But I think she really does not know what she's getting. I think she has a fantasy of who Don is. I think Don has a fantasy of who Megan is. Worse he has a fantasy of who he is when he is with Megan. Of course, it makes for a more interesting show when main characters mostly make bad choices.

I think I could buy Betty as an "every mother" if I could easily recall any scenes where she seems to genuinely like her children at all. Surely every mother has a moment or two when she is petty or says something awful to her children, but those moments are all we ever see of Betty as a mother.

The last time we saw as good mother was shooting pigeons.

Just a couple of weeks ago (a couple of months in show-time) she was grinning with delight at Sally shrieking over Beatles tickets, and when Don showed up at Gene's birthday party (thank you, Doctor Faye, for insisting he be there) she shrugged off Henry's irritation and put Gene where he belonged at that moment, in his father's arms.

Tiny, tiny little glimmers of something better in an otherwise completely damaged and damaging job of parenting, but a lot better than shooting pigeons!

I know for certain that my mother was nothing like Betty, but I would actually hesitate to ever suggest she watch the show because her own mother truly, truly was. My mom is a little over a decade older than Sally, her younger sister just a couple of years older, and between them I don't think there's been one Betty/Sally clash that they didn't experience in their childhoods. (They, and she, did eventually come to peace; it's no exaggeration to say that joining AA saved her life and her soul and her relationships with everyone in her family.)

Possibly my grandmother is part of why I still feel sympathy for Betty; I didn't have to live with her as a mother, and all I know is her beauty, her sorrow and regret, her constant, fumbling efforts at atonement. Stopping being Betty was a huge good thing for her and for everyone who knew her, and utterly necessary, but the cost to her of that relentless self-examination was brutal.

I think the structure of this season did Betty the most disservice of any character. With the focus shifting from Don's home life to the new office, she was in so few episodes that there wasn't really time to show nuanced character development, so every time we checked in with her it was "Yep, still a bitch. Yep, still unsatisfied. Yep, still emotionally stuck at age 14."

Worse he has a fantasy of who he is when he is with Megan.

Sure, and it doesn't help that it all happened in California, where he is so different from Work Don, but some of the difference is fake-it-til-you-make-it, I genuinely believe. Stuff like the reaction to the spilled milkshake. It really is possible to create a more pleasant life for yourself if you can prevent yourself from getting mad about stuff like that.

I don't know, I think it could be fine. I'm not saying he won't screw his next secretary.

she shrugged off Henry's irritation and put Gene where he belonged at that moment, in his father's arms.

I don't think that was really being a good mother/happiness, that was more smug satisfaction at her having a family and him not. It's not being gracious when you're only doing it to show your superiority.

I don't think that was really being a good mother/happiness, that was more smug satisfaction at her having a family and him not. It's not being gracious when you're only doing it to show your superiority.

Yeah, I always got a very wealthy casting crumbs to the poor vibe from that scene. The fact that they showed Don standing off to the side by himself, still isolated, in the midst of the party atmosphere, was very telling.

I didn't think Betty was particularly gracious in that scene, but I did see a little bit of wistful in her smug as well.

You know what I want to do right now? Go watch that scene between Peggy and Joan again.

"That's bullshit!"

Hmmm, a lot of my favorite moments this season were Peggy related.

Her scene with Joan.
Peggy riding the scooter around in circles in the empty studio.
Peeking over the wall to spy on Don.
Don putting his hand over hers in "The Suitcase".
Laughing off Joyce's attempt to nibble her neck.