'Mad Men:' Betty Meets Dick

I complain a lot about Betty Draper and January Jones -- I did it again in last week's TV chat -- but after last night's episode of "Mad Men," I'm reconsidering. The scene in which Betty finally confronts Don about his past was brilliantly played, both by Jones and especially by Jon Hamm, who dropped all traces of the smooth-talking Don Draper and reverted to Dick Whitman's deep vulnerability and guilt. And wouldn't you know? It might have been precisely what he needed to do to save his marriage.

Betty was understandably angry, suspicious, and cynical -- not just about the contents of the box, but about how Don, the brilliant salesman, would try to talk his way out of it. So she ordered him around like she would a petulant child (and she has plenty of experience with that; now Don knows how Sally feels). She wasn't going to feel sorry for him. She said so. But the instant she saw him fumbling with his cigarette -- to me, the most important moment in the scene -- she could see that this was a different Don. He was nervous, hesitant, not at all himself, and it made her protective shell crack. And by the time he was finished telling his (almost) real life story, in a childlike voice she might never have heard before, she did feel sympathy. But she also knows she has power in her marriage, power over Don's life, much more than she had before. How will she exercise it in the future? And does his newfound devotion stem from gratefulness or fear?

Oh, and who else was freaking out because Dick Whitman instantly forgot that Miss Farrell was OUTSIDE WAITING IN THE CAR?