Episode Report Card Jessica: B+ | 5 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Pilot
By Jessica | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.27.2006
But it seems that Daniel's lack of pleasantries is the last straw, because Betty has a bit of a breakdown in the closet with Christina. Apparently, nothing she does is good enough; Daniel treats her like dirt; he has no interest in any of her ideas; etc. Christina looks very sympathetic and sighs, and tells her that Nancy was in HR the other day, and heard that Bradford was the one who wanted to hire Betty in the first place, because he knew Daniel wasn't going to want to bone her. "Oh," Betty says, a little crestfallen, as anyone would be. I mean, even if she doesn't want to bone Daniel -- and I don't think she does -- no one wants to be noticed for flaming unsexiness. Christina apologizes, but Betty bravely says that this explains a lot, and that she should be grateful that she got her break, no matter how it happened. ["True, by the way. Magazine publishing is really hard to break into. Even in Canada!" -- Wing Chun] "This is just how it was supposed to happen for me," Betty adds. Christina furrows her brow kindly, and Betty takes off for the shoot, leaving her Fabia proposal behind.
And it's cringe-y time, a.k.a. the Fabia shoot. Models mill around in pleather hot pants and generally look like tranny hookers. I half-expect to see Jay Manuel pop up in the background. Instead, we get fabulously bitchy Amanda, who grabs Daniel and tells him she just thought she should pop over on her lunch break and see if he needed anything. Meanwhile, Philippe is upset because one of the models is absent: "This is a crazy complicated shoot and I need her dressed and ready, right now." Daniel reminds him that it's a test shoot, so they might as well just use a stand-in. Philippe tells him that the model is "too specific," and that they need someone with her "exact skin tones." Someone like...yes, poor Betty. Poor short, flabby Betty. I'm so sure she's the only one with the right skin tone. Daniel looks uneasy, but Philippe assures him that Betty will totally quit before she does it.
While they discuss this, poor Betty is eating a donut and minding her own beeswax. She's mid-bite when Daniel comes up and greets her enthusiastically: "I'm so glad you're here. We're having a crisis and we really need your help. One of our models didn't show up. We really need someone to stand in for her. In wardrobe." Betty is, naturally, horrified. "THIS is what you want me to do?" she asks, looking at the twelve-foot-tall Ukrainian beauties milling around. "Yeah!" Daniel tells her.