Marriage on the verge of incineration (Mad Men)

Everyone's either on thin ice, in hot water, or playing with fire, to use three cliches to describe the terrific 9th episode of Season 3 of "Mad Men." Don now literally being tormented by the increasingly lunatic Conrad Hilton, calling him at all hours with crazy ad ideas and ripping Don apart because he didn't create an ad campaign about a Hilton on the moon. Don will whore himself for any wealthy client, they all will, but it's got to tear him up inside; there's also a real father-son thing going on between these two. Meanwhile, another wealthy client comes on to the closeted and repressed Sal, and when Sal rebuffs him the client wants Sterling Cooper to fire Sal. Amazingly, they do - Don shows he's homophobic, not a surprise, I guess, given the time, but his cruelty to Sal shows once again his nasty streak. Meanwhile, Betsy continues to flirt with the gubernatorial aide, she's obviously not sure what she wants, on the one hand writing notes to him, visiting his office, and then pushing him away, accusing him. It's almost as if she wants Don to catch her, and maybe he will. This episode more than any so far simmers with sexual tension - every marriage on the show looks to be on the verge of incineration, every main character seems bent on self-destruction. Meanwhile, news reports keep leaking in at the seams of the story: civil rights demonstrations, the Goldwater v. Rockefeller primary. My prediction is that the season will end with the news of the Kennedy assassination.