Episode Report Card Monty Ashley: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Ripped From Today's Headlines!
By Monty Ashley | Season 3 | Episode 16 | Aired on 02.26.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Well! This episode was kind of a downer, frankly.
It's getting pretty late in the season and everyone's pretty much happy with things. So it's clearly time to start throwing crazy plot twists into the mix. On a budget-related task for YETI, Betty finds out that Connor has been stealing from Meade Publications. This is such a big secret that it takes about ten minutes for the entire cast to learn about it. Connor claims that he did it because he hates Daniel and not because, say, it's always nice to have a few million dollars sitting around.
Connor asks Wili to fly away with him and the complete contents of the Meade bank accounts, but she ends up choosing her career. Connor leaves anyway, and presumably escapes to Tibet or something. So the Meades are broke and Wili is without her man. Also, Molly has cancer and dumps Daniel to go stay with her family.
The only note of optimism is at the end of the episode, when Betty stops messing around with Matt (there's kind of a Facebook thing going on with her feelings for Henry, but I wouldn't worry about it for now) and goes out and tries to be happy with him.
Oh, and Justin calls Tina Brown's Diana Chronicles "DiChron". I could have done without that, frankly.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see our list of Ugly Betty's Soapiest Moments! And check back next week for the full recap!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Betty smiles directly into the camera to start the episode. Well, hello, Betty! You look pretty happy. Let's see if you can keep that smile through the whole episode, shall we? The reason she is smiling is because she's setting up a Facebook page. Oh, the hijinx that will ensue. I hope we get to see Betty comically unable to manage her thousands of Mafia Wars requests! She's doing it because it's a YETI assignment, which is how we start plots these days. YETI is clearly under the control of the Plot Contrivance people.
Justin comes in and enthuses about Betty having a Facebook page, and then enthuses even more about the next YETI speaker, Tina Brown. And that brings up a new feature I've decided to add, called...
MONTYKINS EXPLAINS THE NAMEDROPPING: Tina Brown was the editor of Vanity Fair and then The New Yorker in the eighties and nineties, which means that she's an iconic magazine figure in New York. She also wrote a book called The Diana Chronicles, which Justin wants Betty to get signed for him. When Hilda suggests selling the autographed book, Justin looks appalled and says "Don't even joke about my DiChron." Hilda claims that her customers think the place is looking a little run down, but Justin puts that down to the shuffling, be-robed presence that is Ignacio. On cue, Ignacio grumbles his way into the dining room, complaining that Elena has been gone for a couple of days. Oh, excuse me. Three days. What a baby.
Betty gets a call from Daniel, who says he's sick. In bed. At a fancy hotel. With cookies!
Wilhelmina awakens peacefully and happily, then gasps in horror: "Oh my god, the baby!" The baby is, in fact, missing from the crib. But Connor is holding him in the living room. Connor calls the baby "William," which I think is the only time he will be referred to by name. Wili comments on her newly-acquired maternal instinct (I mean, newly-acquired except for the daughter she already has, I guess), saying "I suddenly have the urge to strangle someone to protect him." Of course, she often has the urge to strangle someone. But now it's maternal! Connor suggests that Wili go back to bed so he can bring her breakfast. She sighs happily. Connor suggests running away "somewhere distant and exotic where no one can find us." Wili would be up for it if she wasn't required at work.
Betty arrives at Mode, and Amanda holds up a hand mirror. Why? "I need to know that you know what you're wearing." Ha! Then Marc comes up and starts nattering at Betty about how they have to go to the YETI meeting right away, because Tina Brown! OMG! As Marc and Betty leave, Amanda can be seen in the background, staring with fascination into the mirror. She commits totally to it and does it much longer than necessary, which means that it is hilarious. Marc hurries Betty to the elevator, calling her "Slowpoke-ahontas" and insisting that he needs to be on the sidewalk hearing her gasp for breath behind him. They pass Molly, who has already forgotten her cover story about the bad plumbing. Remember? Last week? Anyway, no time to chat. Marc tells Molly that Daniel is at the Amsterdam (under the name "Mr. Sickington," which is just adorable), and he pulls Betty into the elevator, saying "I am not missing Tina Brown."