"MAD MEN": "Wanted or Not - An 'Emancipated Divorcee'"

"MAD MEN": "WANTED OR NOT - AN 'EMANCIPATED DIVORCEE'"

One of the events of the Season Three finale of "MAD MEN" - (3.13) "Shut the Door. Have a Seat" - turned out to be Betty Draper’s decision to file a divorce from the series’ main protagonist, Don Draper. Acting as Betty’s main supporter throughout this upheaval was her future husband, Henry Francis.

Betty had first met the aide to New York’s Republican governor, Nelson Rockefeller, in the season's third episode, (3.03) "My Old Kentucky Home". In the episode, Henry he had asked to touched her belly, while she was still pregnant with her third child, Eugene. Betty gave him permission and a silent spark of attraction ignited between the two. They met for the second time in (3.07) "Seven Twenty-Three", when Betty was asked by her colleagues in her local Junior League to seek his help in preventing the installation of a huge water tank that will drain the scenic local reservoir and mar the landscape. Henry managed to briefly come to her aid in the following episode, (3.08) "Souvenirs". By the ninth episode, (3.09) "Wee Small Hours", the pair was ready to have an affair. Then Betty realized that she did not want to engage in a tawdry affair that involved sex in hotel rooms or behind the closed doors of Henry’s office. When they had met at the wedding reception for Roger Sterling’s daughter, Margaret, in (3.12) "The Grown Ups"; it was apparent that the two had remained attracted with one another.

When Betty had finally decided to seek a divorce from Don in the season finale, many noticed that Henry was by her side when she visited a divorce lawyer and when she flew to Reno, Nevada for a divorce. The hostility toward Henry’s presence had been strong among the fans. It was not long before assumptions about the relationship between Betty and Henry appeared on various blogs and message boards about "MAD MEN". Many fans insulted Henry with a variety of names. Others insulted Betty. Fans expressed belief that Henry would end up treating her as a trophy wife, just as Don had during the past decade. More importantly, many accused Betty of being nothing more than a spoiled Daddy’s girl who turned to Henry, because she needed a "father figure" to dictate her life. The fact that Henry had been at her side during the meeting with the divorce lawyer and during the flight to Reno seemed to be solid evidence to them. And Henry’s advice that Betty should dismiss any divorce settlement from Don in order to keep him out her life was another piece of evidence in their eyes. But I wonder. Did any of these fans really knew what Betty wanted? Or had they been merely expressing their disappointment that she failed to follow a path that they had desired? Was their hostility based upon their disappointment that Betty did not become a single divorcee like Helen Bishop . . . or that she had failed to reconcile with Don and try to repair their heavily damaged marriage?

I find it interesting that fans had heaped a great deal of disappointment and hostility upon Betty for failing to become the epitome of the new "independent" woman. No one had complained when Joan Holloway had married her doctor fiancé, Greg Harris, after he had raped her in (2.12) "The Mountain King". Nor did they bash Joan’s character when she had left Sterling Cooper to solely become a wife in (3.06) "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency". The ironic thing is that Joan had expressed a desire for a life with kids and a husband in the suburbs since the series began. During the series' earlier seasons, Joan had wanted to be a pampered housewife adored by her husband. Instead, she ended up with Greg, who turned out to be an abuser and less than talented surgeon. Worse, he was incapable of kick starting a new career as a psychiatrist after failing to become a surgeon. Because of Greg's professional failures, Joan was forced to resume being a career woman. In (3.11) "The Gypsy and the Hobo", Greg eventually resumed his career in medicine . . . as a U.S. Army officer.

Although Joan had expressed relief that she managed to find a permanent job again with the newly formed Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Agency, I have always always wondered how she had felt about about her failure to become a suburban housewife of a successful doctor when Season Three ended. Perhaps deep down, Joan had always wanted to remain a career woman. But like Betty, she had allowed society to dictate her personal life. Joan eventually realized that living the "Suburban Dream" by the side of a professional was never really for her. But she ended up experiencing a good deal of setbacks and bumps by the end of the series.

And what about Betty? I have always found it unrealistic for anyone to expect her to become the "liberated" woman so soon after her breakup with Don. Considering Betty’s upper class background and conformist personality, I never saw that happening so soon, following the breakup of her marriage. Personally, I suspected that Betty may have been too frightened to consider a life independent of men. Or perhaps she could not contemplate having both a man and a career in her life and at the same time. But you know what? She eventually did.

Look . . . I believe there is nothing wrong with a woman wanting a man or another man in her life. Of all the divorced or separated female characters on "MAD MEN", some managed to move on with new men in their lives. Helen Bishop’s new paramour ended up creating resentment within her son, Glen. After her divorce from Roger Sterling by the end of Season Two, Mona Sterling had managed to find someone new in her life by (3.02) "Love Among the Ruins". The Season Two episode, (2.06) "Maidenform" revealed that Duck Phillips’ ex-wife engaged to another man.

Betty's immediate marriage to Henry Francis after Season Three did not seem all that surprising, considering their history throughout that season. In some ways, Henry had seemed a lot like Don - slightly conservative. In other ways, he seems different from Don. He had expected Betty to become more involved in his profession - as a politician's wife. Yet, Betty ended up surprising everyone by her decision to go to college and consider a career in psychiatry. Unfortunately, Matt Weiner had another plan for Betty - one that involved a health crisis that would nip her ambitions in the bud. Pity.