Even though the story takes place decades ago, there’s probably still a little bit of Betty in all of us. I’ve heard from many female friends who say watching this show fills them with a relatable rage. It can do a number on both your physical and mental health. Raising children, especially in the early years, is exhausting. The other is during the marriage encounter where Betty tells Dan that she “loves kids but feels trapped by them all the time.” That is a sentiment that will be familiar to many mothers. We see flashes of both Betty’s anger and her loyalty and begin to understand that she’s not going to do something or behave a certain way just because it’s what her husband or society wants. Betty is the only friend who refuses to go to the wedding. The first comes when Patrick gets remarried, to Yvonne’s devastation. Betty knows something isn’t right when Dan hires Linda as his assistant - she’s a receptionist with no legal background who can’t even type - and she gives Dan an ultimatum: “Get rid of her by the end of the month or you can get out of this house.”Īs the fissures in Betty and Dan’s marriage get wider, there are two extremely telling moments in the episode. You don’t call anyone beautiful,” Betty tells him.ĭan is talking about Linda, the women he’ll eventually marry after Betty, and it’s the first glimpse we get of the other main character in this tragic story. Yet Betty thinks things are good between them until one night she overhears Dan saying to his friend Mitch “she’s just so beautiful” about an unknown woman. Dan has taken to referring to himself as “the Count du Money.” Betty spends her days shopping and buying expensive outfits and things for everyone. “Tennis fits us better than golf, don’t you think?” Betty asks him. They need to decide which country club they want to belong to. At first they are thrilled to go to a fancy restaurant, but over the years, eating at that same restaurant just fills Dan with ennui. ![]() He’s mortified for anyone to know their impoverished past. Betty wants to marvel at how far they’ve come from when they were in Boston and living off food stamps. From the jump, the wife is seen as an adversary.ĭan remains detached and, as Cyndi Lauper tells us, their money begins to change everything. The objective is to get out of the marriage giving your wife, the woman you have built a life with, the least amount of money possible. Patrick is advised to close all his joint bank accounts, secure the liquid assets in his own name, defer his bonus, and pay in advance for the kids’ orthodontist appointments. Um, last I checked, Patrick, kids are a lot to have in common. “We really don’t have anything in common except the kids,” he laments. Elsewhere at another lunch across town, Patrick is plotting with his buddies about the best financial way out of his marriage. During a lunch, Yvonne is fully embarrassed that her husband has decided to leave her. Throughout this episode, Dirty John hones in on how men and women handle divorce-especially in the ’80s, when, in many marriages, the men made the money and women kept the home. She leaves the marriage encounter weekend thinking their union is stronger. you are the most important person I have in the whole universe bar absolutely none.” Her entire identity is wrapped up in being Mrs. She writes him a letter that says, “The number one thing I love about you in the beginning was how much you loved me and showed it. The impending divorce of their friends Yvonne and Patrick are a cautionary tale.īetty takes a proactive approach and tries to get out in front of the problem, convincing Dan to go to a “marriage encounter” weekend run by their church. “Something is happening with us,” she tells him. ![]() Consumed with work, he doesn’t talk to her anymore. What “Marriage Encounter” emphasizes is that Betty never had the power - not from society that favors the man, and not from her husband who often treats her as a housekeeper. ![]() The balance of power has shifted and not in your direction. The moment you realize that your romantic partner’s feelings are beginning to change. Unless we are very lucky, most of us have been there in a relationship.
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