and his children. Him and Roger will always be business friends " Were Close " as Roger mentioned and Duck Drowned on the spot.

This blog #13 will be short and done Quickly.

Coco23, yes, there has been a third season announced:

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b64376_amc_orders_third_season_of_mad_men.html

>And in episode 12 he contacted the original Mrs. Draper because she was an old friend of his best friend from his previous army "Whittman" days. Hence where he somehow came across the name to start a new life for himself since he had a shady childhood.

No, not quite. She was the wife of the real Don Draper, whom he barely knew. He stole the man's identity when the real Don was killed in battle in Korea. The real Mrs. Draper found him and made him confess, but then they became friends.

We still don't know exactly why he stole an identity rather than just not returning home. I think it was just to get himself the hell out of Korea.

Right on AMC's page is a video of what they think Season 3 will bring:

http://www.amctv.com/videos/madmen/?bcpid=895162757&bclid=1672161042&bctid=1877562222

Did anyone catch what joan said when Don told her to go home? I rewinded it twice and couldn't make it out.

I still think that Peggy gave her baby to her sister, remember Easter egg hunt where he was trying to get eggs and the big kids where taking it from him, that's about two years... more a year and a half. I think she told him that because that is what she has done, but I kinda hope that she'll take her son back soon. And yes it was Pete with the .22 gun but I don't think he'll kill himself I think he just wants to hold it, look at it, think things out. Betty I think needed to understand what Don is seeing in causal sex like someone else said. As a women that was once is a relationship like her and Don's I can understand where she is coming from. I love Mad Men and can't wait for Season Three! Now I just need to figure out what I am going to watch now, any good books?

That scene with the priest. Peggy's sister clearly says "I took something that didn't belong to me" referring that she (Peggy's sister) took something that didn't belong to her. The commentary states that it could refer to Peggy's child.

Also, I don't see any reason for the producers to give us so many views of the children (the toddler and the infant) if they didn't want it to be ambiguous but possible that we were seeing Pete and Peggy's child in the scenes. (just like the wouldn't have added the scene last week of Betty bleeding on the couch if they didn't want to foreshadow a possibly pregnancy or miscarriage).

Actually, I want the child to be at Peggy's sister or mother's house because I want to see what Pete and Peggy are going to do. If the child is truly lost outside of the family that would be a huge disappointment. I want to see Pete come face to face with the child and then all heck to break loose haha. You have to admit the show would be even more amazing than it is if that happens. I also want to see when the ladies stop curling their hair in those time consuming updo's. I want to see this show continue the time lapse into the 70s. :) I heart this show!

am i the only one that loved...
-the constant image of the shot gun behind peggy when she was telling pete about not forcing him to marry her while she was pregnant w/his child.
-every word of that letter -especially its ending. is anyone (who recorded it) willing to write the words out and send it through this blog? so many of us would appreciate it.
-when betty wrapped her leg around the stranger, then smiled.
-how draper instantly came up w/the perfect thing to say to pete while he was having a hissy-fit.
-how it ended allowing us the pleasure of no commercials (thanks to Hienkien)
-peggy's new dresses. i love them all!
-the knock-knock joke!
-how they danced around the idea of abortion.
when the switch board oper. secured her future.
-how well they set us up for next season.

thanks mad men!

Betty's friend offered her a Miltown; this was a tranquilizer type of pill.

I think Pete was sitting there with a gun in case of looters (remembering the remark that Trudy made).

Betty wanted to experience that sense of doing what you want without asking anyone and without worrying about consequences as she feels Don did when he "disappeared". It did seem like that kind of "hook-up" would have been unlikely in 1962, but people were doing strange things while they were waiting for a nuclear war. I think she was looking at her reflection in the window and imagining herself pregnant. She seemed to be sticking her stomach out a bit. I love Betty. I think her loneliness is masked as coldness. She seems so sad to me.

I will miss this show. I recommend it to everyone I know. Season 3 can't come soon enough.

Thank you Mr. Weiner.

I think Pete was alone with the gun because it is the only thing he has that is his. He chose it and loves it. It is not Trudy's gun. It is not a gift for Trudy. It is not from his family. It is his and his alone. he was hoping Peggy would be his, now he jsut has the gun. Peggy stole his heart. I feel really bad for him.

By Jendalessan on October 26, 2008 11:27 PM
Did anyone catch what joan said when Don told her to go home? I rewinded it twice and couldn't make it out.

Joan said Greg's hospital was open and on alert
(paraphrasing)

Peggy said she gave the baby away, not that she had given it up for adoption. That leaves the story line open. Perhaps her sister really is raising the child? I never saw any indication that the child was given to another family. Quite the contrary. Why else would the writers have Peggy's sister asking her if she "had forgotten something" when Peggy was at the family's house and she walked in and looked at the baby. And the scene with Peggy holding a baby in church?

The story line with Pete and Trudy wanting a baby and not being able to and Pete not wanting to adopt someone else's child would be useless. The writers are opening another scenerio. I don't believe Peggy has moved on from Pete. She has learned from the good ole boys how to play the game, including how to be tough. Would Pete have fallen for her if she were a soft, vulnerable ready-made housewife like Trudy?

thank you a great show. And no political attack ads. we all need a break from that. But Best Show Waiting for #3.

good cast.

I kind of wonder though if Peggy put things to Pete the way she did tonight because she was harboring some resentment of him, and wanted him to feel a bit of the rejection that she felt from him (like when he'd go to her, and then return to his life as usual). Perhaps, she put it coldly (the "I could have had you" (but didn't want you?) speech because she couldn't be perfectly kind and reciprocating to his proclimations of love at this time after all she'd been through. And maybe she suspects he was just being emotional because of the missle crisis and because he was going through a rough patch with his wife and didn't want to submit to him, but rather not couch things lovingly for his benefit.

I'd love to see Pete and Peggy together ultimately, so maybe that's why I'd like to think that she really does love him.

Superb episode, one of the very best to date.
And not nearly so insufferably cryptic as the rest of the lot. The way that the missile crisis hovered over all the characters' lives~ pure genius.
Surprisingly generous too, with all that resolution in the air~I
never dreamed that Peggy would admit all to Pete (the scene was top notch in every respect) or that Pete would give Don the edge on Duck's Plan. This is tv at its most satisfying.
Well...maybe not quite as satisfying as Jon Hamm's impersonation of James Mason on SNL.
THAT was brilliant.

tjkimball: Then why would Peggy say that that piece of her is "lost forever"?

Of Don's response to Duck in the meeting:

“Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” - Shakespeare

DamagedWomen:

To add to your comments about the Pete and Peggy scene - Pete was having a quite a day. No matter what happened with the merger, he was on his way up. He was feeling powerful and confident and it led him to the conversation with Peggy. He had the confidence to tell her that he loved her. It obviously didn't go as planned.

MadTV:

The hospital thing Joan said to Don I think means that he is still at the hospital because it is "open and on alert" to handle casualties and people that are wounded in the case of an attack. So she was letting Don know that her fiance was still in the city because he was working during the crisis.

Don't forget...Peggy ended up in the nuthouse after she gave birth to her baby. I doubt, even in 1960, that they would have advised her to let her sister raise the baby that, up until birth, Peggy had denied she was even carrying. That would be too much for someone who basically had just had a nervous breakdown. I'm sure she gave the baby up for adoption.

Also, I saw Jon Hamm on SNL last night, and I agree with the poster above who said that, without Don's swagge, Hamm is really just...okay. Ordinary, not at all "hot." He'd get lost in the crowd. Kind of explains why he never hit it big until "Mad Men."

Loved this season's final episode. Betty got even w/Don, Peggy confessed to Pete, and Duck spilling that he "put this deal together". did any body catch that. Duck's out the door, w/out Don SC is nada. Don's back w/Bets, on her terms. Don will stay w/SC but will make them pay him more money. Joan will keep the Dr. she feels she has no options. And Pete's not going to off himself, he's too self centered, and will go back w/Trudy, she's got the $$$$$. Great Season, cant wait for next...

Jendalessan -you asked what Joan said...
she said her boyfriend (i cant remember the name now) just called and said that the hospital is on alert (or stand by) -something like that.

yes, there was a lot of confession - so let me confess, i totally mis-guessed about betty's pregnancy. it seemed too obvious - but i can accept it in the story line! it's true to life, too. lots of times people with marital problems have an unexpected pregnancy and end up staying together.

i also confess my guilty secret, that i now like pete and forgive him for being a prick.to trudy, who's more tied to her parents than to him. prediction: they divorce. pete's left alone on the office, his wife has effectively left him, the world could possibly end (so they thought then) and the woman he's loved has seemingly rejected his declaration of love. and he finds out he has a child out there somewhere and will never know it (the child, that is).

pete showed loyalty to don in the clinch, which is exactly what bert cooper predicted in season one.

don will take care of pete after the merger. he'll take duck's position. duck will obviously be OUT after his outburst. if he still works there, he's demoted. don will get rid of him.

peggy sure feels lots better, having confessed to pete rather than to the priest. after all, she knows God already knew all about it and she could make her peace with him without the priest. but pete deserved to know, especially at that moment.

basically, i'm happy with the finale and satisfied with how they left it...but also can't wait for the next season...hope they don;t make us wait a year!!!

tonights episode puts the is peggys baby with her sister to bed once and for all.

at the beginning of this season the viewer was left to wonder what happened because in the last episode of the first season she had a baby. then a few episodes into this season while at her mothers house she went upstairs to say goodnight to her nephews and had an uncomfortable look on her face when seeing her youngest nephew in the crib.

this fueled the speculation that this must be the missing baby. then in a later episode when peggy has a flashback to when she was institutionalized we see that in fact her sister was pregnant so this in fact was most likely the sisters baby in the crib.

I think in tonights episode where peggy talks to pete about the loss she felt we are meant to recall that scene where she went to say goodnight to the nephews and realize that her strange reaction to the baby was because it was painful to look at another baby knowing that hers was out there somewhere else.

I love that Peggy was strong enough to openly disagree with the priest's conception of god.

Has anyone noticed that all the people who were brawling with each other on the Episode 12 thread are not here? I wonder if Clayton banned them.

Forgive me for repeating, but Weiner answers a lot of these questions (about the baby, about Betty having casual sex, etc) in the interview on Alan Sepinwall's blog. It's a must read.

Lindley & SoFla Kate:

I was getting the impression from the other episode that "Don" and "Dick" were previously friend's whom served together. "Dick" knew "Don" like a book. I just assumed when "Don" passed on that "Dick" visited Anna to console her about it and they became good friends as well, which lead to him taking on "Don's" identity.

I'll go back and watch the episode, but if you guys insist...

Which ever way it is, we shall see as long as they don't cancel the show for some stupid reason.

"So these Brits decide to make a big step into the US and buy a company...but they don't perform due diligence first?? No one does that, not even in 1963. -- you pay lawyers ridiculous sums of money to check it all out."

I agree but hey...this is television. It makes for good drama.

Great episode. When does next season start?
Hot Betty on the town! The guy was cute. It was weird, sexy and honest. People do strange things when no one is watching and it looks like she is finally reaching her sexual prime. Although, she is not looking forward to tent dresses and diapers again.
Love the office boys and all their speculation, not much has changed in corporate life. The boardroom scene with Don walking out was brilliant. With the pre-warning from Pete, he could sit as cool as a cucumber while Duck spouted off. Great play on his part. With all that money, Don could start his own firm if he had the inclination.

About Don's letter...yeah he seems like he is sincere, but the letter was kind of simple and Madison Avenue. I got the impression that Don was wondering if the baby was his or wondering that the only reason Betty wanted him back was because she was pregnant. I think you will see Betty take more of a leading role in her marriage and you see this shift in a lot of relationships where the balance was tilted toward the man and eventually, the woman gains more independence and control. But, it's this uncomfortable truce.

Of course it was Pete with the gun! You have to worry about a guy like Pete, so depressed and the signs of his isolation all season long. It would be sad to see him disappear, but in a weird way it would truly free Betty. I don't see her and Pete working out - he was mean to her and they could never really connect because he was so self-absorbed.

Wow, Peggy told Pete and it was amazing and so sad the both of them. Peggy is still Pete's superior when it comes to emotions and maturity. The way she phrases some of her sentences like "I could have had you..." You can see that she had the benefit of moving beyond the situation and maybe a weight has been lifted from her shoulders. I still think that that the pushy priest is pining for her.

Some of these posters have more imagination than the Mad Men writers. Betty pregnant by a guy she met last night!!!! Eating a drumstick is cold!!! Anna wrote the note to Betty!!! Yeah, sure. She knew he was lying in bed watching his kids watch tv. Where do you get these ridiculous ideas??? madwoman80 had good insights though.

I have 12 more minutes until the West Coast viewing. I come her to get the cheat notes.
l will have to sit close to the TV with the volume up loud.

Martini Up - Chauncey would be a great president and would probably fit in the with new British owners, esp. the guy from that show the Nanny.

mcmere said: "Has anyone noticed that all the people who were brawling with each other on the Episode 12 thread are not here? I wonder if Clayton banned them."

Who was brawling? I'd like to read their comments.

The scene with Don and Betty at the end was touching. He seemed to be regarding her with the kind of esteem he described way back with Anna. It was interesting when Betty gazed at the store window display. The mannequin on the right was a blond ice queen dressed in blue, typifying the usual Betty while the one on the left was a dark haired temptress in red. On this particular night, with her barroom tryst, Betts assumed the later. Of course the scene with Pete and Peggy packed a punch too. I also appreciated the grainy, unstable television screens that required a smack to keep them steady. Even though America was headed for a nuclear showdown with Russia, Cuba it lacked the technology to bring a clear TV picture.

I don't think Peggy landed in the nuthouse. I think she was in the hospital. Because Don visited her there. He went to the hospital when her mother said she had TB. Other than that I don't think she was transferred into another location. I think she was just in maternity, and the beds and rooms looked less modern than they do now.

I hope Matt Weiner stays with MadMen for the next 10 years. I can't immagine this show being what it is without him. Its brilliant.

When I first heard Peggy's speech (I have DVR) tonight I thought that the "lost forever" part she was referring to herself and Pete. That she considered Pete as being a part of herself but over time, considered him lost forever. The way the monologue was written I think it was intended to be unclear, because there were at least two times during her speech if I couldn't figure out if she was referring to her feelings for Pete or the baby. And then I couldn't really understand Pete's "why did you tell me this" either, which could have referred to Peggy telling him about how she felt towards him (the love or lack of it?) or the baby. So I think its a cliff hanger that hopefully will completely blow up and flesh itself out in season 3. I think that scene was meant to be very cryptic and could be taken a number of ways.

please start mad men season 3 in march 09

of course. the Cuban missile crisis. I was trying to guess what the "emergency" was going to be when I saw the title of this episode. what a brilliant backdrop to a story in which several characters are at critical momenrs in their own tumultuous lives. and to see how each character played their hand. fascinating charictar studies.

I don't know what will happen at his home, but at work don played his cards like Kennedy.

Coupe de Ville said: "I still think that that the pushy priest is pining for her."

Of course he is. But I can't tell if she wants him or not. Before I saw them interact I never thought her character was the type to fall for a priest, even one that has been to Italy. Any mention of hell is an insta-ding for me.

Re: The due diligence issue. Maybe the Brits left it up to Duck, and with Duck being blinded by his rage for Don and his wish for power, simply didn't do it.

To expect the unexpected - when Dick Whitman was assigned to a new place in the army, he met Don Draper - they were together for a very short time and their conversations were very limited before Don Draper was killed and Dick Whitman took Draper's dogtags...the first meeting between Anna Draper and the "new" Don Draper came when she appeared and angrily confronted him about finding out he'd taken out a car loan(?) or something using her dead husband's identity. I believe they then reached an agreement - she would allow him to continue being Don Draper and in return, he would support her financially....don't think she was exactly a grieving widow, anyway - she resignedly told new Don that the real Don had actually wanted to marry her sister - that she "had two good legs", a reference to Anna's limp.

I think Pete was holding the gun because it made him feel protected and powerful.

His wife doesn't really love him. Her parents don't like him. His own family is a piece of work. Peggy just told him "No thank you" when he offering himself to her on a platter. She sealed it nicely with a "if I had wanted you I could have had you"....ouch.

He was classic with Don. He was looking for an ally somewhere so he threw Don a bone and hoped that would get him onto the team. Don knew what he was up to but I think he might still play along with him.

gren1 said: "I don't think Peggy landed in the nuthouse. I think she was in the hospital. Because Don visited her there."

I definitely think she was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. Remember when Don said something to the effect, "whatever they want you to do, do it?" I think that was so she could gain release. Often you have to put on an act to get out of those places. The psychiatrists and psychologists can be even wackier than the patients.

Pete saying,"Why did you tell me this?"

Where I come from, it is hurtful to tell someone things at times. In polite society what one doesn't know won't hurt them. I think he felt she had broken a rule. To her, being someone with common sense, she was being honest.

I'm watching the episode for the third time. I just noticed the doctor's advice to Betty did not include she should stop drinking and there is to be no smoking. Maybe that's because Lucky Strike's are harmless. As you know, they're toasted.

In reading over others' responses with regard to Peggy and Pete's baby and the sister saying the cryptic stuff to the priest, wouldn't it be something if Peggy was lead to believe that her baby "died" & was actually switched with the married sister's baby, who really did die? Maybe that is why she was a little crazy after the birth? After all, you could almost see the sister saying it's not fair that she lost a baby and had a marriage whereas Peggy did not! Hmmm.....

Even in the 70's people still drank while pregnant. I think they used to view the placenta as some type of protective liner.

Lucky Strike ... toasted? ;-)

FYI, my husband was born c. 1960, a sort of late 3rd child. His mom had started smoking after the births of his older sibs, and she always told the story that her OB recommended she continue smoking because quitting would be "stressful" for the baby. Fortunately, he turned out ok and was born nearly 9 lbs -- we always joke how big he might've been had she not smoked!

(I was born a couple of years later and my mom did quit drinking & smoking, but only b/c she had severe nausea. Different times!)

Mike, there were a bunch of people. It got REAL heated.

"But since Don does not have a contract that prevents him from working for, with or competing against his old agency, Don could leave SC if he wanted to and tell the clients he's starting his own agency."

Eheheheh. It shows how distracted/off-their-game Cooper and Sterling have been that they kept messing around and didn't put Don under a contract. Nickel-and-diming valued employees is one of the sure signs a company is headed for the dustbin...

Good comments lorantscan - Peggy feels she has lost that part of herself, referring to the baby, because she never really connected with motherhood (common experience for young mothers or those that are surprised by a pregnancy mid-term). She has a life, and it is going forward.

I understand that Peggy's sister is raising her and Pete's child. The previous episodes gave us that impression. Her sister had a child around the same time.

And I figured that Peggy's priest would turn out to be judgemental, no matter how nice or understanding he seemed. Catholic priests pre-Vatican-II lived and died by doctrine, and that's the bottom line for the good father, no matter what his personal feelings or personality.

Does anyone remember Peggy's sister saying to her that the state of New York did not consider her to be "fit" ( I think that was the word but I am not sure of the actual phrase.) I thought at the time that they were referring to the baby. In those days the baby could be taken and put up for adoption by the state if the mother was declared "unfit" by the state (irregardless of the mother's wishes.) This is how alot of baby buying and illegal adoptions were handled. The state basically declared a homeless woman or a woman with depression as "unfit" regardless of her wishes to keep the child. Then money would change hands and the child was legally adopted. The pratice is so abhorrent that is why the adoption cases were closed up airtight for so long. It is no longer done this way today but in those days people made a lot of money doing it. I wonder if this was the case with Peggy? She did mention to Pete something about "You keep thinking you will get it back and all of a sudden you realize it is gone." Worst of all it was really rich people who usually got the child and Pete's wife knows alot of really rich people and they may end up bumping into Pete's child someday. Boy...if this is not the plot, it could make for a really good one!! Don't you agree?

Leave it to Beaver on Mad Men is a dream come true (as with Jon Hamm as JFK, haha).

I listened to the speech between Peggy and Pete again and it really doesn't sound that harsh (after listening to it and paying attention about 5 times now). I'm listening to it now: So here's the transcript from once Peggy sits down on the couch in Pete's office:

Peggy: "Why are you still here? Trudy must be worried."

Pete: "What is it with you?"

Peggy: "What?"

Pete: "You never let me talk about what I want to talk about."

Peggy: Well, what do you want to talk about?

Pete: "About what you said about the truth. Can I tell you the truth?"

Peggy: "Why wouldn't you?"

Pete: "You make it so hard"

Peggy: "What are you talking about?"

Pete: "You.- I've been thinking about everything that's going on. And I thought- 'who would care if I was gone?' I mean- Trudy would care, but she doesn't know me. But you do. And I know you. And I think you're perfect."

Peggy: "I'm not perfect Pete."

Pete: "Yes you are. And I wish I'd picked you then."

Peggy: "Pete."

Pete: "I love you. And I want to be with you. (pause) What? Didn't you know that?"

Peggy: "Pete. I could have had you in my life forever if I wanted to."

Pete: "What do you mean?"

Peggy: "I could have had you. I could have shamed you into being with me. But I didn't want to."

Pete: "I don't understand."

Peggy: "You got me pregnant. I had a baby. And I gave it away."

Pete: "What?"

Peggy: "I had your baby. And I gave it away."

Pete: "Are you serious? You can't be serious."

Peggy: "I wanted other things."

Pete: "I don't understand."

Peggy: "Well,, one day you're there, and then all of a sudden there's less of you. And you wonder where that part went. If its living somewhere outside of you. And you keep thinking, maybe you'll get it back. And then you realise, its just gone."

Pete: "Why would you tell me that?"

Peggy: "I'm sorry Pete." (Peggy pickes up her coat and handbag and leaves office)

"Betty would not have been permitted to sit at the bar by herself."

Was that a bar in an upscale hotel like the Plaza--or was it near rich folks' watering holes? Places like that would have cut Betty slack because she was obviously rich (NYC bartenders read people as well as police detectives, so it's a sure bet the bartender knew she was no hooker as soon as she walked in.) As well, it's a good bet most of the bar's afternoon business came from wealthy guests cheating on their spouses. :)

Did anyone notice when Don left the office, Joan handed him his attache case, and he said he didn't need it? What does this imply? (I am first-time blogger and find your comments informative and interesting--thx!) I think Peggy is going to turn into somebody many of us won't like.

I can't believe that Peggy told Pete. However, for everyone rooting for Pete to adopt their child, does anyone think that Trudy would allow it? I mean, sure it's Pete's son, but he was conceived while he was cheating on her. I bet it would be quite the turnabout in her pro-adoption stance if Pete asked her to raise his child from Peggy.

Peggy gave the baby away. The part of herself she lost was her innocence.

I thank the poster that directed us to the "What's Allen Watching" site. Mr. Weiner himself answered the questions.

Where can I find this blog by Alan ????? with all the answers?

peachy: That bag probably held a change of clothes, and Don didn't need it since Betty left a message for him to "come home." Betty was saying she needed him back at the house again--as her husband. She had forgiven him. The letter was successful.

Jendalessan: I completely agree with you about Pete and the gun. It was defnitely a totem/empowerment symbol. It gave him security when he first got it post-honeymoon, and now he leaned on it because of his loneliness.

What does Don do for a living? He sells. He all but said that during the boardroom discussion. The letter he wrote for Betty was basically his "pitch" for getting her back, not a declaration of love (even though he claimed that he loved her). What he loves is life with the old Betty who didn't question anything and took his cheating. And I'll bet that if Betty revealed her affair to Don, he would be horrified. Although, if this were set in the 70s, they'd be going to Swingtown.

Prediction: Don and Betty will begin season three with their new five month old addition to the family. La-de-da, all is well with the Drapers. But somewhere along the way we’ll find out that the doctor was mistaken and Betty was not pregnant when he examined her. (lets just say there was a mix up.) All this time Betty has been hiding this secret information from Don. Only Betty knows she in fact became pregnant AFTER her visit to the doctor during her quickie back room rogering at the bar. (INSERT DRAMATIC ORGAN CHORD HERE)

Woweeee what a finale...feeling sad and already am having withdrawal...boo hoo.

"I got a good laugh at the guys in the office pounding on the TV to make it work."

I was chuckling at Don's hotel TV having lousy horizontal hold. The first TV I ever got (one previously owned by my parents) did that exact same thing and one always had to reach in the back to adjust it...g!

Lucky STrike, I really hope your predictions turn out NOT to be true...at all. That would be too soap opery for Mad Men. I dont know what they're going to do...but keep it true to mad men's realism.

Okay. Not Peggy's baby and she lost Pete.

From: Alan Sepinwall/The Star-Ledger http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2008/10/mad_men_matthew_weiner_q_a_on.html#more

Weiner says -->

On Peggy's speech to Pete:

Sometimes, it's a sick feeling to look at who you are, and sometimes it's just something that disappears. That's part of what Peggy is talking about to Pete. She's not talking about the baby. I hope it's not taken literally that way. She's talking about moving on in your life. "I wanted other things," but when she starts talking about that part of her that's gone, there's no one who understands that more than Don.

On Peggy's decision to give up the baby, and the fact that we didn't find out what happened for sure until the finale:

People wanted to believe that was her baby. And, by the way, that woman does not want to be around babies. That's really it. She does not want to be around babies, does reminded about this. In episode five, Don gave her some advice that comes off as very friendly and very kind and very loving, but it's very bad advice.

So now Betty is a stranger's sperm receptacle, and I guess now that she did it she realized that the pleasures of adultery aren't exactly the answer to her unhappiness. I started laughing when Peggy dropped the bomb on Pete. He must've thought he was about to some more couch NOOKY from Peggy after that weak "Oh, Peggy I love you, don't you know that?". I guess her news got his penis to jump back in the "NUT SACK" real quick. LOL.
Did you notice when she told him he stopped professing his love. And how about Ducks meltdown in the meeting. So...It all comes out. He just wanted to put his foot on Don's neck, and Don stoled his thunder. Duck is a born Loser, and I hope the writers play it that way. He's one of those guys that will always turn gold into shit. A reverse midas touch. I hate that prick for turning his dog into the street. This merger is a big mistake.

I Iove the show, and Im so sad the season is over. Does anyone know when Season 3 is Supposed to Start, Next year probably. I'm so bummed. Tonights episode, all I can say is CONFESSIONS! They did that on purpose, so they could drive us crazy wondering what next Season Brings us! GOOD JOB!! I love this show..

This is what i had hoped for since act 1 scene1. Don's whole facial expression has changed. The way he looked at his wife and asking her to stay for dinner at the hotel, he looked so desperate and lonely. He finally misses what he is losing, I dont understand Betty, she is not the type to tramp around with other guys. she is never going to tell Don. so, what was her point. the end scene, the way he holds her hand and looks at her, it seems to be a reminder of how important family is.

DamagedWomen,
It could happen. You know, nothing is stranger than real life.

The Sepinwall/Weiner 'view is at...

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/

My husband was 16 during the Cuban missile crisis.
He said the girls in his high school were saying they didn't want to die a virgin.
I was 12, in 7th grade. I remember our class asking our 7th grade English teacher if there was going to be a war. She very calmly told us, no, there wasn't going to be a war and everything was going to be just fine.

In 1969 a girlfriend went from New York State to Pennsylvania to get an abortion for $750. The guy did a crappy job at that.

On another note, the set design of the beauty parlor was so over the top!

Lucky Strike: it can happen. But it would be useless, since it's been used by every soap opera ever written. MM is amazing because it's manged to escape the scripted feeling of soaps. I don't want that to change.

tacopoobell: I agree with Betty not being one to tramp around. That's why I really didn't want the writers to have her have an affair with anyone. But, the writers still stayed true to that by making it a one time only thing, I guess.

Im with you P59!! Duck doesnt deserve anything more than to wash dishes at this place.... HOW dare he let go of his Irish Setter. ( chauncey) I was piiiissssseeedd!!! All these high powered ad men know who Duck really is. they did get to be this shrewed for nothing. Duck soley wanted to get revenge on Don. As soon as Duck leaves the room, the new ad company writes off Duck because "he never could hold his liqour." no one takes this lush at face value. I dont understand the whole gun thing. I do remember back to when Pete exchanged it for the chip n dip bowl they had received. He kept in his office because he Knew Trudy would hate it. Maybe it is a security blanket of sorts.. ( I dunno!)

Peachy - I think when Don told Joan he didn't need his briefcase anymore, I think it's because as of that moment, he was no longer part of Sterling Cooper - he had quit when he walked out of the boardroom.

However he also left the door open because before he left the boardroom he said he would see where things stood on Monday. I think he might be positioning himself to be wooed back - for the right price and the right position. After all, he said he sells products, not advertising. His product is his talent. As the Alpha male of SC, he could name his price if offered or he could start up his own agency. He had no contract and therefore, no non-compete clause.

Pete can't drive because no one in New York City has a reason to drive, they have accessible public transportation that can take them anywhere. Also, Manhattan a small island that's easy to walk around in. I used to live there a long time ago and I walked everywhere. I was so in shape back then.

I also did not feel bad for Pete. He's still a douche-nozzle. And I don't know if this was mentioned before, but Fr. Gill looks so similar to Pete. Was that on purpose?

Bring on Vatican II and the upheaval it will bring for everyone.

1964 is next, and that's when the 60's finally said goodbye to the 50's. Thankfully.

Okay, I've been waiting all season for Betty to drop trou and get it on with a stranger, and here it was. Finally.

Peggy "Bangs" is still my hero.

It was a fun season guys. Chat next year.

true it is. I dont believe any way in the western hemisphere don will open up his own agency. the show will be MADMAN. Any great advertising giant is always going to want a ad ex. to be able to see product, No one does this better than Don. I think his "bargining chip" might be to have Duck let go.

Betty just became a whore. At least when Don slept around, he knew the woman and actually treated her like he cared about her. Betty just did the guy for the hell of it and came home to eat a chicken drumstick like nothing happened. It was just sex to her so now she's a whore and Don should find out in Season 3 and leave her.

i don't know how to respond to specific comments but somebody asked if the baby was don's. Most definitely, in the past Betty played flirting games with people but would never cheat on him. I think the pregnancy pushed her over the edge. She is not a mentally healthy woman. Too much of a little girl to cheat on Don. Although the marriage didn't bring her the happiness she thought she would get, she was so in love with don she would never cheat. She was just trying to feel desirable again and get some of the attention don doesn't pay her. When she even bought the sexy swin suit instead of telling her he didn't what to she her expose herself in front of other men because it made him feel bad, he treated her like a daughter and told her it looked cheap

I also wanted to add the about the comment the Brits made about "spending the night with the bride". Well, the bride, Don, didn't have to be there so the bride left the party. Ha ha ha. In your face Mother Ducker!

There are other ways to get attention...having sex with a stranger should not even be one of them. She just made that family into a joke and it's all fake now. Don's infidelities are okay but hers is not.

Don is what we call a "man whore". Knowing the name of the endless rooster of women you sleep with and giving them gifts doesn't make Don any less a whore than any of the women in the whorehouses in Nevada. Its just that Don gives the milk away for free. So that makes Don a whore with no business sense. Let's not cast sexist comments because Don is a man that he isn't a whore. He's a huge, dirty whore in every sense of the word. And he's a lying whore. So yes, Don is a big, huge, lying MAN WHORE. Don slept around for the hell of it as well. He's a whore in my book.

Don's infidelities are not okay. He's a whore. He's torn his family apart. He's lost the trust of his wife. Don is a fake joke and a MAN WHORE.

I'm not going to get into a flame war with a sexist who thinks Don isn't a whore, when he CLEARLY is.

Great episode. Anyone else catch what I think was an error--when Don walks into the kitchen to talk to Betty, the radio announcer is talking about a ship, I believe, saying it's Joseph F. Kennedy. It should be either Joseph P. Kennedy or John F. Kennedy.

Gracy, I agree with your post except the little exerpt of betty being "too much of a little girl" to cheat. I think that's one of the few mature things she's done pre-knowing about the affair. You don't need to whore around to embrase your sexuality.

drbambee, thank you.

All the people who were in the blog#12 , simply just changed their names. You can tell by their long writing style and certain WORDING capitized and et certera. Everyone can enjoy the blog without attempting to control; one another. The bitching and moan will return and the petty winers will all be revealed shortly.

A fantastic way to end the season. Peggy confessing to Peter put a permanent stop to his advances and cleared her consiouse. Sterling Cooper can't be sold; there would be no show. Duck will be fired for his trickery. The baby Betty is expecting will have issues, like Autism. Betty had to sleep with another man, it was the only way to get over Don's infadelaty. I can't wait for season three. Will it be set in 1964?

I don't know if there's an intern tasked with checking these comments but I'd just like to say please pass along to Matt Weiner one more very big "thank you" for yet another wonderful thirteen chapter televised novel about this fascinating time and these wonderful, oh so human characters.

I read the posted recent Star Ledger interview and it certainly made me feel relieved to learn that Matt has a sense that regardless of the external issues around the show, he is in the middle of his masterpiece. And that it would be a terrible shame not to continue it.

Take all the time you need to re-charge, do other things and turn to this show again. Great work is worth waiting for and I for one am happy to wait for Matt, the writers, the cast and crew to be ready to give us on par again with what they've delivered the last two seasons.

Of course if you feel as though you've recovered in a couple of months, as opposed to years, you'll make a very devoted fan base pretty happy. Thanks again.

By Randall651 on October 26, 2008 10:08 PM
"... I believe that the famous agency Jack Tinker & Associates was operating at this time and it spawned Well, Rich & Greene. It was a period when many of the super creative agencies were blooming"

I'm amazed you know about that Randall. Were you in the ad biz in NY in the 1960s? I worked at WRG in the 70s and 80s and was hoping there might be some folks from those good old days here on this site. Mary Wells Lawrence was working as a copywriter back in the 1950s at McCann, DDB and Tinker before starting her own agency in 1966.

I don't think Pete can kill himself with a rifle--unless very talented with his toes. Peggy is finally showing emotion--but Betty is just as cold as ever, her father helped her become that way.She tried hard to abort her pregnancy being in an unhappy marriage. I like the way the transitions are shot. I was only twelve with the cuban missile crisis--do remember the panic.

PETE & PEGGY: probably the most well written heartbreaking exchange of the season. I was crying for both of them.

Pete was a "day late and a dollar short" for Peggy, at least at this time in her life.

For maybe the first time in his life, Pete seemed to have arrived at some level of inner peace and maturity, and isn't it kind of strange that it comes after "recognition of his worth" from both Duck (the head of accounts offer) and Don (trusting him to handle the California sales on his own) which compels him to finally acknowledge his feelings for Peggy.

The day Pete is "recognized and acknowledged" for his worth at work is also the day he chooses to "recognize and acknowledge" Peggy's "worth" to him. Irony at its best.

So heartbreaking because in essence Peggy let Pete know that she did love him, but let him go in the past and was releasing him now. I felt Peggy was very, very loving and honest with him. What was so devastating was when Peggy explained about losing a part of herself, and I felt she meant her heart and Pete, and was never able to get it back and couldn't now, even if she wanted to. A part of her heart and psyche were simply destroyed and lost in that whole experience.

Poor Pete - both he, his love and his child became discards.

@tigerbull77: Gruesome, but it's possible that Pete could kill himself with a rifle. A man committed suicide next to the road in front of my home with a shotgun a year ago.

One of my predictions from Episode 12 Open Thread was answered tonight:

4. Betsy is not pregnant, doesn’t have cancer, had a miscarriage or just had her period. She sat on Bobby’s half of a cherry popsicle, that’s all. In literary terms I think its called “foreshadowing”. Break it, Love it, Sit on it.
(Looks like I got this completely wrong; however, the kid aint Don's)

The other prediction still has some life -
7. Pete and Trudy will adopt a beautiful blue-eyed, towhead boy named Luke in season 3 from Our Lady of Angels orphanage in Brooklyn. In season 7, Pete and Peggy will start their own ad agency in Los Angeles and will eventually get married. In season 10’s finale, Luke searches for his biological parents and finds out that Pete is his biological Dad and that his step mom is really his mom. The show ends with Luke confronting Pete, “Dad, you’re my Dad”. Pete, whose voice is gravelly after 20 years of 2 packs a day, responds, “Luke, I am your father”. Fade to black, roll credits, while playing the Temptations, “Papa was a rollin’ stone”.

As for Betty's 5-minute "stand" with the bar stranger, well, she finally tasted what Don has tasted all these years, and actually was getting into it pretty good with the man. I don't know that Betty could've let Don back into her life without doing that, not because I think it was any kind of planned act, but it does put Betty and Don on the same level playing field. Even though Betty has never been a habitual cheater or liar.

Now, they have both been unfaithful, have secrets, and Betty can no longer hold onto her "superior than thou" righteous, unforgiving stance. Betty has fallen to Don's moral level (even if only once), and it may help her in forgiving Don because she'll have more to be forgiving about regarding her own actions.

I think people are being very hard on the Trudy character. I am over 50 and was married at 20 in the 70's. I have to admit the first two years were like playing house- we all may look like adults in our early 20's but we are still child-like in many ways. And there were no 'manuals' about being a grownup then. We were all winging it. I don't think Trudy doesn't love Pete or that she loves her family more than him. I think she wants one big happy family. Pete comes from a terrible family background. Talk about lack of love and respect. He despised his father and mocks his mother.Trudy is used to support and unconditional love. She just wants to be like a 'regular' family-kids,husband,close relatives. She wants to keep house and make dinner for her man. For this she seems to be vilified. We women have evolved since 1963-more options, more open doors. But then the options were few, the doors held shut. Trudy is doing the best she can. She even debased herself for Pete by going to a former lover to get his bad story published! So what if she is frightened and wants to be with people who love her in case the world ends. Pete should have wanted to go with her. He said it all when she said if he loved her he would go with her and he agreed-then said he would help her get a ride! He basically agreed He didn't love HER by not going with her!

Love the show, but it is simply inconceivable that anyone would buy Sterling-Cooper without studying the employee contracts first. It's not really plausible that the Brits would buy the company without first confirming that Don Draper was under contract. If this story were real we would have to think that they either don't care if Don Draper leaves or they are fools for having committed to this deal without doing their due diligence.

Love the show, but it is simply inconceivable that anyone would buy Sterling-Cooper without studying the employee contracts first. It's not really plausible that the Brits would buy the company without first confirming that Don Draper was under contract. If this story were real we would have to think that they either don't care if Don Draper leaves or they are fools for having committed to this deal without doing their due diligence.

Don finally says he loves Betty. Instead of his "The Kids need me", "you need me" or "he doesn’t want to loose all this".

"You will not be alone for long but I will be alone forever"- Great!

And yes the Brits just paid millions for a room full of furniture.

With out a non compete , Don now has plenty of money to start his own deal using their clients!

I love the TV screens with the pic rolls.

Those were great days.

Eeexxxxxxx YUCK!, Unprotected sex with a stranger, in a filthy Bar's storeroom, next to the restrroms. So sick! I'd better stop doin that, and just watch the program.

Rarely do I tear up over anything on TV.....but last night's finale got me! It is going to be a long wait till season 3!

Now to give my 2 cents worth..I've had the opportunity to view the espisode once no twice more...
I am just now posting this so please forgive me if I repeat something someone else posted)

re Peggy's scene with Pete: to me what Peggy was saying was that to she gave up the baby becaue she DID NOT want to be a wife and mother and see part of her dreams for a fulfilling career disappear and cause her to become less of herself (as her sister has obviously become and seems now to regret being)...

and I did feel sooo very much compassion for Pete and for Trudy..I don't think that Pete ever loved Trudy -if you love someone you don't search out a woman you barely know for sex the night before your marriage and then when the ocassion arises ask your wife to prostitute herself with a former boyfriend so that you can realize your competetive nature with a coworker by getting your sorry little story published...Pete married Trudy because it fulfilled his professional and social quota of things he wanted to "cross off" his to do list. I am sorry for Trudy because she's basically a nice persosn who married the wrong man and needs badly to mature.

Oh Duck was a always a real SOB but I truly lost any respect I might have had for him when he was ready to throw Freddy Rumson away because of Fred's problem with alochol ...if you all remember in Season 1 there is much made of Duck's propensity for liquor..if I am not mistaken his alcoholism was the cause of his demise with the Brits in the first place..he was know on both sides of the Atlantic as a major lush...instead of showing compassion for another person with the same problem ..he "didn't want Rumson on any of my accounts" ...boy, what a first class jerk!

And something tells me that this is not the first time Betty has had mindless sex...I believe she was fairly close to being "a party girl" herself when she met Don..remember and the scene in one of this season's first episodes where Betty and Don run into one of her old roommates from her modeling days....after the woman and her "date" leave Don tells Betty that she's a "call girl" and Betty relates that they once shared secrets and similar behaviors...she just never thought of herself as a party girl.....remember she accepted a mink coat from Don way before they were even engaged....

that's my 2 cents

This show is all about the duality of man, Jennifer is dead on with the Beaver on the tv while Betty is getting her freak on! I especially loved the leg thrown on Mr Casual, showing her enthusiasm. I did however think that her garters were on over her panties, which would have made it difficult to pull her panties down without unclasping the garters. I always knew Don would take the "high road" to get what he wanted. He was so smooth in the conference room!

WOW!!
I say the same thing every Monday am...I'm finally at the end of this thread!!

I tried to speed read through the posts, but, I will give my usual disclaimer here, and say I may be repeating some thoughts already posted.

In my opinion, the last episode was all about The Cuban Missile Crisis, and it's affect on the characters of MM.

Throughout the show the radio and TV reports of those 6 days in October 1962 were playing.
The impact on the characters to me was that they (like so many Americans) thought they were going to die at any minute. Remember the discussions about the Fallout shelters, the characters preparing for the worst.

I think the confessions, admissions of love, and all came from THAT fear.
What brilliant writing!!!

Those Maddicts who have read my posts in the past, know I'm a history nut....
This weaving of real historical events with the fictitious story lines is phenomenal!

Betty's fight to "lose" the pregnancy is not over.
First, she leaves the OB/GYN's office, goes riding, which he suggested she shouldn't do. Then the risky sex in the bar.
I think the only thing that stopped her from going to Puerto Rico (for an abortion) at Francine's suggestion was what was going on in Cuba.

I don't think either Don or Betty are thrilled with her pregnancy, Don looked puzzled at the news.

The whole Pete and Trudy thing was interesting. Remember when she said something like: If you love me you'll come with me (to her parent's place), and he said: Yes, you're right. And then he didn't go. So, we can assume he doesn't love her.
In episode 12, Pete slipped with Trudy's dad on the phone, and said "I LOVED her".

Now for Pete and Peggy...
She is at peace because she confessed to Pete.

He confesses his love to her, finds out about the baby and is in shock.
I believe that was Pete with his precious shot gun alone in the office.
I don't think he will do anything with it. I just think it symbolizes something that is HIS.
Remember that he got it by exchanging Trud'y precious chip and dip?

Lastly, I loved the scenes from the cast party at the end. It was great to see the cast in "normal" dress, and out of character for a little while.
Robert Morse...what a sweety. He said he felt fortunate to be on MM at his age!!

OK I'll go now...see you on other threads!!

I am sooo glad Peggy finally told Pete about the baby. I didnt know she gave the baby away??? I thought her sister adopted him?

I am sooo glad Betty stood up for herself and found out whats its like to have an affair. Now she can understand Don better.

I am so sad the season has ended, can't wait for it to come back.

When the cast is actinig you would swear you are in the 60's again and I am 9 yrs old! But seeing them at the after party really was a shock, they dont even look and sound the same. They actually are transformed back to the 60's by magic. Thats what I call good acting and a good show. I just love it!!

Of course Betty was driven to sleep with that guy. She's certainly is not mother Theresa material, and eitiher is Peggy. This is the real world. Not some convent story...lol

What a perfect song to play "Stranger on the Shore"... LOVED IT!... I remember how much my mom loved that song, and how I bought it for her for her birthday with my allowance. What memories... I just love this show.

By Mad@TV on October 26, 2008 11:21 PM

The deal is on the shoulders of Don. The Brits were stunned , about the strife in-house with Duck and SC's Creative head Don Draper. The Brits are very proper and the deal is very much unbuttoned Now.

Duck is screwed either way and in a very bad position. He did Nothing but embarrass the Brits in front of their New York new agency.
I never understood why Duck dislikes Don and Don Duck, Don brought him in th SC.

Don said till Monday to the Brits and departed. He can bargain the Continent of England if he wants now before closing any deal with the British agency. SC is also worth more after an offer like this has been extended , So the agency's street value And it People has gone up. Roger wants and needs the deal to go thru, Don doesn't need Shit except Betty and the children. He's refocused and if it includes Flushing The Brits, SC , Sterling or Duck well then don't Blink.

Pete is CRUSHED. He never knew he got Pegs Preggo, he had no choice in her decision about the baby , his child is gone.
He just AGED 5Years and he's mentally severed from Peggy now. Peggy said the child is given away ... i still think her mother / sister have the her baby.

Betty just wanted to hurt Don , so she had her fling.
Also there was no wedding Ring except Betty's in the scene. Betty enjoyed sliding around the wall into the storage office , then just waltzing out when the bar keep came a knocking. Great kiss Betty , it was like a date Kiss.

Dons Client is Betty and his children. Him and Roger will always be business friends " We're Close " as Roger mentioned and Duck Drowned on the spot.

It was pete with his .22 gauge bolt action rifle in the brief scene.

I don't see the value Duck had brought to Sterling Copper. duck let his Dog go , as he was going to also have a drink. A dog like that would have been easily picked-up by a stranger and taken care, as its a pure breed dog. The girl from the telephone room ( Drapers old secretary ) was crafty telling them to take her after the merger. Salvadore isn't interested at all.

Lastly I felt Betty was about to tell Don ... " I ... had an affair !!" But she said I'm pregnant !.... !

The priest and his involvement in the show is uninvolved in my opinion. He's trying all the wrong angles with Peggy and it will go no where.

Someone mentioned that Pete might go through with the adoption now... what a hoot if the kid he adopts is his own. Or hasnt the writers already got that one planned out.

Peggy's sister was pregnant when Peggy had Pete's baby. All along I thought the baby was hers, or is that what the writers wanted us to believe.

This is sorta like Peyton Place too.

Mr. Weiner: YOU ROCK! We don't need those fair weather viewers anyway. They wouldn't know quality if it bit them in the you know what. Throughout this season I found myself thinking there's just no opportunity for Peggy to tell Pete about the baby, then he noticed her hair and newfound confidence. Then nothing came of that, you sly dog. I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT expect him to tell her he loved her and wanted to be with her. I was flabbergasted at the way she told him, the look on his face, and that little pat on the shoulder. PRICELESS! She really is a female Don. Don's history with the real Don Draper's wife, WOW. I'm glad he is back with Betty and the kids and totally understand Betty's need to make it even with Don. I cried for Joan. She just can't catch a break and she so deserves one. With all her strength in so many ways, she still tends to get stepped on and over. The teams insecurity and one liners are hilarious. Don to Peggy: Do I work for you now?' WONDERFUL! I LOVE your show and have accepted I will have to wait an ETERNITY :-) for the new season. I'll be waiting. Thank You

As I expected Betty is pregnant. There is no hurraying for that disgusting quickie, that will come back to haunt her. I suspect Don won't be as forgiving. Even worse, Betty could now have an STD. Uh NO! I know that during this era and even holds today that appearance was everything. Perfect marriage, family, job....blah blah But that is why we have therapists today to remind us that nothing is perfect, everything worthwhile has a lot of work involved. Those that are not true to themselves tend to be miserable and wind up cheating, drinking, ect...Pete for example, obviously miserable with Daddy's little girl, who I have little sympathy for. During a crisis your suppose to stay with your spouse not run to be with Mommy and Daddy. I am not condoning his behavior. See what happens when you sit on the fence for too long. Peggys' confession to him after he expresses his love to her, Rocks his world! The shotgun? Come on he is too proud and wouldn't seriously consider killing himself. Duck Duck Duck Duck! Goose, so close yet so far away! Life is harder when your EGO and Alcholism collide. Still, a forivigable and sympathic character. I think Roger shouldn't get married since he doesn't have the staying power. Maybe he should befriend Hugh Hefner and chase bunny tails. Ha Ha! Patiently waiting for Season 3.

On the contrary, I think the priest was like a little misquito trying to help Peggy unload her burden on the real father, and stop carrying the mother load around with her for so long. You can see she feels so much better in the closing scene.

After Party :

Don , Sterling , Bert look exactly the same of course.
Cosgrove , Pete what a difference.
Joan , shit why not just take your top off and walk around. Peggy was wearing a sexy dress too.

I'm puzzled by the tryst in the toilet scene. Betty walks seductively by Mr. X on her way to (presumably) the ladies' room where she is blocked by a locked door. When asked she announces that she is "waiting"...presumably for the ladies' room to be vacated. Mr. X, after planting one soundly, invites her into the adjoining room which is, again presumably, the men's room, right? I've visited many a men's room in many a bar and have yet to find one equipped with a suitable for schtupping couch and a privacy lock. So what gives? Where were they? In the ladies' room? The men's room? The mop closet? Any ideas?

TheSofaKing : it was the storage / office of the Bar itself.

Oh hell, I hate Roger, if you look up the word male shovenist. pig you just know his picture will be there.

Plse, grow up Roger. If he thinks he has heart problems now, just wait until his lady leaves him. And you know she isnt going to stay with him for long.

He is such a bad influence to the whole office. He smokes and drinks too much. What a poor example he is. He's the one who need to be on the couch. Poor Betty... and you think women don't suffer the side effects of what the man brings home from work. My God, what a sick world we live in.

SofaKing: it looked like some kind of storage room where, very conveniently, there was a couch fit for schtupping.

I think Don is worried now! Did Betty just ask him back because of the baby? I think she started something tonight. She will have more affairs on Don.
WOW Don stuck it to Duck.
Poor Creepy Pete. He is so sad aboout the baby. Why did Peggy tell him? To confess? Wow that was harsh punishment even for Pete. Will he kill himself?
I can hardly wait for Seaon#3.

Not to mention, if Bets had to go the the ladies room she chose to have sex instead of tinkle... wouldn't that be hard for a pregnant woman to do? hmmm that room must have been an office. That looked like a very elite bar.

Now that Don has come to grips with his 'Dick Whitman' demons and Betty has finally grown up, they are coming back together as equals instead of the paternal relationship they had before. It will be interesting to see how their relationship changes next season when Betty discovers the power she may have over the 'new' Don.

As for the gun scene, Pete exchanged the Chip 'N Dip for the .22 rifle when the store they were registered at would only give him store credit. Trudy later had a screaming tantrum when she found out and it was assumed that Pete returned the rifle. In the closing scene, Pete had a shotgun.

I suggest everyone rent season # 2 when its available from Flix , BlockBuster ... you'd be amazed at what you'll pick-up being able to watch with no commerials.
I rented Season 2 and caught a lot of details especially with Sub titles On.

Pete's not going to kill himself , he's just thinking and loving his new toy.

Duck screwed himself to assume Don had no contract. Don had to do nothing to be in this great position. The Brit realize their Duck is Not a leader and he'll be the first to be Fired. If, If this deal even goes thru. Don's positioned and completely un-emotionally attached to the business at this time he'll be able to just Line- item- Veto the merger deal and who stays who goes. Duck's Dead.

In closing I really want to comment that if a show makes me feel lilke I am 9 yrs old again then that is BRILLILANT writing and actinig. Keep up the good work, I love the show as much as you guys love doing it.

In reading these postings I am struck by the fact that few are focused on the over-arching leit motif of the episode and, for that matter, the series. I'm referring to the backdrop of the Cuban Missle Crisis. I recall this time well and the fatality and anxiety that pervaded every aspect of American life. It was a defining moment that brought everything — morés, values, our culture's core fundamentals — into question.

This imperative is being brilliantly depicted and accurately manifested by the Mad Men characters. Don has finally come to terms with the duality under which he's been living since Korea. It was no accident that watching a slide presentation about the destructive power of nuclear warheads is what triggered his recoiling into his prior identity.

Betty, on her first "kid-less" night jumps into the sack like there's no tomorrow (a lot of people did exactly that). Roger is annoyed that a nuclear holocaust may inconvenience his trophy bimbo plans. Peggy (ironically the wisest of the Mad Men is a woman) acts brilliantly on her horny priest's directive to avoid hellfire by confessing....to Pete!

Here's what should be expected in Season Three which, I feel, will end with the JFK assassination: Don will prevail over Duck as the senior partners refuse to sacrifice his creative integrity in exchange for millions and the merger evaporates. The players will uniformly undergo a "liberalization" which will include coming out of closets, drug experimentation, Beatles haircuts, civil rights activism, etc.

Season Four will propel the crew solidly into the Sixties, sideburns, Nehru jackets, anti-Vietnam protests, etc. and conclues with Don heading back to California during the Summer of Love (1967) and once again becoming Steve Whitman.

An absolutely brilliant final episode for a unparalleled second season. Along with all of you, I am counting the days till the start of the next one.

Uh...make that DICK Whitman. Sorry.

Am I the only one that thought this was the lamest season finale in the history of TV? Nothing happened! The content was a ripoff, and the show was 10 minutes short! Don suddenly, miraculously realized the error of his ways, apologized to his wife, and aw, she forgave him of course. Too tidy. Mrs. Halloway's boyfriend didn't reappear after last week, he practically raped her and that's the end of that. Pete and his wife had a huge fight about adoption, end of that discussion. Nothing happened in this season finale, except that Peggy spilled the beans. After a great season, this was a huge disappointment.

make that season # 2 we're all waiting for it to be released for rent/ purchase.

buck: What did you want to happen ?

Lots of "emergencies" in this episode; the most obvious being the missile crisis. Betty's is her pregnancy; Pete's is discovering that Peggy/his baby are now gone; Don's is that he finally realized how much he loves Betty but she did not want him back (right away); Peggy's is the need to make that 'one perfect confession' prior to the world possibly being blown up; Duck's is the need to keep himself employed and thus make sure the merger goes through successfully.

Very brilliant episode.

I really enjoyed this episode, alot of loose ends tied up with questions remaining...great writing.
The scene between Peggy and Pete was so moving. She has grown up but at what a price. The same with Betty. All her girlish ideals/notions have been dispelled, and she's grown but not without alot of pain.
I loved the scene where Betty is slip sliding along the wall in the bar and murmers that she's married to the stramger before ducking into the storage room with him....then goes home and eats a chicken wing.
Also loved the end when Peggy's in bed and blesses herself, she's absolved herself of her "sin".
I started to like Don/Dick again in this episode too. He seemed more human and vulnerable, which I think makes his character more interesting.

I just adore the direction that producer Matthew Weiner is taking with Mad Men. The scenes with Betty and the stranger "young Don Draperish guy" are scrumptious and I am so self satisfied to be accurate in my prophetic pregnancy theory.
Re. the Sterling Cooper merger, we'll see what happens. My theory is that Duck finally crashes and burns, and will be under Don in status. Don is such a sly fox always having that ace in the hole. He is a master at keeping his enemies close - Pete Campbell, probably not an enemy at this critical juncture. Have to say that my original perception about Campbell was inaccurate and he is gradually eroding my feeling that he is a snake. The guy is not all that bad.
AMC - you need to speed things up here...I can't wait to see the new season!!!!

Duck pulled a Howard Dean. "He never could hold his liquor." Ha. Don is still a major alpha dog in his professional world, but Betty has the power at home now.
In her mind, by nailing the married bar guy, she's evened the score and now can proceed. She has no idea how many times Don has cheated, so in her mind it's even now. This was better for her than any visit to the psychiatrist.
Great letter by Don. I want them together. I want to see Don cry. That would be more shocking than Roger throwing up or a peeing Freddy.
Loved this season. Adored this episode. Matt Weiner, please don't skip years anymore. Want to see 1963, JFK assissination. More episodes next season? 13 just isn't enough.

OK buckoforpres, I am compelled to agree with you that not a lot has happened in this finale, and not everything that we would like to see happen is occurring. The joint ain't exactly jumpin' and I hear where you're coming from. It is something of a film board book for drama toddlers at this point.
But, I have to emphasize to you that what really makes the show distinctive, is really about WHAT IS NOT THERE. The era, the protagonists the classist, racist, sexist society, all live in a hieroglyphic type of world. The mystique of the show is more about what is NOT being said, NOT being implied, and NOT happening. This is the personal interpretation that reaches so many.

Where did they film the stable scene I wonder? That couldn't have been California. The fall foliage was at it's peak, leaves turning orange, yellow, red, etc. CGI perhaps?

buckoforpres - The show wasn't 10 minutes short, it was shown with limited commercials and the time was made up with the scenes from the wrap party.

Loved the season finale and have loved reading everyone's comments. I have a question about the bar scene when Betty goes in and sits at the bar. Did anyone notice the blond headed guy with glasses sitting at the end of the bar. he sure looks a lot like the guy they hired to help Harry in the TV department. Do you think that was him and that one day he will see Betty in the office and remember her from the bar and coming out of the room with that guy. May be how Don finds out. Any comments?

Does anyone know what or even if there is a significance to the scene where Betty is standing in front of the department store window with the mannequins?

After Betty left her kids with Don at the hotel and was looking in the store window at the mannequins, she stared at one of them for the longest time and it really resembled Bobby Barrett. Do you think the mannequin reminded her once again of Don's infidelities and gave her the extra push to want to get a little revenge on Don by having the quickie with the guy at the bar?

Don Leaving the Merger meeting and Roger attempting to restrain him from the door .... ha ha ha.

Don to Duck , BIOYA !!

Don to the Brit's we can talk Monday.

Brit's to Don ... oH , so You're the moneyMaker here !

The Brit's ( thinking to themselves ) Duck's goose is Cooked.

herbalpertrocks- I, too noticed that the mannequin looked like Bobbie Barrett. May have been why she went to the bar. She also told Don at the hotel that she already had plans. What plans? Did she plan to go a seek out a stranger or just said that as an excuse.

Still hoping someone out there noticed the blond guy at the bar. looks like a guy that works at SC. That could come back to bite her later on.

Betty was looking at the department store window - and was completely on her own - her choice to do whatever she wanted - her time for reflection. She went to the bar - but it wasn't a cheesy bar. Betty had been wanting to have some dirty sex for a long time but resisted. I think that once she gave in, she realized it's not all it's cracked up to be.

I think this season finale was about taking ownership of your actions; and that every action has a consequence.

I did admire Pete's loyalty to Don by telling him about Duck being president of the new company and I like the way Don one-uped them all. Don's contract with Roger Sterling was a handshake, so he's bound by nothing. Plus, Don knows his business like the back of his hand.

I did want to smack that priest, though.

At the end of the episode, there was only one word - WOW!!

anyone know why this season finale is not yet up on amc free on demand as the others were
I didnt get to see it last night and wasnt upset knowing i can always see it like that but now its not up :( do i have to get suicidal

Chiming in like everyone else, I just loved Don's pulling the rug out from under Duck - when he said he had no contract, it was as if he'd punched Duck in the belly. LOL
Then Duck had his hissy fit and said "let him have his tantrum." I looked at hubby and said "who's having the tantrum? Don was cool as a cuke!"

I loathe to admit it but I am starting to like Pete - I really gained respect for him when he stood up to his father in law, and last night, I was like - Wow, Pete's had quite the day, respect from don, a promotion from duck - and then Peggy took the wind right out of his sails. I did not think Peggy was cold at all. She tried very hard to be sensitive to Pete.

Great ep, sorry it ended.

I think Betty was staring at the department store window because she would not be able to wear the beautiful gowns displayed for a while because of her pregnancy.
When Don invited her to stay for dinner, Sally piped in, "Mommy doesn't eat."
Notice when she arrived at home after her impromptu tryst, she defiantly stood before the refrigerator and devoured a drumstick. (Yes, it reminded me of how little we see Betty put food to her mouth.) I think she just accepted her fate. Once you're pregnant, what the hell?

A friend of mine said the Wiener envisions the show running about the same length as Sopranos (five or six seasons) and would like to end it circa 1970. But my friend also couldn't cite the exact source so take it as rumor for now.

Anyway, nice finale for season 2, especially after episode 12 had been so disappointing. Good to see Betty get hers. We had been teased with it too long (the roadside mechanic, the washing machine, the window salesman, the Ivy league kid at the stable). And did anyone else detect a little tipsy smile on her lips when she wrapped mr. anonymity between her legs? And yes, that scene of her eating the cold chicken leg was excellent.

Personally hope Duck sticks around for season 3, either that or they're going to have find a new nemisis for Draper in the office, and so far, there are no candidates. Unless they throw it back in Pete's lap, which would seem lazy (on behalf of the writers) and a step backward. I also think Pete's growth as a person was one of the strengths of this season. Losing his father, realizing there is no inheritance and that his wife loves her parents more than him, and now getting the bugger off from Peggy. It's no wonder the kid was sitting there contemplating a gun by season's end.

Also agree with another poster that Peggy might ultimately end up as someone we don't like.

jimiphil...
I had the same problem last week; it lasted four days!
1) Report the problem to your cable company.
2) If they tell you they are having an area-wide problem, report the issue to the AMC moderator, Clayton Neuman. He will contact the appropriate parties to correct the problem.

What struck me was how Father Gill keeps telling Peggy she's a sinner, she must confess or she'll go to hell. Then, Pete tells her she's perfect. What a contrast. I hope Father Gill goes away and leaves Peggy alone.

I wondered about the two manequins in the window that Betty was staring at. One looked like her and the other one looked like Bobbie Barrett. I guess that's why she went into the bar.

Don is truly sorry. He went to find Betty upon his return to New York and not the office. He had his priorities and Betty was it. He cleansed himself in the ocean and he's a new man.

Betty's remark when Don confessed, "thanks, now I know I'm not crazy." I guess Jimmy Barrett's commercial comments lingered with her.

Did Pete know the Don didn't have a contract? Maybe Don and Pete will start Drapper Campbell.

I think Pete and Peggy will be together by the end of Season 3.

One thing I noticed while watching Betty looking at herself in the storefront window was her own profile. Betty positioned herself in such a way that she looked largely pregnant. I wonder if this was her way of looking at those dresses and knowing for a time she will not be able to wear those stylish dresses with her svelte figure because of the pregnancy? I didn't make the connection to the similarity of the dress mannequins to Don's adulterous conquests. That was quit e catch, and definitely something the writers would do.

RMG, I also noticed that Betty's clothes reflected a pooch in the clothing that made her look very pregnant.

Great finale. Of course it doesnt compare to the brilliance of the THE WHEEL last year, but it is overall good. It patched up things that we wanted patched up and left some other things for season 3. I agree mostly on the basis that Betty had an affair, because not only did she want to get revenge on Don and consider them both even, but also because she was just so frustrated with being pregnant, having a husband who confessed to an affair, and also because many people thought the world was going to end, and Betty was still unhappy. She had the affair to see what Don was doing on his nights away, and most especially she had the affair to experience it in case she died. The shot of her eating the chicken leg suggested she was like ok that was it, what do I do know. But once she got the letter from Don (which I think was sincere after his visit with Anna) Betty had the face of regret at what she did. I am guessing she will keep that little trist a secret, and thus consider herself and Don equals in the same house. I liked that she told him that she was preggers, and I got the impression that he was happy, but also a bit sad, I mean the crisis was still hanging over their heads, and Don's reached out hand to Betty's and she holding his was a symbol of hope and possibly a better future.

Best Write-Ups MM finale:

http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2008/10/27/mad-men-watch-while-you-were-out/

P

I felt a lot happened here in this episode.

Don returning to the Riding stables to see Betty was huge, it close California, Anna ( for now) and Joy behind him. He came to Betty , not to work very important. Anna helped him clear his head.

Betty tasting an affair , she feels even with Don , and might have another or two.
The stigma of the Cuban missile situation with nothing being know of the situation thru out the episode was exactly the way it was then. ( Don kept saying basically we'd never know- paraphrasing ).

Peggy and the Priest seems empty to me. Peggy wants nothing to do with him. I don't see a reason for him in the episodes , except her sister told him she'd had a kid and an affair.
Actually how does Peggys sister know she's having an affair ?

Pete did respect Peggy before she told him the baby bombshell. I feel now he's lost and might completely change into a different person Or at least toward Peggy. But Peggy is Not going to stand for any abusive from Pete, she'll put him in his place quick. Well at least we think so.

Best Write-Ups MM finale:

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2008/10/27/mad_men_finale/

P

I agree, in 1962, random tryst ...a woman like Betty just wound not do that reguardless of her pain. I even questioned her going to the bar alone.

Did anyone notice that Peggy went to bed content and smiling.

I think there is hope for Don and Betty. Don smiled after he took her hand..like a happy, excited smile that this could be the glue that binds. Rememer in 1962 a woman like Betty was not doing to leave her husband while pregnant. So we will see...

I agree, in 1962, random tryst ...a woman like Betty just would not do that reguardless of her pain. I even questioned her going to the bar alone.

Did anyone notice that Peggy went to bed content and smiling.

I think there is hope for Don and Betty. Don smiled after he took her hand..like a happy, excited smile that this could be the glue that binds. Rememer in 1962 a woman like Betty was not doing to leave her husband while pregnant. So we will see...

But Mad@TV... Betty didn't have an affair... she decided to get banged in a bar... :)))

Don and Betty are now bonded together in their lost idealization, lost dreams for each other (not that Don had too many but...)

They are - apparently - making an ADULT decision to stay together but where Don's heart is in it Betty's is still raw with hurt and anger and resentment... she still resents Don and Don being Don "The Wand" and she might NEVER get over that... she's decided, in her time of trials and fears, to allow Don back into the house keeping afloat the proprities and cover of their life together BUT she's still a mess and he's still WAY out of his comfort level... HE'S NOT IN CONTROL at home and now he's pledged to make a go of it for good... that new reality hit him like a bomb when Betty told him about their pending little BUNDLE bomb... I told everyone that suitcase at the door - when Don was still in California - and the delivery guy was a baby and the stork BUT NO ONE BELIEVE ME :))))))))))))))))))))))))

The look of their eyes at the end was one of unspoken: SO, where do we go from here???

P

OK, re. the lingering gaze by Betty in the store display window at the mannequins, I have to again marvel at the beauty of the show and how it is constructed. Nothing is happening here, no "action Jackson" scene, nobody getting laid, lied to or verbally abused. Just a lone woman window-shopping. However a number of bloggers have identified this as a comparison to the other woman Bobbie Barrett, or a reference to the looming bulge of pregnancy and the emoational baggage that will inevitably follow. I am weighing in to say I see this as Betty mulling over the fact that if she were to leave Don in favor of a real divorce, this might mean leaving a life of indulgent tangible things such as lovely clothing. We know back in her modeling days that she disliked returning the clothing and also that Don did get the clothes for her. In light of her Father’s protective wife, she might not receive financial support or inheritance from him if he were to pass away. Just my opinion; however I am loving every individual translation of that scene and how one small thing can mean so many different things to a myriad of viewers.

OK, just a few more personal observations and then I’ll let things go. Father Gill, what is up with him and why the heck can’t he leave Peggy alone for the LOVE OF GOD????? Does he just want to hear the nasty details of it all come out? Is he all horned up or what???? Just can’t stand that dude, and I hope we hear in forthcoming episodes that he is homosexual, a pedophile, sleeping with a parishioners wife or another scandalous thing. Note to bloggers: I do not feel homosexuality is scandalous in the least, but for Father Gill it would be.

Re. the bar fling with Mr. X – it is all too possible that a man in a suit, may very well do business at some level with Sterling Cooper, so Betty might find herself in a black mail situation…. ‘Course lots of men in the city wear suits, but you can never tell! It would be juicy. OK for a guy in this era to cheat yet the double standard would apply here for a female, and any immoral woman is viewed as a “monster”. Hopefully the dude will remain anonymous and was simply thrown into the mix as a wild card to stir the proverbial pot.

The writers could have really thrown us by having it be 2- 3 business Man all having Betty or The BarKeep walks in and Betty doesn't get up from the couch and has the Bar tender Also.
That would have been a silent Bomb too !

Finally the epidode up-to-par to season one.

For Peter having a shot gun, many assume his being suisidal but it does not sit well with his charcter. My guess is a writer want to trick viewer’s mind to think he is suicidal but he could be protecting himself against the riot, although he dismissed Trudy's concern about it coming up to 14fl. After all, Pete is a selfish dude. He made a quick decision to stop by Don's office to let him know about Duck's new role because a colleague told him "we have to be neutral." to survive the merger, as Mike Hoxton said earlier.

One more note; a British company would have done a due dilligence and checked exisitance of all contracts of partners before the merger, in a real life. No doubt about it. Having said that, I am happy to let that minor detail go for the enjoyment of seeing a cool behavior of Don, rage of Duck, and cruelness of partners. Don’s decision to put that on the table was inspired by Pete’s earlier comment of “Ship was stopped and Russians are reconsidering.” I like how every line had a meaning in this episode. I think business drama is the key of Mad Men success, more than don-betty soap.

I also loved the scene colleagues discuss shampooed carpet and expensive canapés in the fridge.

I cannot wait for Season 3.

gage,

I think Betty was staring at the mannequins in the window and thinking of her happiness as a former model. Also thinking about the pregnancy and how much it will NOT add happiness to her life.

Betsy has been working up to that tryst long before she really knew that Don had affairs. Just recall the vibrating washer scene.

The tryst was done really well, and was very poetic. More of a charge was packed into that sequence than in any others where the clothes were shed.

It was the perfect way for Betsy to unload her burdens without any entanglements that would compromise her Mrs. Suburban USA image or mess up life with kids.

My husband and I kept saying Pete is having a strange several days. Duck tells him that he is to be promoted and Don tells him that he is ready for advancement and Peggy tells him that he is a father.These are all moments that he has anticipated but they are not presented in the way that he has anticipated. Peggy's priest should not have been referring to her need for confession. His information about Peggy and her child came from Peggy's mother in the confessional. Priests/ministers have been known to be defrocked for even alluding to something that was mentioned in the confessional in a sermon or publicly. I remember that Peggy visited her mother and sister and her mother asked "Don't you even want to look in on him?" meaning her son. I doubt that he has been formally adopted by her sister since that might entail more public exposure of Peggy the unwed mother to the courts etc..which she would want to avoid. I think that the younger Peggy was in love with Pete and she had to give all up many of her emotions if she was going to leave the sanitorium and resume her professional career. I think that Betty was tired of being naive. If you are honest often one is considered inexperienced.