I feel like a proud mom of the kid who eats paste when I say this: After two years of being in the city, Betty made a friend. Not a sometimes friend or Daniel but a true friend. The fact that it’s the awesome Amanda makes it even better.
Amanda and Betty have been building their friendship for at least the past season and when Betty opened her apartment to the evicted Amanda, it really allowed them to get to know one another. There is one little problem. Amanda doesn’t buy groceries and eats all of Betty’s. She’s not chipping in for rent and she’s running up the utility bills. Okay. So she’s not a perfect friend but you know the whole beggar’s thing, right? Little Betty always has to have things perfect, though, so she’s ready to kick out her new friend if she doesn’t pay rent. For now, at least, Amanda’s safe. Until they get to work and she steals Betty’s thunder and ends up as her partner on an assignment.
Mode is starting a new website feature that calls for a slew of new articles and the entire staff is able to make pitches. Betty is first, naturally, and pitches an article about how to have fun in the city without spending any money. Her list includes such riveting things as the Native American Museum which has exhibits of pottery, blah, blah, blah. Even Daniel said it was dry. Then Amanda buts in with how she probably owes $10,000 to various bars and a light bulb goes off in Wilhelmina’s head: How I Blew $10,000 Without Spending a Dime. Since we know Betty isn’t going to crash Tom Cruise’s movie premiere, Daniel and Willie partner Betty and Amanda and send them off to blow as much money as possible.
And so the adventure begins. First up is a cosmetics counter where Amanda scores them tons of free samples. Betty feels guilty for not buying anything (this is my shocked face) but she has to go along with it. Next up is an art gallery where Amanda explains you have to go to the one with the ugliest exhibits because they have the best alcohol. Get it? The artists knows you’ll have to be drunk to buy his pieces? I heart Amanda. Anyway, at the gallery, Amanda spots her dinner. Two guys have been checking her out for some time and though Betty refuses their dinner invitation at first, she goes along with it in the end and they eat at the most beautiful restaurant Betty has ever been to. They drink expensive champagne and have a blast, or at least Amanda and the two guys do.
Betty excuses herself to call Hilda and whine about how she feels guilty. Surprisingly, Betty’s family was all for this excursion and Hilda tells her again to just have fun and not worry about it. Easy for her to say because when Betty returns to the table to find Amanda sitting alone. Don’t worry, though, the guys just went to make a business call. Only they’re not coming back and the waiter walks straight to Betty and informs them the guys said Betty and Amanda would pick up the check. Da, da, da…What do you do when you’ve just eaten a thousand and some dollar meal and you have no money? Use your connections, of course. Betty asks to speak to the manager and tells her that she’s a writer at Mode magazine. She’s looking for the next big thing and this restaurant will be featured prominently. Then she holds out the bill, which has the back of her Queens College ID sticking out of it, and waits. Amanda looks back and forth between the manager and Betty until, finally, the manager offers to take care of the bill. Who knew Betty had that in her?
Betty and Amanda are all chummy when Amanda looks in her purse and sees that her wallet was stolen. It must have been the two guys she picked up. Of course that’s not it. The rent money, which Amanda took so Betty wouldn’t have to go see the creepy landlord, has been stolen, too. There’s overreacting and a fight and Betty goes crying to her dad. I love the Suarez’s tonight because he tells her that Amanda was trying to do something nice and it’s not like she stole the money. I think the Suarez’s are afraid as I am that Betty will never make a friend. By the way, I’m not discounting Christina (who’s awesome) but they don’t give the two of them enough screen time together so I’m glad she has a fun, single friend to make her enjoy life more. Back to the story…
Betty makes up with Amanda the next day at work after Daniel tells her the article is perfect and he wants to make it a recurring feature. Plus, he’ll offer her an advance so she can pay her rent. Yay. He’s such a softie. When Betty finds Amanda, she’s rushing to the elevator with her coat on and hiding from everyone. Yup. She got a second job as a waitress at a TGIF type restaurant. Awesome. See, Betty made a real, honest to god friend. Beaming with pride right now.
Not only is Betty advancing, so is Wilhelmina. She’s bumbling and crazy when Connor’s around but then she learns, through videotape, that Daniel is falling for Molly, too (the two almost kiss but then they stop and she runs off). All Willie has to do now is push Daniel and Molly closer so she can have Connor. She might have to push really hard, though, because Daniel doesn’t want to be an adulterer like another Meade we know. And speaking of the elder Meade, Willie finally found out they’re having a little boy. Now that she has to admit it’s a child and not a thing she got all fuzzy and worried she’ll make a terrible mother. Oh, Wilhelmina, don’t you know they have nannies for that kind of thing?
I love the honesty of the characters on Ugly Betty. Seriously. Can’t every night be Thursday?
