Chuck is having trouble finding Fey's wrecked car. Brad says if he doesn't find it, the investigators will eventually discover that the steering mechanism had been sabotaged.
Chuck finally tracks it down, but there's a problem: Fey's "death car" isn't where he can get to it easily. It's up for sale on an eBay-like site.
Fey and Wil drink a toast to Brad and Daniel's downfall. Wil's strategy is to feed the tension between father and son. Fey wants to help too: she wants Daniel to know what his father is capable of.
Betty can't get into the club where Daniel is celebrating the success of his first issue of Mode. She asks Amanda to vouch for her, but Amanda walks by with her nose in the air. Inside, Wil and Fido bad-mouth Daniel to one another.
Betty comes home to find Justin and Walter playing Dance Dance Revolution in her living room. Walter asks Betty why she was out so late at the party (it's now 9:45, he notes disapprovingly). She tells him it's none of his business since he dumped her. He tells her he brought the game as a gift and he had to pay full price for it. She's not impressed. She holds the door open for him to leave.
Justin asks about the club and wants a matchbook. He also critiques the recent Mode issue. Hilda sends him out of the room and guesses that Betty wasn't allowed in. She says such places aren't for "people like us." (Why can't she just say "latinos" or whatever?) She says it's all about hair, face, clothes - "look it to be it." Betty rejects this, but Hilda tells her that those people won't change. Betty will have to be the one to change.
At the club, Daniel is hitting on a model. Brad tells him she's 12. Daniel verbally pats himself on the back for his success with the magazine, but Brad takes him down a peg or two. Wil comes up and starts talking about Daniel's dead brother Alex, making Daniel feel insecure.
Betty wakes up in a bad mood and doesn't let her dad drink coffee. She chides him for not taking his heart pills (he's trying to make them last). They talk about their problems with the HMO.
At the office, Brad asks Wil why she didn't stay long at the party. She says she had too much work to do. She talks about all the things she's doing to cover for Daniel.
Amanda asks Betty why she wasn't at the party. She pretends to be sympathetic, but her tone is so sarcastic it's hard to tell whether she expects Betty to believe her or not.
Daniel worries to Betty that he's not doing a good enough job to impress his father. Then he suddenly gets an idea to do the next issue completely on his own, with a new format and everything. He asks her to set up a staff meeting.
They begin strategizing as to what they can do. Betty has an idea to get Vincent Bianchi, a really great photographer they might use, but Daniel is not so sure - he and Alex didn't get along, and it was so bad that the photographer swore he'd never work for any Meade Publications magazine ever again.
Wil is preparing for some breast cancer event. Indicating her purple ribbon, Fido asks why she's not wearing a pink one. She says the Alzheimer's ribbon goes better with her outfit (which is white). She asks him to zip her up, which is confusing because she's wearing a jacket that buttons in front.
Then they watch Betty and Daniel from a discreet distance and speculate as to how bad the next issue is going to be. She's thrilled that she won't even have to interfere with this one. She'll just let Daniel hang himself.
Hours later, Daniel is still whining about how his father always preferred Alex. He mopes about how his dad always took Alex to some Harvard football game every year, and even after Alex died, he never offered to take Daniel instead. Betty says her father doesn't have a favorite, but Daniel is skeptical. He says every parent has a favorite.
Next day, Betty tells Hilda she thinks Hilda is their dad's favorite. Hilda disagrees. Dad shows up and complains that Betty's been working too hard - she should get a raise. He notices her photographers' portfolios and singles out Vincent's. He is impressed that this kid he used to know made something of himself - he always figured Vincent would end up in jail.
Vincent answers his own phone. It's Betty. He tells her to go through his agent, but they start talking about the neighborhood. It all seems to be going so well until she mentions Mode and Daniel Meade. Suddenly, there's a click and a dial tone - Betty is miffed.
Wil is giving Fido a million instructions for some upcoming meetings. When she turns her back, he rolls his eyes at her!
Walking home that night, Betty passes a place that Vincent had cited as one of his favorites. On a hunch, she goes inside.
Next morning, Daniel is having a meeting about the cover. Betty tries to give an opinion, but it's dorky, so Daniel asks her to go get some cream cheese for his bagel. The phone rings while she's on her way down the hallway, so Daniel answers it. He is stunned - Vincent Bianchi is calling. For Betty!
Indeed, he is thanking her for bringing him a sausage-and-pepper hero (or as we call them in these parts, "grinders") from Sal's. He asks her to call him Vincent (rather than Mr. Bianchi) and wants to know if that was Daniel who picked up the phone. Betty puts him on. Daniel is sooooo grateful. They're going to meet with him for lunch on Monday at some swanky restaurant - Vincent specifically asked that Betty be there. Daniel semi-tactfully suggests that Betty wear something nice.
Betty goes to Christina, hoping she'll be able to lend her a suitable outfit from Wardrobe. Christina is skeptical that wearing stupid clothes will impress Vincent, but Betty is just trying to take her loser sister's misguided advice.
At home that night, Betty is trying on new "looks" in the mirror. Her dad sees this and is upset to see her so down on herself. He tries to cheer her up by saying she has a "good heart," but that doesn't make her feel any better. Hilda overhears him telling Betty that she's his special girl. Betty reminds him to take his pill and asks Hilda to help her with a makeover.
Hilda takes Betty to the neighborhood salon and introduces her favorite stylist who, from the look of her, might not be the best person to shape Betty into the Mode mold. Betty shows the stylist a picture of a model she'd like to look like. The stylist discreetly asks a coworker to get the "big tweezers."
Simultaneously, Wil also has an appointment. She wants a new look to celebrate her impending promotion. Apparently, she's not aware of the perils of counting one's chickens prematurely. While betty experiences a painful eyebrow-waxing, Wil gets champagne and a chair massage. While Betty is getting fumigated with hairspray, Wil's elegant new look is revealed (and it looks a lot like the picture Betty showed to Hilda's stylist).
Betty is thrilled with her own New Look, which matches what she has seen around her neighborhood: pointy red nails, a ton of slightly shiny makeup with heavy dark lipliner, and big ratty hair. (In fact, the hair is a lot like the stylist's.) With Hilda's help (I assume), she also obtains an outfit that looks like something a hooker might wear on a really cold day. (There are a lot of large sequins.) All the neighborhood guys, including Walter, love her New Look. They think she's HOT!!
She takes on a swaggering gait, although she hasn't quite mastered the shoes yet so she stumbles a little. People in the office are staring at her. Fido immediately terminates a cell phone call to chase her down and get a picture. She forwards Daniel a call from a woman who won't introduce herself. (It's Fey.) She tells him to ask his father what he's been doing at the salvage yard, then hangs up. Daniel comes out of his office to ask Betty something, but stops short when he sees her New Look. She explains that she "dressed up" for their big lunch. He semi-tactfully suggests that she call the restaurant and ask for a table in the back, so they'll have more "privacy" with Vincent.
Wil shows up and tells Fido that Betty's New Look is "as if Queens threw up." (I'm disappointed. I was hoping for something a little wittier.)
Daniel unveils his new ideas for Mode, including a totally new format. He also mentions Vincent. Brad is skeptical, and Wil is condescending. Taking over the meeting as usual, she uses Betty as an example of why change can sometimes "make a bad situation even worse." Daniel glares at Wil but doesn't say anything in Betty's defense.
Betty goes to the ladies' room to take off some of the makeup. Daniel goes in to check on her. She makes a lot of self-disparaging remarks. He tries to cheer her up, reminding her about going to lunch, but she doesn't even want to go. She's afraid of what Vincent will think. (Don't you think Vincent would be happier to see a Queensish-looking face?) Daniel really doesn't want to go without her, but she insists and suggests that Amanda should go instead. Daniel reluctantly leaves.
He waits in the car for Amanda. Finally the door opens, but it's not Amanda - it's Brad. Daniel is annoyed that his father has so little faith in him. Then Amanda arrives and they leave. At the restaurant, Vincent declines to shake Brad's hand. Amanda is introduced as Betty Suarez and says "Ho-la," pronouncing the H.
Betty mopes in the hallway, listening to all her coworkers laughing at her. Then she spies some important papers on her desk that Daniel needs for his meeting. She shoves them into her gold-sequined bag and takes off in a panic. She asks someone to cover the phones for her, but Fido overhears and grabs the papers out of her hand, saying he'll take them instead. She grabs them back, saying maybe she can't hit Wil, but she can damn well hit him and since she's from Queens they know she'll do it!
At the restaurant, Vincent tries to make friends with Amanda/Betty, and she is not very convincing. She refuses some rolls, saying "carbs," and when he raises his eyebrows at her, she says "...but who cares about carbs if you're from Queens, right?" She holds a roll as if it were a wiggly worm. Daniel tells the waiter he's going to need a very large glass of wine.
Vincent starts asking Amanda/Betty questions about the neighborhood. Like, what about this teacher at the high school? Amanda snidely says "she died." When he asks what her father does for a living, she thoughtlessly says he was an investment banker, and Daniel reminds her that she's Betty. Amanda backpedals, saying that's what her father wanted to do... if he ever made it out of the "barrio."
Daniel decides to call off the charade. He explains that Amanda isn't Betty. Vincent is not exactly surprised. Daniel explains that she was too nervous about her appearance to go to the restaurant, because everyone is so hung up on image.
There's a commotion behind them. Betty is arguing with the maitre d to let her in. Daniel brings her over and introduces her to Vincent. Daniel apologizes for all the craziness and tells him that even if Vincent doesn't trust the Meades, he can certainly trust Betty.
Vincent tells Daniel he's nothing like his brother. "No, I'm not," Daniel agrees ruefully, not realizing that Vincent meant it as a compliment. He leaves.
Betty follows, requesting a matchbook for Justin first. Back at the office, Daniel apologizes to Betty for not sticking up for her, and she apologizes to him for not sticking with him. Brad shows up and tells Daniel that Vincent agreed to do the job, on the condition that he only ever has to answer to Daniel and not any "blowhards." Apparently, Brad's ego is more important to him than the success of Daniel or the magazine, because he doesn't seem happy about it.
Daniel mentions the strange phone call from the woman who asked about the junkyard. Brad pleads
ignorance and says it was probably a crank.
Betty gets home looking defeated. Hilda is worried because the makeup and the fake nails are gone, but Betty reports that she got Vincent to work for them, and it's a big deal. Dad hugs her, and Hilda shrugs resignedly. Betty credits Hilda's makeover for making it all possible, and Dad hugs Hilda too. They all dance in front of the video game.
Wil waits impatiently for her "date," a senator, to show up. He's late, and she seems sad about it. Eventually he gets there, though, and it turns out he's just like Brad, except not white. Oh I forgot to mention - he's her dad. Sorry. He gives Wil a hard time for being such a failure. After he leaves, she broods. Then she checks her email and discovers that Vincent Bianchi has agreed to do their December issue. She throws a tantrum and proceeds to destroy every breakable bauble in her office.
Next time: A super-hot guy from another mag buys Betty a drink, and next thing they know, someone has stolen Daniel's ideas for the next issue.
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1 comment:
Hey Julie, thanks for detailed recap. I missed this episode because I failed to give Tivo good instructions. By the way, I LOVE the link to Ugly Bettys of the world. I had no idea! Brilliant!
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