In the last episode of Season 2, Betty seemed to want one last big blast of being sexy before losing her figure. Remember how after dropping the kids off with Don at the Roosevelt, she goes window-shopping, gazes at fab cocktail dresses, then goes for a quickie at the bar? Sort of a "take that, Don, I may be pregnant, but dang, I'm hot!"

The "Mad Men Yourself" ap on the Blog page is very fun - talk about Maidenform! The choices for feminine undergear is remarkable!

Ok, I had to pull this one out again and watch it in light of your post. Great insights, by the way. After watching it, and especially after seeing the mirror image of Don in the bathroom at the end, I'd have to say the epi also plays on an angel/devil theme, too. Peggy not feeling sexy and awkwardly not fitting in, then showing up at the strip club, the way she's dressed, the way Pete looks at her, etc. Don dissing Betty for the bikini, then running into the arms of a harlot, all dolled up in faux leopard, and her revelation that he has a reputation. His little angel coming in the next morning, only to accidentally remind him of the trash he'd been with and behaved like the night before. Marilyn, Jackie, but with darker extremes in reality.

Don really likes to think his affairs are somewhat meaningful. He's not the typical skirt chaser (he leaves the club when the bathing suits come out, which for most men would be the highlight). He falls into these things when a confident woman steps out of his expectations, and the women often come to him first (Bobbie, Joy). He couldn't stand Rachael at first. This episode was also about how Don perceives himself, that he's not doing anything wrong somehow when he's cheating, and otherwise retains pretty traditional values. Yet he tries to talk Bobbie out of going to her daughter's play to stay and have sex. It's not the "kids first" attitude he takes when he gives up the room he and Joy are sleeping in for the children that arrive with their tired father. It's as if he saw Bobbie in very limited dimensions (an abstraction; an undeveloped fantasy) until her revelation.

Arthur also appears confused about his feelings when the kids come up to Betty. She's an abstraction to him, too. I think a lot of this is the Madonna/whore issue. The question is, who is handing out the Popsicles?

Oh, I also have to say that one of the best lines from this is Pete's:

"The University of Dour?"

and that awful photo of that girl... I chuckle about that a lot... call me silly...