John Hamm does a fantastic job as Draper: falling apart, perhaps reaching a lowest possible point which will sustain him. Betty was awesome. The women in this world have little power, little room for manoeuvre. They are small, weak, have no economic leverage. And yet we see Betty stand up to Don, face him down, and defeat him utterly. He told her everything. Her tiny frame, so upright, and his big body all slumped over.
Similarly his earth-child lover comes over very well. She is dignified, authentic in her feelings, generous to Don when he dumps her. I think perhaps he is starting to realise that the women around him are powerful beings. I am hoping that this will give him access to ever greater sources of creativity in the next stage of his life.
I think Kennedy will be assassinated in the next episode, as that is only three weeks on from Halloween. I think a serious flaw with Mad men this season is that we have no feeling at all for Kennedy as a president, as an emotional focus of the nation, as anything at all to these people. I don't have a feel for American life in those days, how the president was thought of, but nobody ever mentions him. Perhaps he only gained significance in retrospect? No idea.
