Episode Report Card Monty Ashley: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Not Everyone Has To Like You
By Monty Ashley | Season 3 | Episode 18 | Aired on 03.12.2009
In the Mode offices, Betty tells Daniel that he has a meeting with Miles Foster (a photographer) and Wilhelmina at 4:00, and that she has put out a spread of food. The spread includes salami, but "not the kind that makes you gassy." Daniel protests that that only happened one time, and that it was a fluke, but Betty feels it's best not to risk it. Daniel appears to enjoy the fart references. Either he's fond of Betty, or he misses that fratboy magazine he was working at at the beginning of the season. Betty also has good news for Daniel: a special doctor he wants for Molly is in town for the week. Daniel thanks Betty for working on the weekend and casually refers to Matt as her boyfriend. Betty denies that their relationship has progressed that far, but Daniel has some vague lesson he learned from Molly. Betty feels that labels like "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" are meaningless. Betty leaves via the elevator, en route to the hockey game.
Daniel and Wilhelmina walk the vacant halls of Mode, talking about how vital it is to get Miles Foster. He's very in demand, and costs more than their entire photo budget, but they think they can get him if they offer complete creative control. Then they have a cute moment where Wili tells Daniel he's got sweat on his upper lip, which means that he's nervous, but Daniel claims that he just washed his face. And forgot to dry it?
In the meeting, Daniel and Wili heap praise on Miles, especially for a Brady Bunch-themed shoot he did with Angelina Jolie and her six children. Is that the right number of children? I'd check, but as far as I'm concerned, the primary definition of a weecap is that I don't have to spend time looking things up on Google. Whee! Anyway, Miles's photo shoot also included Jennifer Aniston as Alice the Maid, which is entertainingly silly. He's all coy and self-deprecating (and sounds a bit like Terry from Reno 911) until they get to the part about him working at a discount, at which point he spits "I'm a freaking genius!" and walks out. They have until Friday to come up with the money.
With Miles gone, Daniel and Wili agree that they'll have to dip into their personal bankrolls to pay him. Daniel offers to cover it, but Wili insists that she's able to cover it. Then she looks worried.
At a huge, expensive-looking building, Betty stands in an enormous foyer. She calls for Matt, but gets Christine Baranski instead. She asks Betty to go get her bags. Betty, thinking that Matt has told his mother all about her, introduces herself simply as "Betty". Matt's mother, being fairly polite, introduces herself as Victoria Hartley. I disapprove of her automatically assuming Betty is a servant based on nothing more than (as far as I can tell) her racial heritage, but given that she thinks she's talking to a maid, at least she's not shouting and making imperious gestures. She just seems condescending and faintly amused, but that might just be because her eyebrows have been permanently affixed to the top of her forehead. The confusion gets ironed out as Betty explains that she's dating Matt, but it is immediately clear that Victoria did not know that. And then Matt shows up, clearly surprised that his mother is home. Betty and Victoria part on a note of phony politeness; when Victoria says "And it was nice to meet you," it's like she's going to bite Betty's head off with her powerful mandibles.