Not only creepy crude and controlling as well. Remember the scene iin his office when he locked the door with the secretary just outside...classy!

Betty needs a controlling man becuase her father was controlling and manipulative.

The scene on the plane with Henry and Betty was so strange, like they were two unhappy robots. I think we will see a lot less of January Jones next season because somebody got jealous of her exposure this season. Just sayin'...

@minkos: Indeed! What IS Henry's angle? We're to believe he wants to marry a divorced woman with 3 kids? Seriously? He already stated to the lawyer the campaign doesn't need another divorce scandal. None of it makes any sense. Yes, he wants in her pants. Yes, in '63, conventional wisdom to get into a "nice girl's" pants was to propose marriage. OK. But getting the lawyer? Buying the plane ticket? Flying to Reno with BABY in tow? Huh???????? Not exactly a romantic interlude.

I would love any poster to make this make sense!

I'm willing to give Henry a pass for now. I think he's just smitten, assessed that she wasn't happy in her life, and wanted to be that happiness for her. If he had any shady ulterior motives he wouldn't have spilled the beans to his own daughter (who told Margaret who told Daddy Roger) I'm not saying everything is going to be sunshine and marshmallows for the two of them, I just don't think there's anything conniving.

But I WAS taken aback in that final montage in the episode. Betty is on the way to Reno, a trip that the lawyer said would be at least six weeks. Does this mean she left her two oldest kids behind DURING CHRISTMAS? What kind of lunacy is that? What a way to make their already gloomy holiday downright depressing and permanently scarring! Bad enough the had to break the news to the kids just before Christmas. Couldn't she have waited until January? Wouldn't have Henry dissuaded her? It IS possible that the montage takes place after the holiday, but Don approaching that brownstone with all the Xmas lights makes me think otherwise.

On a side note, I'd love to be a fly on the wall whenever Carla goes home to her own family and friends and tells them about these crazy Drapers. :)

I think Betty is disturbed. Don is no angel, but he generally has it togther. Betty always seems at the edge. Henry was pretty cool at first, but is creepy now. Got to figure he would attract his share of single woman without the need to focus on one who is married with real young kids. I don't think she add to Don. Just look at him when he comes home. The first thing he goes for is the bottle. I am sure Season 4 will have them back together undersome circumstance (Henry get run over by a car), but it will be more of the same weird Betty.

Betty has traded one gilded cage for another. What a fool to sit there and smile her simpering little smile when he tells her to refuse anything from Don because he will take care of her. What a little fool.

Not that I expected a woman of her status and era to run out and get a job but she's a fool not to take her due from this marriage in case Henry dumps her before marriage or after. She should though have some money from her father's estate.

The whole Betty/Henry storyline seemed out of place, out of character, off kilter and developmentally starved. I am left to wonder if January J wants out of the show or the producers want leverage and thus left her character in limbo and easily written in or out of the next season.

I think we can take it as a given that the only people who are relatively assured of a regular job next season are those who were in the hotel room working.

Betty, Henry, the kids, the secretarial staff including Hildy and Allison, they're all up for grabs - recurring roles at best (although I suspect Hildy and Allison will be found working at SCDP at the beginning of S4.) Ken and Paul, better suck up good to your new McCann bosses. Paul may be put on an "ice floe" but Ken, the new Accounts Manager who still has most of the accounts (although not the gorilla in the room - LS), should do well.

The kids? Depends on how the divorce comes out. Don could end up with custody (except for baby Gene.) Betty & Henry, MW only knows, if anyone does.

Betty and Henry flying off to Reno reminds me of S1 when Don rushes to Rachel and wants the two of them to run off to California, to a new life together.

Five will get you ten either Sally and Bobby are flown out to Reno for Christmas or they'll have Christmas at home with Daddy. Betty's six weeks for residency would take her up to the end of January. Of course, she could fly back for two or three days...

I don't think Henry is all that controlling, it's just that he wants the divorce done NOW. Arguing about alimony and child support would take additional time. Even if Don rolls over and plays dead, (no matter what he said on the phone to Betty) there has to be documentation about his income. Right now, given the new company, Don has no earned income. All his living expenses are coming out of his savings and I doubt Lane arranged for any severance pay.

I've always thought that Henry fell in love with pregnant Betty at first sight. His first words to her were "I wish you were waiting for ME". I think he really does want to marry her ASAP. Is she in love with him? I don't think so, but his total appreciation for her...just like Don's was at first...is overwhelming her and she feels safe. It's too bad Don couldn't have delivered the same speech he gave to Peggy to Betty...that he'd taken her for granted and he'd spend the rest of his life wanting her back. But even that would be too late for Betty. She was ready to bail last season.

Remember the "Happy Rockefeller" conversation they had at Roger's party? They were discussing the marriage of New York's then Gov. Nelson Rockefeller (Henry's employer) to "Happy"....a divorced woman with four kids who married Rockefeller a month after her divorce. So, I guess Henry and Betty may be in good (?) company. I don't think Henry is too afraid of a scandal messing up his career. I think the writers worked this "Happy" piece in for a purpose.

I read on IMD that January Jones has a major role in a pre-production of a movie "Unknown White Male", due to come out in 2011, so she may be shifted to a minor role on MM next season. I'm betting she marries Henry and will never go back to Don. They don't love each other anymore and that's clear. There'll be more kid drama, especially with Sally, no doubt.

Look, if Betty marries Henry, I have LESS than ZERO interest in seeing their little married life and escapades. And unlike a marriage, seeing two exes arguing over the kids holds no great interest either. Betty was defined by the relationship with Don. He is the mad man. Without that RELATIONSHIP (not just a meeting every once and a while and arguments about the kids), we'll see her about as often as we see Mona, which is not very at all.

Minkos, perhaps like many a powerful, wealthy, or famous man, HF is just used to getting what he wants when he wants it. (As for the locked office door, mustlove, there's precedent for that among politicos: think JFK, Clinton, etc. It turned Betty off, but there are women--even in 1963 (!) who would have been in, no qualms nor questions asked).

We haven't seen evidence that HF has wealth (talking Big Family Money here), but if he does, he comes from a segment of society where the men don't necessarily expect to go through traditional, "middle-class" courting ways--particularly at HF's age.

HF knows what he wants, he's aware of what he has to offer Betty, and he sees no sense in dancing around the maypole. A political campaign is coming up. He'll be very busy with that. He wants to get the marriage nailed down now. Besides, it will be nice to appear in the public eye with a beautiful wife on his arm, rather than as a middle-aged, still alone, divorced man.

Everybody knows that male power and wealth buy female youth and beauty. Been that way forever, and nobody seems to look askance at all. So why should we question it in MM?

All along, Don's reactions to Bettes has been...well, kinda strange. He shows none of the grit, guts and decisiveness that he does in every other area of his life. Why? I don't know. Doesn't make sense really. She's always telling him, "I want you out of this house." Don Draper SHOULD say, "Hey, you're unhappy here, YOU get out. There's the door."

Unless, he's dying to get out of this marriage, which, honestly, I wouldn't blame him for a second. But please, show me something. You got kids, idiot.

If shown at all next season, Betty will be a minor player. MW has said that marriage is over, no reconciliation, period. We may see her in some interaction with the kids and Don (custody issues?) but nothing like this season. As to what happens next, even Matt Weiner says he doesn't know, exactly, not yet. I expect there will be more focus on the new SCDP and hopefully find a way to bring Sal back (maybe Freddy Rumsen, too?) Like everyone else, we just have to wait and see.

Hi Jolie 10- I completely agree with you. Also, I believe that Henry is an asset to Betty in ALL ways---Remember when he first kissed her in the car!!! Her response was PURE passion. They will be happy together!!

Well...how could Mrs Draper resist such a determined guy like our Mr Henry?. But, for me...watch for Henry "Duck" Phillips character played by Mark Moses continue his romance with Peggy Olson in MM 4 in 2010.

It will be interesting to see which characters return to MM in 2010...and what new ones are coming.

AdBoy60s

I saw Don Draper (Jon Hamm) today in 'the flesh' in Beverly Hills. He was coming out of Tiffanys on Rodeo Drive. Got into a waiting car and off he went. Had a bunch of packages placed in the car by T staff.

Hmmmmmmmmm

Betty is doing the right and smart thing to refuse sex with Henry. To his credit, that didn’t faze him. I think he said, “I don’t know what you want.” And he hasn’t tried it again. I think Henry, unless he’s satan in disguise as some think, can make a good husband for Betty. They have a chance to spend a lot of time getting to know one another so that she doesn’t make the same mistake she did with Don. In turn, Henry ought to open up everything to her. Have his friends and even political enemies tell her what kind of man he is. Show her his ancestry. Show her his finances. Tell her how he plans to provide for her. For now, we ought to assume he has her best interests at heart. He’s probably independently wealthy. That’s why he can say he’ll take care of her and the kids without money from Don. If he gives Betty the things a woman needs to be happy in marriage: security, affection, loyalty a/k/a faithfulness, honesty and openness, financial support and family commitment, she will be happy. He in turn will reap a great reward. Too bad that won’t sell on TV.

You guys are acting like children who are having difficulties getting over your parents' divorce. There is nothing creepy about Henry Francis. In fact, none of hardly know much about him. Yet, you're all making assumptions about him, because you're pissed that Betty had dumped Don's ass for him.

Henry is a man with enough life experience to recognize the potential of a relationship with an educated, beautiful woman that could prove to be much more than just a “roll in the hay,” but he is also a man who has pursued another man’s wife — hardly a trustworthy or moral action. Yet he has seen enough of Betty to recognize that along with her great beauty what she needs most is a compassionate relationship, not just “stuff” (which she could continue to have if she stayed with Don) or a casual sexual fling.

From Betty’s standpoint, Henry is her bridge out of the marriage, a mature man who has exhibited tenderness and caring, even when she was pregnant. However, hopefully she will think seriously before she jumps from one untrustworthy man to another one with the same possibility of dishonesty. Henry wants to “take care of” Betty, but she is not yet aware of Don’s $500,000 buyout; half of that would make her independent financially for a long time.

Whether Betty will personally blossom in a more mature relationship with Henry in Season 4 remains to be seen. Perhaps Betty now recognizes that status and material goods are only icing on the cake of a meaningful relationship. The question is whether Henry will prove to be just another immoral power-politician. Any man who pursues another man’s wife as Henry has done is not a moral person and is not to be trusted any more than is Don. Henry may be smitten now, but he knows how to play the “dating game” and perhaps he has continued to pursue Betty as a Happy/Rocky Rockefeller wannabe relationship because she is so “hard to get.” The odds are he will not remain faithful to Betty over the long run (Rocky died “in the saddle” of a young woman in his “townhouse office”). Will Betty overcome her need for a protective father figure and become a strong individual of the 60’s with or without Henry — or is she destined to make the same mistakes again.