Five Favorite "MAD MEN" Season Three (2009) Episodes

 

Below is a list of my top five (5) favorite episodes from Season Three (2009) of "MAD MEN". Created by Matthew Weiner, the series stars Jon Hamm:

FIVE FAVORITE "MAD MEN" SEASON THREE (2009) Episodes



1. (3.11) "The Gypsy and the Hobo" - Don's past finally catches up with him when Betty confronts him about his identity theft. Roger Sterling meets a former client/lover who wishes to rekindle their affair. And Joan discovers that her husband, Greg Harris, has joined the Army after failing to start a medical career in New York.





2. (3.12) "The Grown Ups" - The assassination of President John Kennedy serves as the backdrop of the wedding for Roger's daughter and the final breakup of the Draper marriage.





3. (3.07) "Seven Twenty-Three" - Don's attempts to land the Conrad Hilton account leads to him being blackmailed by Bert Cooper to sign a three-year contract with Sterling Cooper. Peggy begins an affair with former Sterling-Cooper Accounts Head, Duck Phillips. And Betty expresses interest in the Governor's aide, Henry Francis, when she becomes involved in civic politics.





4. (3.06) "Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency" - A visit by the British owners of the Sterling Cooper agency and an account involving a motorized lawn motor results in mishap and bloodshed.





5. (3.09) "Wee Small Hours" - An executive from Sterling Cooper's client, Lucky Strikes, demands that the agency fire art director Sal Romano after the latter rejects the executive's sexual advances. Betty grows closer to Henry Francis and Don begins an affair with Sally's teacher, Suzanne Farrell.

"MAD MEN" Season Three (2009) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from Season Three of AMC's "MAD MEN". Created by Matthew Weiner, the series stars Jon Hamm:




"MAD MEN" SEASON THREE (2009) Photo Gallery

A Letter to Matthew Weiner

A LETTER TO MATTHEW WEINER

Dear Matthew Weiner,

I just watched the latest episode of "MAD MEN", (7.13) "The Milk and Honey Route", and discovered that Betty Francis was doomed for a quickie death from lung cancer. And all I can say is . . .

FUCK YOU.

Fuck you for this piece of contrived writing that came out of the blue, due to your neverending desire to surprise the viewers. It's bad enough that you wasted Betty's nearly decade-long character development with impending death. But you decided to kill her off in the same manner as Don's former mistress, Rachel Katz. How unoriginal can you be?

This whole story arc disgusted me, because it seemed as if you had pulled it out of his ass and dumped it on the viewers without warning. I guess a quick death by lung cancer was your idea of Betty "developing" into a mature character. I should have known better, considering you are a man who found it realistic that a 21 year-old secretary with no college education can be promoted to a junior copywriter after EIGHT MONTHS of work experience, but found the idea of a black copywriter or accounts exec in the 1960s unrealistic . . . despite the fact that such people actually existed. This was a supreme example of your inability to create complex minority characters. And your idea of a FBI background investigation (in Season Four) was so ridiculous that I am still shaking my head in disgust.

After the contrived writing that surrounded Peggy Olson's original job promotion in (1.13) "The Wheel", the dumb ass FBI "investigation" of Don Draper in Season Four and your inability to create and write complex minority characters, I realized that I had enough. So again . . .

FUCK YOU.

"The Worship of Sally Draper"

"THE WORSHIP OF SALLY DRAPER"

The following words regarding a certain character on the AMC series, “MAD MEN” is bound to result in me receiving a good deal of hostile responses … or none at all. I am so sick to death of fans putting Sally Draper on a pedestal. 

I am sick of it. Ever since Season Three, when show creator Matthew Weiner made her a more prominent characters, fans have been putting a character that aged from nine to sixteen on a pedestal. Why, I have no idea . To me, there is nothing special about Sally. She has always struck me as a typical kid who will probably grow up with her own set of virtues and bullshit . . . just like her parents, her siblings, and nearly every other character on this show.

After the last episode, (7.10) “The Forecast” aired, I managed to encounter two articles that waxed lyrical over Sally. In one of them, “MAD MEN: Viva la Sally Draper”, author Julianne Escobedo Shepherd claimed that Sally will be forced to spend the rest of her life overcoming her parents’ personalities. Now, I realize that neither Don Draper aka Dick Whitman or Betty Draper Francis are perfect. In fact, they are far from perfect . . . like every other character on this damn show. Including one Sally Draper. 

Watching Sally in “The Forecast” made me realize how ridiculous are those claims that Sally is more mature than her parents. Do not make me laugh. I saw that Sally was unable or unwilling to cast any blame on her old friend, Glen Bishop, after she witnessed his reunion with Betty. Ten years earlier, Glen commenced upon an infatuation for Sally’s mother that apparently has yet to abate. But instead of commenting on Glen’s obvious attempt to flirt with Betty, Sally went into a tailspin over Betty’s friendly response to Glen. Later in the episode, Sally had dinner with Don and her friends at a restaurant, in which one of her friends began flirting with Don. Who responded with a good deal of friendliness without making a scene. In the end, it was Sally who made a scene by blaming Don for the exchange and ignoring her friend’s attempt at flirtation. The fact that Sally was unwilling to blame her friends for what happened between them and her parents, only tell me that not only is she still immature, but also a world-class scapegoater. 

In The Washington Post article called “MAD MEN: Is Sally Draper Our Last Hope For Change?”, author Soraya Nadia McDonald speculates on whether the character will become some symbol of change on the show. Duh! Sally is the youngest major character on this damn show. By 2015, she will be at least 61 years old. Of course she is the future for a show in which the setting ends in 1970. However, this also means that whatever Sally manages to achieve with her life, she will still have to deal with her frustrations, disappointments and especially her own personal flaws. These personal flaws may or may not affect others. They will certainly affect her. And those flaws will be with Sally until the day she dies or when “MAD MEN” goes off the air. 

I have notice in this latest article on how McDonald went out of her way to insult both Don and Betty … and at the same time, put Sally on a pedestal. I swear … both the media and the fans seemed to regard Sally in the same manner in which Mildred Pierce regarded her daughter Veda. Through rose colored glasses. These same fans have a penchant for ignoring Sally’s penchant for scapegoating. I first became aware of this problem back in Season Four, when she solely blamed Betty for the end of the Drapers’ marriage. Sally possesses other flaws - namely her penchant for bullying - especially her younger brother Bobby; her “sass”, which makes her a world-class needler in my eyes; and her slightly cruel sense of humor. Sally reminds me of certain classmates from my younger years in elementary and high school, whom I heartily disliked or I had regarded with a good deal of wariness. But if there is one person whom Sally reminds me of . . . it is her paternal grandfather, Archie Whitman. 

This is the character who is supposed to be the series’ “Great White Female Hope”? Sally Draper? A character, whose flaws are constantly ignored by the “MAD MEN” fandom? There are some who are talking about a spin-off featuring Sally as an adult. Honestly? That is one show I will never watch. How can I drum up the interest to watch a series about a character I have never harbored a high opinion of in the first place? What I am trying to say is that in the end, I am getting sick and tired of the“Glorification of Sally Draper”. The sooner “MAD MEN” is off the air, the less chance I have of encountering this phenomenon. God, I hope so.

"MAD MEN" Season Three Quibbles

Three weeks ago, AMC-TV’s award winning series, ”MAD MEN” ended its third season. And although I consider the previous season slightly better, I still ended up enjoying Season Three very much. It also brought about some drastic changes into the lives of the characters. But I am not here to discuss what I had liked about Season Three. I am here to discuss the quibbles I had with this latest season. Some of the problems I had with Season Three had to do with creator Matthew Weiner’s story. And some of the problems I had were with the fans. Perhaps I will start with the fans.


”MAD MEN” Season Three Quibbles

Fan Reactions


Betty Draper - I get the feeling that many fans of ”MAD MEN” have this great desire to brand certain characters as the villain or villainess of the season. Both Herman “Duck” Phillips and Bobbie Barrett were castigated by many fans as the “bad guys” of Season Two, despite the fact that they were no better or worse than the rest of the major characters. This season, it became Betty Draper’s turn to attract the fans’ ire. For an entire season, I came across comments and articles that branded Betty as a cold wife and an even colder and abusive mother. The fans dumped their shit on poor Betty’s head so much that they managed to ignore the fallible of other characters – especially Don’s lack of parental skills. Every time Betty scolded her children, the fans labeled her as abusive, cold or the worst mother in television history. I do not believe that Betty is a wonderful mother. Then again, she is not a terrible mother. She is not very demonstrative or warm. But compare to Don, she is usually there for her children.

The only two times she was not available happened when her father, Gene Hofstadt died in (3.04) “The Arrangement”. Dealing with her father’s death and a grieving daughter screaming in her face that she did not care caused Betty to order said daughter to her room. Fans dumped a lot of shit on Betty for that act. Yet, at the same time, many of them failed to notice that Don seemed more concerned about Betty than Sally. In the season finale, (3.13) “Shut the Door. Have a Seat”, she left New York with baby Eugene and new beau, Henry Francis, to get a quickie divorce in Reno, Nevada. Fans castigated her for leaving Sally and Bobby behind in New York with the Drapers’ maid, Carla. And yet . . . no one speculated on why Don was not keeping an eye on the kids, during her absence. So much shit has been dished out about Betty that I found myself coming to her defense in two essays. Two. And Betty is not even my favorite character.




Peggy Olson’s Romance With Duck Phillips - I never understood the reaction to this romance. Then again, I never understood the fans’ aversion to Duck Phillips. In (3.05) “The Fog, Duck Phillips had approached Peggy Olson and Pete Campbell in an attempt to recruit them for the agency he worked for – Grey’s. Pete, who had not forgiven Peggy for her revelations about their son, left before Duck could begin his recruitment speech. Peggy heard the speech, but rejected Duck’s offer out of some misplaced (in my opinion) loyalty toward Don and Sterling Cooper. When Don had chewed her out for asking him to work on the Hilton account, Peggy arrived at the hotel suite that Duck was working at to return a gift . . . and began an affair with him. The reaction to this affair was unbelievable. Critics like Matt Maul began spouting this view of Peggy as this naïve woman being sexually and emotionally exploited by Duck. All because most of the fans disapproved of Duck abandoning his lousy dog into the streets of Manhattan in last year’s (2.06) “Maidenform”. The ironic thing is that Peggy and Duck’s relationship did not bring about any personal catastrophe for Peggy. She simply had a healthy, sexual relationship with an older man with no strings attached. And for some reason, many fans could not deal with this. Especially when the man in question was Duck Phillips.




The Adulation of Joan Harris née Holloway - By the end of Season Three, I found myself wondering if I had developed a dislike or even hatred of former Office Manager, Joan Harris. Why? I have noticed that in the eyes of many fans, Joan cannot do any wrong. And I found this attitude annoying. It was bad enough when fans defended or excused her racist remark to Paul Kinsey’s ex-girlfriend, Sheila White, last season. Sometime between Greg Harris’ rape of her in (2.12) “The Mountain King” and the Season Three premiere, (3.01) “Out of Town”, Joan married him. She married the fiancé who had raped her. On a certain level, I understood why Joan did it. She internalized this belief that being married to a successful professional with kids and a house in the suburbs was an ideal life. She had internalized this belief to the point that she upped and married her rapist, instead of dumping his ass and search for another potential husband. And instead of criticizing Joan for this incredibly stupid act, many fans came to her rescue and created all sorts of excuses for her action. One of the Lipp sisters on the ”BASKET OF KISSES” site even accused this woman of stating that it was Joan’s fault that Greg had raped her. That was one of the most stupid accusations I have ever come across. In (3.11) “The Gypsy and the Hobo”, Greg whined about his failed job interview for a position as a psychiatrist. In a fit of anger, Joan took a vase and slammed it against his head. And many fans cheered. That is correct. Fans cheered over an act of domestic violence. Why? Because they disliked Greg for raping Joan, last season. Which is understandable. I also disliked Greg. But these same fans believed that because Greg had raped Joan last season, she had every time to bash him over the head in a fit of temper. What can I say? I would have cheered if Joan had been defending herself. But self-defense did not seemed to be Joan’s aim. Instead, she committed an act of mindless violence to express her anger and frustration at her loser husband. Yet, her act garnered cheers, much to my disgust. Every time Joan’s name was mentioned, a slew of complimentary adjectives followed. By the time the season ended, the woman seemed to be on a damn pedestal. Yep, I do believe I am in danger of developing a deep dislike toward Joan. And it is not even her fault.




Don Draper . . . Father of the Year - Pardon me, while I take some time out to control my laughter over this. I am going to make this short. I agree that Don is a warmer parent than Betty. He knows how to be friends with their kids. And I had applauded his decision to take that dead German soldier’s helmet away from his son, who had received it from Granpa Gene Hofstadt. But that is the best I can say about Don as a father. Being a warm parent only tells me that he knows how to be a pal to his kids. But I still believe that he is a lousy parent. Why? He is hardly there for Betty and his kids. A heavily drugged Betty had complained about Don’s unreliability, as she was about to give birth in ”The Fog”. And in the season finale, Sally pointed out that Don was rarely at home with his family. This was certainly the case during his affair with Sally’s teacher, Suzanne Farrell. Following Gene Hofstadt’s death, Don consoled a grieving Betty and failed to show any concern for a grieving Sally, until the last moment – while she was asleep. And when Carla had confronted both Betty and Don about Sally’s infraction against Bobby in (3.08) “The Souvenir”, Don sneaked away in an effort to avoid responsibility in dealing with his daughter. I believe that Betty Draper is a mediocre parent. As for her warm and friendly husband, he is a lousy one.







Season Three Story




Suzanne Farrell - I understand that Matt Weiner wanted the fans to believe that Don had fallen in love with Sally’s schoolteacher. And although I managed to accept this by (3.10) “The Color Blue”, I thought the storyline surrounding the Don/Suzanne romance was one of the worst to be featured on the show. I had a problem with it on two major counts:

a) Actress Abigail Spencer (who portrayed Miss Farrell) had NO chemistry with Jon Hamm. Many fans have claimed that Hamm is one of those actors who can create chemistry with just about anyone. I think that his interactions with Ms. Spencer had disproved this theory.

b) The Don/Abigail romance ended with a whimper in ”The Gypsy and the Hobo”. Don and Abigail had plans for a trip to Connecticut, while Betty and the kids were out of town. But when his family returned unexpectedly and Betty confronted Don about his false identity and the items found in his study, Don left Abigail sitting in his car and waiting for hours. She eventually slinked away back to her little home. The following morning, Don informed her that their affair was over . . . for the moment. A rather lame ending to a rather disappointing affair.




The British Invasion - Nothing really came from Putnam, Powell, and Lowe’s purchase of Sterling Cooper. Well . . . Lane Pryce, the parent company’s financial officer for Sterling Cooper, was responsible for the dismissal of several staff members by the time ”Out of Town” aired. In that particular episode, he fired someone named Burt Peterson, who had succeeded Duck Phillips as Head of Accounts. At PP&L’s orders, he set Pete Campbell and Ken Cosgrove against each other for the position of Head of Accounts. Sterling Cooper nearly ended up with Guy Kendricks, a PP&L executive, to helm Sterling Cooper in (3.06) “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency”. But Kendricks’ encounter with Lois Sadler at the wheel of a John Deere lawnmower severed his foot and his budding career as an ad man. In ”The Color Blue”, Lane Pryce learned that PP&L planned to sell Sterling Cooper and revealed the news in ”Shut the Door. Have a Seat”. This led to Pryce, Bert Cooper, Roger Sterling and Don Draper raiding some of Sterling Cooper’s talent to form their own agency. And that is it. Weiner failed to develop a steady storyline regarding PP&L’s ownership of Sterling Cooper and the so-called British Invasion ended without any real drama between the season premiere and the finale.




Gene Hofstad and Sally Draper - I understand that Sally had been devastated by the death of her maternal grandfather, Gene Hofstadt. But I found myself unable to empathize wholeheartedly with her. Perhaps that was due to my belief that Weiner and his writers had failed to engage in any prolonged exploration of their relationship (which was only covered in two episodes) before the old man’s death.




Betty Draper’s Pregnancy and Gene Draper’s Birth - According to Matt Weiner, he had decided to set Season Three nearly six months after the end of Season Two because he wanted to depict the effect of Betty’s pregnancy and young Eugene’s birth upon the Draper family. I hate to say this, but he failed. Baby Eugene was barely focused upon, following his birth.




Carla - I am certain that many fans of the show are relieved that Matt Weiner has allowed the role of Carla, the Drapers' maid to have a bigger role, this season. And so am I. But . . . once again, Weiner proved himself incapable of creating an interesting and complex African-American character. What is my beef? Many fans have praised Carla for being "dignified and sympathetic". Unfortunately, these traits simply made her another Hollywood stereotype - the dignified black servant. In other words, Carla is boring.

There are no imperfections in Carla's character at all. In fact, there seemed to be nothing wrong with Carla. I realize that as a servant, she has to maintain a facade in front of her employers, but . . . good grief! If the secretaries and minor employees can show their warts when their bosses are not around, why not Carla? Why not allow her to interact in a more interesting way with other servants in the Drapers' Ossing neighborhood? Why dump her with a stereotype that has been around since the 1950s?




Peggy Olson and Duck Phillips’ Affair - I can only wonder if Weiner plans to explore Peggy and Duck’s affair in Season Four. He certainly failed to do so in Season Three. Fans had been prophesying disaster for Peggy ever since it started in ”Seven Twenty-Three”. Instead, nothing really came of it. Since the new offices of Sterling Cooper Draper and Pryce are now located in one of the suites at the Pierre Hotel, the scene of Duck’s working location, perhaps some kind of drama will unfold between Peggy and Duck. I hope so for Weiner’s sake . . . and for the sake of the fans.

"MAD MEN": Fan Dislike of Betty Draper

After watching the "MAD MEN" episode, (3.04) "The Arrangement", and reading several reactions to it; I decided to write the following article on Betty Draper:

"MAD MEN": FANDOM DISLIKE OF BETTY DRAPER

After a recent viewing of the "MAD MEN" Season Three episode, (3.04) "The Arrangement", I read several articles about from critics and fans. After reading numerous comments on the article, I found myself becoming angry over the critics and fans' reaction to the character of Betty Draper. Ironically, I feel no anger toward Matt Weiner. Instead, I felt anger at these fans' continuing misreading of Betty Draper's character. After reading two or three articles about "The Arrangement", I just read this article on the recent episode and now find myself wondering if many of the show's fans had ever understood the character. Frankly, I doubt it very much. Much of the fans’ vitriol toward Betty seemed to stem from her "treatment" of her two children, Sally and Bobby.

Ever since the airing of the Season Two episode, (2.02) "Flight 1" in 2008, "MAD MEN" fans had been accusing Betty Draper, the first wife of series' protagonist, Don Draper, of being a poor mother. In response to Flight 1, these fans had nitpicked over her complaint about her son Bobby's lies about a drawing he had submitted in school. It turned out, Bobby had traced the drawing from another illustration and declared it as his own original work. Matters became worse in (2.04) "Three Sundays" when Betty had demanded that Don punish Bobby for a series of infractions. After this episode had aired, many fans accused her of being a cold and abusive parent, especially since she had expressed anger at Don for refusing to discipline his son. To this day, I am shocked, not by Betty's insistence upon disciplining her son, but by the fans' reactions. Surely they realized that the episode was set in 1962? Before this decade and in the following two, parents had disciplined their children in various ways, including with spankings. Yet, fans had reacted as if this was something rare and accused Betty of being an abusive mother.

In a later Season Two episode, (2.12) "The Mountain King", Betty had caught her daughter Sally smoking. She punished the girl by locking her in a closet for a few hours. Again, fans accused Betty of being abusive. They had completely ignored the fact that Sally, a young girl around eight years old, was smoking. Instead, they focused only on Betty's punishment. I found myself wondering how my parents would have reacted if they had caught me smoking. I suspect that they would have shown less restraint than Betty. Hell, I suspect that if I had been that parent, I would have also shown less restraint. Betty eventually let Sally out of the closet and explained - somewhat - the situation between Don and herself (they were separated at the time). But the damage had been done. Betty was now a bad mother.

Following the premiere of Season Three, the fandom's reaction to Betty had ascended to vitriolic heights. Following the season premiere, (3.01) "Out of Town", fans had complained about Betty's curt dismissal of Bobby, as she and Don were prepared to discipline Sally for breaking into her father's suitcase. They complained of the pregnant Betty's desire to give birth to a second daughter, citing this as an example of her immaturity. And in (3.02) "Love Among the Ruins", these fans had Betty of being immature when she insisted that her ailing father, Gene Hofstadt, remain with the Drapers after his live-in girlfriend abandoned him. They had accepted William's argument that Betty wanted to prevent her brother William from selling their father's home and profiting from it. Without any real evidence. And . . . they complained about Betty being curt to Sally, when she ordered the young girl to zip up the dress she wore at Roger Sterling's garden party in (3.03) "My Old Kentucky Home". But the fans’ hostility toward Betty hit an all time high in "The Arrangement". According to many hostile fans, Betty was guilty of the following in this episode:

*Her refusal to discuss with Gene his plans to distribute his late wife’s furs to herself and her sister-in-law, which many saw as a sign of her immaturity.

*A few fans had accused her of closing the door on Sally, after the police officer had arrived with news of Gene’s death.

*Her dismissal of Sally from the kitchen, after the latter ranted at the adult Drapers and Betty’s brother William, over their "failure" to grieve over Gene’s death.

*Her failure to comfort Sally over Gene’s death.

Betty's refusal to discuss Gene’s plans regarding the distribution of his late wife's furs after his death had drawn a great deal of critical fire. Personally, I do not understand why. Her refusal to discuss such matters seemed reasonable to me. Why would any grown child want to talk with a parent over his or her impending death, as if discussing a business transaction? Such a discussion still strikes me as too morbid and emotional for anyone to bear. Especially if that particular person was in the last trimester of her pregnancy. In one of his more lucid moments, Gene could have written down his wishes regarding inheritance and other arrangements in a signed letter . . . some time ago. He could have left instructions about his wife's furs right after her death. Instead, he had decided to openly discuss the matter with Betty, who obviously found the subject disturbing. And I have a question. Why on earth did he wait so long to distribute his late wife’s furs? She had been dead for over three years.

Many fans had pointed out that Gene’s disappointment in Betty as a clear indication of her shallow and immature nature. His main complaints seemed to center around her failure to become a professional, like her mother. Ruth Hofstadt had been an engineer back in the 1920s. Gene's other complaint had centered around her marriage to Don. Now, this man knew what kind of parent his wife used to be. There was never been any previous hint in past episodes that Gene and Ruth Hofstadt had encouraged Betty to acquire a profession. When she became a professional model, Mrs. Hofstadt called her a whore. And judging from Gene’s story about his wife’s efforts to reduce Betty’s weight, I suspect that he left his daughter solely in Ruth’s hands. As for Betty’s marriage to Don, had Gene become aware that his son-in-law had stolen someone else’s identity? Or was he simply disappointed that Betty had married a man from a working-class background, who did not have any family? If Gene had known that Don was a phony, why did he fail to expose the latter to Betty? And if Gene’s problem with Don had more to do with the younger man’s social background, then I can only conclude that he was just as shallow and superficial as his daughter, Don and nearly every other major character in the series. Some fans had accused Betty of shutting the front door in young Sally’s face after learning about Gene’s death. Well, I have an easy response. The cop who had delivered the news about Gene was the one who had closed the door in Sally’s face, preventing her from following him and Betty into the house. And since I do not recall him locking the door, Sally could have easily went ahead and followed them inside.

Finally, I come to the one scene in this episode that had caused a great deal of hostility from the fans – namely Betty’s dismissal of Sally, following the latter’s outbreak over her grandfather’s death. Many fans expressed outrage over Betty’s action, claiming it as another example of her cold attitude toward her children. The interesting thing about their reaction was willingness to only view the scene from Sally's point-of-view. No one had been willing to view it from Betty’s point-of-view, or any of the other adults. Very few seemed unwilling to consider that both Betty and her brother William had been devastated by their father’s death. As far as I know, only one person back in 2009 had managed to comprehend both Betty and Sally’s point-of-views, due to her own personal experiences. William tried to hide his own grief through a mild joke and both Betty and Don had laughed. Sally, who had overheard the joke, had jumped to conclusions that none of them cared about Gene’s death. And because of this belief, she ranted against her parents and uncle. Upset and shaken by her daughter’s outburst, Betty ordered Sally to her room . . . before she broke into tears. And instead of viewing the scene as another example of family conflict during a special occasion – a death in the family, in this case – many viewers saw this as another example of "Betty Draper’s despicable nature". I even came across an article that failed to mention Betty’s own grief over her father’s death.

What I still cannot comprehend is why very few viewers had failed to comment on Don's actions. What exactly did he do? He laughed at William’s joke. He looked understandably stunned by Sally’s outburst. He mildly chastised Betty for eating one of the peaches found in Gene’s car . . . and she ignored him. Speaking of the peaches, many fans saw Betty’s consumption of the peach as either a sign of her immaturity . . . or some kind of malice toward Sally. What in the fuck? Talk about being anal. Following William and his wife Judy’s departure, Don comforted a grieving Betty inside their bedroom. And when she finally went to sleep, he peeked in on a slumbering Sally. That was it. He hardly did anything to comfort Sally, aside from checking on her. And yet . . . I have never come across any criticism against him.

I wish I could explain why Betty had received the majority of criticism from the fans. She became the Bobbie Barrett of Season Three – the female everyone loved to hate. Fans never found Season Three's equivalent to Duck Phillips. Not really. Had "MAD MEN" really been that desperate to find a character to vilify every season? To the point they were unwilling to examine the complexities of all characters? Why are they willing to excuse the flaws and mistakes of female characters like Peggy Olson and Joan Holloway Harris and at the same time, dump all of their ire on the likes of Betty Draper? Was it because Peggy had managed to adhere to their ideals of the 1960s and 1970s feminist? Or perhaps they had admired Joan’s sophistication, style and wit? Whatever.

Look . . . I realize that Betty Draper was never perfect. She was not the world’s greatest mother. And at times, she could be rather immature and shallow. But you know what? None of the other characters on this damn show were perfect. In fact, nearly all of them were very flawed. Don struck me as an even worse parent than Betty or anyone else in that series. He had seemed more obsessed with maintaining appearance and indulging in his desires. He was also a fraud. Despite her ambition and talent, Peggy had struck me as an immature woman who assumed facades and personas with more speed than her mentor. I never could fathom her reaction to that opening sequence from "BYE-BYE BIRDIE", featured in "Love Among the Ruins". But that was due to Matthew Weiner's writing more than anything. Despite the strides he had gained during late Season Two, Account salesman Pete Campbell had yet to overcome his desire for approval . . . and his penchant for behaving like a prat when things do not go his way. Paul Kinsey was another poseur who had been ashamed of his past as a middle-class or working-class Jersey man. He had also been ashamed of the fact he had attended Princeton via a scholarship. And for Joan . . . I really did not know what think of her at that point in the series. Why on earth did an intelligent and experienced woman of the world marry a man who had raped her? Why? I have asked this question on several blogs, message boards and forums. And instead of giving me an answer, fans either made excuses for Joan’s choice or glossed over it by expressing their anticipation over her dumping her husband.

I realize forcing or coercing fans to like Betty Draper would have been the wrong thing to do. But I never could accept or embrace their negative view of her. And I also suspect that fans had sometimes allowed their emotions and prejudices to serve as a barrier to any possibility of a rational discussion on the series and its characters. Considering how the comments regarding Betty’s role in "The Arrangement" had managed to annoy or even anger me, perhaps I had my own biases regarding the character and was never able anymore rational than those fans who disliked her.