9/28: Premiere episode mini-recap

I've edited this post like four times correcting errors, etc. Hopefully this will be the last time. :-)

Betty goes to a magazine publisher for a job interview. The interviewer takes one look at her and tells her all the jobs have been filled. Betty follows the twerpy interviewer anyway and tells him about her qualifications. He pays no attention, but the owner is listening from a distance and hears and sees their entire exchange.

At home that night, Betty's brother says there's reason to believe that her boyfriend wants to make a commitment. Unfortunately, it turns out this was a misunderstanding. The boyfriend , Walter, is in love with someone else.

The magazine publisher calls. They want her to start the next day. She'll be reporting to the new editor of Mode - a fashion magazine. When Betty gets to work, the snooty receptionist is offended when she discovers that Betty has less experience than she does.

Betty's new boss, Daniel, is having a staff meeting. He is constantly being interrupted and undercut by a glamorous but plastic-looking woman named Wilhelmina. Wil is very sore about being passed over for Daniel's job. She reminds Daniel that they'll have only one chance to please their biggest client, Fabia. If Fabia isn't happy, the magazine will be in trouble.

At lunch, Betty is befriended by the wardrobe girl, Christina. Christina invites her over and introduces her to some other unglamorous coworkers.

After lunch, Betty manages to offend Mode's photographer, who I'll call The Tripod. Tripod is close friends with Daniel, though the receptionist has told Betty that Daniel once slept with the Tripod's girlfriend. Tripod is shocked that Daniel would hire such a frumpy girl. Daniel says his father picked Betty, and admits that while she's not hot-looking, she seems very competent. Tripod advises Daniel to make her miserable so she'll quit.

Tripod and Daniel also talk about Fabia. They feel that Wil is probably trying to sabotage them; if they take her advice, Fabia will be unhappy and Daniel will be ruined.

In the coming days, Daniel has Betty pick all the cabbage out of his cole slaw; calls her at home while she's still asleep to ask her to bring him special coffee for breakfast; has her run a variety of silly errands; and on at least one night he has her standing watch outside his apartment building to call him when his date shows up. (This will give him time to get his previous date , the receptionist, dressed and out the door in time for the next one.) This last task causes Betty to miss her father's birthday party.

At home that night, Betty gets an idea for work. She prepares the whole thing in a snazzy report. She tries to show it to Daniel, but he's abrupt with her. Worse, Christina tells Betty that she found out that Daniel's father picked Betty specifically because he knew Daniel would never sleep with her. Now all of the previous days' abuse make sense to Betty. She shows Christina the report she prepared for Daniel. She leaves it with Christina.

Tripod and Daniel set up for the photo shoot. The star model isn't available; Tripod wants someone with similar skin tones to put on a kinky outfit so he can get the lighting right. That "someone" will be Betty. Tripod bets that Betty will quit rather than do it, but he's wrong. She puts on the outfit and comes out of the dressing room looking ridiculous. She tries to be a good sport, but everyone is laughing at her. Daniel yells at them to stop, but she cracks. She runs out of there, out of the building, still wearing that outfit. Daniel chases her and begs her not to leave.

(At some point, Daniel's father meets with another man on a park bench and they discuss the previous editor's recent death, and how she knew too much about him and the company. Daniel's father is suspicious because the funeral was closed-casket.)

Betty goes home and confronts Walter's new girlfriend Gina. Surprise - she already has a new boyfriend. She admits she only used Walter for his discount at an electronics store to get a LCD TV. When Betty slams the door, the TV falls off the wall and breaks. Gina vows revenge.

Later, Walter visits Betty and asks her to take him back. He claims that he dumped Gina, not the other way around.

Fabia hates what Daniel and the Tripod have done. Wil publicly gloats that Daniel should have consulted with her. After their meeting, Daniel looks at Betty's report - Christina gave it to him. Daniel comes to Betty's house and begs her to come back to work. He tells her that if she doesn't, he'll soon be out of work too. He wants to use her idea and promises to give full credit.

Meanwhile, Wil is in bed drinking champagne with Tripod! They gloat about how Daniel ignored Wil's advice and now looks like an idiot. Tomorrow she'll be able to save the day. Daniel will be fired in no time.

The next day, Wil is just about to pitch her idea to Fabia when Daniel and Betty sweep into the conference room with a new presentation cobbled together with Betty's family photos. In addition, Betty has some statistics to back up their ideas. Fabia is so pleased she doesn't even want to review the layout before they publish it. After she and her entourage leave, Daniel's father congratulates Daniel and Betty. Daniel is just about to say that the whole idea was Betty's, but Betty interrupts and doesn't let him give her credit.

Wil visits a woman who's wrapped in bandages (almost certainly the previous editor, but I'll call her Mummy to be on the safe side) and sitting in a darkened room. She tells her there was a minor setback in their plan to get Daniel fired. The Mummy says she thinks their real problem will more likely be Betty.