Mad Men 3x12(b)

Back in TV land, on Mad Men, I’ve been feeling that Betty and Don Draper were growing back to each other, getting past his false identity and weathering the storm after Kennedy’s assassination. There was this sweet scene in which Bets wakes up because the baby’s crying ... the bed is empty beside her ... so we assume Don is out philandering with sassy Suzanne ... Bets goes to the baby’s room ... only to find Don’s already cradling his little boy! But when Betty screams watching Lee Harvey Oswald get shot on live television and Don tries to comfort her, she says she has to leave the house and clear her head. Instead, she’s meeting with that Henry Francis she’s been dallying with. He offers her marriage. They don’t even know each other! What a moron. She goes back home and tells Don she doesn’t love him anymore. He believes she’s distraught about the tragic event of JFK’s death. The tables have been turned: while Don has cut things off with Suzanne, Betty is drawn further toward that Henry.

When she suggests Don to contact a divorce lawyer, he advises she should see a doctor. She asks him why, “because I have to be sick to want out of this?” “I didn’t break up this family,” she retorts when he blames her for walking away... sigh... Soon enough Betty is seeing a lawyer with Henry, but she learns that it won’t be easy in New York to get a divorce. Moreover, Henry advices her against a financial settlement. (That’ll mean she’ll become dependent on Henry. Not a good idea.) Later Don finds out about Henry and his hurt turns into anger. All the ugliness comes out, the accusations, the frustrations. The truth comes crashing down and all the lies are crumbling. Oh, my, I’ve been rooting for these two, believing they could get past their issues. I always wanna believe in love. But it seems quite inevitable now... They need to tell the kids, Sally and Bobby, who take it hard. They want to know who’s to blame, solve the problem, and keep things the way they are. “Nobody wants to do this,” Don tells Bobby. Afterwards Don calls Betty from work to let her know he won’t be fighting her. “I hope you get what you always wanted,” he adds. She and Henry will go to Reno for a quicky divorce. Don moves to Greenwich Village.