Betty has no glimmer of what would engage her outside her home. It's beyond her set of social expectations and she's only beginning to challenge those.

It's not just beyond her social expectations, I'd say it's beyond her intellectual expectations, too. Not that I think Betty is stupid, but she doesn't do anything to challenge herself. People with a true intellectual curiosity will seek out the things that challenge them.

People with a true intellectual curiosity will seek out the things that challenge them.

Like Don. Who bothers to read Frank O'Hara, see Antonioni films and chat up the hot rodders.

I was looking over some blogs on the show, and in their episode reviews I had forgotten that Joan started the season being pretty bitchy. Her scornful takedown of Paul, her cluelessness about his girlfriend at the party, putting the copier in Peggy's office, and complete destruction of Lois contrast with where she wound up at the end of the season.

And Pete's character arc has been amazing. His character is one of the most fascinating to me now. VK's really done a spectacular job. You really sense the dim stirrings of a real man in there despite his many limitations.

I'd say it's beyond her intellectual expectations, too. Not that I think Betty is stupid, but she doesn't do anything to challenge herself.

Yet at the same time, at one point (I think it was during the first season?) she was very defensive about her education and intellect, talking about how she'd gone to Bryn Mawr. She didn't want people seeing her just as some bubble-headed housewife.

talking about how she'd gone to Bryn Mawr.

You can go to school because you're encouraged to and you can even be interested in and good at what you're studying, but a self-actualized person will have a curiosity above and beyond their immediate surroundings. Betty doesn't. She may come into eventually and I think that's some of what we're being shown, but I think she's still got a hell of a long way to go and Don better be in it for the long haul.

I think you're underestimating Betty's sense of social privilege and entitlement. She doesn't want a job.

If that was aimed at me, I don't think she wants a job. I think she wants to lie on a beach eating bon bons all day. She doesn't want freedom to accomplish anything, she just wants freedom from anyone wanting anything from her.

I'd say she wants to be a trophy wife, but even that carries a bundle of unwelcome social expectations. She wants to be a trophy daughter.

And I think, in that way, she a Trudy are very much the same.

I'd say she wants to be a trophy wife, but even that carries a bundle of unwelcome social expectations. She wants to be a trophy daughter.

Mmmm, yes. I'd say that's about spot on.

If that was aimed at me

No - the comments just above.

She doesn't want freedom to accomplish anything, she just wants freedom from anyone wanting anything from her.

That's not how I'd characterize it. She really doesn't even know how to articulate to herself what she would want. I don't think she wants to eat bon bons at the beach, though. She's got a rigidity to her and sense of propriety that would demand more.

She wants a tiara and a Miss USA sash that she can wear to all the cotillions.

She wants to be a trophy daughter.

Which is why the loss of her father is hitting her so hard. She and Trudy are very similar in that way. [ETA: x-posty w/Sophia]

You can go to school because you're encouraged to and you can even be interested in and good at what you're studying, but a self-actualized person will have a curiosity above and beyond their immediate surroundings. Betty doesn't.

True, but Bryn Mawr, being a Seven Sisters school, was definitely considered a good school, but even more so, it was a status school. It was a school where you could get recognition for acquiring both a good degree and a good husband. And I think Betty relies on that as example that she's not stupid. Betty, like so many beautiful women, relies on external examples for validation.