Betty Finds Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Mad Men

As season three of “Mad Men” nears its conclusion, it appears that Don Draper’s past is going to come out, no matter how hard he has tried to lock it away.
During Sunday’s episode, the glamorous Betty Draper was shown doing the laundry. The laundry? Yes the laundry.
The payoff for this bit of domesticity is the discovery of a key amid Don’s clothing. Immediately, Betty goes to Don’s study and unlocks his desk drawer. Along with a tidy pile of cash—Don had finally received his $5,000 signing bonus from Sterling Cooper—she finds the infamous shoebox containing pictures and documents tracing the early life of Dick Whitman—her husband’s real background before he usurped the life of Don Draper.
Complicating matters, no doubt, is the discovery of Don Draper’s divorce certificate from Anna Draper and the deed to Anna’s house.
It’s hard to know just what Betty thinks of all this. No doubt her head is spinning, filled with questions that may or may not be asked or answered in this season’s remaining episodes.
Needless to say, Betty is hardly in a party mood when Don calls to tell her he wants to show her off.
Nevertheless she gets dolled up to play trophy wife at Sterling Cooper’s 40th anniversary party where Don was being honored for his “humanity,” snarks Roger Sterling, who introduces Don, hollowly praising the creative director as a loyal partner, husband and friend.
The husband part is especially disingenuous as Don’s relationship with Suzanne Farrell deepens. He appears to be spending most nights at her place while claiming he’s either at the office or out with Connie Hilton.
Of course Betty is hardly Caesar’s wife: after the phone rings and the Draper’s home and the caller doesn’t identify himself or herself to a curious Sally, both Don and Betty check with their other significant others to see if they’d been trying to get in touch. (Neither claims they did. Wrong number? I doubt it.)
Earlier in the show, Peggy Olson got a chance to show off a bit. Paul Kinsey takes umbrage when Peggy massaged an idea for an Aqua Net hairspray commercial, earning Don’s approval. Next up: making a Western Union Telegram feel like a vital piece of communications.
“Wearing a dress isn’t going to help you with Western Union,” Kinsey grumps.
Kinsey stays late at the office and comes up with a great idea for the campaign. It turns out his Achilles’ heel is not writing down that particular piece of brilliance. When he is awoken in his office, the genius has no clue what the previously night’s lightening strike was.
As the Chinese saying goes: “The faintest ink is better than the best memory.”
Don is forgiving—what writer wouldn’t be—and the group comes up with another idea about how telegrams preserve memories because you can’t frame a phone call.
Indeed what’s permanent and what’s not is a very good question this week.
Not showing much staying power are the British. Lane Pryce gets the word from London that Sterling Cooper is for sale. Indeed his work, cutting staff and raising revenue, has made the agency attractive to suitors, which is good news for Mrs. Pryce, who can’t wait to get back to the U.K.
Who will buy the agency? And will someone named Don Draper be around to head its creative department or will Dick Whitman run off to begin another new life?