Basketcases this week have blown my mind. Everyone, I mean everyone (except me) noticed that Don fixed a chair for Anna, and that this was parallel to him refusing to do so for Betty. Not refusing, so much as neglecting, but neglecting to the point where Betty’s rage spilleth over, and thus endeth the chair. 
Basketcase Jill pointed out that when Dick arrived at Anna’s home in The Mountain King, he asked for a shower, and she said ‘Of course.’ But when Don and Betty arrived home from Pennsylvania in The Inheritance, Don wanted a shower and Betty told him to leave.
It’s a perfect parallel: What Don won’t do for Betty, what Betty won’t allow of Don; all of that is allowed and given freely between Dick and Anna.
25 Responses to “Showers and Chairs”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
It’s a perfect parallel: What Don won’t do for Betty, what Betty won’t allow of Don; all of that is allowed and given freely between Dick and Anna.
It's perfect, because Dick and Anna have no secrets being kept from one another, as to how Don and Betty have each built a wall around themselves and from their partner.
There's no level of trust between Don and Betty as individuals and as a couple. It's just so interesting, because in the very beginning of season 2, Betty felt honored to be allowed into Don's work world, with just being introduced to the man, who wanted Don to work for his company. She literally cried, because it was the very first time in a long while, that she felt that Don really needed her in his life as someone more than just his wife. Then to see it all unravel throughout the season, just made me feel so much more for Betty and in a way, see how Don was sabatoging his home life.
I'm so excited for Sunday. So excited.
Don on the couch was an automatic. Not even a hesitation from either party.
If it ever happened, it ended gracefully and distinctfully.
It looks like the finale will deal with the Cuban missile crisis.
Which I think will connect with that MIRV presentation (which I still contend is what made Don "come off the rails" and head to Palm Springs).
I didn't make the chair/shower connection, either… Gotta love The Basketcases!
Actually, Deb, I do make the chair connection in my review of TMK. However, I saw it as an indication that Don, whether he knows it or not, wants to make amends with Betty.
It looks like the finale will deal with the Cuban missile crisis. My guess is that they’ll tie that in with Betty’s bleeding somehow and create a scenario where Don will be able to come back. Just guessing.
I thought Betty wanted Don to fix the electric outlet in the dinning room. I do not remember the chair.
You are included in “everyone except me.?
D'OH! I deserve a huge slap for that
Doug, you're right, she only specifically mentioned the outlet. But there was an ongoing series of her asking Don to fix things, she was peeved with him, and she wrecked the chair. We can surmise that she asked for that as well.
And hell, Anna probably didn't ask. Don probably noticed the chair was creaky and offered. Why couldn't he do that in his own home?
If it’s any consolation, Deb, I missed those connections, too. That’s why I love this site. Basketcases rule.
Dick & Anna don’t appear to have a sexual relationship, or if they did at one time, it has cooled to a friendship. This makes a big difference as to how one deals with disappointments and problems in the relationship. It’s a second chakra thing, the chakra that only knows how to communicate by giving or withholding things. The land of passive-aggression.
Great thread! Who’d have thought chairs could say so much! I’m still obsessing over Betty this week – I think I must have missed her when we were all whisked away with the Jet-Setters. Maybe Matt and Co. did that intentionally to make us all think about Betty a little more and not take her for granted so much (hint, hint, Don)
Ya’ll are making me retrench a bit on what I said on the other Betty post. I said that Betty is very deliberate – and she is, most of the time. To maintain control and relevance in her too often out-of-control life she generally thinks through all the permutations before taking action. She was mentally steeled for the decision not to let Don back and you can tell she knew this was going to take some fortitude.
But . . .
She will act quite spontaneously when BIG emotions pounce on her (kinda like when she pounced on Don in the famous midnight attack) The chair is a another great example as well as the terrific BB Gun scene in S1.
Wish I could join you for the shin-dig next week but I’ll be thinking about you – have a great time!
Matt, you mis-read me. I said: Everyone, I mean everyone (except me) noticed that Don fixed a chair for Anna, and that this was parallel to him refusing to do so for Betty.
You are included in “everyone except me.”
DB, I agree, they’ve never had a sexual relationship. They’re purely 4th chakra.
When Don watched the missile film, he must've been thinking, the whole world is going to go up in a mushroom cloud, Betty doesn't want me, I'm going to live life. And he's looking for work in California. I wonder if Don will make a fortune in the Hot-Rod world? How can Betty resist him? Couldn't she have taken him back with conditions?
I think when this season opened Betty had laid down the law on Don staying in the city, and other behaviors not for married men.
Did I see a preview of the show where Mona attempted suicide? Did Jane actually accept Roger's proposal?
At that point in their marriage, wouldn't Betty have learned that Don didn't want to fix things for her? Remember when she sent him out to the yard on Sally's birthday to build the playhouse. He was so freaked out by the domestic role she wanted him to play that he drove off and didn't come home with the cake until nine hours later. I'd think that might have been a signal.
@Zliphie: did you watch that on AMC, because I haven't seen it on the Web.
Maggie Siff was fugged. Again. And yes, she deserved it.
http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/
O0h ooh, I feel so smart; usually reading the comments I feel way out of my league. I'm proud to say I noticed the shower issue immediately. "Can I take" or "I'm gonna take" a shower is such a basic comfort request. One accepted, one rejected.
But it's interesting, the "what do you see" issues; I'm a Lutheran, and my husband was raised Catholic; we both saw all the communion/Christian ritual/blood/baptism stuff, but I missed the Mary in the Popsicle ad; I thought Peggy modeled the woman in the ad after her and her new hairstyle; but my husband said, "Did you see Mary there?" and I said, "Uh, no." And he said, "Oh yeah, the way she posed; her clothing; her arms. That was Mary."
Mary selling popsicles. COOL.
Although he would never admit it — not even to himself — Don's life has been coming off the rails for nearly two seasons now, while most of the other characters seemed on their way up. (Except Peggy, who hit rock bottom at end of S1.) As we approach the end of S2 (so sad), everything seems to be doing a 180: Pete's marriage is falling apart, Roger's HAS fallen apart, YodaBert's life has lost meaning now that he's sold off his company; Duck's back on the bottle and hence doomed; Joan's trapped in an abusive relationship and most certainly moving forward with it; Sal's desperately trapped in his own private hell; the list goes on. And who's getting it together? Don, who's about to go through a major spiritual awakening, and Peggy, who's on her way to becoming one of those pioneering women in advertising. DYING for Sunday already but DREADING the months of waiting that will follow…
After a much TOO long overseas business trip. I missed the BasketCases? And I finally got to watch the latest episode. Being home does have it's rewards!
CHAIRS and SHOWERS:
A CHAIR is about SUPPORT AND BEING SUPPORTIVE.
In order for someone to be a supportive aspect in one's life there needs to be a ground work of honesty. All other variations are simply an ego on a stage.
THE BROKEN CHAIR
Don isn't being emotionally supportive of Betty nor their children. All of Don's lies and marital infidelities are destroying the supportive structure that could exist in Don and Betty's relationship. These disruptive/destructive actions/emotions then impact the whole family dynamic.
Don didn't repair his family's chair just like he hasn't worked toward honesty and repairing his relationship with Betty so they both can be supportive to each other. Betty's smashing the chair is a physical statement that amends that are needed for their relationship to improve are not being made.
Don has a responsibility to be BOTH EMOTIONALLY AND FINANCIALLY supportive of his family. He has so far been financially but not emotionally supportive.
THE REPAIRED CHAIR.
Here Don's relationship is grounded in a much larger amount of honesty (there is still much that he isn't being honest about, but it doesn't have immediacy). He is also being literally the financial SUPPORT for the owner of the chair. The relationship calls for a limited amount of emotional contact/support and he does provide that. In some ways Don's and the woman's relationship is like a young daughter/father relationship. She is child-like in the way gives him total approval based on very limited information/knowledge of his actual behavior and the actual circumstances.
A SHOWER (BAPTISM) NOT TAKEN.
Betty's refusal of a shower is a way of saying that the washing of 'sins' much first include confession. Don has confessed to nothing, so no shower…
A SHOWER (BAPTISM) OFFERED AND TAKEN.
Here we start to see the changes being wrought in the religious landscape. All is forgiven in the moment with no action necessary on the part of the sinner. 'You are welcome as you are.'
AN OCEAN OF WATER, SINS THAT IMPACT THE WORLD AT LARGE.
What if your behaviors are new templates in how to deceive?
And what if these deceptions will impact whole cultures, the world?
Would the ocean be large enough to wash away THAT sin?
BasketCases?
should be
BASKETCASES!!!
Nicely done, John.
Wow. John this is good stuff.
"Betty’s refusal of a shower is a way of saying that the washing of ‘sins’ must first include confession. Don has confessed to nothing, so no shower…"
You hit it on the head. No truth = no "confession" = no shower = no forgiveness.
Don first has to come to grips with what he has done – acknowledge his wrongdoing, you know, good old fashioned contrition (pretty dang appropriate for a episode with so much Catholic-Christian imagery)
Don is not quite contrite – yet – but he seems genuinely remorseful and headed in the right direction. He admits to Anna that he has messed things up royally which is more honesty by a long shot than we have seen before out of him. And his tarot card scene with wise, touchstone Anna followed by his the swim in the mighty Pacific can’t be anything but good.
I totally agree with your take of the rest of the crew – Don seems to be turning a corner, but Roger, Joan, Pete – I just don’t know.
Time will tell. It’s gonna be a long off season but sounds like the trajectory is good for an S3 –lets hope!
John, A+ comments … enjoyed reading.
I find it interesting that Don confessed lots of things to Anna, but never mentioned infidelity (that I recall). Don never talks about that to anyone.
On another note, one thing I hope to see in the finale is one more scene with just Don and Roger. From all the interviews and such, it seems these two are best friends. The look on Hamm's face when Slattery is talking is really funny – like he's the older brother or something.
Zilphie: Betty watched Don make up a story about what to say to Sally, and realized he lies so easily that no matter what they agree to, she can't trust him.
Brenda: We don't know how the "not staying out" happened. It looked to me like Don might have volunteered; he had such remorse at the end of S1, and Betty was not yet behaving angrily towards him. I think, though, that if you agree to it, you're held to it, even if it didn't come out of a confrontation. I mean, your husband out of the blue promises something, you're damn well going to notice when he doesn't keep the promise, even if it wasn't something you'd demanded.
We, the audience, saw that Don was freaking out about domestic life. Betty was incredibly busy with a party and all of a sudden Don disappeared. There's no reason for her to understand that Don was triggered by domesticity—why should that even occur to her?
I have written about this before, so I hope I'm not being tedious, but for me the power in watching MM is that it so meticulously re-creates the domestic life in the early '60s that I experienced. Even the gorgeous lighting makes it look like the old Kodachrome slides that we had from that era.
What I noticed was the disconnect between Don's world and Betty's world. Betty is caught up in a world of domestic minutaie and it's choking her off. She's trapped and angry and that rage is coming out all over the place. By asking Don to do those small things she's trying to connect with him–trying to bring him into the world she inhabits, after asking and not getting into his world. He's either disinterested or missing her invitations–I can't really tell, but I do think it is telling that he feels drawn to women who do not have domestic lives–Rachel, Peggy (he trusts and respects her even if there is no romantic relationship), the beatnik girl in S1, and Bobbie.
I keep remembering the scene on the train in S1 where he's staring at the "Lemon" ad. Don doesn't know it but he's ready for the '60s to break out and S/C represents the old ways.
Kudos to whoever first mentioned the blood imagery–and that it could be symbolic of Betty accepting her role as an adult and who is taking charge of her life and her family. It will be interesting to see what happens to her; if she strikes out and becomes and independent, interesting woman what will that mean to Don/Dick–will he be drawn to his wife?
I can't resist plot speculation either-Gil has one more appearance to make this season, correct? So that should be interesting especially in light of Peggy's remarks about the church in this episode. And Betty's bleeding could be either just a routine period or it could be a miscarriage–could the combination of miscarriage and Cuban Missile Crisis send Don back to take care of his family?
I can't wait–I'm on the west coast so I'll be reading this blog on Sunday night!
Besides the parallel of the shower Don took at Anna's and the shower he didn't take at Betty's there is the shower that Glen was allowed to take at Betty's and even wore Don's t-shirt. Symbolic of Betty's state of mind – will she or won't she have an affair next season?
Betty is Don! She can have casual unprotected sex and go home like nothing happened! Don is back at home and he is loving and concerned. Betty is drinking, smoking, riding, messing around, hooking up married friends, she has completely changed. Don destroyed her beliefs of hearth, home, and loyal, faithful, long marriages. Can she get those beliefs back? Would she have ever taken Don back if she were not pregnant?
Pete knows he had a child! This could cause Peggy so much trouble. Is Anita, Peggy's sister, raising Peggy's child? When S2 opened and we saw
the children in a bedroom in Anita's house, we assumed the infant was Peggy's. If so, Pete will easily find the child in Brooklyn.
I can't believe we have to wait so long for S3. I can't bear it.