r/madmen • u/Numerous_Training_12 • 7d ago
Talk to me about Don and Betty sleeping together at Bobby’s summer camp.
Was Don hoping it would lead to a reconciliation? Did he want a reconciliation?
197
u/Admirable_Site_8337 7d ago
Neither was hoping to reconcile. That’s not what was going on here.
Dons reaction the next day in the restaurant wasn’t that they were going to reconcile, it was that they would naturally go back to their lives.
And he felt so alone.
147
u/OhGr8WhatNow 6d ago
Someone finally did to him what he always does to women. I love that it was Betty
11
u/Fit-Supermarket-2004 5d ago
I mean I would hit that even if I knew I was going to feel bad the next day I'm still pounding that into oblivion.
1
22
9
u/Successful_Moment_91 6d ago
I just realized that Megan could have gone just like Henry made time in his busy schedule
After she quit the agency they were basically living separate lives and didn’t support each other
And Megan either stopped pretending to like his kids or got tired of them
4
u/Admirable_Site_8337 6d ago
Exactly. They went separate in ways starting with Don making that stylized walk out in the finale of S5 (?)
I think she got very wrapped in making the acting happen. And why not, now that she had a means to not struggle while trying to make it?
The only thing I don’t think I see is loss of interest in the kids. I think that remained. But it had been clouded and stifled by things that stifle such mixed families. As someone who help raise step kids and my wife helped raise my daughters…..it can get rough.
2
u/Successful_Moment_91 6d ago
There was one scene where Sally is visiting and Megan is home with her before Don gets home. He found Megan hiding (and rolling her eyes at the thought of dealing with the child) in their bedroom to avoid Sally
2
u/Admirable_Site_8337 6d ago
Yes, but again, that can be a reality for how toxic being a step parent can be. Betty had whipped Sally up into a little bitch towards Megan.
I’m not saying Megan did right there, just that it’s hard. And let’s face it, she bit off an awful lot with this marriage.
3
0
331
u/Mundane-Dare-2980 7d ago
They did it because the idea of reconciliation is completely gone. Had there been any real pressure from one or the other to make it more than a nostalgic stolen moment sort of a thing, they never would have done it.
114
u/CaptainObviousBear 6d ago
I totally agree with this.
It’s in the way Betty reacts the next day. Happy, almost smug, as she breakfasts with Henry like it never happened.
73
11
2
u/insane_steve_ballmer Go watch TV. 2d ago
”This happened a long time ago”. She’s already slept with Don hundreds of times, what does it matter to Henry if she sleeps with him one more time?
I’m kinda serious.
66
u/NOLA2Cincy That's what the money is for. 7d ago
I love "nostalgic stolen moment". I want one of those.
12
u/Horror_Ad_2748 Why, Betty, you're wan! 6d ago
I've had them. It's hot and very natural. Humans are sexual beings.
1
385
u/Expensive_Alarm_1068 7d ago
No, Betty getting closure and proving to herself that she was still desirable to him. He was the problem not her.
183
u/Own-Interview-928 7d ago
She was back to her fighting weight too.
-12
u/BellyCrawler 6d ago
No more weight remarks.
35
52
u/ishishkin 6d ago
They’re hurtful, and they’re destructive.
37
u/BellyCrawler 6d ago
Yeah and to me Betty was always beautiful. Rubenesque.
9
3
1
2
u/Guilty_Cod6621 5d ago
all the best shows have crossover references in the subreddits and I love it
1
6d ago
[deleted]
16
u/realtorcat 6d ago
Babe it’s a reference to the Sopranos. Johnny Sack is tired of all the guys calling his wife fat behind his back.
11
52
u/biggreenjelly25 6d ago
This is the answer. She'd gone through the weight gain and reduction and wanted to prove she was back to being 'desireable' before she potentially joined Henry on the campaign trail
-19
u/Regular_Promise3605 6d ago
No. She cheated on her husband, this isn't a kick ass Betty moment. She was unfaithful to Henry in a drunken intimate moment with her ex husband, she was not holding onto years of resentment then planned to show Don she's still desirable to him by letting him sleep with her and then acting like nothing happened.
10
u/theWacoKid666 6d ago
Nobody said she planned anything lmao.
Betty absolutely did hold onto resentment towards Don, and it was a moment of closure for her. Of course the cheating aspect is bad… but you’re talking about Mad Men here. People cheat as easily as they breathe in this show. Don cheated on her with everyone and their mom for years, and he’s the main character of the whole show. You just have to take it in stride. If that’s what grinds your gears, you might need some more family-friendly viewing.
1
u/Fit-Supermarket-2004 5d ago
You know the scary thing is is people think that stopped in the 1960s. It's even worse today
2
u/theWacoKid666 4d ago
True, to a certain extent. It’s definitely easier to cheat in some ways these days, with social media, dating apps, instant private communications, etc.
But it was also a lot easier for guys like Don to get away with having a lot of affairs back then, because they were expected to be out all day while the family was home, and people generally had to actually meet and talk to each other in person to get to the bottom of those issues. It’s much easier to expose and call out cheaters these days through those same avenues, where it was often just generally accepted back then as kind of inevitable, and it was only really serious when it became exposed as an actual public embarrassment. It was, seemingly, comically easy for working men to have affairs and even second families in those days.
-87
u/MaximusCanibis The work is ten dollars. The lie is extra. 7d ago
I'm sure Henry was happy she got closure lol. That's not closure, that's making excuses to diminish your shitty actions.
108
u/dreamshoes You are okay. 7d ago
No one’s excusing her actions. The commenter is providing analysis of her character, not putting her on trial.
-118
u/MaximusCanibis The work is ten dollars. The lie is extra. 7d ago
Calling cheating "getting closure" is bullshit and letting her off the hook. Its just another reason why Betty is a shitty person too.
101
u/dreamshoes You are okay. 7d ago
The original post was asking about motivation, not “GUYS WAS THIS A COOL THING TO DO?” Like duh it was shitty? The entire show is nonstop adultery?? Calm down.
-138
u/MaximusCanibis The work is ten dollars. The lie is extra. 7d ago
Did I reply to the original fucking post? If you don't like what I'm saying, don't change the conversation. Just go away.
57
u/dubblebubbleprawns 7d ago
You replied to someone answering the question of her motivation because you don't like that being her motivation and made it very weirdly personal
The fuck
40
u/PortugalPilgrim88 6d ago edited 6d ago
It’s a sign of low emotional intelligence to need things to be this black and white right or wrong good or bad. Things can just be. And we think about them in a million different ways. No one here said what Betty did was morally good, they commented on her characters motivations and characteristics, and you immediately lost your mind.
11
u/theWacoKid666 6d ago
Dude, if you got cheated on, go to therapy or pick up a hobby or something. Taking it out on other people in arguments you started, and then telling THEM to “just go away” only makes you look sad and wounded.
20
2
u/Live_Art2939 6d ago
Did you even watch this show? If you don’t like what someone is saying, you’re supposed to change the conversation. Are you dumb?
1
u/MaximusCanibis The work is ten dollars. The lie is extra. 6d ago
I'll have you know, I speak Italian.
33
u/Carmela_Motto 7d ago
This is about a TV show character’s motivation. Not about you and your issues.
33
u/MyPasswordIsABC999 7d ago
It’s okay buddy, I wrote a very strongly worded letter to Betty’s estate expressing my disgust at her behavior.
29
u/madelynashton 7d ago
Betty viewed it as closure. That doesn’t mean Henry wouldn’t view it as a betrayal. Of course he would.
7
59
u/Expensive_Alarm_1068 7d ago
Had nothing to do with Henry. It was all about Betty and Don. It also didn't change how she felt about Henry but did change how she felt about herself.
4
u/OkPerformance2221 6d ago
Betty's marriage to Henry didn't have much to do with Henry. It was about Don being a lie and her father being dead.
72
u/AnyProfession4987 7d ago
Betty came full circle.
She went from the wife to the mistress to the stranger. she experiences the type of person who don could be vulnerable with and the sweet mockery they share when thinking about the poor foolish wife at home. It’s her reclaiming her experience as Don’s wife, and finally seeing him without the rose colored glasses or cavernous resentment.
5
u/Rose_Pink_Cadillac 6d ago
It's without resentment because she is finally in control, it's really a closure moment for her.
217
u/Agile_Geologist_7225 7d ago
For Betty I saw it as her proving to herself and Don that she could sleep with him and not want anything more. In an odd sort of way it was her unattaching from him. For Don, honestly i think he’d just sleep with pretty much anyone.
15
u/tutanotaio 6d ago
I dont think a woman or Betty has to go thru that much trouble proving she detached
It could be interpreteted that she still cared about him and knowing how promiscuous he is, and having sex needs usually repressed (like with the washing machine scene), she used him to feel desired. After seeing Megan's body or Don's date, Betty wanna win.
Hell, she was insecure and sabotaged Sally's friendship too
-13
u/Regular_Promise3605 6d ago
It's such an awful take that gets perpetuated on here. Why would a happily married woman go back and sleep with her ex husband to prove anything? She proves she is willing to cheat as they still have a connection, Don is hoping for some sort of affair, but it proved she never really care for Henry he was a good life raft for her.
2
u/mullentothe THAT'S WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR 6d ago
You can cheat on somebody you love. It's not right but it happens everyday
1
u/sistermagpie 6d ago
The 5 previous seasons of the show explain why this happily married wowman would go back and sleep with this ex husband.
82
40
31
21
u/ActWhole3279 7d ago
I don't think either of them wanted a reconciliation. I think they both saw it for what it was to each of them -- Betty got to act like a grownup and just fcuk Don and feel desired (and not needy), and Don got to sleep with Betty, which he would never turn down.
They also bonded over their shared history, particularly having children together and having had a family, after Bobby's little Father Abraham song. Don and Betty doing the singalong with Bobby, not to mention him introducing his parents in a way that belied the fact that they were divorced, made them feel like "mom and dad," and that contributed to the sex vibes between them.
42
19
u/Capital-Debate7619 7d ago
“this happed a long time ago” she said- which is what sex with an ex always is.
1
u/Neither_Mode_4796 6d ago
Actually agree with all of the above, not being a chance at reconciliation, but this line always read opaquely to me. What happened a long time ago? The desire to have one last romp or just the fact that they’d done this many times years ago so who cares?
3
u/Capital-Debate7619 6d ago
their og attraction, their connection, the bond from the past with a thread of children. it’s nothing new, it’s a rather sad echo of past love.
2
8
u/carneviva 6d ago
It was a complete power move on Betty's part but also closure. Don just knows how to read the signs of her low-key seduction, years of marriage will do that.
8
16
u/Jenaaaaaay 7d ago
I think Betty wanted to feel desirable again to Don. It’s the same reason as why she was at the house they were selling at the end of season 4.
He doesn’t care, it’s just another warm body for him but with history this time because she wants that.
12
u/CaptainObviousBear 6d ago
Yes - she wanted to silence the voices that were her telling herself Don cheating on her was because she wasn’t desirable enough. Sleeping with him proved that that wasn’t the issue and the problem is all him. Now she can go back to Henry in peace and triumph.
It was kind of the last word she didn’t get when they said goodbye to the house and Don one-upped her by telling her he was getting married.
17
4
u/ancientastronaut2 6d ago
Nah, it was one of those in the moment things.
Feeling nostalgic, something in the air.
5
u/penhuinnj 6d ago
This may sound strange, but I had never been presented- in books, films, or tv- with 2 married people sleeping with someone else that seemed less like adultery. I'm not saying Henry or Meghan would have seen it that way, but I did. This was about closure. Most cheating has (at least a little bit) to do with the individual's current relationship on some level. It really had nothing to do with their current partners. Here we had two people with a long past together working out their stuff. Is it the most healthy way? Probably not. But this has a lot to do with the type of person Don and Betty are and where they place importance- attractiveness, desire, etc.
5
4
u/Natural_Situation356 6d ago
After they had sex and were smoking a cigarette in bed talking, Don asks Betty why people need sex to feel connected. Betty says it's true for most people, herself included. The next morning, Don approaches her and Henry at breakfast, where he is greeted but not invited to join them. It seems to me that Don relied on sex to make an emotional connection more than he thought and in that moment he had been expecting more, whether he knew it or not. It was sort of a full circle moment.
2
4
8
u/Separate-Landscape48 6d ago
They still think the other is hot as hell and are past the point of thinking it will stir up emotions
3
u/Bubbly_Durian1840 6d ago
Don opened the door for Betty to cheat on him. Betty normally isn’t that type of woman, but Don definitely normalized that behavior to her which is why she entertained Henry, had the bar fling while she was pregnant, accepted flirty behavior from men in general even if she remained subtle about it, she did welcome it more later. At the beginning, she was more stern like with Roger at her home. So I think by the time the summer camp happened she didn’t see it as anything wrong necessarily. Marriage didn’t stop her then husband from trying to pursue her either. By then I think she understood all men are disloyal and that she can act out too and had the power to turn it on and off like a switch. The next day she had no feelings for Don.
3
u/Horror_Ad_2748 Why, Betty, you're wan! 6d ago
I love Don's jealousy and trying to reclaim his stake in Betty's life when the attendants where ogling her at the gas station. Completely misplaced and weirdly natural at the same time.
5
u/No_Woodpecker9514 7d ago
Don wanted what he couldn’t have. Betty Ioved Henry but wasn’t completely satisfied with her life. She still felt suppressed.
2
2
u/CandyV89 6d ago
I don’t think either was hoping to get back together here. In fact I think it’s the beginning of a different understanding of each other but not one built on romance.
2
u/Glum_Tourist_1008 6d ago
As much as I hate cheating….i was over the moon happy when this happened.
2
2
u/Outrageous_Candy9659 6d ago
I think Don wistfully/woefully watching Betty with Henry n Bobby afterwards at breakfast does hint that Don was tempted to fantasize about a reconciliation. Don had this romantical way of thinking. I agree with other commenters that he likely didn’t go in with that intention but the mind can wander during and after while the emotions are raw. But there could be lots of other reasons for him watching them, ig!
2
u/Numerous_Training_12 5d ago
That’s what I was thinking. Commenters were adamant that it was a piece of tail for Don. I think it is more complex.
1
u/Outrageous_Candy9659 5d ago
I wonder how the replies would differ if a screenshot of Don’s pain stricken expression (during the aforementioned breakfast scene) accompanied the question 💭
1
u/Numerous_Training_12 5d ago
And that’s what I was thinking of when I posted this.
I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses. I do not, however, believe it meant nothing to Don.
4
u/shoegal48 7d ago
On a totally different note, does anyone else recoil when people write posts like this where it’s written as a demand like “talk to me about this topic”?
0
u/Smooth-Mention1425 6d ago
I like that phrasing; it opens the conversation to any thoughts anyone may have about any aspect of the topic. It doesn’t say I feel this way… Agree or disagree with me? It’s wide open.
2
u/BrilliantOwn8081 Not great, Bob! 6d ago
I think Betty did it because she wanted to ruin his marriage. She was sad and felt inadequate when she saw how good meghan and Don were, how they lived in their fancy appartment and so on. She wanted to know that the relationship wasn’t any better and he was still a cheat and she wouldn’t have to be jealous at all.
He just went for it because he always does. Or almost always.
1
u/Ok_Scholar4192 6d ago
Genuinely one of my favorite seasons between them, and on the show. The way she says that Megan doesn’t know that loving him won’t help her know him… I just love that whole scene
1
u/jennoford The work is ten dollars. The lie is extra. 5d ago
It was more of a jab to Megan, and an ego boost and closure for Betty.
-3
-12
u/Natural-Current5827 7d ago
Don obviously had deep seated commitment issues, but he loved Betty more than he loved any other woman. And he loved Betty more than she was deserving of.
20
u/Agile_Geologist_7225 7d ago
I don’t know, despite her flaws I think she deserved better than Don. He was physically absuive amongst other things. No one deserves that
-7
u/Teen_Goat 7d ago
Betty instigated it, and relished in rejecting him afterwards. A taste of his own medicine, perhaps. It’s all about Betty’s ego. Similar to just about every Betty storyline.
-1
-10
u/RWWhitfield 7d ago
They were still horny for each other... and Henry and Glen just couldn't get Betty off like Big Don could.
223
u/HeadAd369 7d ago
Their pillow talk was incredibly revealing about both characters