Just a small note, but did anyone else remember that Pete got that gun by trading in the chip-and-dip they got as a wedding present? I saw it noted elsewhere.

One thing that hasn't been commented on, but I got a kick out of, was the 4 muskateers of creative traveling in a paranoid, bumbling pack throughout the episode.

Pete got that gun by trading in the chip-and-dip

I'd forgotten that! But that last shot of Pete, if it had been the chip-and-dip set? I would have been really worried that he was going to jump out the window.

remember that Pete got that gun by trading in the chip-and-dip they got as a wedding present

Continuity, o how I love thee.

It's an interesting question between identity and facade. Who am I versus who I present as? Self and avatar. What are my actual problems versus my perceived problems?

It's not actually Don's infidelity that tips Betty over the edge, is it? She'd known about his infidelity before. It's when his infidelity becomes apparent as public knowledge, as brutally revealed by Jimmy. Thus, when Don is not adequately keeping up his public role as husband and father.

That makes her more like Trudy than I'd thought until it was mentioned upthread. And Trudy is okay with Pete right now because where he strays from her planned role for him is not public yet.

The Don Draper Guide to Picking Up Women: [link]

It's when his infidelity becomes apparent as public knowledge, as brutally revealed by Jimmy.

Also, that even after that happened Don would not admit what he'd done. If he'd owned up to it right away I think things would have gone differently. And he still hasn't admitted it really. Just said that he didn't treat Betty as respectfully as he should have.

Was that Don not admitting it or was that the era's manner of talking about matters like that? We know that Jimmy was obnoxious and overly forward, so I don't think that it was odd that he said it, but perhaps you just didn't say that sort of thing in polite company.

We know that Jimmy was obnoxious and overly forward, so I don't think that it was odd that he said it, but perhaps you just didn't say that sort of thing in polite company.

Well, Betty asked Don straight out (or accused him I don't remember) if he'd slept with Bobbi and he could have been a man and said he did. I think it's telling that he didn't. And that she accepted his pale apology. It doesn't bode well for them.

and he could have been a man and said he did.

Well, but the kind of man Don is, is a complete fabrication. He lies every day in every way. Getting caught in a lie is not something he can admit to. That's why Betty was going nuts trying to find evidence.

Betty was also upset with who Don had an affair with. An older woman. A woman she perceived as vulgar.

Would she have been happier knowing about Rachel? Or Midge? All those women are people that Betty would not have approved of. Not that she'd have approved of anyone, but you know there's a particular sting there when the women your husband has been philandering with are so utterly different from you.

In answer to your earlier question, I doubt they'll still be together in a decade. I agree that the weak apology does not bode well. Although I think it's telling that Betty answers the way she does. "At least I know I'm not going crazy." It must have seemed like she was. Don never thinks about what the results of his deception are for other people. Which is the point of deception, I suppose.

But I think Don doesn't see a distinction in his lies. His whole world is a lie to Betty, so what's one more? And if he admits to that, then does he admit to everything else? It's too much right now, his hold too tenuous, so I think he won't. But he should come clean. And I don't know what Betty would do if he did. She might walk.