Great observations, Greg. I love Noir. You're right; the scenes between Anna and Don also remind me of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "Double Indemnity", two of the greatest films EVER! I think Anna is not the nice lady she seems. What normal person wouldn't have reported Don/Dick to the authorities when she found out that he had stolen her husband's identity?

Here's a thought that just occurred to me: Maybe "Anna Draper" is not really Anna Draper? She's blackmailing Don and she's not even the real Anna! Wouldn't that be great?

Re "What normal person wouldn't have reported Don/Dick to the authorities when she found out that he had stolen her husband's identity?"

Anna Draper did not like her husband and was probably (secretly) relieved when she found out he'd died under Dick Whitman's name. Her concern was his benefits; she and the former Dick Whitman came to the arrangement that he could keep his Don Draper identity while he took care of his "wife" financially. While the initial meeting was understandably testy, I think Anna is much happier with the substitute. She likes being independent (hence, granting "Don" his divorce so he could marry) and understands the real Dick Whitman in a way no one else does. She can accept what is (or as they would soon say, "go with the flow").

For obvious reasons he doesn't get back to visit often - not many business trips to California - so her first instinct is to ask "what's wrong?" and with Don, there's usually something. But it's with Anna that he comes close to being "normal", and he knows it, which is why he keeps coming back.

I don't know, Auburn Annie, while I do see your point, it would have just been easier for Anna to reveal Dick's identity switch the minute she discovered it. The real Don Draper was dead, so she would gain her independence, as well as receiving lifelong widow's benefits from the military without having to resort to some elaborate charade (giving him a divorce, etc). I think it was made clear that the real Don was a career military man about to retire, hence his widow would probably have received a decent pension for life (my grandmother did after my grandfather was killed on duty at age 45). I still think there's a possibility that Anna is up to no good.

.....I love long posts. It generally means the author is an actual fan of the show, with something real to discuss.

I agree, Dry M., and this was a really interesting one. Thanks, Greg, for giving us another angle to think about. Black and white - if it weren't for the fact that Mad Men in color is so visually stimulating and beautiful, I wouldn't mind a black and white version at all.

.....Greg.....I must admit I didn't give your posts enough attention, and I apologize for that, but Mildred Pierce was possibly one of the most intense of Joan Crawford's movies that I've seen. Again, not an expert.

Like many of Miss Crawford's films, the juxtaposition between real life and the cinema was so raw!!

Trust me, as gifted as the artists of the day are, they were precedented by many who were much craftier, in much more hopeless and desperate times.

Yeah Mildred Pierce was interesting because it begins as classic noir, especially the visuals, the angled dark shadows etc. It's structured as classic detective fiction with the climax of the event happening in the beginning, and unfolds as the retracing of the steps leading up. However it's about the relationship between mother and daughter and not actually so much a real crime yarn. I found it to be really good and glad I caught it.

And speaking of intense, when the daughter slaps Joan Crawford in the face...oh man. You're waiting for the fury to follow, yet she only responds with words, saying to her daughter, "Get out of here before I kill you."

Mambo Deb: I also wonder about Anna Draper. There's 2 things we have to remember.

First is everyone on some level has something a little shady about them here. So is Anna's degree of shadiness found in the fact she's profiting off her husband and we've basically seen the last of her, or, will she be an enduring character? (if anyone has a spoiler please don't post it).

The other thing is, what bothers me is the flashback scene, where Don tells Anna he met Betty and technically needs a divorce. Right before that, Don is on her couch and she comes in, moping around, we never see her face, hunched over, scraggly hair etc and just drops a bag on his chest saying "I got you some clothes" and just keeps walking. Then they do the flashback. But that demeanor just came out of nowhere.

It does make you wonder, yeah she's all nice but sometimes the ultra-nice people wear that as a mask and there's something brewing inside that eventually ends up erupting. She could go psycho on him.

So who knows, maybe she's just there as to give us another piece to the puzzle that is Don and that's it, or, maybe she'll end up being a real thorn in his side.

Right, Greg, Anna's mood change was strange. And my memory fails me in parts of the flashback. Was the scene with the child playing the piano at Anna's house part of the flashback, or in the present when Don left Pete in Palm Springs? It's in the flashback, right?

I think she's not the real Anna Draper but Don didn't find out until he'd been sending her money for a while. But now they're both in too deep to dump the other. I think that's why she said "Are you in trouble?" because if he was in trouble, chances are she would be, too. Or at least her game would be over.

...not sure at all, Mambo (memory fails me, as well, or CRS disease, take your pick)

but....I believe the part with the kid (another one of MW's 3 sons, btw...wonder if dadd'll get the youngest --- the fashion plate --- on next season??) playing the piano was in the present...when Don/Dick showed up on her porch there after ditching Pete...anyone know for sure?

...dadd'll!.....dad'll, of course....oh me oh my...

Now I'm totally confused, SC.

But anyway, the more I think about it, the more I'm sure Anna is not the real Don Draper's wife. I think she's a con woman. Remember when she and fake Don meet for the first time and she asks if the real Don ever mentioned her in Korea and he said no? That's an odd question; I think she was testing whether her con would work or not. How would the fake Don know if she was the real Don's wife, or not? And then what Greg mentions, the" what am I going to do with you" comment is strange.

And I'm not sure what his reason for sending her the "Meditations on an Emergency" book was, either. Any thoughts on that?

Entirely possible, Anna being a con woman...A Battle of the Cons in Season 3...I could dig that!!

I still believe (as I've posted before on other MM topics) that the piano lesson kid is DD/DW's...I think she's just maybe biding her time to use that one on him.... if/when needed.

Isn't the timeline right, for that...him working at the used car place when she first encountered him (early '50's) and then when he showed up (in '62)...for that to be a possibility anyway...the kid looks to be about 12.

They did kind of leave them there in the room after her question of, "What am I going to do with you?"

--- maybe a really fun answer to that question occured to both of them right after the scene's conclusion...well, she had the opportunity and God knows, she had to have had the desire....even with his "Elvis" do...he was still hot hot hot....

I think Anna Draper is legit, the real wife of the real Draper. But, if you think about it she actually is a con-woman of sorts in her own right by playing the grieving widow yet apparently being glad to be out of that marriage and on top of that literally profit from it. Very noir.

My question about Anna Draper is if her character is like Rachel Menkins, a character who is really there to show us something about Don, and then is no more. Is the Anna character a tool to give us a piece about Don, or will she enter the fray and the character be a strong player? Season one looked like Rachel was going to be a mainstay through the series, and wasn't. That's what I wonder about the Anna character. Is it a character here today gone tomarrow, like the Rachel character, when season 3 starts?

But then again, come to think of it, to treat these female characters that come into Don's life would be rather symbollic of Don's philandering if you think about it; characters here today, gone tomarrow.

Is there a greater symbolism going on here or am I thinking too much? Rachel was a character sleeping with Don who was here today, gone tomarrow by season 2. Midge, the artist, was a character sleeping with Don, here today gone tomarrow by season 2. Isn't that symbolic of both Don in general yet also our experience as a viewer with these women: they're here today, gone tomarrow.

The question is will Bobbie and Anna be handled the same way by the writers/creators; characters here today gone tomarrow? Men, I'll plead the 5th on this one, sometimes tend to, how do you say, experience someone and then move on. I know that will shock you all.

So what I mean by symbolic is this: do M. Weiner and the gang purposely treat the creation of the female characters that Don encounters symbolically of Don; here today gone tomarrow? We see them for a short period of time, and then we move on. Know what I mean?

Now we don't know if that's the case because it's only been two seasons. If there's little left of Bobbie, and little else we'll see of Anna, then that thinking is right. If they end up being mainstays, then that thinking is wrong. (please don't reply with a spoiler)

But either way, that's what's terrific, this little art project called Mad Men let's you use your mind.

I think we’ll see more of Anna, but I agree the other women were used to reveal something about Don, and then leave. He has no male relationships of any depth; what little bits of his character he reveals is during interactions with the various women on the show. Bobbie probably won't be back; someone will probably mention her and Jimmy in passing, and Don will get that expression of restrained surprise.

Also, I'm still thinking about why, if Anna really is the real Don's wife, she would go along with Dick pretending to be him. I guess she could get more money out of the situation, by blackmailing Dick in addition to getting his pension money (she's not a widow, because officially, Don Draper is alive; it's "Dick" that was killed); a married retiree probably gets more money than a widow. I'm keeping an open mind, but I'm still not completely convinced she’s the real Anna.

Why I think (or HOPE!) we’ll see more of her is because she’ll be in flashbacks that reveal how Dick came to be the Don Draper he is. Basically, he’s running a long con, isn’t he? As I’ve said, I think she’s a con woman and they’re in it together. He’d still be selling used cars if he hadn’t met her. She somehow changed his life