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'Ugly Betty' and Bad Amanda share more than ramen
Sticking with Ugly Betty's snotty characters usually pays off because they eventually expose a bit of sympathetic humanity. Tonight was Amanda's turn.
Spoilers brought to you by Bad Ronald.
Amanda isn't the worst roommate ever (that award would go to my friends' roommate who practiced bulimia in the shared shower), but she's no prize. Besides treating Betty like a servant, wearing her clothes, and blaming the missing food on the mythical Bad Ronald, she doesn't even bother paying rent. This is New York: Rent is supreme.
But no worries. Mode has just launched ModeNY.com and has opened it up to the staff. Betty pitches and -- with Amanda's social savvy -- lands a story idea: How to have fun in NY on zero dollars. And despite Betty's reluctance, their partnership is pretty darn good.
Amanda has all the ideas and know-how: makeup samples from pricey stores, tucking in the tag of a garment to return later (I enabled someone to do that once), drinking free booze at gallery exhibits and allowing generous men to buy you dinner. All goes well when Claudio and Luca ply the girls with expensive champagne ... until the bill comes and the men were nowhere to be found. Hmm, they're good.
No dine and dash for our upstanding Betty though. In a flash, she cons the manager into comping the meal since the restaurant will get a huge write-up on ModeNY.com . I'm pretty impressed with the plucky girl. It's all great ... until it turns out that the two dudes also stole Amanda's wallet (they're really good) AND Betty's rent money that Amanda had planned on delivering for her. Ouch.
Betty's pissed. I'd be pissed. Papi reasons with her and plies her with food, but it's not until Daniel reads her story and says this should be a regular feature that she's feeling magnanimous again. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that Amanda is feeling properly contrite and has taken a second job where she has to wear at least 6 pieces of flair in order to pay her share of rent. And as usual, we're rewarded with a heart-warming scene -- Betty has made dinner for the hard-working Mandy. Awww.
Meanwhile, the Daniel and Wilhelmina story lines are somewhat intertwined since they're each pining over one half of the Connor-Molly betrothed pair. I'll let you guess which.
Claire literally tries to slap Daniel's crush out of him. Good for you, Claire! While I'm all for love and its unpredictable nature, I would at least hope Molly would ease out of her engagement before exploring things with Daniel. They do share an almost-kiss though, which is caught on surveillance that's conveniently viewed by Wilhelmina.
Ol' Willie it seems is completely mortified after Connor shot her down in Key Largo and has been alternately making an ass of herself and avoiding him like the Avian flu. Even Christina (who tells us she's not due for at least two months) notices and calls her on it. She also reveals that the Bradford-mina spawn is a boy. Oh boy.
But now that Daniel's tumble into star-crossed love is apparent, Wilhelmina is hoping to use that as the wedge to win her Connor as her man, future husband and acting father to her yet unborn son. I can't wait.
Other highlights and musings:
- Marc, about Christina's due date: "It's not in my calendar."
- Christina's Princess Leia buns were actually kind of cute. Did she stuff them?
- Christina: "Dead baby. Dead baby. Dead baby!" about the non baby-proofed items around Wil's pad.
- Daniel to Molly about her lame chopsticks use: "There's no shame in using a fork." Thank you! I appreciate that everyone wants to improve and try to use chopsticks, but sometimes it's just an excruciatingly slow and cringe-inducing process to watch. 
- Wil chose Christina as her surrogate for her Scottish "fierce independence." She's her Braveheart -- Bravevagina.
- Possible Bradford-mina Spawn names: Angus, Hamish, Abelard. What would you propose?
- I understand that Molly is down-to-earth, etc., but she didn't even bother to look at the racks and racks of dresses before choosing one for her event? I call BS.
Your thoughts? Will the Daniel/Molly, Wilhelmina/Connor thing work out? Are you looking forward to Betty's YETI experience?
no ugly betty tonight 12/4 - post football game on instead.
when will this show !
The ads said on tonight...doesn't abc know their schedule?
I think they called her brave uterus.
Ally | Dec 5, 2008 12:58:24 AM | #Hey, Liz! You must live in the Bay Area. At the beginning of the post-football show, they announced Ugly Betty would air at 1 AM. I set my VCR. Unfortunately, the show started at about 1:10, so I missed the end.
I always love it when we get to see the Suarez family getting together, discussing/solving problems.
I like Molly for Daniel, so hope that whole thing doesn't get too messy. Judith Light was wonderful, as always. She (Claire) DOES know her son!
Liz, local affiliates can override network programming with local programming (for example, our local CBS affiliate is airing St. Jude instead of "Ghost Whisperer" tonight) but the promos for network programming will still air.
mags | Dec 5, 2008 12:35:59 PM | #Glad to see some good Christina scenes. I like her and Willie bonding. Amanda and Betty are fun together too - although not as much fun as Marc and Amanda. Getting a bit bored of Daniel and the school teacher. He's a cutie, but a total flirt! Who would throw over Connor for the untrustworthy but charming Daniel? OK ME!!!
Cath | Dec 5, 2008 4:41:01 PM | #Didn't anyone else get a hoot out of the Bad Ronald reference? Or am I just that old?
Lisa S. | Dec 5, 2008 5:11:08 PM | #This was a great episode, probably the first one since the writers' strike that's been up to the quality of the first season. Loved the scene with Betty's father, his loving advice about her lightening up without putting her down in any way, in fact taking responsibility for how they raised her.
Jane | Dec 5, 2008 8:58:16 PM | #I caught the Bad Ronald reference --the title and title character of the 70's classic TV movie of the week where the insane kid was locked up in the house by his mother to hide him from the police after he killed someone and got around through the walls, then stalked the new family that moved in the house after his mother died. I was only about 7 when it was on, but my babysitter let me watch it and I was freaked out for months!
Gary J. | Dec 8, 2008 7:53:50 AM | #if you carry all that cash around instead of writing and mailing a rent cheque, then you're pretty stupid ... i'm must sayin' ...
tc | Dec 10, 2008 9:28:14 PM | #
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