It's fitting that one of the opening images of Mad Men's Season 3 premiere was of a bloodied bed due to miscarriage. If the ant colony (and it's smashing) symbolised Sterling Cooper under the Brits, the image of the a bloodied bed from a miscarriage viscerally encapsulates several of the themes that have so far run through the season: the (in)ability to conceive (Betty and Trudy as mirror opposites as seen at Roger's party), the creation of new familial relations (both in Roger's new found family and in Don & Betty's household), sexual promiscuity - which bears Dick Whitman (in Peggy's newfound sexuality) and as the following images show, blood in itself comes to figure in several different contexts:
A bloody helmet became the center of a discussion on war.
Sally's bloodied face came to symbolize her inability to cope with loss.
A blood-stained floor haunted Betty's drug-induced labour dreams.
And of course, a splatter of blood took center stage in last week's episode, ruining Joan's lovely green dress.
And I have to wonder... are Weiner & co. building up for that other (in)famous blood splatter which took place in Novemeber 1963?
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