Episode Report Card Jessica: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Queens For A Day
By Jessica | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.11.2006
Speaking of Fey, she and Wilhelmina are drinking champers in the Mysterious Den of Recuperation and toasting to Bradford's realizing that Daniel sucks compared to Alex. As long as that wedge is between Bradford and Daniel, Fey explains, their father-son relationship is doomed, and Daniel's days at the magazine are numbered. Okay. Hang on a sec. Wouldn't it make more sense for Fey just to prove that Bradford tried to have her killed, rather than making Wilhelmina pull all this low-level wedge-driving stuff at the office? Because then Bradford would go to jail, Fey could emerge from the grave, and Daniel could be easily deposed. Listen, I love a good faked-death plot as much as the next girl, but this storyline doesn't really track for me, as far as motivation goes. If Fey wants her job back, can't she just, you know, reappear?
Back at the magazine, Daniel and Betty are still in brainstorming mode; it's clearly quite late, since the cleaning people are vacuuming the office, and the two of them are surrounded by take-out boxes. Daniel is laying on the conference-room table and thinking aloud about shrinking the magazine down, to make it easier for women to put in their handbags. Just like Teen Vogue. Er, Teen Mode. Whatever. He wads up some paper in frustration, throws it at the wastepaper basket and misses: "See? Alex would have made that. He's the one that should be here, not me." Aw, Daniel and Betty both feel out of place at Mode. Just go ahead and insert my weekly Buck Up, Little Camper speech here. Betty sighs that she doesn't think Bradford would have given Daniel the job if he didn't think he was up to it. "Is this kung pao chicken or orange beef?" Daniel asks, moodily staring into one of the takeout containers. Betty points out that "after five hours," she doesn't think there's much of a difference anymore. "You know what next Saturday is?" Daniel asks. "The Harvard/Yale football game. The biggest football game of the year." That's true...if you go to Harvard or Yale or live in 1928. It's a good thing Daniel isn't editing Sports Illustrated. He whinges some more about how his daddy never loved him, and never took him to the game and still won't, even though Alex is dead: "It's okay. I'm used to it. Every parent has a favorite, right?" Betty offers that her dad doesn't, but Daniel gloomily informs her that they all do.
Casa Suarez, the next morning. Hilda is yelling at Justin to get a move on or he'll be late for school, as Betty sits at the kitchen table and yawns, surrounded by photographers' portfolios. She tells Hilda that she was at work really late, dealing with all the emotional problems Daniel ought to be telling a professional. She looks thoughtful, and asks Hilda whether she thinks their father has a favorite. Hilda chuckles. "Yeah, I think so," she says. "You," Betty says. "YOU," Hilda tells her, saying Betty's right up there with Tito Puente and his nose hair clippers as far as their dad is concerned. Aw. That is love. Speaking of Papa Suarez, he hits his cue and enters the kitchen, asking why Betty was at work so late the night before. Betty tells him that they're swamped, trying to find some new photographers. Her father thinks Betty's working too hard, and should ask for a raise. "Okay, Dad," Betty says in the same tone I use when my mother tells me that I should be the head writer of SNL. It means, "You are sweet, but that's totally delusional." Papa notices that one of the books is Vincent Bianchi's, and wouldn't you know it? Turns out he grew up four blocks away and Papa Suarez knows Papa Bianchi. "I always thought that kid would end up in jail," Papa says thoughtfully. Betty rolls her eyes at this and takes off to work. "PUT DOWN THE COFFEE" she yells back to her father as she goes.