In fact the whole series seems to be a Hitchcockian exercise in audience manipulation — the twists and turns seem designed not so much to (eventually) produce a cohesive narrative but to rile us and provoke a range of emotions from week to week. Do you suppose the show creators read these blogs and chuckle at the speculation, frustration, identification with the characters?

Unfortunately exasperation is the primary emotion I'm feeling with 10 down, 3 to go this season.

Anyway, because the previous seasons are so amazingly crafted, I still have hope that, in the end, I will be satisfied with this season.

And thank God for more Joan this Sunday. But, what about Sal?

This is especially true if you compare the "preview snip" at the end of the Mad Men aired episode, with the preview for the next episode, on the AMC website.

Is the woman seen in the AMC website preview the same one in the old photo that Bert and Roger are looking at, in Episode 10?

I don't think Don is falling in love with Miss F. I think this is just more of his romance/sex addiction that is playing itself out. Top that with the rejection he's gotten from Betty, and it's not surprising that's he's run to another dark-haired, exotic beauty to escape with. That little house of cards is going to fall, mark my words. He doesn't love her any more than he loves Betty. He isn't really with her (Miss F), it's just another fantasy relationship. All of his relationships with women are fantasy-based. One could say especially his relationship with Betty.

His dalliances are a way to let off steam. He gets to be Donald Draper in most of them, even if only for a short time. I think it's the only way he sustains the madness of leading a double life.

I must say… he truly disappointed me in this episode. I said out loud, 'this guy is really sick.' I think it was when he lied about dropping off Miss F's brother and even going so far as to say the facility was 'nice', etc. And then proceeded to try and rev up the sexy time… if that is not classic sex addiction behavior, I don't know what is.

I still agree with Deb (and many others) that Miss F is potentially a nutjob, and certainly a loose cannon if nothing else. Showing up on the train? Um, stalk much? And you know she called him. Of course she did. This is so going to blow up. (And I can't wait!)

Finally, the scene with Peggy showing her true colors as a gifted, talented, natural copywriter was just fabby. I loved the recognition in Don's eyes at that moment. He and Peggy understand each other on a deep level, and that is a very interesting thread in this story.

I literally gasped when they rolled credits at the end of this one. How can I possibly wait a whole week to find out what happens next???

The next 3 episodes will certainly be interesting.

@#147 Stace – yeah, maybe you're right that stuff will be picked up in season 4. My concern though is that the "oomph" of certain storylines (i.e. Pete and Peggy) will be lost after after a season of practically no focus on it. For example, even now, I feel like it would be strange (for lack of a better word) to suddenly go back to the Pete and Peggy story in the last two or three episodes of this season – the last time they talked was like, 4 episodes ago. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see this, but it would feel disjointed with the rest of the season. Versus last season, it wasn't that Pete and Peggy had a scene together in every single episode, but once Matt Weiner established that Pete was starting to fall in love with her, he made sure to include little moments here and there (even non-speaking scenes) to get that across to the viewers – and importantly, they happened on a regular basis (maybe not every episode, but every 2 episodes). He did the same thing with Joan and her fiance.

*sigh* I just hope that this season ends really well and that next season returns to the form of the first two. I'm not against experimentation (I personally wasn't bothered by the dream sequence in "The Fog" for example), but I do think that when you have a balance that works, you should stick with it. Matt Weiner is overestimating the audience's interest in Betty and he's probably not gaining that many new viewers who've just turned on the show this season. Frankly, if I had heard through word of mouth that this was a great show and only started watching this season, I don't think I would get what all the hype is about.

So I think Carla is gonna blow the whistle on Betty, and Teacher is gonna bust Don's world open.

Translation: “Look how well Mommy cleans up, even when overcome with a towering rage that I refuse to acknowledge.”

Here’s something I think is interesting about Don Draper. One fascinating detail, on which his whole story hangs:

He’s a man whose life is in pieces. He used to be one guy and then he didn’t want to be that guy so he took the name of a dead guy … including more or less co-opting that guy’s wife. Then he met Bets, divorced the dead guy’s wife, and married up. In time, became an ad exec. Left Dick behind. For all intents and purposes, killed not only Dick Whitman, but also his half-brother Adam.

This broken guy, Don Draper keeps it all — all the evidence of this accelerating series of disasters — in one box.

Dude. Convenient!

Also: Dumb!

The difference between a TV character and, say, me? I KNOW the One-Box Rule. Especially after last night.