Friday, November 03, 2006

Betty's Revelations


This episode of Ugly Betty was a must-see, for all the skeletons that emerged from the characters' closets. The week was also filled with people clamoring for attention and none of them being served. Daniel decided on first sight that he must have caliente new editor Salma Hayek, but he couldn't seem to win her affections, no matter how many innuendos and clichés he hurled her way. They even got stuck in an elevator. This led to Daniel'a hilarious line: ''Last time this happened, it was four hours of Kevin Federline trying to cornrow my hair''. Daniel ended up getting a much-needed slap in the face. However, Hayek is set to appear in some more episodes, perhaps she will hook up with him after all.

Too bad the slap didn't do Daniel any good, as he couldn't seem to figure out where he went wrong, and poor Amanda had to listen to his complaints. Which the doormat did willingly, until she grew her own cojones, told him that she was the girl at whose apartment he had left his watch, and finally put an end to their dysfunctional sleepovers. I would hail this as Amanda's empowering way of taking back the night, but unfortunately Daniel met this breakup with indifference. I'm afraid Amanda will come crawling back before Daniel realizes he's lost something worth remembering.

Meanwhile, Wilhelmina's daughter, Nico, was trying to get face time with her Mom. Seemingly expelled from yet another boarding school, Nico proceeded to wreak havoc on her mother's life, even infringing on her favorite shopping source. (''It's an emergency!'' said Marc. ''Bergdorf's! ...Shoplifting!'') Turns out it was all a thinly veiled attempt to get some maternal loving, which Wilhelmina and her assistant were onto. ''Did you really think that imitating that very special episode of Punky Brewster was going to get your mother's attention?'' asked Marc. And so Nico was left to drown her sorrows in endless bowls of cereal. This is where we learned about Wilhelmina's upbringing, how the Senator kept her at arm's distance, and how Wills decided to use the distance to make herself impenetrable, not to mention how she was caught doing a horizontal tango with ''Mischa'' Baryshnikov when she was 15. In the end. Wilhelmina discovered being alone is no fun ans she found herself fishing for the cereal box at episode's end.

Betty and Hilda also couldn't seem to get what they needed out of their Dad. There's a chance their father could be deported even after 30 years in the States, but he remained mum on why he didn't apply for a green card years ago. To raise the $20,000 needed for legal fees, Betty decided to sell Herbalux at the Mode office, which Hilda hilariously described as "a gay version of Star Trek''. Hilda eventually befriended a immigrtaion lawyer played by Debi Mazar, so they may have caught a break. Betty even nearly made a pact with the devil herself, temporarily accepting a $20,000 check from Wilhelmina in exchange for dirt on Daniel. She smartly turned down the offer. Tensions escalated as Betty insisted that she must know the truth about her father and the mysterious wedding ring in an old photo of her mother. In the end, naive Betty understood what worldly Wilhemina didn't: that it doesn't pay to think only of yourself. Where Wilhemina pushed her relatives away, Betty held on.

So it was only after Betty turned the other cheek and told her father she trusted him unconditionally that he explained that her mother was married to a rich wife batterer named Ramiro Vásquez and that he took Ramiro on after a particularly abusive night and fled Mexico with their mother. ''I killed Ramiro Vásquez,'' Mr. Suarez said, giving the episode a suitably juicy telenovela end. Next week looks really good. And I really enjoyed seeing Salma Hayek on the show. Oh and where was Justin?

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