I think the show did a pretty good portrayal of what everyone’s reaction was like at the time.  People who lived through it remember clearly where they were when they heard the news.  I loved that they showed where different characters were.  Will Peggy tell her grandchildren she was in bed with Duck?  I was 8 years old.  They sent us home early from school and I was scared to death.  No one was home, and I thought I heard someone hiding in the basement.  I remember watching the adults closely, and I knew everything that was said on the news.  We are mistaken when we think children don’t understand.  I hate it when Don always tells Sally to go upstairs.  Would someone please show that girl some understanding?  Sally ends up trying to comfort her mother.  The Grown Ups, indeed.

remember watching the adults closely, and I knew everything that was said on the news.  We are mistaken when we think children don’t understand.

This episode especially, but all along this season, they’ve been great at showing the kids watching dramas --both on TV and off-- unfold around them. Sally *is* the audience. She’s going to be the archetypal boomer.

Also, as I said to my husband last night, “Don’t worry everyone. The Beatles are coming.” The US push of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” is only weeks away.

Of course, I wasn’t there when it happened but for my parents, who were kids at the time, they had to go home from school and it was a time where black and white just didnt’ seem to matter for at least a few hours. And when Carla sat down and light a cigarette that’s what I thought of. She and Betty were sitting side by side, addressing each others emotional shock as equals, at least for a brief moment.

I enjoyed how they built it up, you could see the foreshadowing but it was treated like any other day with the characters. We knew what was going to happen and as soon as Pete was in Harrys (that was Harry right?) office and the TV was droning on in the background about Kennedy heading to downtown Dallas I just went, “oh shit.”

I think my favorite scene was when Don came back into the office and the phones are ringing off the hook and then they suddenly stop, everything goes quiet. It was beautifully done.

What gets me is that, for the characters, the storm of change is still coming and I can’t wait for next weeks episode to see the fall out. It was interesting that they didn’t show a traditional preview of bits from the future episode, which makes me think we’re in for a treat.

I think it’s pretty clear Sally knows, if not exactly what’s going on, at least that something’s going on. Remember how both the children were so engrossed in the news that they didn’t hear Don speak to them, and Sally’s knowing look at both Don and Betty when he was leaving for work and she refused to look at him.

Re: Peggy’s “we still have time” statement, her actual phrasing was along the lines of “we’re not filming it til November,” so I originally took it to mean enough time will have passed for people not to make the association, but now I’m not so sure. In retrospect (i.e. looking at the effect JFK assassination now) that seems ridiculous, but it’s hard for me to tell whether or not Peggy realizes yet that that’s the case. I’m inclined to think now that she does realize it and is working to change the campaign, and obviously that will end up being the case regardless.

Was anyone else surprised by Henry’s sudden proposal to Betty? That seemed completely out of left field to me.

You know, it’s not as if people were watching Zapruder over and over again ...like bodies dropping from the sky on 9/11. They saw riveting news, yes. But, there was more self-censorship on the part of the networks back then.

the scene with betty and carla sitting on the couch together smoking and emoting was really nice.

gepcrackr--as this is really the beginning of a national tragedy that plays out on tv era, i don’t think that peggy really could have any idea of the far-reaching impact of the kennedy assassination yet.  she may be voicing optimism that after thanksgiving that the ad won’t set people off while having some idea that this won’t be the case, but even as savvy as peggy is about psychology, i don’t think she (or any of the other characters for that matter) could really know how big this is.

i am also confused by henry francis’ proposal--is this his way of comforting her into exploring uncharted territory?  is it the only way he feels he can have her?  is it just a line?

There’s something final about the fact that Peggy and Don went to work while the rest of the country mourns the loss of its leader.  They are rootless, married to their jobs.  They are the America that’s about to come, a country full of people who define themselves through work and not family, whose work hours start to take up more of their time, whose origins will not define who they are.

And there you have it: the Human Resources/Fourth-Purpose Culture—everyone a happy-happy consumer/worker/cog, rational actors in a free market. Joan, the office manager/amateur psychologist, will do best of all.

To be fair, it’s also no surprise that the three most competent SC employees are best suited for this change in the social compact, one that’s been fast approaching all season. The HR Culture begins by holding to (though it never lives up to) a meritocratic and quantifiable ideal (as opposed to accident of birth)—see also the rise of the importance after WWII of SAT scores.

Pete has decided that picking a company to work for and staying with them until you retire is a fool’s game.

Up until about 1985 or so, it was the rare person who saw it for a mug’s game. That Pete can do so speaks to his relative class privilege (social capital, connections) more than anything else. He may have to work for a living (unlike Roger) after his father squandered the family fortune, but he has more options—even more than Ken does.

I still think they’re all more likely to end up at Grey, or that they’ll all work under SC’s new owner.

Roger’s arc went the other way in a sense. All his insistence that Jane is the one does indeed seem to be for naught, and instead the assassination has thrown him into a whirlpool of nostalgia for women who gave him much more than being young and cute.

We definitely saw that foreshadowed last week. Joan, more than anyone else, is his complementary partner. But, Roger being Roger, he knows he couldn’t make it work, and at least has the good social graces (if not the good character) to avoid sulking over it.

I remember watching the adults closely, and I knew everything that was said on the news.  We are mistaken when we think children don’t understand.  I hate it when Don always tells Sally to go upstairs.

One of the contrasts between the JFK assassination and 9/11, the two recent instances of major and traumatic societal change in America, is how parents handled it (or didn’t) with young children. The sort of direct engagement, explanation and confrontation of children’s fears by “grown-ups” that we saw 8 years ago was almost unthinkable 42 years ago.

Was anyone else surprised by Henry’s sudden proposal to Betty? That seemed completely out of left field to me.

My sense it’s that’s it’s driven more by his own fears. This single, older man has hung his entire life on the fortunes of a high-profile politician, so you can see how he might re-assess under duress.

I just noticed in the trades that critics and showtrackers will not receive an advance copy of the season finale. Heh.

One character states that the phones stopped ringing because the circuits had been overloaded with calls.

I was 13 when Kennedy was killed (but a young 13, still a child) and I wish one of the adults in my life had spoken to me about what was going on, what I could see over and over on my set. But if the grownups talked about it among themselves, nothing was said to ease the impact on the children in my house, anyway. Or even to acknowledge that we might be frightened, afraid, confused.

But my father was always so very self-absorbed, and my stepmother, the less said the better about her parenting skills.

Very much Sally being dismissed by the grownups, only to watch the burning Buddist monk, alone.

Also: as for network self-censorship back then: ha!

We not only saw Oswald being shot live, that clip was repeated infinity: in the 9/11 tragedy the clips of people jumping or falling from the towers may have been aired once, but I believe there was a concerted effort not to repeat them.

I know the title was tongue-in-cheek, but as for Conkrite residuals: even the actors in scripted shows didn’t necessarily collect residuals in the first several decades of TV—residuals were not always negotiated for actors until the ‘70s, or early ‘80s, if memory serves.

(Hence the news stories about former TV stars bankrupted, even as their shows repeated money for the owners through repeats and syndication.)

“‘Lois Lane,’ opposite George Reeves, on the hit series “Superman” from 1952 - 1958, she let the audience know that she was paid $125 an episode.

She continued to let us know that thanks to Ronald Reagan, who was president of SAG in 1959, she does NOT receive any residuals. He ruled while president of SAG that only actors who appeared in TV shows that aired from 1959 onwards are eligible for residuals.”

http://blog.nola.com/business_of_film/2008/07/50_years_later_supermans_lois.html

Also: Gilligans Island, broadcast originally from 1964-1967, despite the multitudinous re-reruns: “The cast did not receive residuals. In other words, they don’t get paid for all those reruns.”

(Ooops, lost the link for that one.)

I’m more inclined than ever to think that this means that we’re going to see a new agency rise up, with Don at its helm and some of the best characters following him.

I agree except for the “with Don at its helm” part. He’s locked into the contract, remember?

Poor Peggy. Everyone remembers where they were when the assasination happened, so for the rest of her life, she’ll have to remember sex with Duck.

I’ll bet the non-compete clause doesn’t hold if Streling Cooper is bought and sold off in chunks.

Poor Peggy. Everyone remembers where they were when the assasination happened, so for the rest of her life, she’ll have to remember sex with Duck.

I’ve seen variations on this sentiment ever since their first tryst, but the problem with it is that obviously Peggy doesn’t have any problem with Duck - in fact, quite the opposite. Transferring your dislike for the character/actor onto the other characters is a fool’s game (I see the same dynamic w/ Betty all over the interwebs).

“Was anyone else surprised by Henry’s sudden proposal to Betty? That seemed completely out of left field to me. “

Yes, Geo, I was VERY struck by that.  They have hardly spent any time together, really.  Maybe, from what I can gather, half a dozen meetings at all, and now he wants to marry her?  That was a real, “Duh-huh?!” moment for me.  There’s something that doesn’t get discussed much about Don, though, and I think it may be true of Henry as well.  Don sees women as mother figures a lot.  Betty is a mother figure for him, which is what makes losing her so terrifying, because while he is an abandoner himself, he has abandonment issues, having been left by both his real mother and Arch.  It seems to me that Henry’s strange, sudden lurch to commitment is that of a child thrown into confusion and fear by the Kennedy assassination and trying to latch onto a mommy to make it all right again.

I’ll bet the non-compete clause doesn’t hold if Streling Cooper is bought and sold off in chunks.

I think one of the reasons Don was forced to sign by the Brits is that they need him to sell the agency.

as for network self-censorship back then: ha!

You know, I sometimes forget that I was living overseas on 9/11. Japanese TV did not censor the falling bodies.

Yeah, I thought it was very interesting how similar the responses were to the 9/11 responses. They even had the angry response in Roger’s daughter’s husband talking about declaring war on the South.

I think they also snuck in a little side punch to all the people essentially begging Obama to be shot when Trudy responds to the nasty “he deserved it” stuff with a statement that “no matter what your politics, that’s horrible.” I think it was a reminder that Rep or Dem you shouldn’t be pleased about a dead president or want it to happen.

I also thought it ironic how Pete whines about how LBJ is just “more of the same” and change is done considering how much changed domestically under LBJ. Also Don desperately trying to enforce “normal” as it all collapses around him. Betty standing up to him, Sally trying to get the truth behind his lies, and everyone else acknowledging everything in a way he just can’t handle. Even Peggy disappears to watch the funeral while he goes to work. He’s not ready to let go of the unearned privileges of the last era and is terrified by the chaos of change.

She continued to let us know that thanks to Ronald Reagan, who was president of SAG in 1959, she does NOT receive any residuals. He ruled while president of SAG that only actors who appeared in TV shows that aired from 1959 onwards are eligible for residuals.”

Oh but there is so much more than that to Ronnie’s reign as SAG President: Dark Victory: Regan, MCA & the Mob.

Originally published in ‘87 by Viking Press, authored by Dan Moldea.  The screwing-over suffered by the SAG rank-n’-file was just the opening round.  Under Regan, “Screwing the Talent” literally became its own institution.  MCA also owns Universal Studios, among plenty of other operations.

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Victory-Ronald-Reagan-MCA/dp/014010478X

I think Peggy meant “we still have time” to come up with a new ad concept. But wasn’t JFK’s assassination only about a week before Thanksgiving? Seems like they’d actually be quite pinched for time. It certainly wouldn’t be long enough for viewers to not associate that movie with the shooting.

Transferring your dislike for the character/actor onto the other characters is a fool’s game (I see the same dynamic w/ Betty all over the interwebs).

I’ve seen that too. What I say is if you don’t get Betty you don’t get Mad Men. You may as well be watching Knot’s Landing reruns.
I don’t really get the Duck hate either. He’s no more morally ambiguous than any of the other white guys on the show, except maybe Bobby Draper.

There’s something that doesn’t get discussed much about Don, though, and I think it may be true of Henry as well.  Don sees women as mother figures a lot.  Betty is a mother figure for him, which is what makes losing her so terrifying, because while he is an abandoner himself, he has abandonment issues, having been left by both his real mother and Arch.

With every woman he’s had affairs with, Don’s constantly been trying to recapture the mother figure he ran away from: his adoptive mother, who seems to have been nurturing and independent, but didn’t meet the post-war conformist standards of the American Dream™, as represented by Betty. He’s afraid of losing Betty because she, more than anything else, represents what he’s referred to several times as “all this” (the house in the burbs, the 2.5 kids, the white collar/grey flannel creative job, etc.).

And it’s odd, because he’s always kept his little drawer of secrets as an escape clause, a way to run away if one of those women gives him an answer to “where is love?”—the unattainable fantasy woman who’ll finally match the adoptive mother he chose to abandon so many years ago. But he’s trapped himself in a situation that he himself helped manufacture, and he can’t run anymore.

Honestly, I don’t think he would run if given half the chance—Don doesn’t want meaningful change, he just pretends to, and lies to himself in the process. One of the consequences of a creative person selling empty conformist fantasies is that he can easily buy into his own non-conformist fantasies of flight. The affairs with exotic bohemian types, the late-night drives, the jet-setters, the drawer of cash and memories never go anywhere, and lead only to turmoil and risk of what he has (and, as Peggy observes, he has so much of it). Don will choose the sleek and shiny “what seems to be” over what is genuine every bloody time.

I also thought it ironic how Pete whines about how LBJ is just “more of the same”

Says the new “Head of Account Management” (golden boy Ken’s “VP").

MCA also owns Universal Studios, among plenty of other operations.

MCA no longer owns anything, because it essentially dissolved when it was purchased by Seagram’s in 1997.  The company was split into two divisions and was renamed Universal Pictures, Inc. and Universal Music Group.  MCA Records became a brand under Universal Music Group.

In 1999, Vivendi bought Universal Pictures, Inc. and the new company became Vivendi Universal.

MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003.

In 2004, 80% of Vivendi Universal was acquired by General Electric, with the new company being named NBC Universal.

So yes, MCA used to own Universal Studios, but today it is principally owned by GE.

Where does the Scheinhardt Wig Company fit into this?

I’ve been having a feeling of dread building the last few weeks.  There have been so many Kennedy parallels, so many allusions to the assassination, and so many mentions of suicide that I am afraid that one of the major characters will die in the final episode.  Betty was driving her father’s black Lincoln.  That damned gun was on display in Pete’s office again.  I have not forgotten about Chekhov’s rule since the gun showed up.  Trudy asked Pete if he lost his temper when he found out about Ken’s promotion.  Pete is volatile.  Will he be an Oswald parallel?  Who might he send to the great ad agency in the sky?  Ken? Pryce?  Don?

I also thought it ironic how Pete whines about how LBJ is just “more of the same”

Yeah, but Goldwater’s in the green room with Ringo.

I can’t believe there’s only one more episode in season 3. That feeling of dread jackspratt mentioned was heightened by Roger’s comment to Jane when she locked the bathroom door, “what are you gonna do, commit suicide?” What a horrible thing to say.

Also, Peggy’s conversation with her roommate was interesting. The roommate doesn’t like the smell of Duck’s aftershave in their bathroom. So Duck’s visiting her home, but she only sees him at hotels (that we’ve seen) so maybe he is married. I didn’t see season one, so I could be wrong about that. Do we know for a fact that Duck is single?

Did it seem to anyone else that Pete managed to make the Kennedy assassination about himself?

TOWA, yes, duck’s split with his wife was covered last season.  he’s divorced.

Ha, Pete makes everything about himself.

Thanks, Chareth Cutestory.

So yes, MCA used to own Universal Studios, but today it is principally owned by GE.

Mea Culpa.

I never liked Duck, but he’s growing on me this season.  I do think it was strange that he initially heard the news, unplugged the TV and then resumed watching after he and Peggy got busy.  Did he want a final moment with Peggy before the world changed?

Peggy’s comments at the end mean they are changing the whole Aquanet campaign.  I’m sure her ad sense knows that it’ll never fly and they have to re-vamp the whole idea, but it seems like small potatoes now and at least she had something to occupy her.

The assassination happened on my mother’s birthday when she was a kid, but I never thought about what it must of have been like to have a national tragedy happen on a special day (i.e. Roger’s spoiled daughter’s wedding day).  Every year on your anniversary/birthday to have those memories intertwined forever…

Evoked memories of 9/11 in a big way (i was 21).  It was interesting to note the seeming differences from the first televised national tragedy to 2001.  9/11 was a regular work day for me, showed up late and barely awake.  I was the last to know after the first tower was hit because back then i did not watch the morning news.  People were not immediately serious about what it meant (we were far from NY of course).  Customers were still trickling in and asking for help, remarking on how odd it was.  It was not until the second plane hit the realization set in.  People started calling relatives...trying to find out more...zombie mode.  In the assassination, even though no one had the news the president was dead yet or saw it firsthand perse the fear and panic was instantaneous.  This episode made me think a lot about the parallels and the differences - the changes happening with these characters reminds me of the changes after 9/11 with the people I knew.  It caused a lot of us to re-evaluate perspectives and ideas on a personal level.  I did not think the episode was overdone - it made me ponder even more than usual and I like that.

What happened to Don’s girlfriend?

Don broke up with her last week.

Knute my mother’s birthday is 9/11, and the first couple of years were strange.  Of course, the day of, we cancelled the celebration.  And my mom for a while, at least two years afterwards, said she didn’t want to celebrate her bday on 9/11 ever again, that she would make it 9/12.

But of course, she was born on 9/11 and that is her bday, and many all over the world including right here in America have died on 9/11 in the years since that Tuesday, and now we just celebrate it on the day, rarely giving a thought to that year.  It goes on, as it should and as it must.

I don’t really get the Duck hate either.

I’m guessing it has mostly to do with his treatment of the dog, Chauncey—setting him loose on the streets of Manhattan. To many folks, even a fictional implied mistreatment of a pet makes you irredeemable.

I thought Henry’s proposal to Betty was delightful, as a device. He knows nothing about who she is. He says he’s willing to reprogram his career for her, which is nonsensical for a man of that era, and even Betty can see that. And Betty can can see that his offer is preposterous, which is something we might not have been able to witness earlier in the season. Henry’s right - it’s not Romeo & Juliet—but for him it’s just a different kind of fantasy. And Betty’s in the real world now.

I was a tot during the events depicted in the ep. I remember it being the first (and only one of two) times I ever saw my mom cry.  I came downstairs after my nap to find her on the couch in front of the tv. She told me it was the president’s funeral, and said simply “It’s a very sad day.”

Even with such weighty associations, I still manage to be nostalgic for naps.

No link love for the illustrator? It’s UCB’s Dyna Moe, in case anyone’s interested. http://www.nobodyssweetheart.com

I don’t think that Don went into work at SC to work.  He did tell Peggy that “the bars are closed,” and he made a beeline for the liquor.

I think Don went to work expecting the office would be empty and he could get severely drunk.

He is avoiding Betty - hoping it all goes away?  Trying to figure out what to do next?

Seems to me that his hold on his reality is slipping.  His control over his identity is shattered - Betty, Bert Cooper, Pete all know he isn’t Don Draper.  His wife is on the verge of asking for a divorce.  That’s why he ran away from the conversation - not that he’s so much afraid of losing Betty, but that he’s afraid of losing his reality.  His house, his kids, his money, but moreso, his very identity.  His identity is now controlled by Betty and Bert (and, indirectly, SC’s owners through Bert).  He’s stuck in his contract for 3 years.  Despite what her lawyer said, it seems to me that Betty would have a tremendously strong case in a divorce hearing.  There may not be direct evidence of infidelity, but that divorce document that shows that Don was married to another woman up until a few weeks prior to Betty & Don’s marriage would be pretty strong evidence to cast the blame upon Don.  Then, there’s also the fact that Don isn’t even Don, he’s Dick.

Seems to me that Don’s situation in life is going to spiral downhill from this point on, at least for a while (perhaps his resurgence will coincide with the rise of the post-Goldwater right wing backlash?). 

What was with Don’s complaint about controlling his art department?  Could there be some problems with the firing of Sal?

Now that I’m thinking about it, I think Don is very similar to Nixon - Both attempt to adapt to circumstances, both rise up from very low backgrounds to take their place amongst the elite, and Nixon had a downfall and then rose again (then fell again).  Don seems to be arching along a similar trajectory.  He peaked with Betty and with his high position at SC, then started sliding this season.  Is next season the crash? 

And, while I think about, Pete is the conservative movement - the formerly wealthy, formerly priviledged white male who still trades on his past elite marks.  He’s lost the family wealth, and he’s struggling to maintain his priviledge and elitism.  He sees Peggy as his enemy, as she rises to take her place as his equal, if not better.  He is the growing backlash.  It’s all about him.  He’s the aggrieved, he’s the victim.  Whenever someone else wins, he loses.  Ken Cosgrove gets promoted to a higher position, not due to Pete’s deficiency, but due to Ken’s massive superiority (Pete takes care of the customer’s needs, Ken makes them believe they don’t have any - what could be better than that?).  Pete’s behavior at the end is clear - and he sold Trudy on his victimhood.  She feels as though they are victims now.  It’s like a contagious disease.

Am I the only one who didn’t realize that Roger didn’t co-found Sterling Cooper?  He always talks about his name being on the building, but its’ really his Dad’s name.  I know this is so last episode, but I’m still trying to figure Roger out. 

Overall, I think that - starting next week - everything changes.

President Johnson’s been sworn in.  The world that was is over.

knute123:

I never liked Duck, but he’s growing on me this season.  I do think it was strange that he initially heard the news, unplugged the TV and then resumed watching after he and Peggy got busy.  Did he want a final moment with Peggy before the world changed?

My theory: We’ve established that Duck has a seriously addictive personality. And his line when he first hooked up with Pegs about “I love the taste of whiskey on your breath” alluded to his addiction translating to her. This week, though he was jokey and superficially cool, he practically begged Peggy on the phone to come see him right now. And, though she hadn’t seen him in three weeks, Peggy wasn’t as enthused as he was. So it seems Duck’s taking this whole thing more seriously than Peggy. His unplugging the set when she knocked on the door was so she wouldn’t hear the progressing news about Kennedy - probably knowing that she’d be glued to the TV for updates - and he could have her all to himself. I have nothing in particular against Duck, but I can see it turning unhealthy if he and Peggy are still fooling around next season. And it could get really weird if Peggy goes to work at Grey.

By the way, last week’s question about what Kinsey meant when he said “oh my god” at Peggy’s Western Union brainstorming in Don’s office. Well when Duck called Kinsey was in Peggy’s office collaborating with her on the Aquanet spot, so I guess we have our answer.

@21 Grachus said “… Don’s constantly been trying to recapture the mother figure he ran away from: his adoptive mother, who seems to have been nurturing and independent...” “And it’s odd, because he’s always kept his little drawer of secrets as an escape clause, a way to run away if one of those women gives him an answer to “where is love?”—the unattainable fantasy woman who’ll finally match the adoptive mother he chose to abandon so many years ago”

I agree that Don is looking for a mother figure but I have no idea where you got the idea from that Don’s step-mother was nurturing.  She called him a whore-child in the flashbacks and most likely throughout his entire childhood, participated or at least condoned his beatings by his father and when baby Dick was handed to her by the mid-wife in a flashback this season, she looked like she was carrying something foul.  I got the sense that he is looking for a mother figure b/c his bio-Mom was dead and his step-mother positively hated him.  I don’t think he “abandoned” her he ran away with good cause, I’d have run away too.  Don has stated he was abused a few times over the life of the show, and I haven’t seen anything to lead me to think that his step-Mom was just as guilty of that as his father, plus he only cited Uncle Mac, her 2nd husband, as the only parental figure who was nice to him when he was telling Betty the truth last week. I agree with everything else you said though.

As for the Duck projection, I really think people are still mad at Duck for pushing that lovely dog Chauncey out the door and leaving him to fend for himself in the wilds of Manhattan so it is hard to see past the rest.  I agree though that she obviously sees him very differently.  I’ve always thought he seemed shady though, even before the dog incident.

This was a very good post overall and I agree with Amanda about how they played out the clips of the real footage. It was very effective.  I also agree about Betty and Henry and I really hope she realizes that jumping from one bad marriage with a man who was essentially a stranger to a new marriage with another stranger, who also has no problem with hitting on pregnant married woman.

And can I say, I thought it was kind of odd that the Sterlings didn’t cancel the wedding.  I mean, they are old NY money so I’m sure they’d have suffiencient money and clout to reschedule without too many consequences.  I know weddings are hard to plan, but it seemed kind of tacky to go ahead with it on that day.  Maybe it’s just me.

benvolio:

I’m guessing it has mostly to do with his treatment of the dog, Chauncey—setting him loose on the streets of Manhattan. To many folks, even a fictional implied mistreatment of a pet makes you irredeemable.

Yeah that was a dick move, but then I’ve seen Roger ride a human woman like a horse and verbally degrade our beloved Joan and I’ve seen Peter Campbell jerk Peggy around for an ego boost and rape a poor immigrant woman and I’ve seen Don Draper cheat on his wife repeatedly and drive his brother to suicide and threaten to abandon his kids to run off with Rachel Menkin ... So I still just don’t get what’s so extra-super-hatable about Duck relative to anybody else.

I thought Henry’s proposal to Betty was delightful, as a device. He knows nothing about who she is. He says he’s willing to reprogram his career for her, which is nonsensical for a man of that era, and even Betty can see that. And Betty can see that his offer is preposterous, which is something we might not have been able to witness earlier in the season. Henry’s right - it’s not Romeo & Juliet—but for him it’s just a different kind of fantasy. And Betty’s in the real world now.

From your lips. I hope you’re right and Betty doesn’t take up with Henry Francis. If that’s the case though I don’t know why she told Don she doesn’t love him anymore. It seems like she’s getting set to run off and I don’t see her setting up on her own yet.
I understand Betty’s feelings about Don but I have no idea what she sees in Henry Francis other than the potential for security. He treats her like a pretty little dolly. It’s gross.

So I still just don’t get what’s so extra-super-hatable about Duck relative to anybody else.

If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say it could be because Duck’s character hasn’t been developed as fully as many of the other characters on the show.  What we’ve seen of him demonstrated that he is driven to the point of ruthlessness, but there hasn’t much to balance that out and provide a more complex picture of Duck (until recently, maybe).  He convinced Sterling and Cooper to dump a reliable client, Mohawk Airlines, for a chance at landing American Airlines (which failed, though not because of Duck), and Don was given the unenviable task of telling Mohawk that they were getting pitched overboard.  Duck’s power play to engineer the sale of Sterling Cooper and then secure himself a promotion didn’t help.

Right now, I don’t fully trust Duck in his relationship with Peggy.  It’s entirely possible that he is genuinely attracted to her, but I can’t help but wonder if there’s some manipulation going on, especially because he originally tried to get Peggy and Pete to come over to Grey.

Honestly, I can’t say what it is I hate about Duck, but he makes my skin crawl, and has from the moment he first appeared. When he abandoned Chauncey, I was as appalled as everyone else--though I choose to believe that a gorgeous purebred like him would’ve been snapped up by some wealthy exec for his kids rather than run over--but I already loathed his character. I dread his appearances on the show. I’m glad Peggy’s having fun--and I do believe she genuinely is, even if I’m unsure of his motivation--but he skeeves me out in ways I can’t explain. Other characters have done things equally or more reprehensible, but he remains my least favorite character, hands down.

I agree that Don is looking for a mother figure but I have no idea where you got the idea from that Don’s step-mother was nurturing.  She called him a whore-child in the flashbacks and most likely throughout his entire childhood, participated or at least condoned his beatings by his father and when baby Dick was handed to her by the mid-wife in a flashback this season, she looked like she was carrying something foul.

Well, here’s my take based on what we’ve seen in the flashbacks (which are coloured by Don’s perception): we never hear either adoptive parent call him “whore-child” directly in the flashbacks—he only reports this charming nickname to the hobo. We see in that episode that Abigail was a religious type. Archie, as we know, is a grade-A arsehole with a foul mouth. My impression is that it was Arch who called him “whore son.”

Now granted, Don doesn’t claim Abigail was nurturing, but look at the way he tells Betty about her—he’s portraying her as someone who acted like a mother, and who also had the independence to “take up” with a decent guy once the abusive Arch was out of the picture.

I would agree that she likely condoned the abuse, but that’s par for the course with most spouses in a relationship with an abuse. Similarly, she probably wasn’t nuturing in the modern sense of the word, but neither are Don and Betty. As for the hand-over of the infant, I definitely remember the bio-mom being repulsed by the midwife’s asking if she wanted to hold him, but Abigail taking him willingly and without hesitation after the midwife declines to tell her the identity of the bio-mom (just that the child “came from God” as promised).

Again, all these flashbacks (the early midwife one based on his mother’s stories) are seen through the lens of his perception. And there’s clearly lots of messed-up, mixed-up Madonna-Whore stuff going on with Don.

I never liked Duck, but he’s growing on me this season.  I do think it was strange that he initially heard the news, unplugged the TV and then resumed watching after he and Peggy got busy.  Did he want a final moment with Peggy before the world changed asp hosting?

Peggy’s comments at the end mean they are changing the whole Aquanet campaign.  I’m sure her ad sense knows that it’ll never fly and they have to re-vamp the whole idea, but it seems like small potatoes now and at least she had something to occupy her.

The assassination happened on my mother’s birthday when she was a kid, but I never thought about what it must of have been like to have a national tragedy happen on a special day (i.e. Roger’s spoiled daughter’s wedding day) jsp hosting.  Every year on your anniversary/birthday to have those memories intertwined forever…

Evoked memories of 9/11 in a big way (i was 21).  It was interesting to note the seeming differences from the first televised national tragedy to 2001.  9/11 was a regular work day for me, showed up late and barely awake.  I was the last to know after the first tower was hit because back then i did not watch the morning news free web hosting.  People were not immediately serious about what it meant (we were far from NY of course).  Customers were still trickling in and asking for help, remarking on how odd it was.  It was not until the second plane hit the realization set in.  People started calling relatives...trying to find out more...zombie mode.  In the assassination, even though no one had the news the president was dead yet or saw it firsthand perse the fear and panic was instantaneous.  This episode made me think a lot about the parallels and the differences - the changes happening with these characters reminds me of the changes after 9/11 with the people I knew.  It caused a lot of us to re-evaluate perspectives and ideas on a personal level domain hosting.  I did not think the episode was overdone - it made me ponder even more than usual and I like that.

Graccus - First season, when Don’s brother Adam turns up, he tells Don that Abigail’s dead. Don’s reply was a bitter and emphatic “Good!” Adam also referred to her as “mother,” to which Don replied, “Not my mother. She never let me forget that.”
Surely a Depression era widow like Abigail Whitman didn’t have much for options beyond “tak[ing] up” with another guy, and it’s fortunate that Uncle Whatsisface turned out to be decent, but I don’t see how that conveys indepedence on Abigail’s part.
And Don’s mom probably looked repulsed when she saw him because she was sick and dying; giving birth to him had killed her. Usually when you see women die in childbirth on TV, they make it look all sweet and heroic and Briar Rosey - the mother smiles adoringly on her newborn infant and closes her eyes blah blah - but IRL it’s nasty and bloody and excruciating.
But that brings me to a thing that’s bugged me about some of these flashbacks - how is Don supposed to remember all these details about his conception and birth?