Pardon the gushiness that is about to come out of me….I adore Ugly Betty and this week’s episode was a prime example of what makes me adore it. There are few shows that are predictable but still unpredictable. I know that doesn’t make too much sense but read on and maybe you’ll understand a little better. Let’s get to it.
This week’s episode was all about love. Not too shocking that Betty is crushing hard on the cute musician next door, Jesse. He makes it easy for her to have a crush: He always gives her CD’s of his bands new songs so she can tell him what he thinks. He’s super nice to her, even calling her a “snow day,” which is a good thing. But she’s too shy to really say anything even though every time she sees him she just wants to kiss him. She doesn’t know what to do until her new roommate suggests she ask Jesse to play the after party of the big Mode party that’s coming up. Only there is no after party. Is there? Of course there is. Thanks to the roommate, the after party is on Betty’s own roof and is the place to be.
And who is this genius new roommate? Amanda, of course. Seems she couldn’t pay her rent for a few months and the landlord got all angry so now she’s living at Mode. Betty finds out because she showed up early one morning (she left so early so she could see Jesse). She tries to get Amanda to go stay at a friend’s house so she doesn’t have to live at Mode but Amanda is happy there. At least, until the building superintendent finds out and kicks her out of there, too. Instead of choosing from the million non-real friends she has, she knocks on Betty’s door. Predictable but still high-larious.
They aren’t the best roommates, especially Amanda. She feeds Betty’s lunch to her dog and wears all of Betty’s clothes. You know, she’ll wear a blouse or leggings as a dress. She climbs into Betty’s bed because she can’t fall asleep. Generally, she’s pretty annoying and she doesn’t enjoy being Betty’s roommate too much, either. Still, she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Especially since Marc’s practically living with Cliff, his boyfriend. Still, for all their differences, they make it work. And Amanda does come up with the brilliant party plan so Betty can make her move. Of course, she thinks it’s for some troll looking guy who lives in the building.
The party’s a huge hit. So huge, in fact, that Jesse gets a little stage fright and Betty has to reassure him that he’ll be great. Then he tells her she’s beautiful. To Betty, it’s the only thing she wanted to hear. There’s a sneaky suspicion, though, that Jesse doesn’t mean beautiful the way she wants to hear it. No matter, she gets him to play and he is fantastic. Everyone’s happy and when Betty tells Hilda that Jesse said she was beautiful, Hilda gives her the kick in the ass she needs to go ask him out right now. But when she finds him, he’s not alone. Now, there was a lot of speculation about who he would be with. Sadly, it was Amanda. They were kissing in Betty’s apartment so, naturally, Betty storms off while telling Amanda she has to be out by morning and that she’s the worst roommate ever.
Poor Betty. Seriously. She’s sitting on the stoop in front of her apartment crying because she thinks she isn’t pretty. Good thing Daniel is there to comfort her or she might implode. He’s just the nicest boss sometimes. He tells her that she’s wrong and that Jesse’s stupid, like any good sitcom parent. When she goes back to her apartment to clean up, Amanda apologizes but Betty just ignores her. Until she says that the guy she was kissing earlier was stupid and not worth it. Huh. Amanda actually chose Betty over a guy. Not so predictable. Guess Amanda will have somewhere to sleep and a new wardrobe for a little bit longer.
Oh, and remember how Cliff is practically living with Marc? Turns out he wants to literally live with him. Only Marc is a little bit nervous about the whole proposition and chooses to ignore Cliff until he can make up his mind. But is it because he’s not sure about cohabitating or not sure about Cliff? I don’t know but whichever one it is causes him to sleep with some slimy looking dude at the party. Gross and not what I would expect from my lovely Marc. Another thing I wouldn’t expect: when Cliff shows up at the party to apologize for pressuring Marc, Marc bursts out with a marriage proposal and says he wants to spend the rest of his life with Cliff. There’s a big hug and a surprised/scared look on Marc’s face. I guess that’s what guilt will do to you.
Meanwhile, back at our favorite magazine. Connor, the new CFO, is caught in between Daniel and Wilhelmina. Both of them want an ally in case the other tries to take over Meade but Connor is more interested in making sure the company is around for one of them to take over. And this guy, though a tad shady, is just the guy to do it. He seriously has no qualms about standing up to either of them, which is exactly what they need. When confronted at the party by both Willie and Daniel, he said he’ll walk right now if they don’t stop acting like children. Woohoo, some one with a pair. For now, everyone’s working together but like I said, a tad shady.
Like I said, predictable but not. You knew Betty wouldn’t get Jesse, or at least hoped so she could focus on work, which is going really well right now. You didn’t know Amanda would be such a good friend to her. You knew that Connor was in with Daniel and had a bit of thing with Willie but no way did you expect him to actually have sort of integrity and there’s no way you expected Wilhelmina to fall for him, only to find out he has a fiancé. It’s the characters that make this show unpredictable. Even the evil ones have a soft side and even the nice ones have a mean streak so there’s no telling who’s the bad guy now. Just as long as they don’t bring in another one like the awful Kimmie.
