10/5: "The Book" mini-recap

I don't know what the "official" titles of these episodes are, so I'm just making up descriptive names which may or may not coincidentally match the actual titles.

Bradford Meade (Daniel's father) asks Daniel if he's seen The Book (he hasn't). The Book is a running mockup - a live rough draft - of the magazine. Daniel should review it every day to keep on top of what's going on. "Whoever controls the book controls the magazine," he tells Daniel. Since they're going to press tomorrow, Daniel should look at it tonight.

Betty sits in on a meeting with famous actress Natalie Whitman, who has not yet shed the 30 pounds she gained for her recent movie. Willie and the others are retouching her photo, which will be on the cover of the magazine. Natalie is not happy that they are slimming her down so much, but she is told that it would be awful for anyone to see her unretouched photos. Nat is unhappy about this, but reluctantly agrees.

Daniel tells Willie that he wants to see The Book. Tonight, and every night from now on. She sweetly tells him he should delegate such tasks, but he insists. Later, while Fido rubs her feet, she decides she will use The Book to trick him into signing off on unretouched ("fat") photos of Nat. If such photos were to be published, no one would ever want to appear in, or do business, with Mode again. She could save the day at the last minute, becoming a hero and making Daniel look stupid (same basic plan as last week).

At lunch, Nat approaches the table where Betty and the other normal-looking girls are eating. (That's right, a famous actress is visiting their office but has to fend for herself in the lunchroom because no one has offered to take her out or bring her something to eat.) She complains that all the available food is low-cal and tasteless, but Betty's empenadas smell yummy. Betty shares her lunch with Nat, who engages in friendly chat with the normal-looking girls.

Willie meets with the Mummy, who is indeed Fey Sommers, the previous editor of Mode. She suspects Brad of arranging the crash that allegedly killed her. She wants to get proof and put him in jail. She suggests to Willie that they use Daniel to get to Brad.

Brad meets with that guy again in the park. To avoid annoying pronoun confusion, I'll call him Chuck. Fey's things are about to be auctioned off. Chuck offers to break in and remove any incriminating evidence. Brad says he'll do it, because he has a key, and besides, Chuck wouldn't know what's incriminating. Chuck looks surprised that Brad has a key.

Late that day, Fido brings The Book to Daniel. He tells Daniel to pay special attention to the fanny pack article (nice misdirection attempt, kiddo). He's about to start reviewing it when Amanda comes in - Willie has given her tickets to the opera, and she wants to molest Daniel in their secluded box seat. He jumps at this offer, leaving the book on his desk. Betty sees it and takes it home, where it will be safe.

Bwahahahaha.

Justin can't wait to look at all the proofs. He quickly notices the fat-photos of Natalie and Betty worries. Then boyfriend-stealing neighbor Gina shows up, wanting $4000 for the plasma (not LCD, sorry) TV that broke when Betty slammed Gina's front door last week. Hilda (Betty's sister) brandishes The Book threateningly at Gina. When Betty warns Hilda to be careful, Gina is intrigued by the book's apparent value to Betty.

That night, Gina breaks into their house and steals The Book. Meanwhile, Brad breaks into Fey's house (remember, Fey is allegedly dead, she doesn't live there anymore) and steals a music box and a photo of him with Fey.

The next morning, Betty finds a ransom note from Gina. Then the phone rings - it's Daniel. He just got Betty's message (which she left last night) that she's taken The Book home. Since they're going to press tonight, he's sending a car to her house right now so that he can see The Book asap. Betty takes Hilda's advice to not tell Daniel that it's missing, but she does mention the unretouched fat photos of Natalie.

Betty gets dressed, and she and Hilda go to Gina's house to confront her. Betty goes to the front, and Hilda sneaks in through the back, which was unlocked. Hilda and Gina have a chickenfight while Betty searches frantically.

Despite Daniel's best efforts to close the elevator doors quickly, Willie manages to slip through the paper-thin opening and smugly asks about The Book. He casually mentions the fat photos. She's speechless.

Back at Gina's house, a car horn honks outside. Betty decides to give up and just tell Daniel the truth. In the car, she calls Christina and tells her everything - including Gina's first and last name and that Gina wants $4000 or a new TV. The driver discreetly texts all this info to Willie.

Betty gets to the office and tells Daniel what's been happening. He agrees to pay the ransom and they speed out to Queens, but when they get there, Gina already has a new TV, and no Book! She turns on the TV, and the Fashion TV reporter (Lucy Davis, from the British version of The Office) announces that there are rumors that Mode magazine has let Nat's fat pictures escape into the wild.

Of course, this "rumor" is Willie's doing - she's calling all over town about it, saying she doesn't know how it happened, since Daniel had The Book! Fido shows up (in a clever disguise - an orange velour running suit) with The Book.

As they head back towards the office, Daniel starts preparing an alibi, but Betty suggests telling the truth. When they get there, Betty listens from another room as he tells the rest of the staff and Natalie that it's all his fault - he left the book in his office. Amanda hands Betty her stuff in a box and tells her she should quit before she's fired.

Betty runs into Nat on the elevator and says she's quitting (to prevent being fired) because of the fat photos. Anyway, for whatever her opinion is worth, the unretouched photos were better.

Daniel apologizes to his father about the problem with The Book and doesn't mention Betty. Brad says he's happy that Dan is telling the truth for once. Then Nat bursts in and says they mustn't fire Betty - she gave her an idea to solve the problem.

Willie calls Brad and claims that "her people" have found The Book. He tells her to turn on her TV - where the Fashion TV reporter is saying that Natalie is asking Mode to publish her unretouched photos. Willie slumps with defeat. Later, she tells Daniel that The Book was dropped off anonymously at the front desk. (She'd better hope Daniel doesn't compare notes with Brad, since "my people found it" is a lot different than "it was dropped off anonymously.")

That night, while looking through The Book (the Natalie announcement bought him an extra day), Daniel gets a call from a woman whose voice he doesn't recognize. She warns him about his father.

Meanwhile, Brad burns the evidence from Fey's house.