I do feel badly for Joan. She knows how to play the suits and skirts game of the era perfectly, but she is ahead of her time in many ways, and I feel that she has so much talent and potential that is only being held back by societal expectations. I cannot wait to see where her marriage (to the doctor who raped her) and talent (in copywriting and beyond!) will take her in future episodes.

My compliments on how you inserted pictures and the Keep reading section.

11. In spite of your (then) ongoing relationship with Roger, you can't get up to nerve to tell him in private that you want the TV ad assistant job. Your own self-imposed glass ceiling.

12. Nice having big boobs to attract guys but they've got their own price to pay.

13. You consistently attract men who are emotionally unavailable

14. You got passed over for a job you'd have been fantastic at.

15. ...and because you got passed over, your college education is wasted. (rare for a woman in those days; you only went to college if you were well to do or you were pursuing a career that required it)

16. You've worked for SC for a good chunk of time and you don't even have your own office.

I actually think Joan is behind her time. She's still relying completely on wiles to get by that she doesn't even comprehend that she has more to offer. She obviously beleives that "making it" means landing a doctor and not having to work even though she really cares about her job and her doctor is a (insert explicit word here).

Yes.. Joan is so certain that her Marilyn-esque bombshell routine is the only viable chance a woman has to get ahead.

She continually belittles and sneers at Peggy... to her face even.

But we'll see whose tack is the better one as this season unfolds...

I love Joan. Toss up for me between her and Betty as my favorite characters. Women in those days went to college to find husbands.

I disagree with rasputin that she belittles Peggy and sneers at her. From Peggy's first day Joan was truly trying to help, in her own way. In fact, Peggy at one point did say, "I just realized. You think you are being helpful." Peggy and Joan have a unique relationship, not exactly a friendship, but they are not at odds either.

LinzFizz and I agree that Joan is behind the times. She is in her early 30's and Peggy is in her early 20's, so I think some of Joan's being behind the curve is her age. She is obviously very intelligent and very savvy when it comes to the politics of the work place.

Ah, her doctor husband! I am really looking forward to seeing how that all plays out. He is an abuser. Will Joan live that way? Many intelligent women full of potential find themselves in abusive marriages. Will Joan be one of them?

Ritt and LinzFizz, I agree with you both. A self-imposed glass ceiling without the perspective which would allow her to see that she is in many ways her own worst enemy. But what she's up against is pretty insurmountable, at least at her present stage.

That brief shot of her massaging the marks left by her bra-straps is such a good metaphor for a woman like Joan.

Is her fiance demanding that she quit and get pregnant? Perhaps if she finds it impossible to find fulfillment as an abuser's wife, she might attempt an overdose?

.....Joan's not a "quitter," but I could see her continuing to take "The Pill" behind Greg's back, and there being a row at some point between them over children and, indeed, Joan's own independent nature.

Judging by Joan's attitude toward Sally at the office, she's not one who is craving motherhood.

Won't she be horribly bored at home, with nothing to do but eat bon-bons and knit booties?

An interesting theme with ALL of the characters here is them APPEARING to get exactly "what they want" in life, and yet it ISN'T what they really wanted at all!

17. You pack a kiss on Sal and wonder why he doesn't melt in your hands.
18. You have to make excuses as to what happened to the Creme de Menthe in the supply cabinet.
19. You have to sit quietly and listen to Bobbi Barrett getting the Don Draper treatment in the office behind you.
20. You choke down French food just to keep your fiance happy.
21. You loan out your best dress to a snooty jr. copy write who back stabs you by allowing Paul to post your driver's license in the staff room (aka - her office)
22. You're the office manager, yet you can't enact a hiring freeze because of secretaries like Peggy, Lois and Jane who are driving you to drink.
23. You've been the office manager for over nine years, yet you've never be invited into Bert Cooper's office (even without your shoes on)

.....You know.....I always thought Peggy was a giant traitor for not immediately taking that photocopied license off the bulletin board.

Dry -
You're right. If Joan hadn't been so steamed, she might have asked Peggy why she hadn't taken it down, thereby dumping a load of guilt on Catholic girl Peggy.

Ooohhh, just imagining how Joan would phrase that question and look at Peggy... "...and yet you felt it was proper to leave that on the bulletin board?"

i think joan's brand of feminity will become passe with the advent of twiggy in a few years. but she will get revenge on her husband by having a fling that helps her discover herself, and maybe even demand more respect at work.

i think joan's brand of feminity will become passe with the advent of twiggy in a few years. but she will get revenge on her husband by having a fling that helps her discover herself, and maybe even demand more respect at work.

I agree about the skinny girls getting more attention during the Mod era, but there were still plenty of guys who dug the va-va-voom Gina Lollobrigida look, too. Or think Jayne Mansfield, Anita Ekberg and Sophia Loren.

I think it's likely that Joan gets another shot at the script-writer's job, or something like it. The dummy who got that job didn't seem to know beans about it, or care. The look on Joanie's face when she was told to show the new guy the ropes... my heart went out to her, and not for the first time.

I hope she doesn't have to sleep her way up the ladder, like poor Miss Kubelik.