Brilliant and Poetically Sad Episode
Hats off to the writers and actors of this beautifully somber and compelling episode. . Aptly titled "The Grown Ups" we see adults acting as children and children acting as grown ups and a country in various degrees of shock and mourning. There was a great deal of stock news footage (maybe too much) in the episode but the manner by which differing characters "heard the news" was indeed interesting. (After a Nooner - at work - etc) The lack of people at the wedding reception ( and the surplus at the church) was also a very subtle yet powerful statement. I should have guessed that the Aquanet add would be foreshadowing - they won't be using that storyboard. Why is Betty interested in that old man? Is it because she just lost her Daddy and she can't trust Don? I know Don is a lying cheater cheater pumkin eater but I feel bad for him. He can't lose Betty. Would the world shut down like this should something so tragic happen today? I wonder.
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Would the world shut down today, you ask? It didn't shut down on Nov. 22, 1963. Far from it. Everyone likes to think that things came to a standstill and really, they didn't. They slowed a bit and then everything resumed full speed ahead. Thanksgiving came and went the following week. And it was enjoyable. We didn't all sit around the table weeping over Kennedy. We ate out turkey and cranberries with as much gusto as before. Christmas came and went and that too was enjoyed. Just like when 9/11 happened. Things paused, and then everyone got back to the business of living. That's how it is with things. The world did not shut down for Pearl Harbor either. Or even the Cuban Missile Crises. Everyone held their breath for a time, but life continued on as it always does. It has too.
@Jason: You mean this episode was poetic justice.
I have a feeling that if Don lost Betty, depending on if and how the divorce was going, Miss Farrell would give him a call. (She probably sees Sally on an intermittent basis.) To, uh, see if he was okay. Yeah, that's it. She'd be concerned for him. And the kids, too. Especially Sally.
Who knows, this could be for Don and Miss Farrell's big chance to get on the right side of life.
I'm disappointed in the show and this talk forum.
1. The marriage proposal bit of bad-haircut Henry is ridiculous. Maybe if he were more attractive and there was some wild uncontrollable chemistry going on there...... But he's so BORING.....
How did we get from a hike that didn't happen, to til death do us part?????
2. What does Betty have to offer? She's a very troubled woman who is incapable of affection even toward her own children, for God's sake! Absolutely 0 in the personality category. Don't understand why she has everyone's sympathy and admiration. Poor Sally is doomed - either doomed or she'll be president, but I don't seen any mid-ground for her.
3. I was so bored by this episode I started considering the CIA aspect - which until now I thought was preposterous - looking for some clue in Don's reaction to the shooting of L. H. Oswald that would give me something to cling to in terms of entertainment!
Don and Betty are done. (my opinion) Let her go to boring, grey, stodgy, stiff, conservative, Henry Francis. He's as boring as she is and they would make a "nice" couple.
Pete, has the most fantastic wife. She's smart and supportive, and is always there for him - encouraging and empathetic. What a waste. It's all a mess - nobody happy - just like real life!
Francine would be the first to know Betty's having an affair with Henry because she was suspicious (in a very friendly way) since the city council meeting. If Betty says something out of line, Francine will be on it like a cat on a mouse. Although, woman-solidarity, she probably won't tell Carlton and she knows Don's not all that fond of her.
Francine's the one who can give or at least find the goods on Henry through her Junior League connections.
Loves MM. I get your point. Betty has a license to ill as it is. The show does echo real life, most people take what they have for granted until its gone and then they cry and want it back. But then again for our entertainment purposes Don Draper wouldn't be Don Draper if he didn't act like .... well... Don Draper. Shaudenfruede. So let Betty get a little sumpin too - but my god isnt there a hot delivery boy in this town for her?