She's a bunny boiler!!

Dangerous w. Hope Don doesn't fall. He's too wary and intelligent isn't he? Probably not. He certainly seems to be losing his authority little by little. Is she going to bring him down?

Hilton may be his saviour. Or he might be his downfall. His remark about wife and bible were a test of some kind. Don looked bewildered for a moment and lost for words.

Looks like the old guys are about to be hit by a wave of youth. They won't understand it and they won't like it. And Madison Avenue is going to be left behind unless it signs up to the swinging sixties.

@Zab...oh lol!... definitely the BB potential there.

TaTown... I saw Miss Farrell as employing a sort of "push-pull" flirtation tactic... she definitely wants his attention -- but does not want to seem too nakedly obvious about it. If she really thought "they" were all ___ and philanderers (can't remember the whole line) she would have smiled, walked away and left it at that... and refused to be drawn into further conversation. IMO - so far anyway... I'm looking forward to 2nd viewing as soon as I can get time. I haven't yet chewed my way thru the main thread... its a bigger job with every ep!

@ zabadu I think your on to something. The fact that she is single, and that she has lived and moved in various other locations puts up a lot of red flags. not to mention the dialog flirtation she had with Don was a little nutty. What makes her such a threat, despite her attraction to married men that will always lead to failure, is that she lives in the same town that Don resides in with Betty and the kids.
In sort: SHE'S A BUNNY BOILER!!!

Zabadu: Ha! Good one! I, too, have thought that she seems...unbalanced? Then I feel bad because, really, who hasn't acted in contrary ways before? Still, I am not at all sure about her, except that she spells trouble for Don.

Melba Toast: Absolutely--great point! She is playing "push-pull"--is that another term for "hard to get"? Too bad Peggy didn't do that with Duck.

She is what we called back in the day a "Prick Teaser"

Christopher.... yes, exactly.

TaTown.... yes, Hard to get... but not very, and "oh I would be worth the effort"... sort of vibe.

Thanks zabadu for being so spot on : Bunny boiler...but you know what, like so many good and bad men before him Don will succumb (little don/dick will).

You know girls! Just between you and me. I think the reason why she had to move to Don's town because she developed a reputation and she was drove out of town like Blance DuBois character in "A Street Car Named Desire". But you did not not hear this from me because I did not say anything.

"I will not be IGNORED Draper!!!"

I agree with the push/pull dynamic. Maybe Don's finally met his match in terms of the use of "crazymaking" behavior.

I need a woman's advice:
Do you think Miss Farrell is giving Sally extra attention to get to Don?

"Nothing like the smell of boiling bunny on a piping hot stove"
ancient Klingon proverb

I had a faint suspicion Miss Farrell was a little unbalanced from the beginning, but after last night I'm pretty darn sure something's off about her. Her behavior during the eclipse scene was just plain WEIRD! An ordinary garden-variety c***tease wouldn't insult her "target" straight off the bat, would she? She basically called him a drunken philanderer to his face and then still expected him to want to flirt with her? Don looked perplexed and a little bit freaked out, as am I... it'll be fascinating to see if the show develops her character as being truly mentally ill in some capacity.

I said this on the main thread, so I'm repeating myself, but Miss Farrell is looking for an abusive Daddy figure. She enjoys the verbal sparring, and she was testing Don to see if he's an abuser, so to speak. He didn't run away, so she's intrigued. And yes, she's a total nut job!

OK--I now think that the season will end with Miss Farrell being shot in the bathtub.

LOL you guys. Yes, Miss F. probably does have some kind of Daddy issues since hers died so young. Good point Mambo Deb.

Another thing about Miss Farrell: I've noticed that her style of dress is much more little-girlish and less sophisticated compared to other women her age. In the eclipse scene, she was wearing a full-skirted cotton dress with a big sash/bow in the back and flat shoes (not high heels like most of the women, even Peggy, wear). When she put her arm around Sally and ducked under the box with her, I realized how similar their dresses were!

I did think in his close-up at the beginning of the scene, the slight upturn of Don's mouth indicated he might be leering under his sunglasses. But he wasn't overt to Miss Farrell and her remarks to him were most untoward and unprofessional.

Don may not have been "overt" to Miss Farrell, but by not joining in with the other fathers and kids and standing off to the side smoking, he was definitely sending her a message. And she took the bait. They're circling each other.

The Glenn Close character in "Fatal Attraction" also had a father who died when she was 8 or 9 years old.

Uh, oh.

TaTown... Miss Farrell in the bathtub... oh LOL

Maybe post it on the Silly/Tasteless thread ?... would be perfect ! (JMHO..)

Bluegirl... the dresses.. yes! wow! -you lynx eyed maddict you!

Miss Farell knows there are a lot of philanderers from personal experience: she's undoubtedly had a few. When it's over, she feels remorse and swears she'll never do it again. That's why she makes the deprecatory remarks about them.

Miss Farrell is a boundary crosser, and like everyone here, I don't trust her ONE bit. She may dress like a little girl, and put on the "you offended me and crossed my boundaries" act, but don't let it fool you. She's bright, and she's unhinged. The look in her eye makes me uneasy, and her banter with Don makes me very uneasy.
Think back to her "drunk dial" call, the favoritism she shows towards Sally(I know there are teacher pets, but this one goes beyond that), and when she reached out to touch Betty, when she spoke of Grandpa Gene dying.

Does everyone remember about the insinuated 'Bye, Bye Birdie' message that Ann Margaret and the Patio model sent out? Peggy nailed it by saying that men want a girl that acts 14 while being 24. All the men in the room said how "sexy" the coy, little girl flirtation was, in the video they showed, and Don even mentioned the allure of it.

Miss Farrell has that in spades, as she knows what men want. She's been around enough to know that men are attracted to her, partially, because of the little girl thing she has going on. But trust me on it, it's an act. Miss Farrell is smart, and knows JUST what she's doing.

Notice how Carlton wasn't exactly leering at Miss Farrell (and we all know what a dawg Carlton is), when he was standing there with Don, at the park, during the eclipse scene? I think she and Carlton made the beast with two backs, and while he may still find her fun to look at, he has the cool detachment, of someone who has conquered the territory. These conquistadors enjoy the scenery, without the need to conquer, because they came, they saw, and had their fun.

Don had better be careful, as he's likely to get his "cornea" burner on the Miss Farrell eclipse, in more ways than one
*wink*

Aw, thanks for the sweet compliment Melba! I tend to think of myself more as "a detail-oriented nerd" but "lynx eyed" is so much nicer. Slinky! :D

I think Stagekiss has nailed it-- Miss Farrell is totally the queen of being 25 and acting 14, and it's creepy. You're also probably right about her and Carlton! He had a thing for much younger women, didn't Francine say that once?

I'm going to go back to my original statement about the youthful costuming choices. I think they may reflect that a part of Miss Farrell is emotionally stunted at the age of 8, the age she was when her father died. It would then be no coincidence that she feels so comfortable relating to children that age. Maybe she cannot relate to adults... except sexually...? Which would imply possible molestation victim? OK, I know I'm going out on a limb here and getting totally random-- just brainstorming and whatnot-- but it wouldn't be a huge stretch to see her as a damaged, wounded semi-adult playing at Lolita who loses her tenuous grip on sanity when she is rejected by a man she views as part idealized father figure and part boy toy?

Thinking about when we first see Miss F., on the day of the Maypole celebration, she was dressed identically to the little girls in her class. The white dress, with a wreath and ribbons in her hair, just like a little flower girl in a wedding wears. I would've expected a teacher to wear a different version of the pastoral costume so she wasn't dressed the same as the children. A longer dress, or even her hair in an updo, just something to differentiate. This also reminded me somehow of Marie Antoinette playing the milkmaid, BTW.

Well, that's probably enough wild guesses from me for now. All this "Fatal Attraction" comparing is making me nervous for Polly the doggie... yikes. Seriously though, if Miss Farrell is by any chance a quasi-borderline personality like the "FA" character, the hell that Grandpa Gene predicted to break loose is gonna break the bleepity-bleep loose.

Wow bluegirl, I think you may have solved the puzzle, and you've given me so much to think about! Very astute insights, bluegal. The stunted age thing at 8 years old, leading to her disconnect from adults, beyond a sexual realm, leading to a possible connection that Miss Farrell could very well have been molested....wow, good call, lady!

I know the day I was on set for the maypole scene, I was surprised that the actress playing Miss Farrell was an adult. Until she first spoke, I thought she was somewhere between 14-18 years old, and I was in striking distance of her many times that day of shooting!

I never even thought about how eerie it was, that Miss Farrell is dressed just like her students....like an 8 year old little girl **shudder** Perhaps that's that *something* in her eyes, that we all find uncomfortable.

Miss Farrell has the Ann-Margaret 24 yet act 14 down in spades, and I'm worried that Don, needing a sexual connection and his having alluded to finding the 24 yet act 14 alluring, will make a serious blunder, by sleeping with Miss Farrell.

Heaven help us all, if he does.

@Stagekiss: Great connection of Miss Farrell to Ann-Margaret--and we are introduced to Miss F. in that same episode, too.

Both you and bluegirl have some great insights into her character!

@MelbaToast: Glad it made you laugh!

@Stagekiss: Another thought on the Miss Farrell/ Ann-Margaret connection. In that episode with the maypole, I thought that Miss F. served as the antidote to the "phoniness," as Peggy calls it, of Ann-Margaret's routine, hence Don's touching the grass, connecting with nature moment as he watches Miss F. wrap the maypole. Yet in this episode, we have another moment in nature with Miss F, as she is getting her students ready to watch the eclipse, yet her entire conversation with Don, if not phony, sounds contrived and awkward. So yes, I think the Ann-Margaret connection is right on.

@Ta-town girl: Wow, great catch on the phoniness and Miss F's connection to nature....perhaps that's what jarred Don this last Sunday, in his conversation with Miss F. Remember how perplexed he was, during their conversation? The flash of unsettledness he had, when talking to Miss F was almost like an eclipse to him. We, the audience, and Don were deeply unsettled by her. AND, in fact, Miss F wore a dress that was very organic-what I mean by that is, while it was age inappropriate, it had an earthiness quality to it, and the green color was the color of grass. Also, Miss F's hair was very natural and youthful, much like how it was on the Maypole day. Compared to the high maintenance hair treatments many modern woman wore around Manhattan, and in Ossining, even, I can see how her whole earthy, natural and youthful appearance has drawn in Don, but as we all saw, between her contrived and awkward conversation (nicely said Ta-town!), she is anything but that she appears to be!

Come to think of it, there are quite a few instances of "young girls" being the target of older men's interest on MM. The twins at SC and Roger, Joy and Don, Jane and Roger, Carlton's babysitter, the young nurse at the hospital, the young hitchiker. Are there anymore? Kind of yucky; and I don't know what it's supposed to mean. I'll have to think about it.

Shelly and the other flight attendent were younger but not necessarily June, and the twins age. Suzanne is younger, but she is trouble with a capital T. Of course Peggy is younger. Just like the Sopranos, almost everyone has a young "gumar"

You have all given me much more to think about, it's why I return again and again.
I origianlly felt that Miss Farrell's costuming was to keep her at 'eye level' with her students... I knew many elementary school teachers and I thot their wardrobes, even after hours, were something that even Peggy would decline.
I originally liked seeing someone younger who spoke so directly to Don, he's not accustomed to it and it was ez to see that he was perplexed.... Interested but in a put off kind of way... He loves danger and I think this girl is it in CAPITALS.

Thanks Stagekiss and all! It would be cool if I've guessed right on some of Miss Farrell's issues. I thought she was strange from the first moment of the parent-teacher conference...

Mambo Deb, I've noticed the exact same inappropriate remarks about teenage girls some of the men on MM have made that you listed. I've also noticed that pretty much every single time this happens, Don appears totally uninterested and stays stony silent-- Dennis and the candy striper, Carlton and the Catholic schoolgirl babysitter. I really respect Don for not going along with this. Maybe it's because he is the father of a little girl and can envision Sally at 16 being harassed by creepy older men.

I don't know if it all means any one thing in particular other than that during this era, men could get away with this in the company of other men without being called out as pervs, which is much more common today if an adult man shows interest in an underage girl (ala "To Catch A Predator", etc.)

The twins were 19 and Jane 20, so legal but only barely, and still totally cringe-worthy when seen in compromising positions with Roger. It's not just his age, but more the fact that Margaret is close to these girls' age. He even talked about Margaret to the twins, which was really gross IMO.