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Ugly Betty Episode 2.12 Full Recap

by Tom on January 18th, 2008

Here is the full recap of Ugly Betty episode 2.12, “Odor in the Court”.  This had to be my favorite episode of the year so far, because the comedy was all Betty this time; America Ferrera got to really show off her comedic chops.

Full recap (of course, there are huge spoilers if you have not yet seen the episode), after the jump.

The episode begins with Betty on the floor of Gio’s sandwich shop.  She has passed out, and wakes up and asks where she is.  A policeman tells her where she is, and that she had thrown a trash can through the window.  She is in handcuffs.  Gio does not want to press charges.  Betty says, that she is “so not myself lately”.  The show then “rewinds” to 3 days earlier.

On fashion TV, they are talking about Claire’s trial, in which the prosecution has just rested.    Claire has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Daniel and Alexis are getting ready for the day’s proceedings (Daniel is getting fit for a suit – all the designers have sent one for him to wear to the trial).  Betty suggests he dress conservatively, Alexis agrees, and says they should appear as “plain folk”.  Daniel says, “…says the Amazon transsexual…”

Alexis sends Betty to the Meade residence to pick up a few of Claire’s things: shoes, accessories, and a bottle of perfume that she really loves.

Amanda walks into the sex room, a woman is in there.  The woman says “everyone knows about it” (the room).  A man walks in and attempts to take a nap.  Amanda, indignant, grabs Fey’s stuff (including a large picture of her), and walks out.  When she gets back to her desk, she sees that many sheets of paper were taped to the back of the picture.  It turns out, they are the missing pages of Fey’s diary.

We then hear Fey’s voice reading the diary.  She tells of an idea she had to get rid of ”that annoying shrew Claire”.  (Future trivia question: the diary entry was dated 2/26/2006).  At the courthouse, Claire opens the suitcase Betty has brought, and sees the perfume she loves.  Claire tells how Bradford had brought it back for her from Denmark.  The officer that’s guarding Claire says that he can’t allow the perfume.  After thinking about it, Claire decides to give the perfume to Betty.  She says, “You’re in love with that nervous little fellow with the glasses.  Spoil yourself”. Betty decides to “hold onto it” for her.

At Mode

Betty is working at her desk, and the perfume sits there, tempting her.  We then hear Fey’s voice reading the diary again. (March 15):  Fey had given Bradford a bottle of perfume from Denmark to give to Claire to cover up their trip.  (April 4,2006): In the diary, Fey admits she changed the ingredients; the perfume is toxic.  Claire is poisoning herself.

At the same time, Betty finally succumbs, and sprays on the perfume.  We then take a CSI-style trip through her bloodstream.  When we next see Betty she is typing a memo at an incredible speed.  Henry approaches, and tells her how good she smells.  Betty is extremely hyperactive.  Henry reminds Betty that he is leaving for a trip to Tucson, for Charlie’s sonogram.  Betty shows Henry the care package she made for him.  Betty is still hyper, and runs on to the next thing.

Later, Betty is on the floor, watching the events of the trial unfold on Fashion TV.  She is upset, then remembers the perfume.  She says, “Hi, pretty perfume”, and runs to spray herself again.Gio approaches with two sandwiches Betty had ordered, one for Betty, and one for, it turns out, Henry’s care package.  Betty is pleased, and hugs Gio; it’s a long, sensual hug.  Betty takes a bite of her sandwich, admiring the tastes.  She says it tastes, like, purple.  She says the tomatoes taste like sunshine (she stuffs one in Gio’s mouth).  Gio casually suggests that Henry might do something untoward in Tucson with Charlie.  Betty doesn’t appreciate this.   Betty says it’s hot in the room.  Gio says Betty smells really good, she says he smells really good too.

Later, Henry is leaving with his care package.  Betty is rubbing her hands all over him as they walk.  She tells Henry not to call her at home when he arrives, but to “use the Bat phone”.  She spies two models wearing very bright dresses, and she drops everything to admire them.  Henry goes onto the elevator, and asks if she has the care package.  Betty says, “I have your care package right here!”, and jumps onto him, wrapping her legs around him.  As she finishes kissing him and walks away, Henry is quite flustered.  Christina witnessed this, walks with Betty, and asks her about it.  Betty says she doesn’t care,”if it feels good, do it”, and then licks the entire side of Christina’s face.  She screams to hear if the hallway has an echo.

In the sex room, Amanda shows Marc the diary pages.  Marc tells her that this would exonerate Claire.  Amanda doesn’t want to sully her mother’s name, so she starts to burn the pages.  Halston the dog runs away, so she chases him and gives Marc the pages to burn. (She says, “And when I get back, you have to tell me what exonerate means”).

The next day, Betty is bouncing around the house to the tune of “Rock and Roll All Night” by Kiss.  She says she stayed up all night waiting for Henry to call (he didn’t).  She raves about the Molly Ringwald marathon she watched all night.  Ignacio asks her if she’s all right. He offers her some Huevos Rancheros for breakfast, but she rudely turns her nose up at it.  She instead sprays whipped cream in her mouth as breakfast.  The family knows something is wrong.

Betty later sits at her desk, waiting for Henry to call.  She is very nervous.  She puts his picture face down, then sprays herself with the perfume again.  Gio approaches to apologise for calling Henry “Egg Salad”.  He asks if Henry had called, this makes Betty furious.  She goes on an absolute tirade.  She screams at him to “Go, and don’t come back!”  She then sprays with the perfume again.

Later, Betty is going off about Gio – to Amanda.  Amanda can tell that something is the matter with Betty.  Betty sees something “sparkly” on Amanda’s dress, and grabs it (in the process, grabbing her breast).  Amanda smacks her and calls her “Cheese Fingers”.   She then tells Betty that she thinks Gio has a crush on her (Betty).  Betty says SHE doesn’t have a crush on Gio, and that reminds her of Henry, who has not yet called.  She is still quite angry.  She sprays the perfume to calm down.  Amanda sees this and puts two and two together.  Betty decides to write a “strongly worded note” to tell Gio how much she doesn’t like him.  As she does this, Amanda eyes the perfume.Betty seeks Gio out to give him the note personally.  She goes to his sandwich shop; he is not there.  She becomes increasingly agitated, then throws a trash can through the window.  The next scene is the same one we saw in the opening, where Betty is waking up on the floor of the sandwich shop.

Next, Gio has taken Betty to the doctor.  Betty seems hung over; Gio is comforting her.  Hilda barges in - she found out about because their doctor’s receptionist used to go out with one of Santos’ friend.  Then, Ignacio and Justin barge in (told by Hilda).  The doctor examines her.  He says he needs to speak to Betty privately. At first, Ignacio thinks this means Betty is pregnant.  She is not, but the doctor thinks she’s on drugs.  He says that if she isn’t taking drugs, someone is drugging her.

Later, Betty finally talks to Henry on the phone.  The doctor comes in with the results.  He names off several weird-sounding toxins, and summarized by saying that she’s been poisoned with toad venom.  He said, too much of it would have killed her.  Betty thinks through what could possibly be poisoning her, then concludes it must be the perfume. 

She next barges into mode, trying to get the perfume.  It is gone.  She sees one of the sparkly stones that was on Amanda’s dress, and knows Amanda took it.  She confronts Amanda – and Amanda tells about the diary.  She says she will not testify to help Claire, because she took her mother’s life.  Betty pleads with her.  She tells her to think about Daniel. 

At the trial Alexis is testifying.  She tells how her mother raised them with a strong sense of right and wrong, and therefore was not in her right mind at the time of the accident.  The prosecutor first reminds Alexis that she wasn’t around at the time, then uses Alexis’ sex change as proof that morality wasn’t a strong suit at the Meade house.  It is disastrous, but the judge obviously has a bias toward the Meades.During a break, Daniel and Alexis are in line at the courthouse coffee stand.  Daniel is reassuring Alexis that she did a great job, and that the judge seems to be on their side.  The coffee vendor asks if anyone can break a $20.  Daniel volunteers.  It turns out that the person without change is the judge, and cameras catch Daniel giving the judge a “bribe”.  On Fashion TV, they report the “scandal”, and the judge has to recuse herself.

Back in the courtroom, the new judge walks in, a stern judge who got pulled away from her vacation.  Her name is Judge Nancy Biotch. (funny).  She mocks Daniel, telling him she’d like a Grande Soy Latte. 

Daniel then testifies, about his father’s affair and how his mother was drinking heavily at the time.  The lawyer tries to object to the prosecutor’s badgering, but judge Biotch shoots him down before he can even finish.  Daniel testifies that he had dinner and theater with his mother the night before the accident, and his mother wasn’t acting right.  The prosecutor mocks him.  He says it doesn’t sound insane, but calculating and premeditated.

Later, Betty brings the perfume to the courthouse and hands it to Daniel.  She tells how it got into her bloodstream and made her do all these crazy things.  The lawyer says, “Oh, my God…like your hair”.  She say she has her blood test to prove it.  They then call Betty as a witness.

Betty testifies; she has the perfume in front of her.  The prosecutor tells her that his lab has analyzed it, and that it is NOT poison.  He drinks it.  It turns out, it is water.  After this, Claire decides that she must testify herself.

In the sex room, Amanda tells Marc how she switched the perfume with water.  Marc has an attack of conscience, and tells Amanda that he will not help her dispose of the evidence.  He asks her why Claire Meade has to pay; she didn’t do anything wrong.  He tells her he didn’t destroy the diary pages, either.  She slaps Marc, but then she realizes he is right.

Claire testifies, the prosecution hammers her.  During this time, Betty gets a text message: ”Meet me in the hallway, cheese fingers”.  Amanda gives her the perfume and the diary pages.  Betty barges into the courtroom with the proof.

The jury later returns the verdict: not guilty by reason of insanity.  Claire hugs her family, then thanks Betty.  They later celebrate at Mode (what happened to the escape charges???)

Gio shares a toast of champagne with Betty, then, as she goes to speak to someone else, has that longing stare at her that he’s had before. 

Wilhelmina’s Baby

At Wilhelmina’s apartment.  Wilhelmina and Marc are propositioning Christina: if she’ll carry Bradford and Wilhelmina’s baby for her, Wilhelmina will give her a check for $100,000.  Christina is aghast that they know about Stuart.  She turns them down though. (“My uterus is officially closed to Devil spawn”) Later, Christina tells Betty all about it, then tells her why she turned them down: she has found in “the closet” an old dress that Jackie Kennedy had worn to a state dinner; she plans to sell it on the black market.  As they discuss this, Marc overhears, he was hiding, as usual.

At Wilhelmina’s apartment, Marc shows Wilhelmina the dress that Christina is going to sell;  Wilhelmina decides that something has to happen to the dress, so Christina will be forced to carry her baby for the money instead.

Later, Christina has bought a black market buyer to the closet for the dress. She opens the box, only to reveal that the dress has been absolutely trashed. Christina then confronts Wilhelmina about this.  At first, Wilhelmina is coy.  Wilhelmina then reminds Christina that she has another option.  She tells her that she needs someone she knows to carry the baby.

Christina is in the doctor’s office, with Wilhelmina and Marc there.  As they are doing the insemination, Betty walks in and says she is going to be with Christina for the next nine months.  On a monitor screen, you can see the cells already dividing (kind of silly, actually), and as Betty and Christina are admiring it, Wilhelmina tells Marc, “let’s go” and walks out.

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