We know that the sun is a powerful symbol for Matt Weiner.  The Sun Tarot card is the logo for his production company.  When Miss Farrell was running, she had on a Bowdoin College shirt with a sun logo.  Conrad Hilton kept going on about the moon while acting like a father figure.  "You're more than a son to me.  You're an angel."  A winged creature.  In an eclipse, the moon obscures the sun, making it more dangerous.  Miss Farrell seems dangerous to me.

The Color Blue ends with Don, dressed in the finest clothes, receiving the great honor of a reward, seemingly at his height, unaware that he may soon be plunging to earth as he loses his company and his family.  We don't know what happens to Icarus after his fall.  Mad Men has a season 4.  I have no clue where this is going.  All of my predictions have been wrong so far.  Does Don fall to earth and revert back to Dick?

Very interesting interpretation! I've always wondered how the "falling off the skyscraper" imagery ties in with the story. Of maybe everyone ELSE is icarus, burnt by being too close to Don?

The man in a suit falling from a skyscraper pays homage to graphic designer Saul Bass's skyscraper-filled opening titles for Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, and falling man movie poster for Vertigo. Matt Weiner has listed Hitchcock as a major influence on the visual style of the series.

JackSprat, I like your observations. ...I, however, thought immediately of "Vertigo" when I first saw the art/intro for the show.  I do agree about the teacher; I think she's going to turn out to be a fatal attraction type for the empty Don. Big trouble brewing.

Good stuff, Spratt.  I really see Miss Farrell taking a neighborhood stroll in the last episode and ending up at the Draper front door.  "I have to talk to you," she tells Betty as we bite our nails into next season. 

The brother is in there for a reason.  It's not a one-off.  He's coming back and he's going to implicate Don.  But you know, things have always looked dark and dim for DD and he gets out of it every time.  Why else do we tune in?  It's his show.  I was thinking this week that if the ad agency plots were all I had to watch, I wouldn't bother.

Interesting observation - and it fits with other mythological references pointed out in another thread.

I found the other mythological refences and they all seem to fit, especially mneeley observing that Betty literally opened Pandora's Box.  This is shaping up to be some season finale.

Wonder how far the imagery goes?  Icarus's father, Daedalus, built the maze that held the Minotaur...

Kinda funny, huh?  All this mythological stuff?  Personally, I watch to see myself.  I am Sally.  I didn't know my father did this stuff.

Where is this other mythology thread?  I'd like to read it...

The Icarus idea is very interesting.  It does make sense, although I'm not sure how deliberate it was vs. the case that many Western stories tend to incorporate themes from Greek mythology.  Icarus made wings for himself out of wax and feathers then tried to fly... Don's lies are his -uh- wax, and he tries to live a normal life, going higher and higher until... I like it!

@belvedere:  some mythological references pop up in the thread "Don in Season 3."  They all seem to make sense.  But it is equally true that there are all kinds of Alfred Hitchcock references running through the whole series.  Sometimes it is just creepy camera angles which heighten the tension, as in the hospital scenes of baby Gene's birth.  There was an episode in season 2 which I missed, which apparently was a whole show of Hitchcock movie references, esp. from the movie "Rebecca."  The writers seem to be operating on many levels, which makes it fun to figure out what they are up to.

I read the wikipedia article on Pandora's Box.  At the bottom of the box, after all the scary stuff flies out, is hope.  Dare we think there is still hope for Don and Betty?  I did not know this part of the Pandora story.  I thought it was all doom and gloom.

Based on Don's openness when confronted and Betty's receptivity when hearing everything, I'd say there's some hope.  She didn't break any more chairs and he didn't try to hook back up with Miss Farrell. But it all depends on where they take it from here.

Icarus?
Maybe Don is the Phoenix?

It does look as though the Drapers are going to be closer now, partners against the world, etc.  But I can't believe he will let Miss Farrell alone.  The show needs him to be always falling.  That's what the graphic shows and that's what is so compelling.  And sexy. Best acting of any episode.

I really enjoyed the acting too.

Yes, I think the story goes that Pandora only closed the box in time to keep hope inside.  That episode definitely left room for hope.  Don is at a point where he needs to decide who he is going to be, and not just act out his life anymore.  If those two can continue to be honest and straightforward with each other like in the crucial scene, it could lead to a beautiful thing.

Yes Belvedere, but will the show be the better for it? I compare it to "The Office". Everyone wanted Jim and Pam to be together, and now that they are I've come to the conclusion that the show isn't nearly as interesting or funny.

I hope the same doesn't happen with MM, I hope there is dramatic tension somewhere with Don's character. He is the focal point, and no matter how nice it is to see the stuff happening to supporting characters, they are only that - supporting characters.

Firstly, having an open and honest relationship is something that would happen to and benefit Don too, not just his wife.

But that's the masochistic nature of watching television dramas, we know they're going to pull at our heartstrings left and right and keep withholding exactly what we want for the characters.

As long as I keep rooting for the fictional fates of the characters, the show is doing it's job.  They could find other struggles for Don to face, after a while the same tension over and over gets boring anyway.

True, belvedere.  I don't think we will continue to see Don with one bimbo after another.  His recent outing seemed a bit more "meaningful."  Perhaps he will get blackmailed and forced to do something bad in the business world.  I'm sure the writers know he's the bread and butter of the show.  I don't think I would watch otherwise.

He might be Icarus.  I also saw a fascinating comparison of Don to Ibsen's Peer Gynt (sp?) and the rest of the show to other Ibsen plays.