Jan. 24, 2008 (2.13, aka #36): The discomfort zone

Daniel meets a sexy woman named Renee in a nightclub. She asks him to dance, supposedly to make her boyfriend jealous; but it's just a ruse, because she likes him. He takes her to his loft, and as they flop onto the bed in the dark, they land on Claire, who hasn't been quite sure what to do with herself since she got out of jail. She doesn't want to stay at the house because there are too many memories, so she's decided to stay at Daniel's instead. Renee leaves, but says she's impressed that Daniel takes care of his mother.

For their next date, Daniel and Renee go to Renee's place. Later, he hears her in the shower, but finds Wil there instead. That's how he discovers that Renee is Wil's sister (and I guess this means he didn't know where Wil lives). Angry, he dumps her and leaves. Wil is angry with Renee. Renee gloats. They taunt one another: Renee calls Wil "Wanda," and Wil calls Renee "Rhonda." Christina, who has been hanging out at Wil's because Wil wants her to stay in bed with her legs up until they're sure the fertilized egg is implanted properly, overhears the whole thing and tells Betty (about Renee and Wil being sisters; she doesn't know about Wil's plain past, so the stuff about "Rhonda" and "Wanda" went over her head). Betty agrees with Daniel that getting involved with Wil's sister would just be asking for trouble.

Later, Renee comes by with flowers and apologizes to Daniel. She admits that she dated him to annoy her sister, but says she really likes him. He rejects her with difficulty. He goes to Betty's house for moral support. Betty tells him to go for it; after all, she and her sister aren't much alike, and neither are Daniel and Alexis. Wil is horrified to find him in her apartment the very next morning. She tells him he'll regret being with Renee.

Still later, Renee gloats at Wil some more. Wil issues a vague threat about letting Daniel "the truth" about Renee. Christina overhears this too.

After a lot of sulking and a knitting class, Claire decides to start a magazine called Hot Flash for older women who aren't ready to stop living. Daniel and Alexis are skeptical, but she is determined.

Amanda is convinced that Gene Simmons is her father, but she's had trouble getting in touch with him. Fido suggests that she write a song for him, perform it, put it on YouTube, and wait for Simmons to see it. Fido tries to help her compose the song. He gets all misty and says he hopes someday he'll have an illegitimate daughter who will sing him such a sweet song.

Meanwhile, Henry is managing a band called "The IRS" (it's okay - they're accountants) to supplement his income for the baby's sake. The band's lead singer is really terrible; Henry decides to advertise at work for a new one. Amanda needs a band; after a dumb but funny conversation with Henry, she gets together with "The IRS" to record the song.

Betty is bummed that the articles she's been submitting to magazines have been getting rejected. Someone has backed out of doing an interview with popular author Phil Roth, so Betty asks Daniel to let her do it instead. Betty thinks Daniel means Philip Roth, but Gio explains to her that Phil Roth, the man who's waiting for her in the conference room, writes books about picking up women. Betty is offended, but Gio reminds her that she wanted to write an article, and that she should be open-minded.

Phil greets her with his book, titled "Tap That: How to Score with Hot Bitches." He feels that the easiest way to get a woman interested is to insult her, then ignore her. He demonstrates his technique on Amanda, who falls in love instantly. Betty politely ends the interview and writes an article about Hilda starting her own business instead. Daniel's displeased; he thinks their readers will be more interested in knowing "what men are thinking." When she protests, he craftily tells her that Phil called and asked for a more open-minded writer. Offended, Betty insists on another chance.

She and Henry read Phil's book. Henry is intrigued and wants to see if the technique works. He thinks an experiment in a bar will provide a good angle for Betty's story. Betty agrees, but much to Henry's chagrin, she wants to use Gio as their subject. Henry thinks he should be the one to try the technique instead.

While Betty and Gio talk at the bar, they watch a pretty girl give someone her phone number. They are both annoyed when they see it's Henry. The two men decide to compete for phone numbers. They proceed to insult every woman in the club with comments like "your doctor did an amazing job" and "it's so nice to meet a girl who doesn't buy into that whole 'skinny' thing" and "man, you've got some big feet." The final score is 7-6, with Henry victorious. Gio keeps the phone numbers as a consolation prize.

Betty is upset with Henry, and with men in general. Even her father is reading Phil's book now. Hilda tells Betty to be more open-minded, and says it if weren't for books like that, men wouldn't have the courage to speak to women at all. (I think this was meant to sound sympathetic towards men, but it just makes them sound insecure and unappealing.)

Phil comes back for his interview. She tells him that she saw his technique in action and has to admit that it works on some women. Betty discovers that Phil never called Daniel to ask for a new writer. Phil gloats that Betty can get played after all.

After writing the article, she confronts Daniel, who tells her the deception was necessary to get her to step outside her comfort zone. He says the article was good, but Alexis is pulling it because Phil Roth offends her now that she's a woman. Betty is still glad that Daniel had enough faith in her to give her a second chance at the article.

Henry is nervous about his new, improved band's maiden voyage this evening with Amanda at the Mic. Betty thinks of some people she can get to come to the show to bring in some more money; Henry bristles when she mentions Gio's name. He says he trusts Betty, but not Gio; and the way Betty felt when she watched him hit on women is how he feels when he sees her with Gio. She agrees not to see Gio any more. In return, Henry has to learn how to make her favorite sandwich.

That night, Fido sets up the cameras and introduces the band. Amanda starts singing "Gene Simmons Is My Daddy." It's a performance that only a father could love; in fact, he does love it. He tells Amanda that he found out about the performance during his daily self-Google. He admits that the story, as described in the song, is true. He and Amanda take off for a talk.

The magic of this moment is lost on Henry, whose band is without a singer. Betty tries to get Henry to do it. He says he'll do it only if she sings with him; so she does. They're a little awkward at first, but they improve.

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Next week:
There's no "next week" in the forseeable future. Major bummer!