Mad-Men: 4.08 "The Summer Man" (open spoiler)

[alphaboi867]

Well, initially Bethany only went out with Don to shut Jane up. Maybe she has a bunch of weird issues with her own father.

Bethany is a close friend of Jane who’s a close friend of Francis’s daughter (who’s name escapes me) so it’s entirely possible that Bethany is also a close friend of Miss Francis.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Gangster_Octopus

Joan has been jealous of Peggy ever since Peggy ascended out of the secretarial pool. I am inclined to think that she bleives Peggy slept her way there, although maybe it is just the opposite. The elevator scene had very little to do with Joan’s perceived weakness to the office and had everything to do with Joan’s lack of power compared to Peggy. She is simply jealous.

That’s kind of my thinking, too. Initially Joan held Peggy in contempt: she thought Peggy was a fool who didn’t know how the world worked and who had no idea how a woman would get power. As the show went on, she had to watch as Peggy’s path to power–not the same feminine-wiles path that Joan took–outshone her own approach.

And in the confrontation between Joan and Peggy in this episode, Joan lied. She HADN’T taken care of it. She’d tried, twice, using her traditional approach: she’d tried to get Joey fired first by going to one man (Don) and then another (Lane). Both of them had dismissed her concerns. She tried and failed. Her Vietnam comment was SuperPissedOffJoan, absolutely, but does anyone really think it was going to fix the problem, that those schmucks would’ve stopped making fun of her because of it?

So it was all the more galling to see, once again, that Peggy’s approach–take on a traditionally masculine role in the office–was the effective approach. What she was so mad about wasn’t that Peggy had taken care of her: it’s that she’d had her nose rubbed in her own impotence, and in her inability to control things, and in her profound mistake in holding Peggy in contempt.

[Acsenray]

I don’t think those things are mutually exclusive. They were all in the mix

[shy_guy]

Joan didn’t claim to have already taken care of it. She said she would take care of it. She was going to do so by having dinner with the Sugarberry guy or whatever, and get Joey taken off that account, presumably getting rid of him entirely in the process (that wasn’t clear to me, but okay).

Whether or not that would have worked or worked better than what Peggy did is up for discussion, but Joan hadn’t exhausted her options or claimed to have done so.

[ftg]

@Lightray

Bethany’s background is such that Betty immediately recognized her – by name – after seeing her with Don in the restaurant. If she was a steno pool girl like Jane used to be, Betty wouldn’t have recognized her. And she probably wouldn’t be living at the Barbizon.

I think we’re meant to understand that Bethany moves in the same social circles that Betty does – which are not the same social circles that a Peggy or Joan move in.

I rewatched the scene in the restaurant. Bethany had no clue who Betty was at all. Don had to tell her she was his ex. There was no indication of any sort that Betty knew Bethany. These two women did not know each other.

[Lightray]

@ftg

I rewatched the scene in the restaurant. Bethany had no clue who Betty was at all. Don had to tell her she was his ex. There was no indication of any sort that Betty knew Bethany. These two women did not know each other.

Bethany may not have known Betty; but Betty knew Bethany. As Henry said, it’s a small town as regards their social set.

Even if Bethany did not recognize Betty, Betty would not have recognized Bethany if she were just some steno pool girl. And Bethany would not be living at the Barbizon were she a steno pool girl.

[Bridget_Burke]

@Lightray

@ftg

I rewatched the scene in the restaurant. Bethany had no clue who Betty was at all. Don had to tell her she was his ex. There was no indication of any sort that Betty knew Bethany. These two women did not know each other.

Bethany may not have known Betty; but Betty knew Bethany. As Henry said, it’s a small town as regards their social set.

Even if Bethany did not recognize Betty, Betty would not have recognized Bethany if she were just some steno pool girl. And Bethany would not be living at the Barbizon were she a steno pool girl.

Bethany was a friend of Jane–Roger’s Wife #2. Henry’s daughter was a friend of Margaret, daughter of Mona–Roger’s Wife #1. Margaret is not a friend of Jane. Betty knew Mona better than Jane. That social link is very tenuous.

However, everybody knows Betty–the Notorious Woman who left Don for Henry! Jane, Bethany, Mona, Margaret, Henry’s staffer snubbed by Betty at the trumped up Fund Raiser & All The Good Women of Ossining.

As of the most recent episode, the female staff of SCDP also Know Betty. Some had met her back in Sterling Cooper days, but her recent visit to retrieve Sally refreshed the acquaintance.