1/4/07: Min (mini)

On Betty's last day at Mode (remember, she's going to work for Salma, er, Sofia at MYW), Betty flashes back to an early event during her employment there: Wil and Fido (Marc) tricked Betty into submitting a severely defective expense report at the last minute, and Daniel got busted for using his company credit card (and went over its limit) for extravagant personal expenses. Daniel then had to use his own, very limited personal funds to entertain minimalist designer Oshi and his entourage. Betty came up with two ideas to save the day: she got Wil busted for using company money to get a butt-lift in Brazil, and charmed Oshi with a trip to White Tassel, a white restaurant in Jersey that served round food.

The excuse for the flashback is to explain why Betty is carrying an ugly Gucci knockoff handbag rather than the ugly original that Christina gave her when they cleaned out the "Closet" a few months earlier. It turned out that the bag was worth $4500; since the HMO was refusing to pay for Dad's medication, Betty traded it to the pharmacist for 15 refills. Turd Sandwich (Walter), who had been stalking Betty ever since Gina had dumped him, saw this and bought her an ugly knockoff; this melted Betty's heart.

Thinking the ugly knockoff was the genuine ugly Gucci, Fido wanted it, so Betty traded it to him in exchange for an unnamed future favor and another ugly knockoff.

This episode covers a lot of backstory: it explains about the HMO dropping Betty's dad; introduces Hotty (Henry); shows Wil's treachery, etc. I get the impression that perhaps it was originally supposed to be a non-flashback, but then got pulled for some reason (a change in story direction, perhaps, or simply not moving the story arc forward quickly enough) and reworked.