Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Cook Like Betty Crocker/Look Like Donna Reed
By Jacob Clifton | Season 3 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.20.2008
After school Justin's like, "We are going on a fabulous Broadway date!" and Randy totally shuts him down with the other owners-of-bangs looking on. Justin totally doesn't get it the entire time and finally Randy's like, "You are dumped." The judging eyes of the boys glare at him and he screams at Justin to stop following him around and get a life. Instead of doing so, Justin feels horrible and a little confused.
Betty visits Marc, who is ignoring her in his sleep mask with tea: "Marc isn't in right now, but if you leave your name and number, he'll never speak to you again, you odious seacow, Betty. Beeeep." She apologizes and says she liked his presentation, and he says his was way better, and she says maybe it's just about how bad she wants it. Marc makes the very amazing point that it's pretty apparent he wants to be a fashion editor too, which is why he graduated from FIT, spent a summer abroad studying menswear in Milan, spent four years working for -- he points angrily at Wili's office -- the best creative director in the entire industry, who neither knows nor would care that he even applied to YETI. Betty's heart breaks for him, because seriously. She floats maybe that it was the concept, and it's like "Betty, don't poke the bear" because people like Betty like to go over things and wonder how and why they failed, but that's not how people like Marc feel better, so everything she says isn't "It's not so bad" but "Here's why it is so bad," which is the opposite, and you know what she's like, it's neverending, and finally he just laughs in her face.
"You really think that what you did in two days is better than what I spent three months working on? Are you really going to make me say it? You helped them meet their quota. They picked you, Betty Suarez, of Queens, because you're Latina. You're the token ethnic girl." Betty can't even handle that, and Marc doesn't feel great about it, but she points out that this is the ugliest of all the many ugly things he's ever said to her. He apologizes, but assures her it's the truth.
Which is a sticky fucking wicket. Because if he's wrong, you just ruined one of the more compelling and subtle characters on television, because that shit is unforgiveable. Part of the burden of living in a democratic society is that there is shit you do not say, because admitting it's a possibility makes everything fall apart. And if you say it, you don't use it like a weapon. And if you use it like a weapon, you don't do it in a sour grapes situation. And if you do say it anger, you don't say it to somebody you love. And if you don't say it in anger, that's even worse. He didn't say it in anger. Which makes it maybe the most brutal thing that's ever happened on the show, because it's not even funny like a pregnant woman falling down stairs or stealing cold semen from a corpse: it's actually gross. And really, really sad. Plus, the bitch cheated on Cliff and he's on thin motherfucking ice this week anyway.